Air France review - by C McCafferty

2 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LCY-DUB return, operated by CityJet. Travelling through LCY is so easy, but I had plenty of time to enjoy the airport as the flight was delayed by over an hour. Once onboard service was efficient for the short flight, and attendants were professional, albeit with little to do (only a drinks service with a bag of nuts provided). On the return, crew were professional and seemed courteous to those passengers that had requests. Overall, I was impressed by the general feel of quality, but significant delays on both legs lets the service down.

Air France review - by Pascal Raverdy

30 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

As French person I do not especially take care about AF ! CDG-Copenhagen and back. The CDG 2D airport is a nightmare. We boarded into a bus, then waited for 30 min in the bus (stand up) to take 200 meters farther another stairs to go to the gate. Staff okay. Meal (dinner) is a caricature of the french taste - coleslaw, chocolate tart (no cheese or fruit). Back staff and plane : anything to say they were good (but a smile is always appreciated). AF prices were better than low cost airlines, but the meals are the same - nothing to eat or rather not many things (and into a plastic box signed P Stark - but we do not eat the box !!).

Air France review - by F Cremonini

21 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Bologna-CDG-Mauritius on A-318 and B-747-400 in Economy. Seats with very small seat pitch/legroom and recline, and service sub-standard - in 11 hours, water and drinks offered only once with main meal and once again with breakfast. A buffet with drinks only was available - but with 3-4-3 configuration on a night flight, it can be impossible to get something to drink. Food average, with no choice. Wine was already preset on the tray. No other alcohol offered during this flight. Very poor experience, never again on long-haul in Economy with Air France.

Air France review - by Michael Keisner

21 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Paris to Shanghai, Hong Kong to Paris Business Class. My inbound flight to Paris arrived late, Air France met me at the gate and took me directly to my Shanghai flight. Whilst my bag did not make the connection they made sure that it was on the next flight. No major inconvenience, albeit AF credited with extra miles for my inconvenience. The new seats were most comfotable I have experienced. Service on the plane very good and food more than edible. All in all Air France seemed to have improved their standards and made me feel like an important customer.

Air France review - by Boris Stevanovic

17 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

DXB-CDG-ALG-TUN-CDG-DXB Business Class. I often fly the route Dubai Europe and Emirates is better on this route. I think Air France has not changed the menu for the past two years: same fruit salad and cold starter on the night flight and the daily flight same starters with foie gras (you cannot escape) if I compare with Emirates the culinary experience is much better.

Air France review - by P Gatineau

9 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

STR-CDG-STR economy. Overall a nice experience. Aircraft very clean and in extremly good shape. Adequate seat pitch for such a short flight. F/As carefull. Each flight on time. CDG 2D was a nightmare but obviously not Air France fault. Little desapointed to receive a small sandwich only on the flight back, outbound only peanuts. Flight price was lower than all low cost carriers to Paris !

Air France review - by F Choong

9 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LCY-ZRH return. Operated by CityJet on behalf of Air France. Easy check-in at London City Airport, staff very friendly and immigration quite efficient. Flight left on time and arrived spot on in Zurich. Airport facilities are excellent, large and impressive terminal. On the way back, had a very bad surprise, our plane had a technical problem and we waited 20 min in the bus before going back to the terminal where waited 30 min before being told our plane was cancelled. Zurich staff handled the situation very well and at the transfer desk, we were all rebooked on a Swiss flight to LCY. I admit the food on board was far better than on Air France and we even received some chocolates, nice touch before the landing. Despite this unlucky situation, would fly Air France again as it was a promotional cheap flight.

Air France review - by Vladimir Kuzmin

9 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

ORY to Martinique on B777-300ER. Seats so small and narrow that it was impossible to eat without not touching person sitting next to you : AF managed to put 3-4-3 seat configuration on this plane instead of 3-3-3 . Very small seat pitch and recline. Food was OK but no choice on this route and wine was already preset on the tray. No other alcohol offered during this flight. For a soft drink they asked to go to the galley buffet yourself . Very similar service to a charter airline.

Air France review - by Simon Smith

7 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LCY-MAD return on the new route (operated by Cityjet). Check in quick and easy at the automatic machines and no queue for fast back drop. Air France uses the old terminal at Madrid (T1) which is a bit run down but is much quicker to get through than the new terminal. On oard service was very good - despite being in economy class we got a reasonable size and decent quality snack, and we were offered a second round of drinks. Both flights were on time, which is pretty rare for London-Madrid flights. Overall this was excellent.

Air France review - by A Wilkes

3 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

PEK-CDG. Disappointed in many ways by the much vaunted service. B777-300 full to capacity. IFE system failed at many seats and was not restored and the crew appeared rather disinterested in the problem. No hot meal choice by the time the trolley reached row 46. Legroom extremely limited even for someone who is hardly tall. The fact that the flight arrived on time was its only saving grace, allowing a relatively easy connection to LHR despite the lack of buses at CDG.

Air France review - by F Chaplin

2 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

CDG-ATL return A340 and Kansaï-CDG B777. We expected the worst, we had quite good or good impression at the end. Staff was pleasant and effective, the food was fine, seats were good enough for an economy place, but I preferred the A340 (more space, 2x3x2 instead of 3x4x3 for B777). Planes were both clean, and the B777 seemed new. Perfect flights on all points for an economy ticket.

Air France review - by Frank Epple

27 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

CDG-STR, evening flight on economy, got off with a little delay from CDG after a catering truck got stuck under the aircraft. Good information why boarding was stopped by the captain; during the flight, delay was made up so no harm done! All male staff on board, even German spoken, food and drink ok for a 55 min flight. Overall a very nice experience with AF.

Air France review - by G Keenan

27 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

In flight service was fine Rome-Paris-Philadelphia, but Ground Services, starting with one person unable to handle a plane load of misconnects, ground stairs on most flights, difficult for many, more difficult for some of us that are old. Gate changes, incompetence, additional delays were commonplace. Questions regarding assistance, information or am I in the correct area were handled as intrusive, I was the paying customer that was inconvenienced, yet I was treated as a non person, a problem. We eventually did misconnect, and did not have to, it was due to incompetence, and poor staffing. We were put up overnight, but at a substandard hotel, no airconditioning in July, and poor quality meals. Get away with the minimum for Air France. The next day we were delayed, due to over 100 late arrivals, that would have also misconnected.

Air France review - by Asch Remmer

11 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

DTW-CDG-STR return TRN-CDG-STR Business Class all legs. AF's A330 seats reasonably comfortable even for big people. FA's friendly but not attentive in both directions, one beverage round and two meals and they disappear for rest of flight. had to hunt down own water, etc. Meals not very good. AF Regional aircraft crowded and dirty. CDG is an unmitigated disaster as transit airport. Older parts of Terminal 2 like a bus station, newly opened section of Terminal 2 not much better. Aircraft to bus to terminal (passport control) to bus, to terminal(security) to bus to aircraft - takes about an hour (thanks to the expedited 'Aisle 1' lanes for Business Class customers). luggage missed connecting flights in both directions. AMS is so much better as transit airport

Air France review - by Vince Danz

11 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

PHL-CDG-DUS in economy. Individual TVs, good selections of movies and shows, amenity kits with eye shades, head phones, ear plugs, good meals, free alcohol, nice FAs and modern aircraft. The only small drawback was the bus from the plane to the terminal.

Air France review - by Frank Sherwin

3 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

SCL-CDG return economy. The 777 is not a very nice plane (too noisy, seats too high, and overhead lockers are too high and small), but apart from this the flights were fine. Had an empty seat next to me on the outbound flight, which is a necessity in economy, but sadly not on the inbound flight. Flight on time outbound, but returning I had a very short connection in CDG. Fortunately AF organised a guide to whisk us through the airport and get us to the departure gate on time. In general the flight attendants are helpful, multilingual, and leave enough cans of Perrier in the kitchen overnight. I tried AF's vegetarian meals, and wasn't tremendously impressed, these seem to be made up on the spur of the moment and lack minor details such as vinaigrette for the salad, butter for the bread rolls, etc. Overall an acceptable experience, I would fly with them again.

Air France review - by J Kemp

30 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Air France's "City Jet" service between Orly and London City is in for some turbulent times. Take check-in at LCY for an AF flight to ORY: Passengers can no longer queue up, check a bag, get a boarding pass, and move on to security. The airline now forces all passengers to use self check-in terminals. Typically, a passenger will arrive and line up at the check-in desk, and as there are few AF personnel about, it's only when the passenger reaches the top of the queue that s/he is told that they must use the screen based check-in. If the passenger has a bag, they have to queue up once again to check it at the so-called "e- service" counter. This is where they queued up the first time around. Then, if the passenger is in "business" class - which is usually the only class of service available on this flight, and wants to have a voucher for £3.50 to buy a drink at the bar in the departures area (there is no lounge at LCY), there's yet another queue - more like an angry mob at this point, attempting to get close enough to the AF service counter in order to grab someone's attention. Once on board, "Air France" by CityJet (the plane is AF livery, the crew where AF uniforms - don't what the City Jet piece is really) one is jammed in, 3 across, aboard a BaE 146 which have seen better days. Despite most of the plane being designated "Espace Affaires", there is no space and everyone receives the same treatment. AF makes no effort to recognize that many of the regular passengers on this sector are high contribution clients - imposing ridiculous check-in procedures and providing sub- standard seating and laughable in-flight service. For less money, the business traveller can have a far more comfortable seat, a proper meal, get some work done, and arrive relaxed at destination for about the same amount of time spent in transit.

Air France review - by P Sullivan

27 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LAX-CDG,Economy, B777-300. Miserable. The movable headrest would not stay up, so sat with it between my shoulder blades for the duration of the flight. After half an hour the control unit for the entertainment system shorts out, so no movies, games, etc. What's worse is that some genius has decided that the reading light should be controlled by the same unit. The cabin lights get dimmed after the meal (which I skipped after one taste, it was that good), and there I am in the dark for the remaining 9 hours. FA says she can't move me, flight's full. Air France had cancelled an earlier flight of mine, giving me the option of flying 24 hours earlier or later, and then proceeded to change flight times thrice on a total of four legs, incl. this one?

Air France review - by Bruno Solnik

22 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

F class CDG_IAH on 777-200 (one row of 4 F seats) and LAX-CDG on 777-300 (2 rows, 8 F seats). Seats excellent but offer no privacy. On the 777-200 the right hand seats are just next to the galley (I mean the galley starts at the feet of the seats). Very noisy during the whole trip because FAs keep eating/talking in the galley. The footrest keeps shaking when they use the galley closet and table against it. There is no galley in front of 1A (only corridor to cockpit); so much better. Avoid 1L at all costs. There is only one FA in F cabin. So excellent service in 777-200, very slow on 777-300. Food was good and plentiful. Could sample a couple of appetizers on both legs despite full cabin. Wines are disapointing; not bad but not up to F standards of other European or Asian airlines. When departing CDG, they started a new escort service, absolutely wonderful. Personally escorted from taxi to the plane (use a private limo or van). But nothing when you arrive at CDG (one bag missing, and had to queue at baggage service for 30 minutes). They increased their fares by 1000 euros because of this escort service. No escort service, or any special attention at other airports. F lounge at CDG is a small upstairs appendix to the C lounge, same seats, same wine, same disapointing breakfast (dry croissants and fruit juice/salad, nothing else). Just one computer operational. To go to toilets, you need to walk down to the C lounge. I liked the ANZ Business class used in LAX. It is not a F lounge, but is much better than the AF F lounge in CDG. AF has improved its first class product (and also its cost), but needs to be more consistent to compete with BA, LH or Asian airlines.

Air France review - by R Gaytan

20 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LAX-CDG-LHR-CDG-LAX, First / Business Class. LAX-CDG started in the shared Air New Zealand lounge at LAX. The hot food in the lounge was quite mediocre, but drinks and other snacks were great. The seat on AF Premiere (777-200) was a pod suite. This was an overnight flight, so the cabin was dim, and service was quiet (of course there were only 4 seats in Premiere, so it's always quiet!). The menu was a bit boring, and appetizers and side dishes much better than the main course. Service friendly and attentive. LHR-CDG was euro-style business class, which is just a glorified economy class. Seats were not very good at all. CDG-LAX on a newer 8-seat Premiere configuration (777-300), but only 1 attendent so there was less personalized service. Service was good, but not great, and again the main course was disappointing. Neither the cheese nor the wine were up to par on this leg, but I would not consider them bad. Overall, there are some food and service consistency issues, but I could not find much to complain about. I did notice that on the CDG-LAX leg, the staff tended to "disappear" for hours like other reviewers said. This was not true on the LAX-CDG leg however.

Air France review - by K Veersamy

14 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Birmingham to CDG to Mauritius return. Cityjet to CDG provided good service, and old type 747-400 CDG to MRU in economy look dated with old central screens and limited IFE. Food good, with drinks trolley provided at rear of aircraft on self service basis, but no snacks or wine provided. Wine served with meal; no bar service that I could see, and no complimentary champagne on Indian ocean flights. Saw cabin crew only at breakfast and lunch. Having said this, would fly them again, and CDG not as bad as I was lead to expect, with good signposting and friendly ground staff. No problems with one and half hour transit time between 2F and 2C.

Air France review - by B Lundbo

20 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

OSL-GIG return in Economy. Afternoon flight OSL to CDG in A318. Plane was fairly new and clean with friendly staff. Flight full, but with only 2hr20 mins to CDG not a problem. Snack and wine served. Arrived at CDG 2D on time giving 5 hrs to get to 2E for our GIG flight. CDG airport is not an easy airport to connect at, signs are confusing at best and airport staff seem indifferent. Terminal 2E is still under construction since the collapse 3 years ago so only a few flights use the terminal in a temporary set-up. Boarding was chaotic with passengers running all over the place ingoring the lines. Buses were used to the remotely parked plane at the far end of terminal 2. GIG flight on a 747-400, one of the older models without PTV, but with the new Internationales NEV interior (40 business/393 economy seats). Seats were worn and my seat cushion had separated from the seat back slightly, but it was adjusted by FA before take off. Plane full. Got our pre-assigned seats 53B/C. Dinner was good and plentiful. Good quality wine, and the complementary champagne in economy is a treat! AF have a self-service buffet at mid- flight with ice cream, snacks, sandwiches and soft drinks which is ok. Service was nothing to write home about. A pretty decent continental breakfast was served just before landing. Only complaint I have is that they should give a second serving of bread at breakfast, all other major airlines do this on intercontinental routes. I flew CDG-GIG on AF 2 years ago - same thing then. GIG-CDG was in one of their newest 747-400 with PTV throughout the cabin. Only 3 of AFs 747s have this feature, making time pass by much quicker on the 10hr30min flight. Also this time we got our pre-assigned seats 53J/K. Plane was packed. Again food and drinks were very good, and service was turned up a notch, but still no smiles... Flight to OSL in was an A319. A comfortable flight which went by uneventful. My overall impression is that AF have improved themselves over the past years, but still lag behind most major carriers inflight service. As long as they continue to give fairly good value for money, I will probably choose them in the future.

Air France review - by J Yap

17 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

TNR-CDG-IAD in business class. All in all I was quite impressed. Both the Antananarivo-Paris and Paris-Washington flights were equipped with the new business seats, and since the Tana-Paris flight is an 11-hour trip departing at 1am, it was a good opportunity to test their comfort. The lie-flat seats, although inclined, were perfectly comfortable and I managed to sleep for a good 7 hours. My seat's audio didn't work, but as I slept for most of the flight I didn't mind too much. The flight attendants were friendly and professional in just the right mix. Transit at CDG was a bit of an ordeal. Tana flights officially arrive in 2C, but our flight actually parked at 2E, which meant that we had to disembark and then take a shuttle to 2C, where we immediately had to catch another shuttle straight back to 2E, where we went through a long security line. We then had to take another shuttle to the satellite gates of 2E - which turned out to be exactly where we had disembarked in the first place 1.5 hours earlier. However, the Paris-Washington flight was fantastic, with a great crew. The purser came around before the flight, noted from the manifest that I was a Delta Skymiles member, and asked about my experiences flying Air France. He also came around during and toward the end of the flight to ask if I was enjoying the flight. The crew were excellent, and thanked the passengers individually as we were starting our approach to Washington. The food was above average. The only minor quibbles was that the AVOD IFE, although much better than the old system, was not the simplest to navigate and seemed to have fewer choices in international films than other airlines with AVOD (although there were a fair selection of French movies). Also my inseat power wasn't really working, which wasn't a problem as I was coming back from a business trip but might have been an issue otherwise. I would be happy to fly them for business again.

Air France review - by L Warsaw

17 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

MPL-CDG-JFK- Economy class. I had a very pleasant trip with Air France. Both flights were on time. The first leg of the trip was on an Airbus 318. The cabin was clean and the crew was pleasant and served drinks and a breakfast pastry. CDG to JFK was out of terminal 2E which, as usual, was a hassel to get through. After slowly making my way through security, the terminal, and finally a shuttle bus ride, I borded the 777 for JFK. The cabin was again in good condition and comfortable, and there was a great selection of IFE both in French and English. The crew was polite and the food was quite good and accompanied by a great selection of wines and digestifs. After meal service the FA's leave a beverage cart in the galley so that you can help yourself. A great idea as to not disturb napping passangers by bringing around a drink cart. I look forward to flying with AF again!

Air France review - by Chris Woods

15 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

CDG-EWR-JFK-CDG Business Class. Check-in at CDG easy but the majority of North American bound flights leave from Terminal 2E which means a bus ride to the terminal itself. Once there lounge was spacious and well provisioned. Outbound flight to EWR on A330. Seats (lie-flat) and IFE fine. Food not great but getting used to that with AF. Good service and arrival on time. Return was overnight from JFK on a 777-300. As with the outbound I had no complaints with the service. We left with a slight delay and the flight arrived with the same slight delay into CDG! Back to reality in CDG with another bus tour of the airport and as our bags needed to make the same journey a long wait for bags followed (the yellow priority tabs don't really make any difference). All in all satisfactory flights (except dep & arr at CDG) but nothing special.

Air France review - by B Grouitch

9 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

NTE-CDG-IAD and JFK-CDG-NTE, all in economy class. Paris-Washington flight was OK, and the A330 is nice to fly, with good IFE. Crew was friendly on all flights, a little mechanical maybe, not many smiles on their faces. Food was nice on the France - USA trip only. Return flight was in a recent 744-400, and we were in the upper deck. Really nice, because few people, few noises and more space for legs. We had IFE too. CDG airport is really a mess. We had 2 hours between planes so we thought we'd have more than enough time, but to change from terminal 2D to 2E took a very long time, security check is a nightmare at 2E, and then you have to take a bus to the plane ! Finally we didn't even have time to buy the newspapers. AF is a nice company to fly, I think their main concern is security. CDG still has lots of improvements to do to become a good & comfortable airport.

Air France review - by Jan Landman

9 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

CDG to Houston return. Both flights Boeing 777, which has a slightly inferior business class layout (2-3-2), but I was located in the 2-seat row, on row 8. Air France has two business class compartments onboard and row 8 is in the cheap part. More noisy, more traffic, all economy passengers need to board through here. Service acceptable, food OK, level of attention by crew could be better. Seat functionality went out of order after I reclined the seat. Was re-located in the plane. Return flight was better, located in row 4. Slept soundly most of the flight. Had a reasonable breakfast (breakfast will probably be never a forte at Air France!)

Air France review - by Chris Joynes

5 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Reading Mr Forsyth's comments and his experiences at CDG are absolutely typical of what I myself have witnessed with my own eyes! On my last trip to CDG I also encountered a similar obstacle course. I reported this to the AF ground staff, stating that the climbing of stairs, walks across the apron, having to go outside and then back inside, in all weathers and without available umbrellas to boot, together with the crazy bus system at CDG, is not really acceptable at a 21st Century airport. I also reminded them that not all passengers were sporty 20 year olds and that the ordeal may be very difficult for some people. As there was no apparent facilities for wheelchair users, I then said that it would be an impossible task for someone in a wheelchair. I was then insulted by the ground staff and told, in no uncertain terms, that I should be careful of what I said, if I didn't want to be off-loaded from my flight! A story that might not be too out of place in a 3rd World Dictatorship environment but I must admit to being surprised to find this kind of, very unprofessional to say the least, attitude in Paris. I honestly thought that my comments to the ground staff were of the helpful kind and might have led to some sort of change but it appears that this is not the case.

Air France review - by Eric Bateman

5 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Economy Edi-CDG return. Outward flight uneventful. Sandwich perfectly OK, nice glass of wine, pretty good service. Return flight the same (apart from the chaos that is CDG bus station). On arrival at Edinburgh, there wasn't really anyone to direct passengers where to go (the plane parked remotely which meant a brief walk across the tarmac). Thus passengers started walking towards a sign stating "arrivals" (let's face it you would, wouldn't you). At this point, someone from Servisair, Air France's ground agent in Edinburgh, appeared, and screamed at the passengers "No, not that door, that one", and then was heard to shout "for ****'s sake". I'd like to think that I am relatively broad-minded. However, this flight seemed particularly full of elderly ladies, and children clutching "Disneyland Europe" bags. Thus, I found this outburst completely unacceptable. So, 4 stars for the flight. No stars for the Servisair representative at Edinburgh Airport and his obscene and offensive language.

Air France review - by Richard Forsyth

4 May 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I am a retired disabled person and need a wheelchair to got me from check in to the plane. I recently flew Air France from M/C to Paris CDG and the care and attention on the plane and airports was superb.But it did not last - on the return trip the wheelchair I ordered was not left with me for the hours at CDG. When it was time to board the plane it was returned and I was wheeled to ground level and boarded a shuttle bus and never saw the wheelchair again. I was transported to the plane and sat there while everybody else got on, then I had to climb a spiral staircase of 18-20 steps then lurch down a sloping 15-20ft ramp to the plane entrance and board under the eyes of the other passengers. I was exhausted and humiliated by this sequence of events and doubt if I will travel with Air France again. When we arrived back in M/C I was treated with the care and attention one expects and always receive in M/C.

Air France review - by Stephan Brom

24 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Basel to Warswaw via CDG recently. Basel to CDG operated usually by Regional with F100 or E90 but this time flight has been operated by Blue Line, small french charter company with F100. Very nice crew and plane imaculate. Usual coffee and pastries as it was a morning flight, nothing to write about ! Transfer in CDG as always, messy and in a rush. Even if AF sells connection with one hour spare, forget it unless you are prepared to run and to sweat! Flight to WAW was at non meal time and AF instead of the tray service provides now sandwiches, on this flight is was tuna fish or tuna fish. Crew served one round of drinks and does only reappear to collect trash. A bit poor on a 2hr segment. Return flight was this time on a lunch time, we received a plastic one way tray with undefined cold lunch. I eat about everything and not a big complainer, but I was unable to recognise if I was eating meat or fish. Transfer was again messy as only one desk was opened at the customs (quite usual !) Here a good tip, at terminal 2B, if the queue is too long, there is a second exit at the end of the terminal usually less busy. Run to 2D and available to catch the Regional E90 to Basel, nice snack (sweet or salty item) and drinks as usual !!

Air France review - by A Collins

20 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

London to Havana via Paris. Arrived at 07h00 to catch 09h15 connecting flight to CDG. The electronic ticket machines seemed not to be working, and so was instructed by the AF ticket/information counter to join a very long queue. One person was on duty to check in economy class passengers, two people sat doing nothing at the fast bag counters, and four more milled around the electronic ticket machines telling passengers to join the queue. Took 90 minutes to reach the front of the queue, and so had virtually no time before I was required to board. I have travelled with most major and some third world airlines, and it is normal practice to provide an onward boarding card from the connection hub (i.e. CDG) to the final destination, but this didn't happen and I was told to collect it a the transfer desk in CDG. When I reached there, I was told that my pre-assigned seat had been voided and given to somebody else - and was given another seat away from friends who had joined me on from Stockholm. Unfortunately, whilst in Cuba I fell and broke my shoulder and wrist. When I checked-in for the return flight, I was assured in Havana that arrangements would be made to meet me in Paris to assist me to my connecting flight back to LHR. This of course never happened, and I was left to struggle in not inconsiderable pain through CDG - the worst European transfer hub by a huge margin, and caught the flight with less than 10 minutes to spare. A truly horrible experience, with nightmare check-in arrangements at LHR (and I have experienced some bad ones - such as Tehran), staff who have no conception of customer service, an appalling transfer hub in Paris, and I would not wish this airline on my worst enemy. What amazes me is how a nation can get it's rail system so right, and get it's airline so very wrong.

Air France review - by Stephane Gallon

20 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

CDG-LAX-CDG Business Class. B777 with new seats. All flights turned out out be overbooked, and full with stranded angry passengers. Slight delays (30 minutes). As usual with AF, worst part of trip turned to be CDG itself. Flights were operated from terminal 2E which is undergoing reconstruction : after checking in and passing immigration and security, a long walk to a bus, then a long drive to a warehouse-looking temporary hall (with limited lounge, bar, shops) placed at a remote location. From there, boarding by walking to plane. Signs at checking in warn passengers they will take 45 minutes to join boarding gate : it is true ! On return, wait for bus, wait in crowded and hot bus (standing, no AC), long drive to terminal, stairs to climb, long wait for luggage. AF staff at LAX had given me a priority card to access a fats lane at immigration on arrival at CDG but this lane was closed : everybody had to use the same single lane. LAX airport : dedicated check-in counters with no queue but then all passengers whatever their class of service have to wait in a single lane to give checked luggage to TSA security screening. Long queue. Other companies such as UA have special priority access to skip that line. After that Northwest lounge is small, crowded and unpleasant. Boarding nightmare as one out of two desks was out of order and people cound not hear / did not respect calls. Great food from CDG but disappointing from LAX. Wine selection is on the decline : red Bordeaux was from low quality (Cotes de Castillon, not actual Bordeaux) and all bottles on CDG-LAX segment were inedible (cork smell and taste). IFE out of order on LAX-CDG segment. Staff tried many resets without any improvement. Staff apologetic. Lie-flat (but with angle) is not that comfortable due to the "sliding down" effect many reviewers mentioned. Overall not a nice experience, mainly due to IFE breakdown on return flight and wasting time and uncomfortable CDG.

Air France review - by Jonathan Cohen

15 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-CDG-TLV return in business class. Regular readers of this site may have seen the review that I wrote six months ago about the same route and class of travel in which I was not very complimentary about anything to do with the trip. I found myself due to business commitments, and the fact that it was the Easter holiday period, with no choice but to use this carrier again. All sectors were aboard A320 aircraft with European C class configuration, ie economy seats with the middle seat left empty. Seat pitch is dreadful, food on the short sectors was inedible and on the four hour plus sectors too and from TLV not much better; no choice of main course, cold, stale rolls with dinner and stale croissants with breakfast and this on the French national carrier. their was a film on the mainscreen tv to and from TLV but the advertised music channels did not work in either direction. KLM and Czech airlines, who have just started to use one of their new A320's on PRG-TLV both offer a much better service all round and are Sky Team members if mileage accrual is an important factor.

Air France review - by L Moeller

15 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

We flew Air France from Atlanta to CDG April 6, 2007. The AF 747's are old and in deplorable condition. Some toilets had water problems and the door wouldn't close on others. My seat head rest fell off during flight. They offered to wrap a blanket around the exposed metal bracket so I wouldn't cut my head. The crew was polite and helpful. The return trip on April 13, 2007 was on a 767 in much better shape. But be advised, don't expect Air France to honor seat assignments made through their web site. I made our reservations 8 weeks in advance. There were no last minute changes. Only after going through terminal check in, several security check points and a long, long walk do you get to "gate 87" where they advise that you and your wife now have center seats 12 rows apart instead of the aisle and window seats you selected (the 767 seats are 2/3/2). There's no recourse at this point. You get on the bus for the ride to the plane. What a disappointing way to end a perfectly beautiful week in Paris. As long as I have an option, I will not fly Air France again. A complimentary glass of wine just isn't worth it.

Air France review - by Philip Cokkinos

15 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Athens-CDG-Havana return in Business Class over Easter. Expensive fare compared to IB equivalent routing via MAD but IB offered terrible connection times. CDG-HAV and CDG-ATH flights delayed by a full hour due to late incoming aircraft, other 2 flights on time. Shorthaul flights average, cold bread and no selection of main course with lunch, drinks OK but no cognac available. Long haul flights operated by 747 with 17 new Espace Affaires seats in front main deck cabin, quite comfortable for sleeping, angle not bad, marginally better than LH but no privacy screen and less choice of seat positions. Boarding was really easy in Havana. FAs polite and efficient, no complaints there but perhaps because I spoke to them in French. Drinks service OK, food quite good (pate de foie gras as starter, selection of 3 main courses, good cheese plate) wine menu poor (two reds and one white not enough for a French airline premium class), warm rolls but no croissants with breakfast. Inflight entertainment a joke, no AVOD, classical music channels not bad but poor film selection, too many French films and the 3 English- language films on the HAV-CDG leg not available in English but dubbed in French and Spanish! Paris CDG the usual connection nightmare (allow at least 2 hours between flights if you need to change terminals and go through passport control), endless queues for passport control as only 2 of 7 booths were manned, repair works and grey concrete everywhere, AF lounges average. Luggage priority respected for a change. I gave 3 stars due to very poor IFE which needs upgrading to AVOD and the terrible, terrible CDG experience. It must be the worst (and ugliest) major European airport, even LHR is better.

Air France review - by S Straubhaar

4 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

AF in coach from IAH to ZRH via CDG and then back, BCN via CDG to ATL. Boarding in Houston was quick and painless. After take off drink was offered although they did ignored me on the first round but apologized for it. Dinner was good and free alcohol as usual. Breakfast was kind of poor, a little croissant and fruit is just not enough for an 10.5 hour flight. And being a French Airline they should have better pastries. I did like the 777, me travelling alone did not bother the fact of the 3-3-3 seating, plus since the flight was not full I had 3 seats for myself. Transfer in CDG was a mess and I found the ground staff very unprofessional and rude, except for one staff member in Terminal E she went out of her way to help me. Flight from CDG to ZRH was operated by Cityjet, although friendly cabin crew the seat pitch was terrible. Check in in Barcelona was quick, Lounge was ok, flight on a A318, emergency exit so no seat pitch problem, service was ok, long transfer in Paris, used Lounge in Terminal E, very quiet. Long walk to gate though. Boarded buses to get to plane, I think we were 25 minutes driving around, took a little sight tour of CDG. Boarding was quick and service again was friendly and good. I think Air France overall offers a good price value product. Sometimes you get some snobs as FA but that can happen on any airline. Food is good, the breakfast and snacks could use some improvement though. I don't care too much of individual screens or main cabin screens but if I have the individual ones I do would like to choose on my own when to start and stop viewing a movie, also I found the movie selection rather poor. Would fly with them again.

Air France review - by Jos Janssens

4 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

AMS-CDG-LAX-PPT and PPT-LAX-CDG in Business class. AMS-CDG lounge KLM is very good, enough space, good choice of hot and cold food, clean, good and quick internet. Flight between AMS-CDG on time with Airbus 319, correct and friendly crew, for the rest nothing special. Flight between CDG-LAX with B777/300ER Air France Lounge is a disappointment, unfriendly personel, no food, not clean, the toilets are a disaster area and very slow internet. Friendly crew, excellent food. Nice feature on this plane; they have a outside camera so you can look where we fly (take off and landings are spectacular). Good seats (nice massage feature) but it is hard to find a good sleeping position on this angled seats. LAX-PPT with Airbus 340-300. Northwest lounge is too tiny to fit everybody in, poor choice of food and not very clean, toilets are a disaster area no internet avaible. Flight was pleasant with good food and a friendly crew. Luggage for business customers came as last. PPT- LAX with Airbus 340-300. Lounge is good but no internet avaible. Good flight, good food, friendly crew. LAX-CDG with Airbus 340-300. Was last flight of the captain, obviously the crew celebrated this the evening before and the service was bad, they didn't care at all. It did take ages before everybody had their food and also it take ages before they didpick up eveything. At arrival we had to wait 30 minutes before we could out because the gate didn't work. The experience with Air France was overall good; they have excellent food, good seats (but hard to find a good sleeping position) but the service that you get depends on which shift of crew you get; do you have a motivated crew everything is excellent but else. Poor inflight entertainment system; it only works half of the time, poor choice of movies and they have on all long haul flights the same movies for a whole month on all destinations. Air France has still a lot work to do with training and motivating their crew.

Air France review - by Ramón Fretz

1 April 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

When it comes to service on the ground, it is not poor but unacceptable. AF in the air may be good but once you set foot on the ground at one of its hubs, that's where trouble starts. Zurich to Clermont Ferrand this week via Lyon. While the outbound flight was ok - finally they switched from their outrageous Embraer Brasilias to an ATR 42 on the leg from Zurich to Lyon. The flight back from Clermont Ferrand to Lyon was on- time. The Régional flight attendant was busy doing nothing on the short flight, so no even a glass of water was served. In Lyon (we were a group of 10) we entered the transit hall, searching for our connecting flight's gate just to find out that it was cancelled. Well, no staff at the plane on arrival to inform us. Now, Lyon is AF second largest hub in France. Guess what, not one transfer desk to help us with additional information. What does that tell you in terms of customer service? Thanks to the security guards who called the check-in desk, we knew what to do. And that was to go through the baggage claim area, out of the guarded sector and up to the check-in counters. AF staff did not bother to come to us. The check-in counter was crowded and one agent was busy with who knows what - not with passenger service. More than 20 people were standing around waiting to be helped. After long and not very pleasant discussions, AF offered us a taxi ride home. 4.5 hours in a crowded van. That's passenger service. We got home way after midnight and some passengers even had to fight for a reimbursement of taxi costs from Zurich Aiport to their homes, as public transportation was not available any more at that time of the night. I have been travelling with AF for many years very frequently. As a Flying Blue Platinum Elite customer I feel left alone by this airline every time there is a problem. The attitude adds to this feeling as each time a problem occurs, for French AF staff on the ground it means: Ignore it! I am fed up with AF and will consider other airlines who know how important each customer is for my business travel in the future.