CDG-ICN AF Espace Premiere Part II
Sep 4, 2006, 9:37 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: BOS
Posts: 275
CDG-ICN AF Espace Premiere Part II
Continued ...
CDG-ICN
AF264 777-300ER F-GSQF
Seats 1A + 2A
Scheduled departure : 13h15 (13h36)
Scheduled arrival : 07h00 (07h04)
Departure gate F74 -> bus to aire hotel
Arrival gate 23
When we arrived at gate F74 (even numbered boarding gates indicate boarding by bus while odd numbered boarding gates indicate the plane is in front of the terminal) boarding was already underway.
No priority boarding, just all the passengers patiently lining up to board … arrival on board : two flight attendants greeted us “bonjour Messieurs, juste devant a votre gauche” with big smiles. If only one of them had accompanied us to our seats that would have been a nice touch. We were expecting to be the only 2 passengers in P but there were 4 upgrades done and we were the last 2 to arrive.
Once settled in one the first class flight attendant welcomed us and proposed champagne, which we politely declined. We were offered an alternative and like the previous flight she graciously brought us some orange juice.
We accumulated another pair of pyjamas and amenity kit … followed by the menu. Today’s meal was “a la carte”, dining just like in a restaurant. Before the closure of the doors, our flight attendant took everyone’s orders and we were soon on our way towards runway 27R (27L was closed for works) after the traditional 15 minute delay
Take off was amazing … especially since I’m used to flying in the A340 … compared to the 340 we literally rocketed off the runway … those GE90s quite simply have a beautiful sound.
A single gong around 10,000 feet indicated to the flight attendants that they could start preparing the cabin for the service … the curtains and panels were closed and our aperitif was served accompanied by the appetizer : sea bream with chives and nori, beet and mascarpone galette with chives, foie gras and smoked breast of duck with figs.
On the 777-300ER, the Chief Purser contributes to the service in P and he helped our flight attendant prepare our tray tables with the linen and proposed the wines / drinks with the beginning of our meal. The vinaigrette, olive oil, bread plate, and cutlery kits were placed just so. The service continued with the presentation of the foie gras terrine with cepe mushrooms and truffles and lobster served with achar sauce and sweet-and-
sour eggplant, each plate being brought out on an inox tray by our classy flight attendant.
(Bear in mind there were numerous choices, but to spare the reader, you can find the rest of the choices eventually on the well known site for airline meals.)
The service continued according to the pace of the passenger … the glass was never empty and the wait between courses never long. You never had the impression that the flight attendant couldn’t handle the 6 passengers on her own. Images here of our main course choices : fillet of free-range chicken accompanied by asparagus coulis and celery with Middle-Eastern spices and Pan-seared scallops accompanied by braised cabbage and snow peas cumin.
The main course followed by the presentation of cheese : camembert, fourme de Montbrison, Sainte-Maure cendre, gratte paille, presented on a serving table and sliced in front of you according to your taste.
The best part next : dessert : petits fours frais, blanc-manger with black currants, orange tart flavored with fennel seeds, hazelnut milk chocolate dacquoise, sherbet served with cookies, fresh fruit.
As you see in the photo, the only one we did not eat was the orange tart ! We took advantage of the First Class seat and I joined my friend on the “bench” (for lack of a better word) for dessert and tea / coffee. The flight attendant proposed a taste of Korea by bringing us ginseng tea, served in the shiny pot accompanied by Michel Cluizel chocolates.
As everyone finished up the flight attendant cleared all service material and converted each seat into a bed with the “futon”style mattress, duvet, and feather pillow. Before allowing passengers to rest, the flight attendant presented a 33cl bottle of Evian to each passenger. I changed into my pyjamas and settled in for the 10h07 night flight to ICN. Honestly there is no better way to fly.
The “bed” was perfect. I have never slept better on a plane. The meal service must have been about 2 hours … I must have slept a good 6 hours before I awoke again quite refreshed … with only 2 hours left, I told myself the flight went by too quickly, I was not even able to watch all the movies I wanted to ! To be noted : music programming on this aircraft was AVOD (audio + video on demand) which was nice to be able to stop and choose the song you wanted.
The sun rose and slowly naturally lit the cabin as we arrived closer to Seoul.
Approximately one hour before landing breakfast was proposed … all 6 P class passengers woke up : Pomelo, orange and strawberry salad, cereal yogurt, butter, preserves, honey, bakery selection (raisin bread and croissants), choice of main courses : omelette with nori, zucchini and shiitake mushrooms with sesame seeds OR brioche French toast accompanied by apple-strawberry compote flavored with verbena. The brioche on this flight was much better than on the IAD-CDG.
We landed at 06h53 and made our way to gate 23 thanks to the “follow me” truck.
The agents were waiting for us on the jetbridges and disembarkation was finished within a few minutes. The crew had big smiles for us as we left the aircraft and said “see you in 2 days” as we told them we were flying back to Paris with them.
Formalities in Seoul were smooth … the immigration officer was surprised that we were staying for only 2 days. My friend had the unpleasant news that his bag was delayed, yet my bag arrived. I just cannot fathom the bag not being able to be transferred between 11h37 (arrival of the IAD flight) and 13h15 (scheduled departure of the ICN flight) yet both our bags were checked at the same time and most likely loaded in the same container from IAD. Our bags had “T” transit tags. The sole Air France agent directed us to the Korean Air baggage service counter where the agent was very apologetic yet efficient with the claim. Fortunately information was already in the system that his bag was arriving on the Korean Air code share flight that afternoon around 16h. We guessed that the time it takes for the bags to be offloaded, cleared, set up for delivery that we would have the bag later that night. Being that we arrived at 07h in the morning, however, it was like going a full day without his belongings. His bag ended up arriving at our hotel around 23h but we had told the concierge not to wake us and it was brought up to us when we requested it the next morning. As I write this report, you can be sure a nice letter has been sent to Air France.
Overall impression :
Transiting CDG was straight forward. It’s always nice to stop at the arrivals lounge for a refreshing shower between flights. At some point you just get used to boarding a bus to get to your plane, so that was not a big deal.
It was a little disappointing that my friend’s bag didn’t follow on the same flight. It goes to show that once the plane is on the ground in Roissy the baggage handler’s really don’t give any more priority to a P-class bag in transit than an economy class bag.
There is no better way to fly (at least that I have experienced). I have seen pictures of AF’s P-NEV and have always wanted to know what it was like. Since the 777-300ER is the only type where you are guaranteed to get the NEV (777-200s are still being retrofitted) it made flying in P that much more special. The seat is so comfortable and the amount of space for you to stow your personal items is perfect. I love the “mattress”, duvet, and big down pillow. The catering was exactly what AF is known for : excellent food, although I was slightly disappointed that the plat du jour was chicken (even though I did choose it!). The desserts were phenomenal. It was obvious that our flight attendant was used to pampering her passengers in First Class. She wore a beautiful thin / flat necklace that went simply perfectly with her Christian Lacroix uniform and her presentation was impeccable, as AF standards require. Everything was done just so in order to make our inflight experience unforgettable.
Continued …
CDG-ICN
AF264 777-300ER F-GSQF
Seats 1A + 2A
Scheduled departure : 13h15 (13h36)
Scheduled arrival : 07h00 (07h04)
Departure gate F74 -> bus to aire hotel
Arrival gate 23
When we arrived at gate F74 (even numbered boarding gates indicate boarding by bus while odd numbered boarding gates indicate the plane is in front of the terminal) boarding was already underway.
No priority boarding, just all the passengers patiently lining up to board … arrival on board : two flight attendants greeted us “bonjour Messieurs, juste devant a votre gauche” with big smiles. If only one of them had accompanied us to our seats that would have been a nice touch. We were expecting to be the only 2 passengers in P but there were 4 upgrades done and we were the last 2 to arrive.
Once settled in one the first class flight attendant welcomed us and proposed champagne, which we politely declined. We were offered an alternative and like the previous flight she graciously brought us some orange juice.
We accumulated another pair of pyjamas and amenity kit … followed by the menu. Today’s meal was “a la carte”, dining just like in a restaurant. Before the closure of the doors, our flight attendant took everyone’s orders and we were soon on our way towards runway 27R (27L was closed for works) after the traditional 15 minute delay
Take off was amazing … especially since I’m used to flying in the A340 … compared to the 340 we literally rocketed off the runway … those GE90s quite simply have a beautiful sound.A single gong around 10,000 feet indicated to the flight attendants that they could start preparing the cabin for the service … the curtains and panels were closed and our aperitif was served accompanied by the appetizer : sea bream with chives and nori, beet and mascarpone galette with chives, foie gras and smoked breast of duck with figs.
On the 777-300ER, the Chief Purser contributes to the service in P and he helped our flight attendant prepare our tray tables with the linen and proposed the wines / drinks with the beginning of our meal. The vinaigrette, olive oil, bread plate, and cutlery kits were placed just so. The service continued with the presentation of the foie gras terrine with cepe mushrooms and truffles and lobster served with achar sauce and sweet-and-
sour eggplant, each plate being brought out on an inox tray by our classy flight attendant.
(Bear in mind there were numerous choices, but to spare the reader, you can find the rest of the choices eventually on the well known site for airline meals.)
The service continued according to the pace of the passenger … the glass was never empty and the wait between courses never long. You never had the impression that the flight attendant couldn’t handle the 6 passengers on her own. Images here of our main course choices : fillet of free-range chicken accompanied by asparagus coulis and celery with Middle-Eastern spices and Pan-seared scallops accompanied by braised cabbage and snow peas cumin.
The main course followed by the presentation of cheese : camembert, fourme de Montbrison, Sainte-Maure cendre, gratte paille, presented on a serving table and sliced in front of you according to your taste.
The best part next : dessert : petits fours frais, blanc-manger with black currants, orange tart flavored with fennel seeds, hazelnut milk chocolate dacquoise, sherbet served with cookies, fresh fruit.
As you see in the photo, the only one we did not eat was the orange tart ! We took advantage of the First Class seat and I joined my friend on the “bench” (for lack of a better word) for dessert and tea / coffee. The flight attendant proposed a taste of Korea by bringing us ginseng tea, served in the shiny pot accompanied by Michel Cluizel chocolates.
As everyone finished up the flight attendant cleared all service material and converted each seat into a bed with the “futon”style mattress, duvet, and feather pillow. Before allowing passengers to rest, the flight attendant presented a 33cl bottle of Evian to each passenger. I changed into my pyjamas and settled in for the 10h07 night flight to ICN. Honestly there is no better way to fly.
The “bed” was perfect. I have never slept better on a plane. The meal service must have been about 2 hours … I must have slept a good 6 hours before I awoke again quite refreshed … with only 2 hours left, I told myself the flight went by too quickly, I was not even able to watch all the movies I wanted to ! To be noted : music programming on this aircraft was AVOD (audio + video on demand) which was nice to be able to stop and choose the song you wanted.
The sun rose and slowly naturally lit the cabin as we arrived closer to Seoul.
Approximately one hour before landing breakfast was proposed … all 6 P class passengers woke up : Pomelo, orange and strawberry salad, cereal yogurt, butter, preserves, honey, bakery selection (raisin bread and croissants), choice of main courses : omelette with nori, zucchini and shiitake mushrooms with sesame seeds OR brioche French toast accompanied by apple-strawberry compote flavored with verbena. The brioche on this flight was much better than on the IAD-CDG.
We landed at 06h53 and made our way to gate 23 thanks to the “follow me” truck.
The agents were waiting for us on the jetbridges and disembarkation was finished within a few minutes. The crew had big smiles for us as we left the aircraft and said “see you in 2 days” as we told them we were flying back to Paris with them.
Formalities in Seoul were smooth … the immigration officer was surprised that we were staying for only 2 days. My friend had the unpleasant news that his bag was delayed, yet my bag arrived. I just cannot fathom the bag not being able to be transferred between 11h37 (arrival of the IAD flight) and 13h15 (scheduled departure of the ICN flight) yet both our bags were checked at the same time and most likely loaded in the same container from IAD. Our bags had “T” transit tags. The sole Air France agent directed us to the Korean Air baggage service counter where the agent was very apologetic yet efficient with the claim. Fortunately information was already in the system that his bag was arriving on the Korean Air code share flight that afternoon around 16h. We guessed that the time it takes for the bags to be offloaded, cleared, set up for delivery that we would have the bag later that night. Being that we arrived at 07h in the morning, however, it was like going a full day without his belongings. His bag ended up arriving at our hotel around 23h but we had told the concierge not to wake us and it was brought up to us when we requested it the next morning. As I write this report, you can be sure a nice letter has been sent to Air France.
Overall impression :
Transiting CDG was straight forward. It’s always nice to stop at the arrivals lounge for a refreshing shower between flights. At some point you just get used to boarding a bus to get to your plane, so that was not a big deal.
It was a little disappointing that my friend’s bag didn’t follow on the same flight. It goes to show that once the plane is on the ground in Roissy the baggage handler’s really don’t give any more priority to a P-class bag in transit than an economy class bag.
There is no better way to fly (at least that I have experienced). I have seen pictures of AF’s P-NEV and have always wanted to know what it was like. Since the 777-300ER is the only type where you are guaranteed to get the NEV (777-200s are still being retrofitted) it made flying in P that much more special. The seat is so comfortable and the amount of space for you to stow your personal items is perfect. I love the “mattress”, duvet, and big down pillow. The catering was exactly what AF is known for : excellent food, although I was slightly disappointed that the plat du jour was chicken (even though I did choose it!). The desserts were phenomenal. It was obvious that our flight attendant was used to pampering her passengers in First Class. She wore a beautiful thin / flat necklace that went simply perfectly with her Christian Lacroix uniform and her presentation was impeccable, as AF standards require. Everything was done just so in order to make our inflight experience unforgettable.
Continued …
