Air France

Will never fly Air France again between LAX-CDG. I was 2.5 kg above the weight limit and the fine was 70 euro or about 90 US dollars (ridiculous). Check-in at CDG took 2.5 hours (5 lines required) and barely made it to the gate. Airbus A380 extremely uncomfortable.

Dreadful service on Bangkok-Paris-London return flights. Food awful service even worse. Stewardesses snooty no drinks during flight and questions about snacks rebutted.

Heathrow via Paris to Cancun return. Excellent check in and lounge at London Heathrow and transfer in Paris is fine. The lounge at CDG (being their home hub) was a little on the tired side and far too overcrowded. Onboard seats and catering good on the outbound leg. On the return the biggest difference is the seat as AF do not have lay flat seats. Overnight flight back was okay (minus the seat issue) with staff and catering excellent. Transfer back via Paris all ok and the short hop back to Heathrow was wonderful.

Washington to Paris. Boarding 30 minutes late but staff on boarding told me that flight will be in Paris on time. It was very important to me because my connection flight was only 1 hour after arrival time. After boarding plane stood more than half an hour in Washington so departure was more than 1 hour late. During the flight I tried to find out arrival time and departing gate of my next flight (also AF). Air-hostess promised me find it out and to give me an answer about 30 minutes before landing. I did not get the information and on the exit from the plane same hostess made a movement as - sorry I forgot on you. My display was not working and after two requests to the crew I did not received any answer if display can or will be repaired or at least excuse if it cannot be repaired. The drink I ordered was given to another passenger. All crew members were very happy and had good time together chatting and laughing.

Business class AF0990 Paris Johannesburg on A380. Flight was fine and service as can be expected. However the business class seats of AF must be the worst in the airline industry. Cannot believe the manager responsible for buying these chairs is still working there. They must know by now that this seat is an affront to the travelers using them. While the whole competition and even their sister company KLM goes full flat AF decided to develop a chair which sets back time a least 10 years. I am very sorry for all the French travelers that have no other choice then use this airline. I definitely will never again.

Kansai International Airport to Paris. The scheduling of food and service was terrible. We took off at 12.30 and were served lunch around 14.00 (2 p.m.). Then after this service the window blinds were pulled down and the lights were dimmed (in the middle of the afternoon!). There was no further service until l5 minutes before midnight - a duration of some 9 hours! when a dinner was served. The pursers vanished (to sleep?). Someone came round with an ice- cream on a stick at some stage. Why Air France wished to turn day into night on what was a day flight that arrived in Paris at the end of the afternoon is beyond me. Why they should consider that a break in service of 9 hours is acceptable is beyond belief. What they have done of course is to use the same service timetable as that for the flight out - which made sense in that context as it was a night flight arriving early in the morning of the following day. Under those circumstances it was logical to give passengers the chance to sleep undisturbed but not for daytime flight. It just requires some basic common sense to understand that a day flight is different from an over night flight.

Paris to Boston in business class. The plane and seats were great except one toilet was not working and closed. The main issue was lack of clear English announcements. Even though the flight was coming to Boston but there was nothing in clear English. This made the situation for us painful. We were served with some appetizers mainly duck. I did not like it and the hostess made a comment in broken English as if I was not hungry. When the main meal was served she did not include me as if I did not need anything to eat in a long flight. My wife sitting next to me was served that main meal while I was talking to her. Before landing they served something that I can only describe as least desirable. It had a tiniest of half a sandwich without any meat or egg. A big cup of heavy marinated fruits. In short after a long flight in AF Business we had to stop at a McDonald before driving home.

CDG-JNB-CDG on A380. One of the best parts was the first lounge in CDG. Welcome is perfect the lounge is not so big but modern and beautiful. The dinner in the lounge was excellent with fine wines. Transfer by limo for Boarding was perfect. Nice welcome by the crew - all the other seats in first were empty! I did not try the onboard dinner. IFE is good but need to be improved compared to other airlines the screen is small. Full flat bed was very comfortable before landing at JNB breakfast was ok. On the return flight to Paris I stayed at the business lounge before boarding there is no first class lounge in JNB. Nice welcome by crew again all the other seats in first were empty. Served a very good champagne before take off. I was disappointed by the catering in first class from JNB wines were very good but food is far from standards in first class. I think that the IFE and the food must be improved on flights especially the return flight to Paris. Another problem is the lack of privacy in fist class fortunately I was alone on these flights.

Flew CDG-JFK on A380. Heard many negative about AF from airport experience to poor flight crews and service well I think that is a thing of the past now. My experience from check-in immigration and security the lounges the flight itself was great. Everyone very friendly and helpful. The business class seats were comfortable the food was wonderful cabin crews did everything they could to make you feel welcomed and taken care of. As far as navigating the dreaded CDG I found the signage easy to follow as we made our way from the Ibis via train shuttle to terminal 2F and on to 2E for check-in.

Flew on 29th 0ctober once again from CDG to JNB. Beside that by now we all know what a great design this A380 is and how much more peaceful it is inside this airplane when flying. The reason for my comment this time is the very noticeable improvement by AF crew and AF catering to put in an effort to take better care of passengers. AF crew are usually always very polite they seem to enjoy their jobs again. Catering has improved again and food quality is very close to what I remembered it was so many years ago and one of the reasons I became a regular customer of AF. Also noticeable is the new design of cutlery even if made from plastic using them makes it much easier to enjoy the food. Well done AF now just improve the snacks served between meals on this route and it will be perfect.