lynxy

I don't know if that's the official rule, but I just checked a few dates on TLS/ORY in the coming months, and booking an abonné fare is the same price as a light fare (but with the abonné advantages of course). Don't know if I'm very lucky or not here, but that makes it worth the money in this case.

adambrau

AF009 is going to offer La Premiere starting July 4th.

Also, AF is going to launch it's La Premiere on the A350 to JFK later this year, so it could be that there are 5 flights per day with true first class service.

NYC1

Digicola

If true that would be very close to, if not more than when A380s where plowing the route.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe the max pre-covid was 2x A380 + 1x 77W or 1x A380 + 2x 77W depending on the season so between 19 and 23 seats a day.

Goldorak

Great news to know that the AF A350 will have P from this year !!

af fp

How is JFK handling all that traffic? Are there long lines at Terminal One? Last time I traveled the Sky Priority check in line took twenty minutes and TSA took thirty.
what about arrivals and transfers at Orly? I will be on AF 19 JFK ORY.

GUWonder

The idea that “shuttle” in this case means that at least some tickets for the flights would be flexible so as to be able to be changed or purchased until very close to departure — such as 10-15 minutes if presenting to the gate with no luggage to check — won’t fly.

The US Government/US DHS would be furious at DL/AF if they tried to make a habit of allowing that kind of close-in flexibility on departures to/from the US; the US DHS would very quickly put an end to it for the airlines.

Perhaps if AF and DL were to allow multiple flight confirmation bookings against a given ticket number, then perhaps they could engineer more of a close-in, walk-up type flexibility. But I doubt that US DHS would like that either.

Goldorak

T1 always had long lines. This terminal turns in a complete zoo from 4 or 5 pm till late. It was like this before Covid and it's back

Just a remark, knowing that the flights are so full currently, it limits drastically the possibility to change flight at last minute.

adambrau

Every AF JFK-CDG flight is full every day. There are just a handful of seats available the next few weeks. Make sure you arrive a bit earlier at the airport this summer as you have been used to to during the last two years, and make sure your ticket is in order. Traffic from Manhattan to JFK is wild. We are happy to welcome so many pax on our flights. Hopefully the extra P class lift will help us to continually improve an amazing product!

physicsdude

Agreed. The security lines at JFK T1 have been very long and sometimes I've take the helicopter service to JFK during peak times because it's cheaper than a taxi or cab. P these days have been full, leading to a mixed bag of service. Sometimes, the FA in P will be amazing and providing stellar service to all four passengers or sometimes the FA will focus on only one or two passengers. It's been inconsistent but more seats for P could possibly reduce the possibility of a full P cabin, leading to consistent service.

af fp

Thanks all, we left home earlier on your advice and it helped.
So our experience was overall pretty bad indeed, and I can see it could have been even worse.
- nasty traffic to JFK, no choice for us with heavy bulky luggage.
- over twenty minutes wait for SkyPriority check-in. The agent tried to not connect our luggage (flying JFK-ORY-Corsica), saying it is impossible in Orly… I had him bring the supervisor and it was solved. He did not even say anything, I had to check the luggage tags he printed and then he came up with that lame excuse.
- pretty quick security check, but only because we have TSA Pre and were lucky. Hell for others.
- indifferent staff in the lounge, very poor shape (see picture of the seats, a complete shame in fact), food offering atrocious, it could have been an American Airlines lounge, that bad…
- still no champagne before takeoff, no aperitif before meal, minimal service by the staff (hot dish served without wine nor water refill, service generally rushed).
- good foie gras, beef and crépinette, on time arrival.
- one immigration officer, yes one, and all Parafe gates closed, the other officers trickled in indifferently over 10 minutes while their colleague was still processing the first two passengers.
- connection security gate closed, we had to pass customs and re-enter through the regular boarding circuit.

Overall, a not very pleasant experience, once again. The staff do not care and are giving up.

pascalgr

I will fly take AF009 from JFK to CDG in the next couple of week. I would like to know how many time in advance I need to show up at the airport for Check Inn ; I am Plat so I can use Sky Priority for luggage check inn; Is the Fast lane for security open for Platinum member flying in Y ?

NYC1

I suggest you arrive 2 hours before departure to avoid stress as much as is reasonable.

physicsdude

Agreed for most days. If it's a Friday departure, then I would recommend even three hours because I flew on Fridays and the queue was very long.

adambrau

One can check in at anytime after 13h00 if you are Sky Priority. If you arrive at the airport 2 hours before departure you'll be fine. But if you plan to arrive two hours before and then you arrive one hour before due to traffic et al, your check in bags bags are unlikely to get loaded. Checkin online and make sure you have a seat assignment.AF009 security lines are short but Norse Atlantic are ramping up service and all their flights are around midnight. Best advice is to plan to arrive three hours in advance and then the T1 experience should be at worst just a bit tedious!