kef1

Hi, I'm a newbie here. I have been a Star Alliance flyer for a long time and having now flown my first million miles with them, which I'm sure sounds puny to many on this forum, I'm branching out a bit. I have a round trip SFO-CDG trip on Air France booked for January, and am flying business on the outbound and La Premiere on the return. I'm very excited about it, but am realizing as I read through posts on this forum that I may want to temper my expectations a bit light of my flight time on the return. The flight leaves CDG at 10:30am. Am I correct in thinking there won't be a lot to get excited about in the La Premiere lounge in terms of food offerings that early? How about on the flight itself? That's not going to be a breakfast flight, is it? That would be truly disappointing after looking at all the awesome reviews and photos here. Thanks in advance for your help!

San Gottardo

Welcome to FT kef1! Good to have you here, you'll find this a useful and sometimes very entertaining forum.

On your questions regarding Air France Premiere, I don't think you should temper your expectations, at least not too much.

The lounge is fantastic, you'll certainly enjoy it. The best part / the part in which it really surpasses any other lounge I have experienced so far is the food. At any time of the day. True, if you get there by 9-9.30am for your 1030am departure they still may be in breakfast mode, but even that is very very good. On the flight itself, you'll have plenty of time to sample all great things. It's a 12 hour flight, you'll certainly have a full lunch, a full (albeit somewhat "lighter") second meal, and inbetween you can get anything from the menu. It's dine on demand, in fact you can order whatever you like whenever you like. Caviar service is part of the food service on board. Moreover, the food on flights departing Paris is typically better than the catering on flights leaving the US, so you're really in the best spot.

The only minor sub-optimal element I might point out is that you're on the morning flight to SFO, which is operated by the A380. The Premiere cabin on the A380 is not as nice as that on the afternoon flight, which is operated by the 777-300ER. The A380 has nine seats in the Premiere cabin, which itself isn't a problem yet; other airlines have 8 (LH, QR), 12 (SQ) or even 14 (EK) seats in their First Class cabins, and they're all excellent. However, the Air France cabin on the A380 is still the old style, with a less elegant design, smaller IFE screens and most of all a seat design that gives you less privacy. The Premiere cabin on the B777-300ER is much more pleasant: only 4 seats, each with a lot of privacy, a large screen, and the design/colours/materials used are just very very well done.

So, if you do have the possibility, I recommend you change your booking to the later flight, AF 82, which leaves in the afternoon on the B777-300ER. And that even gives you lunch service in the lounge if that is what you are after.

Enjoy your flight!

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I'm almost certain no matter the time of the flight, it will be an amazing experience. If it's possible, try to get to the lounge early enough to enjoy a massage, a quick shower and then a leisurely breakfast before departure. I've only had the opportunity to enjoy La Premiere on the 77W, so I can't compare to the A380 but based on reviews/reports, I'd highly recommend doing what San Gottardo suggests and get on AF82 if it's possible.

The Ms. and I were on that flight a few months ago. We had 5 hours to kill in the lounge after arriving from AMS which gave us ample time for a massage, shower and a long lunch before heading to the Bay. The entire trip, especially onboard, was the best flight experience of our lives (then again it was our first P flight ever). The cabin on the 77W is pretty spectacular.

That said, regardless of equipment, I'm positive you'll have a great time and flight. Enjoy!

P.S. They still have the metal luggage tags around, you just have to ask nicely and it'll magically appear right before they escort you to the plane.

Klems

Agreed with all of the above. Try to switch to the 777-300 flight if possible, and arrive several hours prior to your flight so you can enjoy massage and food. You won't be disappointed even with the breakfast service in the lounge, let alone in the plane. It will be stellar .

kef1

Thank you all so much! I appreciate the info and advice, and also being on a forum where nobody says "you'll just have been in Paris and you're worrying about the food in the lounge and on the plane"????

I think I am in luck on the equipment, at least if I can rely on the Air France booking. It looks like in the winter Air France cuts back to one flight per day between SFO and CDG (I would definitely have booked the later flight if there had been one), but they have the equipment listed as the 777 and the seat map shows only four seats in P. I have 1A.

Now the only problem is that the trip is five months away! Thanks again. And will definitely try to score a luggage tag.

By the way, regarding the massage, if I read other posts on this forum correctly I would book that once AF sends me the welcome email a week before travel?

Goldorak

San Gottardo

Ah, if it's during the winter timetable then indeed it'll be the 777-300ER. My bad, I had assumed you'd traveling this summer, where the morning flight is on the A380.

And for food in the lounge vs. Paris: nobody here says that the lounge food is bad, in fact it's excellent. Where sometimes some people (me being the first to admit it) scuff is when people spend almost a full day in the lounge as if the lounge was a destination in its own right, when they could just down the road experience one of the world's most fascinating, beautiful and enriching cities. The lounge is after all just that, a lounge (other views differ). Your case sounds different though.

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Good choice of seat. Hopefully Marin won't be socked in and you'll get a nice view on approach. Shame it's 5 months away but all the anticipation will be worth it.

Just make sure you sit down at a table for a meal and order from the menu. When we were there it seemed like most people didn't even know that was an option choosing to just grab tiny bites. Then again maybe that was what they wanted... but out of 20 people we were the only 2 sitting down for a proper lunch.

rosensfole

I need to stop reading threads like these, they cost me too much money because I now feel I should book my next P trip
I'll second the advice to take advantage of the meals in the P lounge. Last time I was there I asked if I could taste a few of the wines and was treated to a glorious trip around all the available vineyard choices. I didn't need much to drink once on board, especially after the baba au rhum. Hic.

kef1

What's great is that this helps with the sadness of ending a trip to Paris. That's always so hard to do, knowing the next trip will not be particularly soon, so at least having some luxury and excitement about the return trip takes away a little of the pain. Plus the wine probably won't hurt either.

kef1

I live in Marin, and every time I have a flight home that takes the route over Marin I wish for a parachute. Maybe La Premiere will oblige??

kef1

That would be quite the start to my day at 8am--but it sounds glorious.

Fabo.sk

Well, to many people, Paris is, after all just another city I mean, I'll probably return (having just spent 2 days there over last weekend), but give me now a choice to spend a couple of days in Paris next week, or in a random Italian city, chances are, I'm going to the Mediterranean.

But maybe I'm just not ready to invest as much as needed. Paris is an expensive city to enjoy properly.

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Or a zip-line to Tam!

kef1

Now, THAT would be service!!