You may know me from the BA forum where I regularly complain about the falling BA’s standards. I am also a Platinum AF member and regularly fly Y for work anf pleasure both in Shorthaul and Longhaul. I have flown from CDG to TUN and back this week end and tried the new Y catering and I was impressed.
The food comes in a bag (like those you get in Business Class on KLM Cityhopper). My morning flight to Tunis consisted of a Mango Smoothy, an almond drink with Banana and Cinnamon, some granolas and a bread with Jam. Everything was tasty and fresh. On the way back which was an evening flight the food consisted of a Tuna sandwich, cold green soup, a small chocolate cake and slices of fresh apples. It was excellent. Had a chat with the flight attendants in the galley and they told me the food offering was selected after several trials on a specific route (they mentioned Stockholm). And I have even seen them keeping 3 bags for themselves. Talking about Joon, they said all routes will revert to full service in Economy. Talked about BA‘s BoB, they were suprised BA did that move. They also said BoB will never appear on AF.

And generally speaking I find the food of better quality in Y on AF. It always has fresh fruits and the bread is usually of good quality. Flight attendants are becoming more pleasant and do mot hesistate to top you up on drinks (BA‘s service on shorthaul Y is non existent and on longhaul it has become procedural).

And on my last trip to Dakar last week, I Was happy to see those new eye shades with different exotic patterns and the AF logo.

All in all, I feel AF is becoming one of the best on Europe. Flying AF has a premium feel to it and their marketing is doing a great job with all those branded stuff you can buy at the lounges, the pillows, the new Y longhaul seats on the A330, the headrests, the ads, etc.

What do you think?

Evening Y meal (TUN-CDG)

AF new Y breakast (CDG-TUN)

I agree. But both carriers are stepping up their game. KLM is investing a lot on their catering, which was also necessary. I think they offer one of the best short and long haul products Y products. The service and atmosphere on board is always SO good. It’s like coming home. Short haul J is improved as well, but I do really think they they still lack good catering on the long haul J product. It is all SO no nonsense Dutch. The food in J isn’t groundbreaking, mediocre I would say. Not really bad but certainly not good like Qatar and Air France.

Speaking of, I always liked their catering. It doesn’t have to be complicated but I am a sucker for a well made, good quality croissant and cup of coffee on a short haul morning flight. Hop! and AF offer that and it is really good! On long haul Y, AF isn’t better than KLM, they lack personality. The same can be said of J long haul but the food is really much better than KLM. Better presentation, just more exclusive. I saw the other day that KLM had “hutspot” as a dish on long haul J. Sorry, it is Dutch uncomplicated farmer-food and while OK in Y, in J it is truly unacceptable when paying a high fare. FYI it’s mashed potatoes with carrots and onions with some meat. It’s OK to refer to Dutch heritage which they do anyway a lot, but the food in long haul J needs to improve. AF is always doing a great job. Love their dishes.
That being said, many of the flight attendants on long haul J, the experienced ones, are in general not doing a difference. Once flying in J from JFK to CDG, I woke up 30 min before landing and I asked for a cup of coffee and a croissant (I do understand it’s too late for a full breakfast). She said no. I said: come on: it’s 30 min? She walked away rolling eyes and returned with a half cup of lukewarm coffee and a croissant. But her body language told me: you are the most annoying pax of the last 30 years. That will never ever happen on a KLM flight. It is simply not good enough when paying a high fare. That behavior is for Y, not for J. No even not Y. Just act normal.