Route: Paris CDG- Hong Kong

Departure date and time of flight: 13:45pm on the 7th December 2009

Flight Number: AF184

Flight duration: 11h 20 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 777-200

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight was delayed taking off by around 20 minutes due to the afternoon traffic at Paris CDG- the taxi to the runway took a very long time (perhaps around 20 minutes).

Any baggage issues:

This was a connecting flight that I took from London Heathrow to Hong Kong via CDG. Now, as far as I was concerned, everything seemed to be OK until I arrived at Hong Kong. The Air France ground staff at the arrivals desk assumed that my baggage was on the next plane in from CDG (due to arrive in the morning). I was informed that I can spend around 100 EUROS on anything I would like until I get my baggage. To my surprise the baggage arrived 2 days late (actually three days if one takes into account the time difference between Europe and Asia). I have heard from a lot of other people that they also had issues with Air France, and when I was at CDG Airport I do recall meeting couple mentioning in frustration that they have experienced baggage problems with Air France many times (were they just unlucky?!)

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

I was on a connecting flight in from London Heathrow to Hong Kong. There was a HUGE queue for the security and the transfer check-in area prior to the boarding gates. Though the staff were polite and considerate. There were no major problems on the whole-just the feeling that I may miss my connecting flight! (but it was all handled well by the local staff).

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

A Yellow coloured packet of Croccentelle Bux olives (pretzels) was served, along with drinks (choice of orange juice, apple juice and other drinks), along with red or white wine. The pretzels were OK (fresh and salted).

Comments regarding the first meal:

Creamy pumpkin blended with cod and vegetables- Just LOVELY (especially when sprinkled with pepper) was the dish of the house. A neat bowl of salad consisting of diced tomatoes and onions was served with a delicious thin carpet of salmon. A meal on Air France would not be complete without the trademark French baguette (just the right size- not too long), a healthy portion of French cheese (camembert) and a serving of traditional French butter.

A fabulous helping of chocolate cream pudding made up for the pudding- as well as a fresh orange (taken from a French farm!). The cutlery was all plastic with a napkin in Air France colours.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

Passengers could help themselves to the kitchen to get pot noodles, tea, coffee and other drinks (including Cognac and other spirits).

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

Breakfast was served around an hour and a half prior to landing at Paris CDG. There was a choice of either a Cantonese or a French breakfast. The only difference between the Cantonese and the French breakfast was that the Cantonese breakfast consisted of the signature “congee”, while the French breakfast consisted various slices of three kinds of cheese. The rest of the meal was standard- consisting of a healthy portion of bread (baguette and croissant), butter, orange juice, apple rice pudding and a pot of French yogurt (delicious!). Oh and of course there was the French frais (strawberry) jam. Loved every bite!!

A hot cup of tea or coffee (or green tea) were offered afterwards. The air hostesses offered another helping of the croissant to those that needed one. You just can’t argue with that high quality of service.

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

Passengers could watch a myriad of movies (French, Indian, Chinese, American, Spanish and British varieties were on offer), and music (all sorts). There were plenty of games to be played too. It was an action packed IFE system offered by Air France- however it being a night flight so not many passengers had time to watch the IFE (sleeping seemed more important in International airspace!).

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

Very professional. Actually the Air France staff are very helpful, polite and offer the best of French hospitality.

Improvements that could be made:

Perhaps Air France needs to make sure its baggage handling system is up to scratch! That’s the only thing that let this flight down- otherwise the in-flight service was great!

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

All of Air France’s seats are beautifully covered with seat covers that are coloured in blue, red and white (representing the national flag). The planes are clean and well maintained. 

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 9

Route: London Heathrow Airport to Paris CDG

Departure date and time of flight: 10:20am on the 7th December 2009

Flight Number:

AF1681

Flight duration:

1h 20 minutes

Class:

Economy Class

Aircraft type:

A321

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight was delayed taking off by around 20 minutes due to the normal traffic at London Heathrow Airport. Nevertheless, we arrived at Paris around 5 minutes early (because the actual flying time was only around 30 minutes).

Any baggage issues:

I was taking Air France on this connecting flight to Hong Kong via Paris CDG. So I was aware that I had any baggage issues UNTIL I arrived in Hong Kong. Apparently Air France is famous for losing people’s bags on connecting flights’! (I found this out from a lot of other passengers’). My baggage arrived 4 days late in Hong Kong- by which time I had no choice but to go on shopping at Air France’s expense. It was an interesting experience to be able to go on a shopping spree while on a press assignment!

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

Ahh...I arrived around 10 minutes late for check-in (due to the London Traffic!)...but they still allowed me to check in. I was taking Air France on this connecting flight to Hong Kong via Paris CDG. So I was aware that I had any baggage issues UNTIL I arrived in Hong Kong.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Just the usual drinks service (tea/coffee). I asked the air hostess if there were any cakes/biscuits’, to which she replied “Ohh...you are hungry is it?...Paris is only 30 minutes away you know?”. This was an unprofessional way to answer a paid passenger of a big airline company such as Air France. It was not expected and an unwanted remark. Later on she apologised for her remarks.

Comments regarding the first meal:

Just a simple (yet hot) croissant.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):
None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

Please see my comment regarding the air hostesses remark regarding the pre-meal service.

Improvements that could be made:

Perhaps Air France needs to make sure its baggage handling system is up to scratch!

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

All of Air France’s seats are beautifully covered with seat covers that are coloured in blue, red and white (representing the national flag). The planes are clean and well maintained. 

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 8 (the quality of the seats let down the flight

Route: Hong Kong to Paris CDG

Departure date and time of flight: 23:05pm on the 26th December 2009

Flight Number: AF185

Flight duration: 12h 30 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 777-300ER

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed on time and landed on time. Everything went smoothly.

Any baggage issues:

There were no baggage issues whatsoever. It was a lovely flight and everything went smoothly.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

I checked in early at Hong Kong, and had plenty of time to wander around the airport before making way to the boarding gates. There were no major issues to deal with.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

The pre-dinner snack consisted of pretzels served with a choice of drinks (orange juice, and others). A fresh slice of lemon was added to the drinks – it was a lovely touch and went well with the orange juice. Scrumptious at 37,000f eet! The red and white wines were, naturally, French. Nice choice too.

Comments regarding the first meal:

Dinner was served at the right time, around 35 minutes after departure. So we did not waste any time! The main dish consisted of a lovely portion of spinach, chicken breast, boiled potatoes and diced carrots. A healthy bowl of salad along with salad cream and mustard cream was presented. The presentation was immaculate. The bread was accompanied with goat’s cheese (can’t ask for anything more on Air France- it was of a very high-quality). Generous amounts of fresh fruit was presented with cut slices of mango and melon.

The highlight of any in-flight meal is a perfect pudding- and one could not go wrong with the apple crumble that was presented on this flight. Was it there to die for or what?!

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

Snacks were available in the galley on this all night flight from Hong Kong to Paris. Passengers could help themselves to Tea and coffee along with complimentary drinks.

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

The wake –up lights were turned on around an hour and half prior to landing at CDG airport- so it was time for breakfast! I took the chance to go to the rather clean Air France galley to brush my teeth and freshen up before I was served the morning meal.

The main dish consisted of a cold prawn salad with a slice of lemon to sprinkle on to the food (The Chinese dish was a bowl of congee). A lovely apple danish pastry was accompanied with fresh orange juice, yogurt and a bowl of fruit (fresh dragon fruit packed in Hong Kong was eaten somewhere over the south of France! Priceless).

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

An assortment of IFE was offered (movies, music and games).

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

Very professional. Actually Air France crew are very well trained and professional on long haul flights.

Improvements that could be made:

Perhaps offer a bit more on long haul breakfast dishes (and not just simple salad?)

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

All of Air France’s seats are beautifully covered with seat covers that are coloured in blue, red and white (representing the national flag). The planes are clean and well maintained. 

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 9

Route: London Heathrow to Hong Kong

Departure date and time of flight: 8th January 2009 at 20:50pm

Flight Number: CX256

Flight duration: 12 hours 15 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A340-200

Punctuality of the flight:

The plane departed bang on time and landed around 5 minutes prior to the listed arrival time. In terms of punctuality, you cannot get any better than this.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check- in staff and any issues:

The check in staff were polite, smiled and very professional. There was no problem what so ever. I had arrived around two hours before departure.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Choice of drinks (standard- tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or coca cola). As with most of the airlines in China, the drinks (coca cola, orange etc.) were all branded under the Cathay Pacific logo. A lovely choice of Whiskey, Vodka, Beer and Cognac were also on offer. Oh, you cannot resist those tempting pretzels for the flight. The packaging is all branded in the Cathay Pacific logo.

Comments regarding the first meal:

Dinner was served around 40 minutes’ after departure from London. The crew would have been very busy on this flight as it was full- even the normally empty Business Class and First Class seats were all taken. The main meal consisted of an attractive portion of braised chicken breast served with fine boiled white rice, chopped chestnuts and some asparagus. I usually dislike Asparagus because of its shape, its unattractiveness and its taste. However on this occasion, it seemed to have blended in neatly with the chicken breast and the rice- and with some butter to melt the asparagus as it entered the mouth.  You just can’t argue with a salad dish that contains a healthy slice of smoked salmon with broccoli and bush tree lettuce- priceless.

For dessert, the chefs at Gate Gourmet treated us to a lovely sponge cake that had an unquestionable tangerine topping flavored with Australian honey. Butter with a soft whole meal bread roll provided the side helping. Now, because it was approaching Chinese New Year, so we were treated to some awesome fortune cookies- though without the actual fortune messages tucked inside the cookies- it instantly reminded me of Hong Kong. For those with a sweet tooth, a bar of Arnott’s “Tim Tam” chocolate was presented. The presentation of this meal was immaculate.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal. Alcohol was served.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

Passengers’ could help themselves to “pot noodles”, Arnott’s “Tim Tam” chocolates and Arnott’s biscuits’.

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

A delicious breakfast was served at around an hour and a half prior to landing at Hong Kong airport. The main dish contained a fabulous scrambled egg, a lovely portion of button mushrooms, a nice tomato and two neat slices of British bacon. For a One World airline like Cathay Pacific this was one of the best breakfasts’ I have had on a flight. Accompanying the meal was an attractive looking pot of apricot yogurt. Lovely piece of soft bread- it was warm, and the bread melted as I put it in the mouth.  

As with all airline meals there was a pot containing a few fresh slices of fruit (and yes, they were fresh).

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

The IFE system of this flight was full of an interactive extravaganza of movies and songs.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The staff were very professional, always had a smile on their faces and were quick to respond to any kind of request from the passengers. The meal and the drinks were served at the right time without any delay. The beauty of the meal service was that the timing between the main meal and the drinks serving was timed perfectly so that passengers would not need to finish eating their meal in order to get the drink. So the drinks arrived just in time after the meal.

Improvements that could be made:

Perhaps have mood lighting when the aircraft is flying in between different time zones (morning, afternoon and evening) - hey, I could honestly find nothing else wrong with this flight!

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The Airbus A340-300 was clean, and had a fresh smell. The seats were coloured in the Cathay Pacific green colour. The aisles were also clean. In the toilets, Cathay Pacific uses toiletries provided exclusively by “Murad” (refreshing cleanser, Vitamin C “body cream”, and “perfecting night cream”).

For this long haul flight each passenger was treated to a sleeping bag that contained a pair of socks, eye-shades and a tooth care bottle (containing toothbrush and toothpaste).

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):10