Air France's AMAZING Michelin-Star A350 Business Class
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ก.ค. 2024
- Get Surfshark VPN at surfshark.deals/winginit - Enter promo code WINGINIT for a special deal for the holidays: 85% off + THREE EXTRA MONTHS for free!
That Delta One video: • Why I won't fly Delta ...
Air France is an airline which certainly has its critics. Maybe...they're a bit stuffy. Maybe...their service is a bit formal. However, sometimes sticking to tradition has its upsides - Air France produced a superb experience on this flight to Washington DC. Transatlantic business class is super competitive, and Air France put excellent service front and centre along with an ambitious and fabulous meal offering. Enjoy the video!
Follow me on Twitter: @paul_winginit ¦ / paul_winginit
Follow me on Instagram: paul_winginit ¦ / paul_winginit
Merch store: wingin-it.teemill.com/collect...
0:00 Intro
0:40 CDG ground experience....eek.
1:30 Air France Lounge, Hall M, CDG
3:03 Some face time about the flight and ticket details
4:45 Integrated sponsor segment (thank you Surfshark)
5:39 Boarding our A350-900 in business class
7:42 Taxi and takeoff
9:07 Cabin and seat tour
11:05 THAT menu by 3* Michelin chef Anne-Sophie Pic
13:02 Getting into the spirit...ahem.
14:00 More amenities, bed time, and second meal service
16:14 End, conclusions, fare paid and thanks as always.
My website: www.winginit.me
Date of Travel: 25 OCT 2022
Airline: Air France
Livery: Air France standard
Route: CDG-IAD
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900 XWB
Flight Number: AF 26
Miles: 3,851
Airborne time: 7h46m
Join me on PATREON where you'll get perks like AD-FREE EARLY ACCESS viewing of all my trip report videos, my tips and tricks for hacking fares, my "best of the month" airfare rundown, and MORE...support me: / winginit
If you want to find out more about my future plans and join in conversations I have about travel, follow me on Twitter: @paul_winginit.
Make sure you have your notifications set! 🛎
_____________________________________
Do you have any ideas for future trip reports? Something you've never seen on TH-cam before? Why not suggest it to me in the comments? I read every single one! 👍🏻
Enjoy the video, and thanks for watching. If you subscribe, then thanks for being part of the channel!
#paulstripreports #vlog #review #flying #travel #aviation #avgeek #trains
♫ I use Epidemic sounds; give it a try: share.epidemicsound.com/paulwi...
**DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE!**
![fellow fellow - Proud [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9uZF7BlUQPE/mqdefault.jpg)
Get Surfshark VPN at surfshark.deals/winginit - Enter promo code WINGINIT for a special deal for the holidays: 85% off + THREE EXTRA MONTHS for free!
Air France is an airline which certainly has its critics. Maybe...they're a bit stuffy. Maybe...their service is a bit formal. However, sometimes sticking to tradition has its upsides - Air France produced a superb experience on this flight to Washington DC. Transatlantic business class is super competitive, and Air France put excellent service front and centre along with an ambitious and fabulous meal offering. Enjoy the video!
Follow me on Twitter: @paul_winginit ¦ twitter.com/paul_winginit
Follow me on Instagram: paul_winginit ¦ instagram.com/paul_winginit
Merch store: wingin-it.teemill.com/collection/all-products/
On a trip to Bordeaux and Cap Ferret in May I had the opportunity to access the amazing CDF 2F lounge, which is indeed spectacular. On the way home from Paris I used the slightly derided Hall M lounge and I actually loved it. The more subdued colors were most calming, and the the food and beverage were up to Air France standards.
Americans "believe" that the French are "stuffy." But actually they are reserved and polite -- traits not comprehended by most very oafish, "in your face" fake-"friendly" (and insecure) Americans. Learn how the French "public face" versus (later on, after they get to KNOW and possibly like you) . . . their private behavior is entirely different -- warm, direct and funny. We Americans think we can just "launch into" an "intimate friendship," which is ridiculous.
The Carthusian monks weren't messing about when they made Chartreuse. I can assure you the hangover is something very special.
I flew Air France Business class last year in December, a birthday treat. The A350 was great, the flight attendants were delightful, the food was amazing! That Clarins stuff in the bathroom is great! I had to come back home with a bottle of those. The flight attendants were kind enough to write it down on a piece of paper and told me where to get it in the airport. The food in economy is meh. I just flew back with them from CDG to SFO last week. I missed flying in business. Great review!
The food was amazing? Don’t know where you flight went to, but I find air france business class food the worst up there. Food served on a plastic tray, very very average menu, some options not available, and if available it’s tasteless. Whereas the French are known for their food, Air France does absolutely not mirror that. For me, I’d rather spend the little extra money and fly through a Middle Eastern hub on my way to Asia. Even prefer KLM over Air France. And British Airways had zero right of existence when it comes to business class…
I flew Air France for the first time back in May going back home to ny from Paris. And although I had an economy seat I was very impressed with this airline. They were very welcoming and the food was excellent. Their level of service was awesome even for economy. I will definitely fly them at some point again.
Air France is my home airline. I fly it almost exclusively and am pleased to see that you enjoy it as much as I do. I love the Chartreuse! It's even better on a night flight!
Paul, You are a joy and we love your videos! I have traveled extensively in the past but mainly in coach. Since we can’t travel much now because we have a disabled son, we really enjoy traveling vicariously through your videos! You are a master at reviewing your experiences by focusing on the positives yet respectfully pointing out areas in need of improvements. I may have missed videos on how you efficiently pack for your adventures AND any you may have done traveling with a person with disabilities needing a wheelchair. If I missed them, it would be greatly appreciated if you could put a link or create one! If you need someone to use as an example in your video….my husband and myself along with our son, who is disabled would love to accompany you! 😃😃 Keep on safely traveling! ✈️🚂🚢
I fly AF at least 6 times a year. Absolutely my favorite airline
Air France looked so much better than Delta! The A350 in that Air France Livery looks mwah!
It is good when the workers are not striking
@@briangasser973 😂
Chartreuse is best as a cocktail ingredient, I agree! Indeed, my favorite cocktail involves it, the Naked and Famous, which is equal measures mezcal, chartreuse (yellow is best), bitter (Aperol is best), and lime juice. Good call Paul!
You are absolutely right. Air France is extremely enjoyable...and the food is heaven-like!!!
Hot Club of Paris a cool soundtrack for this with Stefan Grapelli and Django Reinhardt. Shows thought, Paul. Brilliant
The people running at CDG probably didn't have a delayed inbound flight, they probably were just caught up for hours in the horrendously organized passport control queues.
I agree .The passport queues are the worst at Charles De Gaulle, both coming and going.
Urgh CDG is so confusing with the never ending miles long walks, trains, different terminals, and unhelpful staff. Please avoid it at all cost.
Not to mention that both your passport and boarding pass are checked twice when flying out of there, even before you reach the gate. They also seem to have no idea how to do special screenings
Chartreuse is an experience. Worst hangover of my life was 4 of those one cursed night. Glad the outward trip was better than the inbound one.
Great vid, Pau. Excellent camera work, audio, and editing. All good. Thanks.
I so enjoy your reviews, Paul. They’re always informative, entertaining and such a treat.
ROFL Chartreuse is incredible. Typically made by monks. I visited the Chartreuse monastery when I was 11 ( sometime in le last century lol) green chartreuse is the strongest liquor available to buy, but they have many more, the eau de noix is incredible. Enjoy ☺️
I flew Air France once, years ago, from CDG to New York. The seats, food and service all were excellent and put US airlines’ amenities to shame. I hope to experience Air France again soon.
One has to try quite hard to find airlines that do NOT put US airlines to shame, LOL. 😊
What an amazing flight and a fantastic video as always.
You never disappoint.
Keep it up.
As always, most enjoyable, Paul!!!
There’s a reason that chartreuse is the go to penalty shot drink on our ski trips! Nasty! 😂
I am glad that they updated those people movers at Dulles. It's like whomever was the original architect really liked science fiction and wanted to build a lunar base as an airport complete with stupid lifted vehicles. I wonder if they can jump over a row of baggage carts if you had a ramp.
Great review Paul! It’s been over 20 years since I’ve flown Air France, but this review makes me want to fly them again on my next trip to Europe❤✈️
Agree that CDG is a nightmare, but a good AF business class experience offsets that. And all that bread in the lounge? It’s French, so bloody delicious. Nice video.
Excellent trip report as always Paul! Air France always seems impressive!😸😸
I love your video Paul that sounds like so much fun. Enjoy your business class from Paris to Washington DC. That sounds amazing. Have fun.
Another wonderful review thanks. Glad you enjoyed the Chartreuse, always been a favourite of mine, especially when mixed with Benedictine Brandy, an amazing winter warmer. 🤤
I will make a note of that cocktail! Thanks 😀
I've often heard people complain about Air France, but the few times I've flown them I thought they were great. Food is always on point, wine selection is amazing and all the staff I've interacted with were very friendly and professional.
Had the privilege of flying on the first AF a350 flight into San Jose 🇨🇷 this summer (unknown to me till arrival). Found CDG a great place to sit and watch planes during the stopover and the inflight food was decent enough. Even if I didn’t have lounge access and was in economy class cheap seats 😉. Great review as usual!
Another fantastic review, Paul - the food looked amazing!
Great review, I love AF's A350's. I've never had a bad flight on AF, always find the crew friendly and the catering amazing, champagne in Economy!
Great review, I always enjoy watching your content
So what does one do for 8hours in an airport? I think a video on what you do between flights might be fun. Your smile and upbeat nature always brightens my day. Keep up the good work.
i hang out,sleep,eat,drink in the private lounge--you can buy a day pass in most of them if your not flying business or 1st class--it is not cheap but i dont care
In CDG? I've killed some time there shopping in the Duty Free shops and grazing in the fabulous lounge. Maybe not eight hours worth, but if I had to I think I could pull it off. (I've known people who have actually taken a quick trip into Paris and back to the airport in less time than that, which I think is NUTS!)
I love Air France and have flown many times with them. Since the 1980s. Let the haters fly off on Ryan.
Looks delicious Paul, looking forward to trying it in September myself!
Yes, a long bus ride video sounds like it would be splendid, Paul!😊
Nice flight. Great food. Thanks Paul😀💚
That dessert selection looked so good! 😋
Thanks for the flight review
Cheers 🥂
Thanks for the background music of "le jazz hot" with Rheinhart and Grappelli.
I was on AF from LAX - CDG - LAX the other week. In business. Very impressed by the food and service. Blew my mind when I was offered an expresso after dinner. With a great Calvados to match!
Another great video Paul. We flew AF B777 business from JFK to CDG in October. Terrific flight: seats/bed, food and drink, excellent crew. Yes good bathrooms too! Same for AF Airbus 320 business from CDG to Madrid Barajas. Cheese course after the fish for lunch. And the champagne in the lounges, and on the flights, is the best. Thanks.
Great vid Paul. Flying in business with AF to Lima on an A350 (12h45m flight!) in a few months, so was good to see what to expect. First time with AF for me; food looks awesome!
As I read this, Paul, I'm sitting in the small lounge in the K zone at C de G, off to San Jose in the front end of a 350 a bit later. You've wetted my app for the trip. Thanks, as ever for your very interesting stuff
Great video Paul, food looked fantastic.
Very good review, food looked great, attentive staff, comfortable. Thanks
What a great channel. Really enjoyable and relaxing content. Just subscribed 👍. Thanks for the inspiration.
I’d love to hear your top ten routes/airlines. That would be a great video and really helpful!
A dribble of Chartreuse over quality vanilla ice cream is special! Thank you for the video!
Oh man, I was definitely looking forward to you trying that drink. I remember my first time lol
Very interesting! The meal you had as your second service I was served on Air France this year as breakfast on a European flight in Business Class.
Glad that you included people mover footage of iad lol
Looking very nice ..Thank you for sharing your trip..
Another great video man! Great meeting you that morning in the lounge in Budapest🙏🏼
Thanks for stopping to say hello! 😀
The expression on your face drinking that green stuff…priceless!😂😂😂
Just booked this and cant wait to experience this!
Thank you for the Video and your nice work. I really like your down to earth attitude. 👍
Thank you for your positive attitude👌. Looks an interesting product😊🇿🇦
Another excellent overview of business class, with review. When I pay for or use points for business class, I want great service and food. Looks like AF across the pond is a good choice. Thanks, Paul.
A word about headphones. I have a pair of modestly priced Sennheisers. They are not noise cancelling but they still sound great plugged into just about anything. On a plane they work just fine.
I just flew Air France Business to America and it was a dream. I didn't want the flight to end
Great video Paul! Loved seeing Air France 🇫🇷 on their A350 Business Class! At 4:20 I just pictured your Inaugural trip on WestJet’s B787-9 Dreamliner and I remembered you saying “PARIS & Dublin get Dreamliner service later this year” that was also a great video!
Also the FOOD! WOW! 🤩 It looked delicious 🤤 and I cannot wait to fly Air France 🇫🇷
Cheers Mate 🥂
Great vlog as always! Just as I thought, AF rules C-class. That is the verdict from the FQTV of YT. Keep up the good work. Be safe!
Great video. Good job pronouncing Mooselookmeguntic Lake too!
First 2 weeks after school was out for the summer back in the early 60's and 70's we would stay at Haines Landing. We used to go down to Upper Dam and fish.
I enjoyed that, thank you.
Great review Paul loved the music before take off sounded like Django Reinhardt and Stephan Grapelli very good.
Great video, I think each experience can be different depending on crew, equipment and time of flight . These uploads give you an idea.
I just flew AF business on 777-300 form Miami to Paris (CDG). I believe it was their new 1-2-1 config but it was a bit broken…
Aside from some small hiccups I found the crew to be very attentive and the food was phenomenal.
Because that flight left late, my connection to Prague had to be rebooked.
I wound up on Czech Airlines A320. On a 1.5hr flight they gave me pre-flight drink, hot towel service and a bigger meal than AF (though not Michelin). Still amazing.
Love the Green Shirt Paul!
Love how you chose Absinthe
Thank you
Looks great!
I flew AF PTY-CDG business a few months ago - not an A350, but still very good, especially the food and drink. Their website is a nightmare, but apart from that I really like AF.
Fantastic report, looks great service!
Thank you!
@@Paul_Lucas My pleasure!
Have been travelling with Air France since basically I was born, I always have loved the airline, never had anything bad to say about the airline, always loved it
Always a fan of KLM (and Schiphol) too. What stops me with Air France can be summed up in three short letters: C D G. An airport I have vowed to never darken its gates again! 🙂
Thanks for a helpful review. I will be taking this aircraft - Business Class 4A - from Paris to Atlanta in a few months (booked through Delta) I will be interested to see how this compares to Delta One. The food looks amazing!
Great flight.
Do more busses, yes! And trains. We are taking our first trip to Europe (Rome) next year for a cruise. Never been across the pond before. Your reports certainly help.
Really like your no nonsense no waffle videos. I have only travelled with Air France once, Manchester to Paris and that was firmly in the poor service category but it was economy so my expectations were not high. The business class long haul does look a very different proposition though. I have a trip planned to Toronto next year and will investigate going to Paris first and flying from there.
It’s always a happy day when Paul Lucas is winging it. 👏🏽
Fantastic journey superb view s good evening bro
You should see the Air France lounge in Boston. It's tiny, dilapidated and, I kid you not, had mice running around (including coming out of the kitchen), when I was there in October 2022.
Well done to air France and I would have no problems travelling with her France the food looked amazing the seat looks fantastic and the airport is okay. I’ve travelled through the airport once before so I know it well I’m usually a big critic about food on an aircraft but this time I would definitely give it a👍👍🥂 From me great video as usual Paul look forward to your next video one more thing in air France look forward to travelling one of your aircraft in the near future
I like the curvier look of these business class seats a lot better than Delta's square office cubicles! But one again we can clearly see white is not the best choice
nice trip
That was pretty much my reaction to my first taste of Chartreuse :-)
Paul u never flew Air France ?
Fun video as always
You got the better seat for sure Closer to the window is safer than hanging in the aisle
That green beverage reminds me of absinthe Paul
7:37 Hi Paul... What would you do if the AirTags show that your bags are elsewhere in the airport? (ie not onboard)?
1:05 I have heard from others about the size of Charles de Gaulle Airport and how long the walks can be. And that's if you are only in one terminal.
If your home airport is Jackson-Hartsfield like mine is, hardly any other airport seems "big" by comparison.
Excellent 👍👍
I love your videos. As always: thumbs up. Just one thing, you should have a closer look to the AF logo: its not a Pegasus (winged horse), but a winged sea horse. It's the traditional AF logo in contrast to the current text based logo in blue, white and red.
Well that’s sent me down a rabbit hole! Thanks! Even AF occasionally call it a “Pegasus” but it’s definitely a winged seahorse, and I just read about the history. Next time I do an Air France video I’ll talk about it and come back to this comment 😀
@@Paul_Lucas Inhouse they colloquially and affectionately call it "the shrimp". It's super old and always finds its way onto the smallest corners or hidden sides of documentation, tableware, etc.
Like an engraved handle tip on cutlery, engraved or printed under teacups, on buttons, around the nose and first door of the aircraft, etc.
For every collector of the company's memorabilia, it's usually the most important feature, before the company name itself or blue white and red stripes.
If you look closely, you may find captains, copilots, pursers / flight attendants with cufflinks, tie clips or tie pins ; female FA's uniform scarf or buckle... with the winged seahorse.
Sometimes barely noticeable, like in a very slightly lighter shade of the same color that you can only see under the right lighting.
Even the paper napkins can display the "shrimp" as a dry stamp press (no ink but very light grooves in the paper).
It's a bit to Air France what Mickey's head and hidden Mickey's are to Disney, some are obvious, others barely noticeable.
I love looking out of the window and trying to place where I am. The moving map display helps but is a bit random as to which place names to show. I was delighted to find myself flying just to the north of Black Tickle on my way into Montreal in the summer. The trouble is, I really want to go there now...
if you had enough footage i'd love to see an extended video with more airport scenes
Nice video 👌
Nice report. Are you doing any train journey’s soon?
Nice video
I very much love all ur videos. I especially love this one because I regularly 2 or three times a year travel the IAD-CDG-IAD route although be it in economy class both on Air France and United. I have family in Switzerland 🇨🇭 and close friends in Paris France 🇫🇷. You and Noel Philips are my two favorite airline critics. Just curious: are you by chance friends with Noel?
Thank you for a great report. Now if you're going to choose AF again, you need to know all about "La crevette" (not Pegasus!).
Great flight review !
The pollock looked marvelous and the flag's colors mood lights are nice.
Why did you ride a bus between satellites L and M ? There's a very efficient train / people mover that makes transfers in AF's / Skyteam hub super easy (CDG 2 halls E & F, gates F, K, L & M).
That's usually between terminals 1 and 2 that transfers are awful and even those have improved.
I've never used a bus in CDG 2 to transfer, it's really surprising you had to.
The only thing I dislike about the seat arrangement is that if you're traveling with someone, you're stuck to the central seats away from the window.
But I guess it's now the norm in most business classes.
I've heard that Clarins Spa's schedule availability is temporarily reduced due to a combination of lengthy disinfection procedures between clients and lack of trained personnel at certain hours.
And to answer your subliminal question : yes, more long bus videos!
Great flight report, as always.
I think it's because the CDGVal is landside.
@@TheLewistownTrainspotter8102 Yeah but I'm talking about the LISA, which links halls K, L & M and is located after passport controls, not landside.
The CDGVAL is between terminals 1, 2, 3, car parks and can be accessed by anyone without controls.
CDGVAL and LISA are both VAL people movers but are different lines.
Brilliant Paul!:)