This is the 2nd part of my trip on Air France’s inaugural AirbusA380 flight from JFK to Paris.  There were so many special aspects and features to this trip that I broke the post in two parts.  The first part is HERE and covers the pre-departure festivities as well as the actual flight.  The second part, below, will cover the arrival in Paris and focus more on the airplane itself.

Here are some highlights of Air France’s A380

upper floor forward door

rear stairwell

door

mid galley

front stairs; directly across from these stairs are the stairs up to the cockpit

economy class cabin; very similar to other Air France cabins

the curve of the fuselage makes for a large gap between window seats and the wall of the plane on the first floor, in economy

Upper Deck, Business Class

first class

Each passenger was given this tote bag which included a model of the A380 (the stand commemorates the date and occasion) some cologne and perfume by Marcisco Rodriguez (on top of bag in picture) and a certificate.

After de-planning, there was this 2 piece “orchestra” and the jet bridge was lined with Air France employees greeting passengers

A few fleeting shots

Even after 12 hours of being submersed in everything that is the A380, I still had some adrenaline pumping as I walked away from the gate and the experience.  At first, second and third glance, I did not find the A380 much of an aesthetic pleasure, but having flown in it, I have a new appreciation for this magnificent airplane and the saying “beauty is only skin deep”

From Paris, I connected to Heathrow, flew American Airlines to JFK, then connected to a Mexicana Airlines flight to Mexico City.  I will post those trips within the next few days.  Thanks for coming by!

Air France Flight 380 On the 380 - Part I

Last week, Air France flew its first Airbus A380 route from Paris to JFK and then back to Paris.  As you may know, Air France is the first European carrier to fly the A380.  Instead of simply selling the tickets for the inaugural flights, Air France auctioned tickets via eBay and donated the majority, if not all, of the proceeds to several charities that help impoverished children.  Each winning bid was awarded travel on the A380 from either Paris to New York or vice versa, dependent upon which segment you were bidding on.  Also included was a return flight on the day of your choice on Air France.  Hotel and shopping discounts in either Paris or New York were also made available to winners of the auction.

With one day left in the auction, I decided to look at the range of bids.  Mind you, I have never bought or sold anything on eBay so I was somewhat unfamiliar with the process.  To my surprise, the bids for the JFK-Paris A380 trip were around $355 US dollars.  The bidding was intense in the last moments, primarily because bids were quoted in Euros.  When the auction was over, I had won a trip on the A380 for a mere $388 (give or take a few bucks) and it was for a great cause: Planereality.com!!  No….  Really the cause was to help the Air France Foundation support the following charities:

Francois Xavier Bagnoud Association: http://www.fxb.org

Arts Et development Association: http://www.artsetdeveloppement.com

Association Plan: http://plan-international.org

Like I mentioned, the price included return airfare, but JFK-Paris-JFK was way too simple of an itinerary for me so I threw in a couple of other legs for good measure…more on that in other posts.  Below is the first part of the experience.  I will cover the arrival in Paris and give you a brief tour of the A380 in Part II.

Each passenger was asked to bring a wrapped gift for a child to be donated to the Boys & Girls Club of Kips Bay.

Air France served champagne to anyone in this wing of Terminal 1, regardless of what airline one was flying.

It was a bit tricky getting photos of the plane in New York, but here are a few:

I was told by the gate agent there were over 500 passengers on the flight.  Getting evryone on the plane is an acheivment it itself.

This tote bag was placed at each seat.  Included in it, among other things, was a model of the A380.

The plane is equipped with 3 cameras:1 on the tail and 1 each on the nose and belly of the plane.

from the tail camera just after pushback from gate

dinner & breakfast menu for economy class

A few times throughout the flight, this 3 piece band made their way through the cabin.

I did manage at least 90 minutes of sleep, but was woken by some odd occurences.  The first time I woke, the band had arrived once again, this time right next time, playing Happy Birthday for someone in the row across from me.  Oddly, the second time I woke, there were several crew members gathered at that same row helping someone elevate their feet and fanning the person.  I could not figure out what was happening so I went back to sleep.  When I woke for good, I went and checked out the bar and snacks that had been set up for anyone’s enjoyment.  When I drew the curtain at the galley I found a small party of Frenchmen.  They all made fun of me because I was serving myself water and not champagne.  I got a big kick out of them and I too chuckled at myself.

Air France certainly made this flight memorable and special, pulling out all the stops for all passengers.  As mentioned, I will cover the arrival and give you a brief tour of the A380 in Part II.  Thank you for reading this post.

breakfast

BACKGROUND

I wanted to find some reasonably priced airfare on an international itinerary and include business class in at least one direction. I wound up booking a one way coach class ticket 6 days before departure for around $650 USD on my online booking engine: http//1535.mtravel.com.

The $650 was considerably less than the $3,500 published on various other web sites. This happened to be a Delta code-share flight operated by Air France. For the $650 price, there were 3 departures to choose from; 2 on Delta and the one I chose on Air France. I chose this flight because it looked like the least full flight of the 3. I used Delta’s web site to check seat availability before booking.

After booking, when I first pulled up my itinerary online at delta.com, I was unable to assign myself a seat. I called the international reservations desk and spoke to an apologetic Delta agent who put me on hold so he could call Air France. Twenty-five minutes later, it was determined that Delta & AF computers were not synchronizing seat availability. The DL agent took my seat request and said he would put a request in for my seats. Shortly thereafter I saw my seats assigned on line but could not change them. Incidentally, I could not see my reservation on Air France’s web site and 1 day before departure my reservation disappeared from delta.com. After another call to Delta international reservations, the agent told me my DL SkyMiles # was removed from the reservation, but she put it back on. (?)

AF #385 ATL-CDG (Atlanta-Paris)
Airbus A340-300
Duration: 8 hours; 6 hour time change

Check in was normal, albeit slow considering how few people were in line, for the 8:50pm departure to Paris. The guy next to me was connecting to Cairo from Charles De Gaulle, but his passport had less than 2 months until expiration, making it invalid to enter most foreign countries; even those that do not require Americans to obtain a visa. Ouch!

Dude playing piano in food court; terminal E in ATL:

Boarding was orderly, as this flight was about 40% full. My boarding pass indicated Zone 5, however, Delta Sky Miles Elite members receive priority boarding after Zone 1 (business class) is called.

What I noticed about this Airbus A340-300 was how narrow the aisles were, barely wide enough to tow a roller bag behind me while heading to my seat. In coach, Air France uses a 2-4-2 configuration. When I saw my seat, I was shocked at how little leg room I would have, but knew I had the seat next to me open and did not panic.

Shortly after takeoff, a small plastic bag containing eye shades, ear phones, ear plugs and a towelette was given to each passenger seated in coach class. Drinks were offered, including beer, wine and champagne (all complimentary) along with a small bag of pretzels. I asked the FA for two Heinekens.
“Two?!” she replied with a surprised look….
“Yes” I said, “it will save you a trip back in 5 minutes”
“Oh” she said; and kindly passed me two Heinekens.

At first, the IFE (in flight entertainment) was not working at all, but it was re-set quickly and worked fine for the rest of the trip. Too bad the girl behind me did not know there was a remote control in the arm rest. She only used the touch screen (with force), pounding constantly on the back of my seat (flying pet peeve #1). I raised my in seat remote above my head a few times in order to give her a clue. It must have worked because the pounding stopped shortly after.
Full dinner service commenced. Beef Burgeon accompanied by curry cous cous with baby shrimp, cheese and pudding. Small baguettes and more cocktails followed. I found the cabin entirely too hot to fall asleep. I was literally sweating, just sitting there and unfortunately, there were no personal adjustable air streams overhead. I told the FA the cabin was too hot. He nodded and said OK. Eventually I fell asleep for about two hours and woke up freezing cold, to broad daylight inside the cabin and FA’s serving breakfast.

Flying pet peeve #2-When someone is walking to the bathroom, WHY must they touch every seat’s head rest as they walk by, causing passengers to rock back and forth in their seats? Use a cane if you can’t support yourself.

Connection
So I dashed to my gate at the other terminal because I was uncertain as to whether I had to go through customs. It seemed like at least 3 miles from Terminal 2E to Terminal 2F; it was probably more like a mile but I was working on 3 hours of sleep. There was no customs per se, but I did have to go through security again, although shoes were allowed to be kept on as opposed to the USA. By the time I did this, I needed a restroom asap. The facilities resembled that of the whole terminal; crowded and dated. I found one bathroom on the lower level of the terminal; 3 stalls, one of which was out of order and only 2 urinals. I waited in line because I had to.

Terminal 2F at CDG:

Air France #526 CDG-DXB (Paris-Dubai)
Boeing 777-200ER
Duration: 6 hours-3 hour time change

Asked the gate attendant for a seat without anyone next to me; no luck, she put me in the middle between two people but actually she did me a favor because the exit row was huge. The exit door of the 777-200ER has a mini window in it.

My seat:

After all passengers boarded and the doors closed, a few FA’s gathered in my exit row. They were looking out the small window in the emergency door and pointing at the wing-we were still at the gate. Then the co-captain came back to have a look, then the pilot stared at it for a moment-all speaking French. I decided to get up and have a look and saw nothing. I asked the FA if he needed me to get out on the wing and have a look; he did not get my joke. No idea what the issue was but it did result in a late take off, only by about 20 minutes.

Much to my surprise, lunch menus were passed out in coach.

I chose the chicken casserole which was delicious. Much better than it looks in the picture. Cognac and coffee were offered after lunch. No sleep on this plane, my ass hurt too much from sitting on hard coach seats, even after the cognac.

I watched a few episodes of the Sopranos. I think Air France needs some more variety for movies, there are only about 20 movies and although I am no movie buff, I had only heard of about half of them. More than half way:

The second meal (er…snack) service, consisting of small finger sandwiches, included no alcohol, even for sale; only juice, water, coffee and soda.

This leg of my journey to Dubai was uneventful but bizarre. After flying in darkness nearly the whole way from Atlanta, I was on my next flight for only 2.5 hours and it was dark again. (we were blazing our way east, away from the sun)

From the rear of the plane where I was stretching, somewhere over Saudi Arabia… Get me outta here…

…yeah:

My seat (middle) after arrival in Dubai:

After 14+ hours in coach, I was ready to get off this plane. Luckily it was time to do just that AND I was at my destination.

I had very low expectations for coach class, but Air France did a marvelous job the whole way. Everything you would expect; attentive & friendly service, good food and clean planes.