I just noticed that AF256 (CDG–SIN) will shift to an awfully late 23:20 departure starting 29 March 2026.

I had originally booked to fly to CGK via CDG and SIN with Air France, but they proactively rebooked me onto a KLM flight with a stop in KUL instead (still 2 stops for me). I’m not sure whether I should be happy about it, especially since I had planned to use my Upgrade Vouchers for LP.

Ouch. Thanks for sharing! My booking has been updated without any warning. I'm happy I saw your post.

I got the same change for 2 SIN bookings, one for my parents which is actually welcome as their 1h20 transit in CDG become 3h20 and they can relax in the lounge before. There were changes to ICN flights as well, starting March 30th, the ICN CDG is departing at 11:35 instead of 8:35

Air France to return to London Gatwick:
https://simpleflying.com/air-france-...siest-airport/

Personally, I think it's a shame they don't try HOP to LCY to compete with Eurostar for the business traveller market. CityJet operated that route for years on behalf of AF.

I hope one day Air France will return to Bristol. Good to see they have gone to Gatwick though.

If AF competes with Eurostar, they’ll lose. I would imagine >90% of Eurostar passengers are going from London to Paris. Going from London to Paris, unless you live close to CDG, there is no way you can beat Eurostar in terms of travel duration. Not even from Canary Wharf.

If AF opens LCY to serve passengers connecting to somewhere else through CDG, that might work. But I presume they have run the numbers and reached the conclusion that it doesn’t; or at least that they can deploy the E-Jet fleet - the only type in the AF fleet that can actually land at LCY - more profitably to other destinations.

Quite surprising new flight to EZE, on top the existing daily frequency. It will only be twice a week (Tue and Thu) between 1 September and 15 October and the times essentially clash with the existing flight.

AF 556 CDG 1010 EZE 1850
AF 557 EZE 2110 CDG 1500 +1

Crazy schedule out of Vienna too, AF1739 in summer now leaving VIE at 6:30 p.m. in the evening -> arriving at CDG 8:35 p.m. means it is (almost) impossible to reach any European destination the same evening. , what are they doing?
KL out of Vienna is either 2:20pm (KL1904)... more or less in the middle of the day or 8 p.m. having the same problem. You are almost forced to take LH if you do not fly intercontinental but mostly within Europe.

I guess they are focusing more on feeding longhaul. That being said, I hate being forced those super short connections before a longhaul flight and AFKL is already pretty bad at it (especially since their booking engine doesn't make it easy to pick a longer one), so this is not great from that perspective either.

Totally true, absolutely crazy how tight most connections are. Btw AF could earn a lot of money out of Vienna and filling 4 A321 each day if they wanted, especially as Wizzair is leaving at all and Ryanair is cancelling a lot of routes an will be further reducing next summer. This way they leave the market to LH Group an TK and EK are collecting the rest...

Not sure I get the point.
AF has 2 other daily flights out of VIE that can be used for European connections. The late one is useful for working people flying to Paris and for feeding evening longhauls to Asia. Having a 4 to 6 hours transit time is prohibitive compared to the competition from VIE. With AF1739, that transit will be 2 to 3 hours.

Working people flying to or from CDG will most likely be on OS since they have most of the time I check way better prices both in Y and J. Long hauls to Asia from VIE with AF seems somehow not so nice (read expensive) even thought I dont ofc have accurate data and numbers but VIE evening towards East is strong either with OS direct, EK via DXB or even EVA to BKK/TPE. Pricing for Y and J towards Asia is hardly competitive with those mentioned above and I doubt leasure pax returning to Asia will go with AF over Gulf Carriers or their national carrier.

So yes, this timing is missed opportunity as AF could've stolen some EU connections from LH group for price sensitive group and to destination not served directly with OS especially when Wizz Air is leaving VIE.

Personally I too sometimes think AF is loosing on VIE because of OS competition and does not want to really push it as there are other important markets that goes well and better for them.

PS: Forgot to mention TK that has strong present in VIE and is great airline for pax to fly to Asia. Both Y and J as their products are marketing strong and I do not know many people who would choose going to Asia via CDG with AF with choice of TK, EK, EY, QR, BK especially when the price is not even on same level (and I might have data for this as I booked a lot of tickets for people from South of Moravia departing from VIE). So no, feeder to Asia long haul is not the answer to this bad timing.

TO could easily win that battle with a double daily ORY-VIE and lounge rules similar to EW allowing Skyteam Elites into the lounge. Better airport, cheaper fares should do it.

Both AF and OS are not perfect. OS has a very bad lounge in CDG T1 as well as in Vienna and the extra train ride from the RER. AF has better lounges on both ends, especially in CDG T2F but joined the race to the bottom with Basic fares to VIE and regional jets from T2G.

The question is whether AF needs those price sensitive customers or whether it can fill the Asian flights with higher-yield customers. Paris is a bit of a detour from VIE, so people willing to pay extra will generally not choose AF.

EW only allows M&M's own elites and the same would have to be the case here. Since TO is not part of SkyTeam, other SkyTeam airlines would not pay for lounge access for their pax when flying TO. But yes, allowing Flying Blue lounge access on TO would make sense.