Air France

HAV-CDG-OSL. A full 777-300 with much dreaded 3-4-3 seating. Was lucky and got a window-seat all the way in the back in a double-seat. Still not very comfortable. Seat-pitch is not 32" as AF says. Seat is hard recline of the kind where seat slides forward as you use recline button. IFE very good and easy to use. As always: You see the (always polite) crew the first 1.5 hour of the flight and then again the very last hour. Be it day or night flight. For the first time with AF I saw the cabin-crew serving water from bottles between meals. Hot meal is fine the so called breakfast a joke for us who do not rely entirely on sugar. I have now learned how to go from terminal 2F/E to 2G with the "on-tarmac shuttle-bus" and it makes the connection very fast and easy. Recommend AF? Only if price is low. Prefer sister airline in the AirFrance/KLM group but they are usually slightly more expensive from Norway.

ZRH-CDG Airbus A318. Very chaotic Boarding and unpleasant bus ride to the aircraft. Over 25 minutes delayed towards scheduled arrival on a 1 hour flight without any information or apologies whatsoever. Coffee with small bakery snack OK. flight attendants professional and friendly. Had an exit row without paying any additional fees - good seat (10F). Overall OK but prefer flying with airlines where you do not have to use buses to board.

SFO to CDG return. I booked 2 business class tickets 6 months in advance for cost saving. The equipment was changed on the return flight and I was notified of seat changes which required a call. 1 month before the flight they cancelled the return flight and rebooked on a different day without notification although they had email text phone information. I discovered this accidentally 3 weeks before the flight and contacted Air France and spent 1.5 hours on the phone making new arrangements with a choice of my money back or a flight on a different day. The flight at this time had almost doubled so I stayed an additional day with additional costs. When I contacted Air France their complaint process is difficult and eventually unproductive. I fly only once a year international but was disappointed by this airline.

I recently travelled Heathrow to Bogota changing at Charles de Gaulle. I have travelled long-haul a lot in the last few years to Australia and I would like to say I was extremely impressed by the quality of the flight attendants on Air France. They could not have been more courteous helpful and considerate. The meals were a pleasant surprise too better than I have experienced on other long haul flights.

AMS to Rio and back from Buenos Aires both through CDG. Have had difficulties pre-selecting a seat or checking-in online. Just like the time before or the time before that. CDG-Rio leg on upper deck of 747 in AF seatplus (ordinarily payable but free for FB elite which is my case). Check-in agent in AMS wasn't able to put me on those seats. At CDG a very friendly and helpful agent did. Cabin half empty seats quite good for economy and service friendly and professional despite the late departure hour. BUE to CDG on 777. Seats cramped and seat configuration defies logic. Seats are so arranged that for window passengers there is nothing but the window itself to lean against and try to sleep. Easily one of the worst long haul economy propositions I've come across. Departure on time and early arrival. Food inedible.

As a Delta Platinum member who flies mostly on Air France I was astonished when Air France took away my wife's seat and put her on a waiting list when traffic kept us from arriving at the airport in Paris until 90 minutes before the flight. This was despite our being on the same reservation - with an 8 year old child with us! I was told that a Flying Blue Elite Plus member would have been treated the same way which is even worse than thinking it was an aberration. This is the second time that Air France's computer system tried to separate my family. Luckily a very nice agent managed to get this fixed although we then had to run to the gate. Then in the flight the food was truly the worst we have ever eaten on an international flight. My son and I ate almost nothing during an 11 hour flight. The deterioration in Air France's food over the last two years is dramatic. On the positive side the crew was very nice and the new 380 aircraft was unusually quiet and had decent leg room for economy seats. The entertainment program was also good.

We used AF in premium economy for a HAM-CDG-HAV round trip in March and found the flights excellent value for money. The long hauls were on barely two years old 777-300s. We found the shell seats more than adequate for Y+ (though we are both tall) bearing in mind the very (!) reasonable fare compared to C. Flight attendants were impeccable - attentive all smiles efficient present at all times - and more than happy to converse in a variety of languages other than French (including German). Food and drinks were plenty well presented and of high quality. For those who like in-flight entertainment there was an abundance to choose from including lots of music and screens of decent size. As a nice add-on AF Y+ gives you some extra services ("sky priority" i.e. quicker check in customer services and boarding and fast lane access at security / immigration) which are particularly useful at CDG. All in all very pleasant great value for money and definitely recommendable.

BHX-CDG-PTY A318 out of Birmingham was good fun seats a little narrow but decent pitch crew pretty miserable juice and a croissant for an hour flight not bad. CDG is a pretty poor airport in comparison with other European hubs. Flight to PTY departed from terminal 2E. 777-200 was quite old but well maintained. 3x4x3 seating does make your seat very narrow but pitch wasn't too bad. Worst thing was the IFE like something from the late 90's choice was minimal and screen quality awful. Food and service was good (champagne cognac and ice cream all offered) but crew quickly vanished once the first meal was served although the self service trolley's are a great idea and encourages you to get up and stretch your legs.

BOD-NCE operated by the new value cost subsidiary "HOP!" in a neat EMB170 with leather seats. Free newspaper a drink and a biscuit for this on time one hour flight. Cabin crew very nice and professional. We were greeted by the captain together with the purser. Nice convenient flight at a reasonable price.

Flew Paris to Oslo. The flight is operated by AF's subsidairy called HOP. They operate smaller planes although the Embraer 190 is decent enough. 2x2 seating with reasonable overhead lockers. Seat is adequate (much more leg room than an AF 777 in economy and probably a little wider) for a 2.5 hours flight. In both cases the crew did the job professionally although the service in economy is limited to a drink and some biscuits. On return was upgraded to "Premium" which is not much different (same seat) but includes a decent cold light meal and Champagne. Left on time and arrived on time both ways. it seems however that heating / A/C is diffcult to manage on all Embraer 19X planes every time I take one it is much too hot in the middle despite crew efforts. Globally a very decent performance. No IFE but the only competition (SAS) is not better and you have to buy your drink and the stewardesses on HOP were much more stylish.