They say the third time’s a charm, and I’m happy to report, that was actually the case this time around. After a failed Baltic Sea cruise scheduled for 2020 — for obvious reasons — and an aborted trip to London and Paris in winter 2022 when I got sick, we finally were able to take a big European family vacation. This time, we had no fixed plans in advance, but rather we let the flight availability determine where we went. In the end, the focus was on Belgium and Germany for our two week adventure, and Air France business class ended up being a great way to travel.
I’m not going to do a travelogue on this trip, because frankly, I wanted to actually enjoy myself instead of taking notes on every detail. But I will, of course, write up the flight to Paris and the return from Prague via Paris. I’m also going to write up my day in Friedrichshafen, Germany separately since it is a very cool and out-of-the-way aviation destination.
When I say that flight availability would dictate what we did, what I mean is that we’ve had points stranded with Air France-KLM Flying Blue since that COVID-canceled trip in 2020. So the question was … how could we get to Europe using those points, and where could they take us? And to make things harder, my wife really wanted to fly in business. (I would have been very happy in premium economy.) I won’t split cabins with the kids, so that meant finding decent availability for four of us. Oof.
Remarkably, the Flying Blue strategy now is to put out decent availability, far better than many other programs. We were able to get the four of us in business roundtrip to Europe for 100,000 miles each (less with the child discount) plus a few hundred in taxes. Having date and destination flexibility really makes a difference, and Flying Blue makes it pretty easy to search. With the flights booked, we filled in our itinerary.
We had no trouble at all checking in online. I did it on my computer which then had me scan passports using my phone. I did print out the boarding passes since I didn’t want to worry about a non-functioning phone.
We arrived at the airport just before noon for our early 1:40pm flight, and I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic. My first trip to Europe was in 1985, and I departed from the very same Bradley Terminal that my kids would fly from on their first Europe trip. It looks different now, of course, but the ticket counter area still feels the same.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to stop at the ticket counter since with Air France’s generous 2 carry-on + 1 personal item allowance, no checked bags were needed. We had TSA Precheck, so the security line was short, but they kept having crews and other people cut in front so it took awhile to get through. On the other side, we began the long walk over to the midfield concourse where Air France now lives.
The underground tunnel between Bradley and the midfield concourse kind of feels like a poor man’s O’Hare Terminal 1 with more boring lights and blander music. Once we popped up on the other side, we had to take an elevator up to the sixth floor where Air France recently opened its new lounge.
The lounge sits between several other empty spaces that will eventually be lounges for other airlines. For now, Air France is it. The lounge is large with sweeping views to the ocean toward the west… and our aircraft down below.
It’s a very wide lounge but not very deep. When you walk in, to the right is a small seating area with the bathroom, a spa, and a La Premiere lounge space. To the left is the bar.
Past the bar is the main lounge with several separate seating areas and food stations.
I had a quick croque monsieur as we sat and awaited boarding. The lounge attendants came through with an iPad showing which zones were ready to go. We weren’t in a hurry, and when we made it to the gate around forty minutes before departure, it was already nearly fully boarded.
They were using the biometric gates where you just have to look at the camera to be let in. No boarding pass scan required. It’s a fun trick.
Air France 21August 2, 2024
From Los Angeles➤ Scheduled Departure: 140p➤ Actual Departure: 148p➤ From Gate: 204➤ Wheels Up: 212p➤ From Runway: 25R
To Paris/CDG➤ Wheels Down: 908a➤ On Runway: 26L➤ Scheduled Arrival: 920a➤ Actual Arrival: 919a➤ At Gate: M28
Aircraft➤ Type: Boeing 777-328ER➤ Delivered: December 23, 2004➤ Registered: F-GSQG, msn 32850➤ Livery: Standard Air France Livery
Flight➤ Cabin: Coach in Seat 5A➤ Load: ~99% Full➤ Flight Time: 9h56m
This was the first time I’d flown Air France since my honeymoon fifteen years ago. I expected a much better experience since that was on a tired 777-200 with angled flat beds, but I was glad to see the traditional dirty Air France airplane paint job hasn’t changed.
We were warmly welcomed onboard and turned left to get to our seats in the smaller forward cabin. We had all of row five to ourselves. For some obnoxious reason, Air France will only let you seat children in the windows when you assign seats, but onboard, they don’t care what you do. Our kids wanted to sit together in the center, so my wife and I each took a window, mine on the left side.
These seats are the previous generation of seats on Air France in a standard reverse herringbone, and I had two big, beautiful windows all to myself. The seats were clearly older, since they were pretty scuffed up and worn, but I found they very comfortable.
The flight attendants came through with menus and pre-departure drinks, though they oddly never actually collected my glass.
I just held on to it as it slid backwards on our climb. After having to navigate around some monsoon storms further inland, we got above the weather and the service began.
First, there was a hot towel service followed by drinks. They took dinner orders, and I settled in try to watch a bunch of movies knowing sleep likely wouldn’t come.
Dinner started with a little tomato and mozarella and a small box of what I’d consider to be fancy Cheez-Its.
Then it was time for appetizers. The lobster with cream and chives was outstanding, and I wanted to ask for more. I don’t even like eating on airplanes, but that was delicious.
For dinner, I opted for the cod with white wine and shallot sauce, quinoa, and sundried tomatoes. I know, I know, never choose the fish… but it was the most appealing on the menu. And in the end, it was fine, but it wasn’t my favorite.
It was followed by a cheese plate, and then I finished up with a fresh fruit dessert that really hit the spot.
At this point, I told the kids they should try to get some sleep, and they looked at me and laughed. It was pretty early for that, but we all tried. I think one of the kids got a couple hours at most, but the rest of us were on the struggle bus.
I just kept watching movies. The setup was great since the remote has that mini screen on it which I could keep tuned to the moving map while I watched movies on the big screen.
It wasn’t long before I felt the peer pressure to kept the window shade mostly closed, because it was so bright. I gave in after dinner.
As we got to the middle of the flight, the sun set, but it never got dark. It stayed in a twilight for a couple of hours since we were so far north, and that was ideal. I could keep the window open without disturbing others.
Air France has a hands-off approach during the middle of the flight. I don’t think I saw a crewmember walk through once during that time. But there were two very large drink and snack stations set up in the galley which I used to fill up more than once.
The sun started to unset as we got further over the Atlantic, and 1.5 hours from Paris it was time for breakfast. I opted for the lox and bagel. The lox was good, but the bagel was not. The croissant, however, was great, as it better be. I didn’t really love the breakfast at all and found myself dreaming of those BA bacon rolls.
I messed around with the entertainment system more and found a link for a Flight Camera! But there was nothing there. I assume it’s just the same interface for all aircraft even on those that don’t have them.
For the last part of the flight, I decided to watch Chariots of Fire. I last saw that movie way back in 2012 on my return from the London Olympics. I suppose it is required to have it onboard when the Olympics are happening in your home base.
It was a very cloudy day as we made landfall over Ireland, so there wasn’t much to see down below. We made a slow and lazy descent into Paris, looping around to land from the east. I snapped this shot of farmland during a rare break in the clouds east of the airport.
We landed on the south runway and then had to taxi all the way back to the northeasternmost gate in the airport, so it took some time. Even with that, we blocked in exactly one minute early.
CDG was chaotic with the Olympics in full swing. There were people everywhere, just swarming the airport. We, however, weren’t staying in Paris. We made our way to the train station and headed north to Belgium where we’d spend a few days exploring before making our way through Germany to the south.
Overall, Air France did a great job, and I thoroughly enjoyed the flight. That early departure time is tough for those who want to sleep, but I’m bad at that anyway on airplanes, so it was more of a problem for the kids. Still, when you have a two week vacation, there’s plenty of time to recover.
