After BA completely gutted its loyalty programme at the end of 2024, I decided that my loyalty with them obviously counted for nothing so I shifted to KLM / Air France. I'm sure everyone knows but BA implemented a spend based programme which resulted in much higher thresholds being required to retain Gold with the airline. For someone who achieved Gold from my own pocket (i.e. minimal work travel and no taking advantage of the ludicrous double tier point holiday packages), it didn't make sense to stay with BA. And, to be fair, after years of sub-par flights, it seemed like a good time to move. Flying Blue obviously took advantage of the BA situation and were happy to status match BA passengers so after parting with £90, I was matched to Flying Blue Platinum (which meant that I could take advantage of lounge access, free seat allocation,, etc).
So....! I've never really done much of South America and I decided earlier in the year that I wanted to tick off a few countries down there this year, especially with a big birthday later this month. There was a very temping deal on flights to Bogota so I jumped at the chance and booked. Outbound flight was ABZ - AMS - CDG - BOG and inbound was BOG - AMS (with a stop in CTG) - ABZ.
The end of September soon came around and the alarm clock went off at 3.30am. God damn these red eye flights...! I hopped in a taxi and got to the airport for 4.45am - more than enough time for a 6am departure. Check-in took ages because the baggage belts had given up the ghost so people were being asked to take their bags to another point for collection. Anyway, case dropped, I was through security and headed to the Northern Lights lounge. I had enough time for a glass of orange juice before boarding was being called.
KL910, ABZ - AMS, PH-NXT, E295
Boarding was efficient and once seated, the excellent crew came by offering each J passenger a bottle of cold water.
As we left Aberdeen, the sun was just rising which made for some great views.
Shortly after take off, the purser came around offering breakfast boxes.
The egg patty was nice enough (served cold) and the yogurt and coconut granola was delicious!
"Pineapple Twist" shots were also distributed after the meal boxes had been collected.
Beofre long, we were descending into AMS. I am used to the dreaded Polderbann but today, for some reason, we got a different runway to land on which resulted in a minute's taxiing to the fondly called Fokker Farm.
The only down side with these E295 flights is that you get bussed back to the Terminal. Never mind though, I had more than enough time for my connection. We got dumped at the D gates and I made my way to the KLM Crown lounge for a while. I think it's much nicer than the KLM Lounge 52. I got some work done, had a coffee and then headed across to passport control before my AF flight was due to board.
And here she is - the cute A220
AF1445, AMS - CDG, F-HPNG, A220
I like the 2-3 layout in business class as it means you can grab one of the 2 and have nobody next to you. Leg room decent for what was going to be a 50 minute flight.
The crew came around offering small wet towels before take off.
We left a cloudy AMS and eventually got above the clouds.
I hadn't flown AF J in probably 6 or 7 years so I was looking forward to see what would be offered meal wise on this flight. It did not disappoint! The crunchy vanilla cream puff was absolutely out of this world - I could have had a load of them!
I liked the small box that the salt and pepper were in.
Crew on this flight were relatively attentive and asked if I wanted another drink before we landed in Paris.
Before I knew it, we were on approach to CDG after a very short flight. Once we landed, the transfer between Terminal 2F to the K gates was relatively painless and I found my way to the AF lounge.
The lounge looked very classy and wasn't too busy so there was no problem getting a table. Selection of food and drinks was very good.
Unfortunately, the flight posted a 2 hour delay which was the last thing I wanted after being up since 3.30am that morning. Around 4.45pm, I left the lounge and popped in by duty free to grab some whisky. I made my way to the gate and my passport and boarding pass was checked and I was told to wait. A large group of nuns were milling around the boarding area and it turned out they were on this flight and were allowed to pre-board. Their average age looked to be in the mid 80s so you can imagine just how slow the line went once we were allowed to board!
AF436, CDG - BOG, F-HTYN, A359
Upon boarding, I found my seat in row 6 and was impressed with how it looked. A pillow, blanket, slippers, amenity kit and menu were waiting for me.
Whilst boarding was continuing, I took a look at the menu which contained a lot of delicious looking options.
Champagne was also offered by the very pleasant member of crew who was serving my side. The flight crew did their welcome and said that the flight time would be around 10 and a half hours.
Spotted the Eiffel Tower as we taxied to the runway.
After the crew were released, they came round offering drinks. I went for a gin and tonic to start with.
The starter was then given to me and I was really impressed with the plating of it - looked very clean indeed. This was wonderful, especially the green veg with crumbled cheese.
The brasied beef was cooked well and fell apart with just the fork. I wasn't a massive fan of the spicy carrot flan.
Dessert was amazing. The sorbet was refreshing and the raspberry slice was out of this world.
I asked for an espresso and a whisky but was given a coffee as the crew member said that the coffee machine was broken.
2 mins later, my crew member returned and the coffee machine had kicked into action so she took me an espresso which was very nice of her.
It was a fab day for flying!
I got a much needed 3 hour sleep which was great. The seat when in lie flat mode was comfortable and I appreciated that the blanket wasn't too heavy as I hate being too hot when I am sleeping. After I woke up, I had a few more glasses of wine and the crew then started preparing for the pre-arrival service. Another stand out dish - pasta with lemon and pistachio parsely jus and baby spinach.
After this long flight, we started descending over Colombia and I was fascinated with just how large the cities below looked.
We landed 2 hours late in Bogota at 9.20pm. It didn't take too long to disembark and the arrivals process was very easy, completely automated.
All in all, this was a great day of flying. I had really been looking forward to flying with AF again in their long haul J cabin and this flight did not disappoint. The food was at a level on par (or even above BA F), the crew interacted with passengers and were very attentive and I loved the lie flat bed and slept very well. What more could I have asked for?!