Hello and welcome English readers
French report is here: http://flight-report.com/fr/report/18142/Air-France-AF267-Seoul-ICN-Paris-CDG
Roundtrip for this summer was as follow:
CDG-ICN B777–300 (ER) Business class
ICN-CDG B777-300. (ER) Business class
We booked flights with our Flying Blue account's airmiles:
Total cost was 100.000 miles and 400€/passenger.
After a early wake-up and one hour cab ride from historical center of Seoul to Incheon (total price:65.000 KRW=53€)
we arrived in front of International Departures at 7:00 am.
Check-in Business SkyTeam counter:
There were quite a few passengers in the queue and the check-in was very fast.
The agent was professional and friendly.
We received our BP quickly and she gave us invitations and directions to the lounge KAL.
We go throught passport control and transit security without fast-track access:it'very long.
We were through to airside in under 30 minutes.
We have a short ride with a monorail train to the concourse before heading to the lounge.
The entrance of KAL SkyTeam lounge:
When she saw me the unfriendly agent advised me that photographs are not allowed inside.
Of course I decided to ignore her warning!!!
Decent sized:
It's clean,quiet,light filled,spotter-friendly,not to many people,but there are a lot of chairs quite uncomfortable.
There is another section close to the toilets and shower area with TV and seating space more comfortable
There is an area with hot items:
The food offering is very basic
Another small buffet
Newspaper
Toilets and showers are inside the lounge
Very nice view of the tarmac: ideal for avgeeks like me.
Shots of our triple seven with SkyTeam livery:
it's F-GZNT that was delivered to AF in march 2016.
passports and BP:We are ready for boarding.
We left the lounge and head to gate 113.
Our flight is showing on time.
Waiting to board by the gate.
As usual,J class passengers,Sky Priority file were invited on first to board throught the deck jet bridge.
We are the first ones on board
Business class seat 2 A and B for the next 11 hours.
An overwiev of the main J cabin
It's the NEV 4 generation cabin equipped with a old IFE and control panel
Pre-placed on the seat are a pillow and blanket.
Welcome drink were offered:champagne
A very friendly crew also came with tray of newspapers and magazines
The amenity kit with a new design.
There is a unfriendly crew dressed in traditional Korean costume
Safetycard for this B777
Cabin light
USB charging ports
The seat pitch:excellent of course
Oshibori
Safety instructions
Pushing back on time.
We made a long taxi to the main runway.
Bye-bye ICN
Today'Menu
Soon enough,drinks, cashew nuts and appetizer were given
To start the lunch:shrimps and duck breast
full champagne meal for me with "Brice" champagne
Lamb stew with vegetables:excellent
Cheese course
Dessert with an expresso and a digestif
Overflying Siberia
An afternoon flight is really quite bad for sleeping so I enjoyed the world outside
Overwiev of Y main cabin
A snack bar was set up in the galley but I asked for an expresso
I got hungry in the middle of the flight and so I ordered a "croque-monsieur"and a ice cream
Overflying Germany
About 1,3 hours before arrival the second meal service started:
It was an absolute delight to eat
My spouse took the chicken option
We begin our descent to CDG.
Final approach
We landed on time but taxi time was long.
There was a little wait for the passport control and down in baggage claim,there was 30mn wait for our bags.
BONUS for this report
After the Korean war,South Korea and North Korea established a border.
On either side of this border is the DMZ (demilitarized zone).
If you're in Seoul you can only visit the DMZ with a tour,as it has restricted civillian access and requires a mandatory military escort.
Imjingak tourist area with the freedom bridge and the peace Bell
Dorasan station is the northernmost stop on South Korea's railroad system.
Dora observatory where you can see North Korea.
Haemaru village located in the restricted area where you can by ginseng.
In parallel with this visit:war memorial of Korea in Seoul :this is the best place to learn about Korea relationships with its near neighbours.
Thank you for reading my report
Great report, and photos from your flight with AF and from your trip to South Korea. I'd love to visit sometime.
The food presentation on AF in J looks very nice, and I really like the look of the plates, glasses, served. Everything looks very stylish!
Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for your comment.
Traveling in South Korea is very interesting.
I agree with you catering was very great on this AF flight
Nice report. Looks like the DMZ is worth a visit. As far as AF goes, looks like "Best and Beyond" can't come soon enough. Asiana's lounge appears to be nicer than KE's at ICN. That turquoise green never did much for me. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for a lovely report and interesting bonus pics! I can't believe that after more than 2 years since the Best & Beyond seats were introduced that AF has still not finished retrofitting the seats! Especially when you consider all they had to do was 44 777s! It just completely baffles me. The new AF china looks really nice and modern, although the appetizer plate seems way too big for the tiny amount of food they put on there. I thought AF was no longer serving on trays and was not serving each course and directly placing plates on the table. I saw this in a JFK-CDG report. Maybe it's experimental or just hasn't rolled out in the whole system yet? I admit, since I switched to oneworld, I don't follow AF as closely as I used to, and don't really have much opportunity to read reports in French, so I'm not as knowledgeable about AF service as I was previously. I agree with you that the NEV4 seats are good if you are travelling as a couple, though having angled lie-flat seats in a 2-3-2 configuration in 2016 is just totally behind the times. Once the 777s are all retrofitted with the BEST seats, AF will still have all the A330s and A380s to worry about. Sounds like it will be many years to come before AF has a consistent Business class experience across the fleet, and by that time, the BEST seats will be outdated :-/
Thanks for sharing!