Every year we try to make at least one trip together, Olivier and I. This summer we went to Beijing and Seoul…from Manchester. Why ? Looking for a “good deal” we found an unbeatable “companion fare” from Manchester: £1700 per person in first class on Luftansa.
Once we bought our tickets, all we had to do was fly to Manchester, which we did with Air France.
Ticket purchase and check-in
We found a round trip for 151€ in economy class on Air France. At check-in we are offered to upgrade to business for 59€, which Olivier will do but I won’t, as I don’t think that the business service on such a short flight is worth it.
Ground experience
We are in the middle of the vacation departure period and people are crowding the check-in counters at Roissy Terminal 2E.
It’s much quieter and faster in the Skypriority lane.
It doesn’t matter, we only have carry-on luggage and we are on our way to the police and security checks.
It’s a little crowded in the lines…
But almost nobody in Access n°1 and at the Parafe terminals…which work.
The security will be passed without more trouble and we will spend some time in the Air France lounge before going to the boarding gate. A lounge that has really outlived its usefulness and where, a recurring problem at Air France, there is no space to work, which is compounded by real difficulties to get a quality cellular network. Really not optimal when you plan to end your working day there and to believe that they imagine that the passengers frequenting the lounge are only interested in the buffet and have no need to work.
Boarding
Due to a change of aircraft, the flight will not be operated by an Air France A319 but by an Embraer ERJ-190 in Hop’s colors.
Let’s go to the ground floor of the terminal.
The line has not yet formed.
We wait 10 minutes before we are announced a delay of 15 minutes. As if this could not have been anticipated and announced before.
The staff made a few announcements that were totally inaudible to us, due to both poor equipment and the speaker’s inability to speak into a microphone while articulating!
Boarding eventually begins and priorities are respected, which for a bus boarding is ultimately of little importance or even counterproductive because those who board the bus first will be the last to board the plane.
They scan my boarding pass and a “beep” sounds, sign of an upgrade to business class. So there was no point in paying for the upgrade.
After a long drive to the edge of the airport we finally arrive at the plane.
The cabin
Unlike the A319 that usually serves this route, this CRJ is in a 2-2 configuration, so there will be no neutralized middle seat and therefore less space.
Legroom is pretty good for this type of aircraft.
The seat is a bit hard but for such a short flight we can live with it.
The boarding lasts, we wait for a second bus. Once everyone is on board, we lose some more time because the captain asks to disembark a passenger, a “non-rev” who was not a flight attendant and applying for a jumpseat where, according to the captain, this would have been a safety problem.
The doors are finally closed and the engines started. After 20 minutes we arrive on the threshold and we are ready to take off.
The flight and the service
Considering the duration of the flight the service starts very quickly after takeoff. The tray table does not slide much and is therefore far from the passenger, not very pleasant to eat.
I’m given my tray.
Well, it looks a bit empty. I’m really not a fan of Air France’s medium-haul business trays and prefer by far those of Lufthansa, Swiss or British Airways which make the effort to serve a real plate. Here we have 4 small bites which fight in duel in the middle of small ramekins, that makes really cheap. Only the salmon toast and the apricots are just about right.
Ordering drinks, the flight attendant asks me “what can I get you?”. The tone is not dry but no warmth, we feel the service almost mechanical, I am not even sure she sees the passengers. Anyway.
I am at the second last row of the business class and Olivier at the last. I turn around to ask his opinion on the meal just as it is being served. And then surprise! The cake you see on the top right of my tray has disappeared from the trays of the last row, leaving its place to an empty ramekin!
As soon as the tray was put down and without the passengers having had time to react, she said “There’s nothing we can do about it, it’s been loaded like this” and she turned on her heels! Unbelievable. The minimum would have been to apologize or even to take the snack of the economy class to compensate but she did nothing! We were stunned!
Even more bitter when you know that one had paid for his upgrade and not the other.
I begin my “tasting”.
Tasteless salmon, more like chewing gum once you try to chew it.
The cake was obviously an olive cake.
Neither dry nor fondant, not much taste. Phew.
This green and white thing must have been cucumber in an intermediate state between soup and compote.
Again, not much taste and no salt or pepper to season it.
Only the apricots will raise the level of this more than ordinary meal.
You’ll notice that I tried to guess what was on my plate because no menu was handed out like it was before. Again, something that was “not loaded” or penny-pinching? On the other hand, when you end up wondering what you are eating, it is not necessarily a good sign.
The trays are cleaned, always in the same absent and mechanical way.
There is still some time before the landing, I take the Air France magazine.
Torn and bruised, don’t tell me it’s only been there since this morning. It is in the same state as the image of the airline after such a flight. Shame.
The landing will go smoothly, the police controls passed very quickly in Manchester, which closes the first section of our trip.
Bottom line
All the problems of Air France summarized in one flight. A meal on a medium-haul business flight that doesn’t manage to seduce me, but I can forgive.. dishes that are systematically tasteless, a disastrous service and a flight attendant in “automatic waitress” mode who seems to have totally given up.
When we say that in the customer perception an airline is never better than its worst product…between the best and the worst each Air France flight looks more and more like Russian roulette.
Our routing :
- Paris-Manchester, Air France Business (here)
- Manchester-Frankfurt, Lufthansa Business Class
- Frankfurt-Beijing, Lufthansa First Class
- Beijiing-Seoul, Asiana Economy
- Seoul-Beijing, Asiana Economy
- Beijing-Munich, Lufthansa First Class
- Munich-Frankfurt, Lufthansa Business Class (not interesting, not reviewed)
- Frankfurt-Manchester, Lufthansa Business Class (not interesting, not reviewed)
- Manchester-Paris, Air France Economy (coming soon)
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