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Flight LAX-CDG, need help with picking a seat, please

Flight LAX-CDG, need help with picking a seat, please

Old Oct 3rd, 2012, 08:49 AM
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Flight LAX-CDG, need help with picking a seat, please

Hi everyone. I already posted this on the Airline forum, but I'm hoping that frequent flyers to France will also have some input, and might not be looking on the other forum. Forgive me if this is bad etiquette!

We're flying on an AF 380-800, LAX-CDG and have a connection through to Prague. The connection is a little tight (although on other trips it has been fine for us), so I'd like to pick a seat that gets us off the plane faster rather than slower. I have reserved seats in row 89 on the upper deck, which is configuration 2-4-2, and we'd be aisle and window, which I like a lot. Otherwise we need to take aisle and middle, row 31 on the lower deck.

Is it your experience that disembarking is from both the front and the back? In that case, the upper deck looks like it's toward the rear of the plane...right?

Also, does AF always have those flip down foot rests. I went on another airline and really missed the footrest.

Thanks very much, I appreciate your help.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2012, 08:58 AM
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We just flew to and from CDG on an AF 380-800, and all seats had flip-down footrests in the lower cabin. We were in row 35 going over, can't remember where we were on the way home. But both times, the lower cabin disembarked only from the front of the plane.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2012, 10:55 AM
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AFAIK there are no jetways connected to the rear of the plane. At CDG I believe they use 3 jetways - one downstairs connected to the very front door for first class passengers, a second one downstairs at the front of economy and one upstairs connected to the front of business class.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2012, 12:18 PM
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I flew that plane this summer -- and loved it! We were on the upper deck in business, seats 60A and B which you can see on this link (that I'm sure you've seen before):

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Air...irbus_A380.php

You, in economy, would be following the biz class section downstairs towards the front of the aircraft and out.

Since there are less seats upstairs, your trip downstairs and deplaning would, imo, be faster than it would be if you were in economy downstairs.

I'm guessing based on looking at the plane's configuration and my memory that we upstairs in biz made it out faster than the folks downstairs in the same class.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2012, 12:43 PM
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Couldn't the OP also use the jetway connected to business class upstairs or are you saying there was no jetway connected upstairs, Surfergirl? It should've been located behind seat 64. Being in row 60 it was probably faster for you to head downstairs and exit out of the very forward jetway in front of first class (there is no business class downstairs).
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Old Oct 3rd, 2012, 12:53 PM
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I do not recall there being a jetway connected upstairs, Patty.

I had to wait for my mom, anyway, and she was in 63 F.

If there is one upstairs, and I don't doubt you (after 11 hours on the plane and age-related memory slow down, who remembers much of anything!), then all the more reason to sit upstairs!
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Old Oct 3rd, 2012, 01:39 PM
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There was a jetway connected to the upstairs when we flew in August and September. There was one door to go through to get on the plane, and a short corridor led to two possibilities: one leading to the lower cabin and one ramp leading up to the upper one. Can't speak to getting off the plane fast, as I was still limping around on a bandaged/braced ankle and wanted to be last off!
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Old Oct 3rd, 2012, 01:53 PM
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Ha ha, St Cirq, ironically so was I!
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Old Oct 3rd, 2012, 08:10 PM
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Thank you all so much for your help! I took a second look at SeatGuru and discovered that row 89 has a limited recline, so I took row 91 instead. Someone on the Airline forum had a great point - will the time difference in disembarking be that critical compared to the comfort of flying upstairs. So upper deck it is.

St. Cirq, I read your post on your home in France and hope you're recovering well.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2012, 08:34 PM
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>>Is it your experience that disembarking is from both the front and the back?
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Old Oct 4th, 2012, 05:31 AM
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Good point, biz, thanks.
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