Sjondorn

While I’m enjoying endless supply of Champagne right now in Paris (overnight layover = excellent idea, lol), I thought I’d write how SFO-CDG in J went with regards of service:
- SFO International terminal is like after an apocalypse. No lounge available, plane SFO-CDG is about 10% - 15% full. You board the plane from back to front officially but this doesn’t really matter since when boarding starts it’s actually final call. I came there 3 minutes after the first call and there wasn’t anyone in the line.
- Some hassle at check-in as the agents were confused themselves what the current rules are (when flying to France as a EU citizen). Took them 20 minutes (yeah no pressure, as nobody else in the line lol) but eventually cleared without an issue.
- Air France staff demands actual surgical mask (no cloth mask accepted). Make sure you get one with you. I had one with me anyway, not sure if they’d give you one if you don’t have it.
- Service in J is virtually like normal. Didn’t get a menu (FA would tell the options for main course (4 options), second meal had no options, was an omelette). Drink before takeoff was actually served after takeoff and no sorbet in the desert menu. Thumbs up here big time.
- Little amount of people on board means that service in J starts about 15 minutes after takeoff and meal before arrival is served about 60 minutes before landing.
- Plane arrives to gate at CDG and we have to wait 5 - 10 minutes for the ground staff to operate the gate, lol! Meanwhile everybody on the airplane is extremely chill. It’s not like “seat-belt sign is off, everybody gets up etc.) but “seat-belt sign is off, yeah now maybe it’s time to pack stuff and get moving).

mlin32

A short trip report. Not much for pictures, but largely mirrors comments above.

Economy Francfort -> Paris CDG : surprisingly this flight was full on an E190. Service on this 50mn flight was also near normal with the exception of the lack of a snack (beverage only in Y).

Premium Eco Paris CDG -> ATL : as expected very very few customers. Perhaps +/- 50 passengers on this flight. While Terminal 2E-K was plenty busy, the lack of passengers on this TATL flight meant we were bussed to our A350 (named 'Nice", the 350e A350 delivered) parked remotely. I believe J flew empty, and I was one of 4 in PE; most Y passengers were scattered in the middle section with almost no one in the back section of Y.




The first lunch service was normal, with everything being covered and no choice of main plat. But full choice of drinks and meal quality was fine. Service on board was excellent, no surprise given the low passenger count. The usual cart of snacks/drinks during the flight is now "on request"; you can go back and ask for a beverage or snack and they will serve it. The pre-arrival snack is hilariously small (small drinkable yaourt, madeline, biscuits) with just a few beverages on choice (tea/café, sodas) so this part isn't totally back to normal. Another annoyance was the Wifi was disabled for unknown reasons

But all in all a very nice flight during this exceptionel period. And beautiful plane too ! I could have upgraded to J for 34,1 k mls but I figured given it's a daytime flight it wasn't necessary to expend more miles.

FlyingYan

LHR-CDG in Business on breakfast flight:
- Small bottle of water received on the ground after boarding
- Hot drinks and juices offered
- A small package of chocolate biscuits
AF should really try to offer something for substantial, especially as there is no Lounge at LHR. The crew had croissants themselves which meant the entire cabin smelled like fresh bread...

CDG-MUC in Business in afternoon:
- Initially offered only soft drinks. When I requested a glass a champagne the crew seemed lost and said they didn’t think they had it. They finally found it.
- The snack was just a chocolate bar. really poor offering in terms of food. They have enough time do a nice snack....
- The crew didn’t Seem to care and didn’t do a refill on the drinks while there were only 3 pax in the business class cabin

Jonny Endley

That is really terrible service standards in a premium cabin, still being sold at premium rates, backed-up with the real lack of lounges at present.

Having been this week a few times on KLM, where service in all cabins is very much pre-covid, I would have throught that AF would now be the same.

Very disapointing to say the least.

Bullspread

See the letter from Unions received at AF mgmt this week. Sorry in French but flight attendants unions make pressure to cancel any onboard service for flights <2 hours ...

stimpy

Just a brief observation from a recent domestic flight in France. A uniformed PNC (deadhead) sitting near me pulled his mask down to have a drink of water early in the flight. And kept the mask pulled down for the rest of the flight including landing, as he watched a film on his iPad. So perhaps at least some of the PNC are not so afraid of COVID on an airplane.

AlexBelt

Service on board on CDG-VIE 15th August:




And VIE-CDG on 16th August:

Goldorak

Thanks. Not bad, but still no desert with the 2nd one

HalconBCN

CDG to OTP in Y. I think pre-covid this would have been a hot meal service? The sandwich was very turgid, not to my taste. Cheap plastic wrapping. I was not impressed. I have seen better on Aerolineas Argentinas, which is saying something.

San Gottardo

What to expect on CDG-AMS in J in the morning? Any sort of halfway decent breakfast?

And KLM on AMS-ZRH in J in the afternoon? Anything at all? Most KLM anecdotes seem to date a bit, and with things changing all the time I thought I'd ask

gkl

A small black bag with a cinnamon roll would be a good guess for AMS-ZRH in J in the afternoon (I had this on the afternoon-flight CDG-AMS on KL last week)

Romanianflyer

Looks indeed cheap!

For meals in normal times it would depend on whether it's a hot meal or not. I've received hot meals in Y for both breakfast as well as on the late evening flight (with arrival after midnight). On other flights we received a cold meal (bottle of cold soup, sandwich, fruits and chocolate cake served in one of those bags - if I look at the picture of my last CDG-OTP flight in pre-COVID times).


CDG-OTP in March before COVID spread through Europe

I'm set to fly the same route in a week or two again, curious how it will compare.

Goldorak

Here is what was served in Y on CDG-JTR (3h20 block time) : a muffin . OK, a very good one, but just a muffin. Am I wrong saying that on such long routes, even Y had a full tray with a warm item ?
Oh, but silly me, it’s for my safety

Jonny Endley

Yep silly you.

Even more sillier though. This Morning on an Iberia Geneva - Madrid, no B0B but a Glorious glass of water !

Yep, that makes AF seem amazing !

J

HalconBCN

On my return flight from OTP it was the exact same as my previous post: cheap sandwich + mini jam cake. I would expect this is what you'll get. Certainly a downgrade compared to previous service!