I'm adding one more report to the English part of the community. In those times of COVID domestic flights are the norm and non french citizens don't have so many occasions to travel in France. Hopefully this will provide you a feeling of evasion :)
This segment belongs to a longer trip started in Stuttgart, Germany and heading to Bordeaux, France. My original ticket was booked one day later but after 3-4 flight changes we had only the option to cancel and get refund (flights booked over Skymiles for 10,000 miles each way of 2 segments), to accept the change or to fly two days later. This was for sure the best options. In former times I had always 4-8 options per day to travel STR/BOD on either AF or KL…
Surprisingly the terminal 2F at CDG airport was full of people. Vacation time was at its highest point.
I went directly to the lounge and was accepted with my two children. My ticket was reporting my SM silver membership and it took some time to record my FB Platinum member instead. Looks like children under the age of 12 are accepted for free.
They are more images of the lounge post-COVID in the french section of the site.
Service has changed. Buffet remains the same but there are one or two ladies in charge of serving you on demand. You just have to wait for that in queue and nice marks let you know where exactly to stop ;) (copyright SkyteamCHC for the pic)
My second choice. I really love this lemon cake you see on the bottom left of the tray. Highly recommended and so french patisserie !!!
The lounge was not that full, especially on the below floor which has however NO buffet.
No press at all. Maybe this is a more global trend moving to e-press instead. I like it, but IT system needs to follow and I've never been impressed by AFplay so far on non AF/KL e-ticket or when using another Skyteam program as FFP.
Boarding started in a typical french brothel which reminded me of the regretted pre-COVID times.
Cabin is a specific one used on domestic flights and all A318 aircrafts. Seats a no recline and very narrow tray tables. Other than that I don't find them uncomfortable and prefer them even to the LH seat you find on European flights.
Pitch remains okay for adults and has room left for children!
My integrated cup holder was broken. Don't really mind as I never use them.
If you don't know France be aware that they remain number 1 in… bureaucracy. You have now to fill in a form to tell them that you were on that flight at this specific seat. Since they have 300+ active clusters they of course don't track anything but you still have to fill in a form. If they were not doing this you would anyway find a majority of french people complaining that the government doesn't do anything to stop the pandemic. Welcome to the french paradigm :)
Leaving almost on time
Manual safety demonstrations
Ben Smith probably staring at our aircraft
Those easyjets are parked for some of them with engines protected
Same for this A330
Or this B772
Another parked aircraft now for almost 2 decades :(
There is however some trafic but it looks like only the northern runways are open, at least on that day.
Take off to the west. On the other side you would have had beautiful scenes of Paris ;(
Here you see only the Val d'Oise and l'Oise
Goussainville
One of the very nice forest surrounding Paris.
Meanders of the Seine at the north west of Paris
Well this is not the Seine anymore but the Dordogne / Dore.
I haven't captured the service at it was just a drink (water, juice or coffee only…)
Last turn probably not far away from St Emilion. This is my first time I am landing at Bordeaux airport using that route.
We cross now the Garonne with the A630 under heavy traffic load
Bègles and the Gare St Jean - the train station of Boardeaux.
And stunning views of Bordeaux, I'm sure now you don't complain anymore to have missed Paris ;)
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Approaching runway 29
BOD low cost terminal which I've heard was still closed at that time
AF terminal. Looks good from here… is not!
You have indeed to take a number of dirty corridors and multiple steps to reach finally baggage bin.
It took around 10min to get bags. Airport was overcrowded, the lavatories as well.
Hi AirBerlin, thanks for sharing this FR!
Yes, Domestic French flights are rare on this side so it's nice to see. Though I've temporarily been living in France, I haven't flown since the beginning of the pandemic so it's interesting to see what it's like.
Hah! Yes, we are indeed a nation of "Râleurs" haha. As a French expat, I love to blame my complaining on being French when home in the US or outside of France in general. It's so funny I saw an article about it just yesterday (http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200831-why-the-french-love-to-complain)
Not being able to choose seats is crazy, especially as FB Plat/ST Elite+. Not having Magazines is fine during Covid and the installation of Wi-Fi is going pretty fast throughout the 320 family fleet. I think the "Métropole" fleet will be the last to be fully outfitted since they only do domestic hops. From what I've seen, AF Connect streaming IFE is pretty good, so that should be available fleetwide soon-ish hopefully to make up for lack of everything else, haha.
Thanks so much for sharing!
This is the exact same in the Lufthansa Group in which Brussels Airlines does no service at all, Lufthansa serves only a bottle of water, while Austrian and Swiss do serve a bit more extended service, though I wouldnt be surprised if this is a regulation set up by the countries itself and if the airline is simply following these guidelines, though it's still abysmal for having literally no service for a carrier like AF.
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thanks for sharing!
Hey thanks for your report.
I am sort of convinced french people complain less than before at least from I can notice around me.
Having flown from Lyon to Bordeaux once a week sometimes via CDG i can tell you this covid form is only requested by a few departments, amongst which Gironde.
I asked the staff a few times, indeed going/coming from Lyon you don't need one, the Prefet of the Rhône doesnt want it. So yes kuddo to bureaucracy!!
The inflight magazine is still there it is just digital on the AF play app.
I found it surprising you can't choose your seats, I was always able to.
And as for the wifi i think they're getting there, I use it a lot more I guess you weren't lucky enough to have an old unit not to have retrofitted.. But thecwifi is more present than klm alitalia easyjet iberia british airways etc... Even Lufthansa hasnt finished the retrofiting job
At least AF doesnt charge you with some BOB menu like lufthansa now.
Looking at your conclusion I am wondering... Are you a french person? XD