Review of Air France flight from Stockholm to Paris in Economy

This is the return flight of the CDG-ARN flight reported here.
AF proposed an aisle seat on the OLCI; I could have take Seat 10A, rather forward, but the reactor would have hindered the view and I preferred a seat in the back with an unobstructed view, although it did not make that much difference on a night flight.

The trip on the Airport Express did not deserve any new comment, and this report begins directly in ARN.
The best place landside for plane spotting in ARN is the gangway to Terminal 3, beyond this rather empty check-in area.

The menu that night featured the same birds as usual, with the arrival at Terminal 4 of a DY 738

And that of an SK 738

Passengers board in her little brother (a 737-700)

On the Terminal 3 side, passengers are boarding in an SK ATR72, while an SK 738 taxis in in the background.

The same ATR72, with Terminal 4 in the background

A smaller Sparrow Aviation Fokker 50, operated by Amapola Flyg

The same in red livery

The bird in front of her is a Bas ATP, an endangered species, in Nextjet livery.

A more common, and actually endemic in ARN, Saab 340, also in Nextjet livery.

A Hungarian which lost its way north : Budapest Air Service Embraer 120

Turning all the way to the right, this is the control tower (it is better seen from the terminal’s curb outside)

And on the left, an Air Berlin A320 at Terminal 2 which I did not see any better once airside.

Once the plane spotting resources are exhausted landside, it is time to go airside, and there is no waiting line at the security check this time.
(Some pictures taken between here and boarding have a strong reddish hue, because of a wrong camera setting. I corrected the colors when and as I could).

In that situation, going to the Skypriority access on the far side was a pure waste of time

Going through the security check is evidently very fast, only that I am randomly selected for an explosive detection test, by tapping a wad of cotton on both sides of the hands, I forgot which other parts of the body and each piece of hand luggage. The extra time for all that is minimal.
The next step consists in buying the one remaining smoked salmon below left (what is on the right is marinated salmon, less to the liking of my wife), and the staff has to go and get (presumably from a storage room) an cool bag because the supply behind the counter is exhausted.

It is not crowded airside

I nearly missed the ET 787 when she is towed to her gate before operating a 5th freedom flight to VIE, on her way to ABB.

She is waiting in the freight area in daytime

Always the same DHL 757 in the freight area

Which designer had the weird idea of placing this single person seat under one of the few sets of power ports, so that one person only can use them ?

It is furthermore very uncomfortable, in my opinion and apparently of most other travelers too, since nobody chose it.

There are few seats next to the power ports, some passengers spread their belonging to dissuade others from sitting next to them and other sit under power ports when they have no need for them: the end result is that you do not have much of a choice if you want to recharge your favorite gizmo.
Arrival of the AF A320 (F-GKXR, which enterered operation on 6/2/2009)

The ground marking is explicit for 737s only

Take-offs are from Runway 19L, which results in planes taxiing past Terminal 2 to reach it, like this Sparrow / Amapola Flyg Fokker 50 seen earlier

End of pushback for BA 767-300ER

She hides the UPS 767 which is also part of the usual landscape at that time of the day.

Next is the turn of this Finnair A319

SK ATR72

(British Aerospace Jetstream 31 belonging to AIS Airlines PH-HCI (a Dutch charter airline), already seen here two weeks before.

Boarding with Skypriority announcement, but without a dedicated line for that. Or maybe, by the time I rose, the line has been invaded by the other passengers.

There is no HSBC advertising in the jetbridge, possibly because the bank has nearly no business in Sweden.

Fuselage shot

Three rows of J that evening.

The windows are again misaligned. That is where I realize that my camera has a setting problem.

The colors are more faithful like this

The KL 738 KL leaves later

Waning light on a Nexjet Saab 340 in the background

I left my measuring tape in my suitcase, but the seat pitch is 22 cm from seat edge to magazine pocket, like on the way in.

The cabin floor is clean

End of refueling

Terminal 2, seen after the end of pushback

There is to little light and the plane taxis too fast for obtaining a satisfactory picture of ARN from the taxiway.

I drew in red the taxiing route on this Google Maps picture

Acceleration

Rotation

And climbing

Motorway E18 runs between Brunna (left) and Kungsangen (right), then alongside Jakobsberg (right) and a forest which is completely dark at night (left), before reaching Solna and Stockholm in the distance.

This view was identifiable with the help of Flightradar24

And this Google Earth picture rotated approximately to the same orientation.

It is quiet in the cabin, apart from a baby who has a hard time with the cabin air pressure drop.

The food is strictly identical to that served on the same flight two weeks before.

After unwrapping

My neighbors, who were from Bangladesh, ask the FA if there was pork in it and she reassures them : it’s vegetarian with only pesto in it (there is zucchini too, but I suspect she does not know this word in English). There is not much of either, actually.

The middle seat’s reading light stubbornly refuses to be extinguished, which does not help taking pictures of the descent to CDG, with Paris on the left of the aircraft

Arrival at Terminal 2F next to an AF A321

A reasonable short walk in the terminal after deplaning

Going through the luggage delivery room.

And arrival at the taxi stand whose direction is clearly announced by airport staff in showy light blue vests : the airport operator has at long last decided to give a hard time to illegal taxis who operated openly not so long ago. Seven minutes from deplaning to boarding a taxi : no complaint about it.
The hotels in Stockholm in the range used by my company are often fully booked and fully use yield management, with the result that I am seldom twice in the same hotel. My lucky draw in this hotel lottery was the Mariott Courtyard. This policy prevents me from cumulating award points in a targeted frequent user program, but it provides me changing opportunities for a tourist bonus.

This hotel is within walking distance of the Västerbron, and that provided me the stuff for my tourist bonus on the outbound flight. A minor interesting view from the end of the corridor was this road ring.

The staff at the reception desk when I checked in told me that my room would have a view on the park, which I was not very interested in, apart from the bridge – you can use the central arch below the horizon on the left.

Young Flight Reporters may be interested in the presence of a skate park under the north end of the Västerbron.

The real perk that this non-avgeek hotel staff missed completely was that this room provided an excellent albeit distant view on the planes on their final descent towards BMA, the mainly domestic airport. The distance meant that taking pictures was tricky in a very cloudy weather. The is the best bonus I could do when I woke up the next day.
Beechcraft C90 King Air

Swedish Air Force Saab 340, barely identifiable thanks to the three crown roundel on the rear of the fuselage

Bristish Airways Dornier 328-300

I took the least bad picture that day when leaving the hotel, when there was more light : a Nordic Regional Airlines ATR 72.

But the day after at the same time, there was a bright blue sky, which was a dramatic change :
Braathens Regional Aviation BAE Avro RJ100 whose livery seems to change with the light direction

Braathens Regional Airways ATR 72 in two different liveries

Braathens Regional Airways Saab 2000

Last, not least, BAE Avro RJ100 in Malmö Aviation livery

There is no report on a Malmö Aviation on this website and there will probably never be one: this airline merged with Sverigeflyg to become Braathens Regional Airlines, but kept its aircraft which are wet leased to its sister airline..
Thanks for reading me !