Air France

My wife and I were on AF72 yesterday from Paris to LAX and we were in Business Class. We noticed a large downgrade in service from a similar flight we had about 4 years ago. What surprised us the most was the very average service in flight, such as not picking up meal plates, refilling our beverages and the like. It also seemed like we were supposed to take our trays back, go pick up our beverage at the cart and fend for ourselves. The meals were not much better. The salmon I was served was well done and I still don't know what the "side" was. My observation is that we were not the only ones who raised their eyebrows to a fairly disappointing Business Class experience. True be told, it reminded us of what traveling in coach was 12 years ago.

I recently traveled with Air France from Miami to Paris and Paris to Miami on a Boeing 777-300ER. I purchased the tickets 4 months ahead of time and upgraded for more legroom. On both flights Air France change our seating and I was not able to get a refund for the upgrade. In addition I had order seats so that I could actually sit next to my wife. It would have been nice to sit next to her for the 9 hour flight. Just because you pick the seating and pay for it does not mean you actually get what you pay for. Beware. I have traveled several times to Paris and this was my first and last time using Air France. There are better options and I will be going back to the other airline that I have used in the past

Paris - Singapore with the new First Class Cabin. In Paris, wonderful ground service (escort, lounge to die for, escort to the plane), but it is something different on board. The new suites are beautiful but many details are boring (curtain, lighting, no aircon behind the curtain). The plane was 3 hours delayed. The crew in First Class were not trained and qualifed for First. Staff did their best and were friendly but service was more J than F. Due to late departure, they had a problem with catering, many items for the dinner were missing. The food we had was superb, however too many things were missing. Desserts were frozen: impossible to eat. Ground service in Singapore was more than perfect. Air France La Première is wonderful on the ground but in the plane. Very disappointing, especially if you listen their marketing.

On 5/21/2015 I flew from Miami to Paris to Budapest. Seated in 6A/6B, last row in business class, last to be served, 1.5 hrs before a beverage was served. Many flight attendants, poor crew coordination. Great service on the Paris to Budapest leg, a truly professional F/A. Returned from Amsterdam to Paris, uneventful, other than the Captain gave incorrect local time upon announcement prior to landing. Last leg Paris-Miami on 6/5/2015. Seated again last row, seats 6F/6G, in the middle a configuration of three, so a middle seat with no privacy. Last to be served. Poor quality food.

IAD-CDG, 2nd June. CDG-CAI, 4th June. Check in at Dulles Airport was excellent and fast through sky priority, the Business class Lounge at Dulles was overcrowded but I had my space any way. Boarding was on time , but we stayed at the Airplane almost an hour not moving as the pilot says it was because of the traffic, so we end up with a delay of 75 min. Lots of people lost their connection in CDG. The flight was excellent, service was great with excellent food and beverage. The Videos were the same as KLM in MAY, as I flew to IAD by KL. The second flight from CDG to CAI has almost the same delay, with the same traffic reason. Service, and food were excellent, comfortable seats and good music.

DEL-AMS-EDI. I haven't travelled with Air France for a while and was very disappointed with my experience on this flight. The food was truly awful for an eight hour journey. The first 'meal' consisted of a cereal bar, a small tub containing 3 pieces of fruit and a hot 'sandwich' which was revolting. The breakfast served before arrival in Paris was only a little better - a limp omelette with a couple of pieces of vegetable. The entertainment system kept freezing. I watched 2 movies but never saw the end of either them! Having spent the previous few weeks travelling on Asian carriers around Asia and India I was struck by how far European Airlines have fallen behind in customer service and in-flight catering. On the connecting service to Edinburgh I was offered a biscuit! On a flight of similar length in India I was offered a hot meal. To end on a positive note both flights were very punctual.

I chose Air France to fly from Edinburgh to Florence through CDG. Out tickets were purchased as through tickets and I noticed that they only provided for a 50 minute connection from the AF Hop regional hub which is at the far end of the airport and only accessible by bus through immigration and on to pier E. I emailed twice to seek confirmation that this could be done and was assured on both occasions that it could. Suffice to say it cannot and our connection was missed by 20 minutes (even our case couldn't make it). This is when you fully experience the sharp end of AF's customer service staff who consider you to be something on the bottom of their shoe. We were put on the flight some 3 hrs later sitting at opposite ends of the aircraft despite me telling them my wife was a nervous flyer. During our deliberations at the desk business class went from being full to (upon further pressing) empty and being held so on the rather unlikely event of 8 people turning up half an hour before the flight and buying business class tickets. I didn't want to fly business class but simply suggested that a couple of other passengers could be upgraded freeing up two seats together for my wife and myself. I asked to speak to a manager - none were available. I was told that I was only an economy passenger and that to get anything better I would have to purchase two business class single fares amounting to almost 1000 Euros. Suffice to say when the flight took off there were 6 empty business class seats whilst I was in row 6 and my wife rather uncomfortably in row 24. We could have flown directly with Ryanair to Pisa but I prefer to fly the Flag Carrier experience for a quality of service that was sadly lacking with Air France. Next year I will be flying through Schipol with KLM.

Flew from Paris to Havana and return in Premium Economy. Very pleasantly surprised. The priority check in boarding etc worked perfectly in both directions. Very comfortable seats excellent food and drinks and in both directions and great service by the crew. Flights in both directions were on time. Well worth the extra price compared with premium economy in other airlines. No shortage of drinks during flight including Champagne and ample legroom in the shell seats.

I flew AF254 CDG-SIN in May and had the opportunity to try out their new Business Class on the 777-300. The new seat is fantastic and offers a great level of privacy. In-flight entertainment offered a huge selection of movies and TV shows. Food and beverage was excellent and the service was too. the whole experience was premium and cant fault AF at all.

Paris - Panama Boeing 777-200. The business product is really what we can expect. For the majority of passengers they still have to fly in a cabin totally obsolete versus competition. The 2x3x2 configuration is not acceptable anymore for an 11 hour flight. The seat is uncomfortable. The ICE screen is smaller and lower quality than most of the economy seats on the competition. The ICE is very limited. The food is nothing to see. Bad quality "foie gras" insipid main courses. The choice of wine is limited to 4 but one of the four is not available on board. The staff were good but a little bit too familiar and relaxed. Air France promotional images are not reflected on board. Really behind competition.