This flight in business class on Air France between Porto and Paris confirms the impression I had on the outward journey, namely a noticeable upscale in contrast to my previous experiences.

For the record the air routing of this trip.

At the bottom of the page you’ll find a summary of articles about this trip to Porto.

Ground experience

I arrive at the airport well in advance by Uber. From the hotel it took me 20 minutes for 10 euros.

I head for the security checkpoints where the fast track will be completely empty.

I then go to the end of the terminal where I take the elevator to the airport’s very mediocre ANA lounge.

A lounge so mediocre that I’ll be leaving it long before boarding time, preferring to wander around the terminal.

While nothing is indicated on the Tripit signs, I’m informed of a 15-minute delay on departure and a 30-minute delay on arrival for the inbound flight. By the way, these signs spend more time advertising the airport’s application than indicating flights, which is rather annoying.

Boarding

I finally reach the gate, and only then is it announced that boarding will be delayed by just 10 minutes. But that doesn’t stop people from crowding the gate ….

Priority boarding finally begins, but then we get stuck in the jetway for 10 minutes as disembarkation is not yet complete.

We finally enter the cabin.

The cabin

The A319 features the usual Air France medium-haul cabin.

Unlike other aircraft, the seats have not aged badly at all.

Legroom is decent, but not great.

There are 3 rows of business class on this flight for 12 seats, all of which will be occupied, including one by a uniformed flight attendant.

The flight

We are given a good-quality refreshing wipe during boarding, but no water.

We end up leaving 20 minutes late, which is the least that can happen. Bye bye Porto.

We take off, and after a last look at the Portuguese coast, we break through the cloud cover and set course for Paris.

After 40 minutes service begins in economy class, but still nothing in business class. Not even a drop of water since takeoff, they could have distributed bottles anyway. And the partition curtain is not drawn.

The flight attendant finally comes up to me and asks if “I’d like to have dinner”. It’s only 6 p.m. and considering the dish I find the wording a bit pretentious, but hey…

Quinoa salad with asparagus and mozzarella, Cantal AOP, Crottin de Chavignol AOP, Chocolate Moelleux.

It’s fresh, tasty and good, even if I prefer what KLM served on the outbound flight. On the other hand, the bread, although warm, is rather average.

The moelleux, on the other hand, won’t be that soft.

All in all, a very decent service, and in any case better than what Air France has accustomed me to in business class in the past.

As we fly over the Breton coast, we turn towards Paris and begin our descent.

Arrival

After an uneventful descent, we landed and reached our parking lot 30 minutes late.

The service

Very decent without being exceptional.

Bottom line

Not the flight of the century, but I still feel a very marked improvement on Air France’s medium-haul service compared with my past experiences.

The articles about this stay in Porto

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