Air France

ATL-CDG 7/13/13 B777-300. Take off and landing on time etc. Nothing special or terrible to report. I thought the business class on Air France although not bad is also not good. Seats recline OK but not especially comfortable. The 3 across the middle of business class seems outdated to me these days. The food was terrible for business class. Terrible fish horrible cheese wine selection OK. Overall no reason to compliment or complain and given the ticket price I think I was just about getting value for money.

Upon checking in at Bangkok I was told I would have to pay $100 US for an a second checked in bag despite only having 20 kilos. I have travelled on international flights for 35 years and have never heard of this policy. When I requested an emergency exit seat as I am over 6 ft 3 I was told all these seats were taken and anyway they cost 70 Euros extra. On boarding I observed 2 empty emergency exit seats. Finally I was dismayed at the on-board food they served and expected a lot more from their national carrier from a country that supposedly has some of the best cuisine in the world. I could not eat the food as it was stale and tasteless. All I could stomach on a 14 hour flight was a very small ham roll. Never again Air France.

Arrived at CDG 3 hours before flight with my young daughter to be told that our flight home was overbooked and that this wasn't unusual as Air France overbook all of their flights. We were handed standby by boarding cards and 3 hours later at 9pm it was confirmed that we wouldn't be able to board the plane by the most bored looking ill mannered unhelpful and unsympathetic customer service representative I have ever encountered. We were eventually taken elsewhere and issued with a voucher for a hotel and meal. We were vaguely pointed in the direction we needed to travel and told that with children it would take about 45 minutes to get across the airport to the hotel shuttle bus stop. After a torturous trek across the airport we eventually got to the bus stop and then to our hotel so late that the restaurant had long since closed and the only food available was from a vending machine.

CPH-CDG-MIA / JFK-CDG-CPH. I upgraded to Business class on the CDG-MIA flight operated by an ageing 747-400 but everything worked just fine cabin was clean and seat comfortable. JFK-CDG was an A380-800 aircraft. We had a delay of almost 2 hours on departure from JFK due to ATC but captain kept us informed and was very apologetic. In general food was good but it could be better. Flight attendants were outstanding especially on both long haul flights they were just some of the best I have ever had. The worst was that I missed my connection at CDG and the customer service agent wanted me to wait for 6 hours when there was an available flight 1.5 hours after our late arrival. Overall very satisfied with AF. Chapeau to its cabin crew!

We flew from Venice to Paris and will connect from Paris to HKG. Flight from Venice to Paris was 10 mins late and the flight to HKG left. Next available flight is 24 hour after. Customer service staff were rude and unfriendly. We requested to have seat upgrade due to 24 hour delay and our request was rejected. At the airport we requested lounge access and they still declined request. In addition seats are horrible and your back hurts after a 12-hour flight. Food was cold.

SFO-BLR (SFO-CDG-BLR) this week. Flight departure delayed by 13+ hours due to technical problem. We were literally waiting in Paris Airport almost for 16 hours and we were neither given accommodation nor not alternative flight.

IAH-CDG-SVO. Both flights late. Catering good and onboard staff friendly. Seats not up to specs for business class especially CDG-SVO where the legroom is smaller than in some competitor economy cabins. CDG-SVO delayed 2hrs due to technical problem and then another 35 minutes for wrong catering being loading onboard. Overall below expectations and not fair value for money paid. Air France service has deteriorated in last years and the only positive is the cabin crew that does it's job with a sense of pleasure. CDG airport is a nightmare and a story on it's own.

IAD to CDG continuing on to DUB. A380 upper deck 62F. Seat is nice when sitting but for sleeping it is just dreadful. Not flat the headrest is apparently made of marble so your head actually hurts when you use their flat pillow to sleep and heaven help you if you are in the window and your seatmate is sleeping. The pitch is far too skimpy for comfort. Food and beverages are fine - although I don't understand why you have precisely two hot meal choices on an A380. The amenity kit is poor. The service was surprisingly friendly and good on this flight - I will give them that. CDG is the predictable mess - delays lack of information and the busses to shuttle you to connections so loved by Euro airports. When you have other options that have flat seats (Delta BA Brussels etc) and don't have to go through CDG I can't fathom why I would continue to take AF. On the bright side it was better than the last time I flew.

LCY-Nuremberg. City Jet owned by AF. Like using LCY as it's quieter classier than other airports. However disappointed with seat space and sandwich options on flight. On time. For return wanted to investigate changing flight. Ringing phone line from a mobile in Germany - god knows how much it has cost. Couldn't speak to anyone despite numerous tries. You actually get cut off if they decide too long a queue this happens after menu options so waste money and have to call later. Then when connected again held in a queue for 7 mins then gave up. Went online put details in you go round in circles on the website clicking modify flight etc this just to find the cost of changing. In the end rebooked with competitor.

DEL-CDG-ZRH and back by Premium Economy in June-July 2013. Pros: 1) Priority access for check in (all airports) security (all except DEL) passport control (all except DEL) boarding (all airports). 2) Additional baggage allowance. 3) Comfortable seats with large screen good sized tray tables USB charging points at each seat. 4) Personal amenities kit given. 5) Business class seating (with meals) on short haul flights within Europe (CDG-ZRH) and back since there is no premium economy seating on these flights. Cons: 1) Have to use economy lavatories. 2) Cutlery is still plastic. Overall worth the little extra that you spend as compared to regular economy.