Bullspread

ijgordon

Shocked that many people willing to pay what is usually ~$2k one-way to upgrade from J to P. (Of course with the cr@p J on the 380, perhaps the calculus is different from the 77W.)

How many miles would it be? I assume FB only, and is it limited to elites like P award tickets? (Any level elite?)

delanotre

I try to select a window seat on different dates to HKG and/or to SIN in First but the AF website let me only to choose the 2 middle seats on 777.
On expédia they mention "only 3 seats"...
Is it new?

LAURENTD

delanotre

I think it is not factual due to special reservation by someone else: if I try to book on all months in the next year, it's the same, always the two middle seats only available on the 4 ... A glitch?

roberta_h

as mentioned earlier in this thread, pull up your reservation on KLM and try to switch seats there -- more (notably windows) seem to be available and selectable than through AF for some unknown reason

delanotre

First class is not an option on KLM, only Y and J.
I just retry on Expedia and the 4 seats can be reserved, so it is probably a glitch on AF.

delanotre

The 2 windows seats are not available on the AF website when you are re-directed from " Google flights", only. Good to know this limitation.
On AF, directly, you have access to all seats availability but only after filling name, mail, phone information.
Thanks.

duluthDL

When I look on Expedia, I can see seat availability before entering personal information. For my flight, it shows only one other seat sold and all others are available, including window.
When I enter my booking number into KLM website, I can see all the available seats, including window and it's the same as the Expedia view.
When I enter my booking number into AF website, the window seats are still shown as blocked, not available.
It's not clear if it's a glitch which has been going on for a least a month, or if it's deliberate; and if deliberate, why block 5/9 seats on 380 and 2/4 seats on 777?

San Gottardo

Noone knows. But it's the kind of thing where insiders like us know the easy workarounds and are happy that nobody else does, so the seats are ours ;-)

brunos

AF often blocks 5/9 as they don't expect to sell more than 4. They staff the F cabin with only one dedicated FA.
That could change if more tickets are sold (they don't restrict the number of tickets sold).
They used to block the last row, so that pax would be near galley for diner service. Now they seem to block five windows. That is weird.

San Gottardo

San Gottardo

Back to the topic title, constructive feedback about La Premiere. Having spent more time than I wanted in the Premiere lounge and cabins over the past 10 days here are some thoughts (background: 2 flights on A388, 3 flights on B77W; three trips with Paris as O&D, two trips with CDG as transfer point).

Overall pleasant flights, of course!, a few observations, strictly first world problems:

• The above-mentioned headache with blocked seats on the AF page and the need to go through KL or call the Premiere line
• The A380 cabins really really start showing their age. Used and not super clean. I know they are not going to refurbish them, but a bit of refreshing maintenance would be justified
• Tables: it would be great to have tables that fold into two, so that one can use a half-sized table when not requiring the full space (e.g. when only needed to put a glass or a laptop), makes it easier to get out of the seat
• I think I already noted this somewhere upthread: offer more choices on the menu for evening US East Coast-France departures
• In the CDG lounge, provide easier-to-access power outlets also for the armchair parts of the lounge, not only the benches on the side. Currently one has to open one of the covers on the ground, sometimes even to unplug one of the lamps
• In the showers, provide products that don't smell like a hospital disinfectant
• In the showers, place the fold-out table where one can put one's luggage further away from the toilet, and not where a knob in the wall is. The first makes it impossible to use the toilet when a suitcase is opened on the tablet, the second makes it impossible to fully open a suitcase
• The service staff should be more attentive and proactive clearing away glasses etc from the sofa/arm chair areas. They are super active and fast when it comes to clearing tables in the restaurant area, but not at all in the other areas of the lounge
• Have a few sound-isolated working booths. Impossible to concentrate on work or a phone call when some Americans in the restaurant area shout their conversations instead of being respectful and discrete, or some idiot does a videocall on his mobile phone using the loudspeaker.
• JFK Premiere mini-lounge: if possible, make it larger. It feels very crowded very quickly.
• Have a sound-isolated working booth there or in the main part of the lounge (being JFK, many more noisy Americans)
• The quality of the food in the JFK lounge is far far far below what is served on board, let alone at the CDG Premiere lounge. It's OK for it to be below, but the difference is too large in my mind.
• Fares: maybe another bug, but it was odd to see that XXX-CDG-YYY had zero availability, but booking the identical flights as separate legs XXX-CDG, CDG-YYY had plenty of availability. And a couple of other fare constellations that didn't make sense and could only be circumvented with help from the call centre or by using "tricks" on the web site.
• And this: do not, just never, allow people that are booked in First invite their friends/family join them in the First cabin right after take-off and stay there until landing, and get the full service of food, bedding, etc. Had this on one flight where a family of four - who looked like the "chic and entitled" type - had their teenage son somewhere in the back, but the chap was with them in the Premiere space in JFK, and on board simply appeared from somewhere and took one of the free seats in P. I am sure the family had checked with the CDC before, but why was this allowed? We don't like it when staff do that, nor do we like it when pax do that.

Other than that no observations. The B77W cabin is still up there with the best. The lounge, despite its bad layout which instead of creating smaller/more private mini-spaces is just one big hall and lacks a view, plus the above-mentioned improvement points, in my book still takes the number 1 spot for elegance and design (the space, the service, the staff), and the number 1 spot for quality and sophistication of the food offering.

First worlds problems, I know...

brunos

burg_rtw

I echo the part to not allow people who don't pay for service to access the P section. Out of my last 4 flights, in 2 of them this happened. In one occasion, a Chinese man decided to bring his companion up front and they were talking so loud I could hear through the noise cancelling earphone. That flight had two open seats, so if they wanted, they could have purchased a same-class ticket (I complained to the purser and while she asked the couple to be more quiet, she did not sent the intruder back ...). On the second occasion, an older couple had the guy up front and the lady back in J, but she decided it was fine to spend a good portion of the flight up front and be stuck in the lav forever, preventing other passengers to use it. Purser was also pretty cool about it happening.