suze

Air France now offers nonstop flights Seattle to Paris. The other nonstop option is Delta. I assume Air France is the better pick?

Opinions?

merci, suzette

TRSW

suze,

I flew this on Air France last year. It was a nice flight, friendly FA's and good food.

Also, look closely at the Delta flight, it is actually a code share with AF and is on an AF plane.

Tom

Fodorite018

Yes, AF started flying this route over a year ago. Wish they had announced it before we bought out tickets from SFO to CDG. We are on the SEA/CDG route with AF for June 2009.

On our last trip we booked via Delta, but actually flew on AF. We did have a problem on both directions and that is that AF had no record of us. They were great about it as I had our paperwork with us, but I think if you booked directly with AF that glitch would be avoided. But then again, we got better seats than we had selected, so it worked out well.

Gardyloo

There is no Delta nonstop. It's just a "codeshare" using the Air France plane. DL and AF are Skyteam partners.

Same thing applies to the NWA and KLM flights from Seattle to Amsterdam - only NW planes, but carrying both NW and KL flight numbers.

Patty

As mentioned already, it's the same flight. Seat assignments are much easier if it's booked under the AF flight numbers.

suze

hey, thanks everyone. Got it... about the code share.

I figured something was suspicious when it showed as two separate flight numbers/carriers BUT the EXACT same departure times (lol).

This info is for me helping a coworker plan a first trip to Paris next spring.

Any other comments on Air France's service or cabin experience feel free to chime in.

Fodorite018

Our flight over was fine. Packed in like sardines, but that was expected. Flight home felt different. We had seats upstairs in an exit row, which was great! Had a ledge near the window that was probably 8 or 10 inches wide so a nice area to spread out a bit. Each seat also had its own entertainment sytem with several movies to choose from. Didn't have that on the flight over.

Suspaul

suze hi, I took the non-stop Air France flight from Seattle to Paris this past April, loved it. Have flown AF many times and they're as good as any other, better than some.
Last November I flew from Seattle to Paris on Air Canada with a layover in Toronto, hated it, would prefer not to use Air Canada again but if the price is right???
Susan

travelgourmet

When booking cheap fares, booking under the Delta flight number will often earn you more miles than booking under the Air France code. Something to keep in mind.

suze

travelgourmet, Can I please ask what you mean by "booking cheap fares"?

Patty

Here are the applicable fare classes if booked under an AF flight number and earning miles through Flying Blue http://tinyurl.com/4oxdmm

If you plan to earn miles through another Skyteam carrier's program, you should check that carrier's website for applicable fare classes.

P_M

Bon jour Suzette,

I flew AF from Houston to Paris, then on to Egypt last year. I was very impressed and I am planning to fly AF again to Turkey. I liked AF because the service and food were good, and on my plane they had individual TV screens. Needless to say, the French wine and champagne weren't exactly chopped liver. And did I mention these drinks were free?

I think you'll enjoy AF. Bon Voyage!!

travelgourmet

Suze, here is what I mean:

For a random flight (12/7 to 12/14) from Seattle to Paris, the lowest price for the nonstop is $1032. At that price, you can ticket it as either a Delta or an Air France flight number.

The Air France flight books into fare code N for the outbound and fare code L for the return. If you earn your miles in Delta's FF program, you will get zero miles for these flights. If you earn in Air France's program, you will get 50% miles for the outbound and 25% for the return.

If you book this flight with a Delta flight number, it books into fare code T for the outbound and L for the return. This earns you 100% mileage in both Delta's program and in Air France's.

This is pretty common for all of the Skyteam codeshare flights. If you are booking the lowest coach fare, you are usually better off booking the Delta ticket as opposed to an Air France ticket, and (less frequently) you are better off booking the Northwest ticket as opposed to a KLM ticket.

I can think of no examples, where you would be better off booking it as either an Air France or KLM ticket. This applies, no matter who is actually operating the flight.

suze

Travelgourmet~ So this advice only applies for earning air miles? It's not about actual price of a plane ticket or service?

Thank you for your detailed explanation & I don't mean to sound dense. Neither I nor the person I'm asking this question for travel often enough for earning air miles to be a factor.

travelgourmet

Nope, not about the price or the service. However, on this flight, you pay the same price for the same seat on the same plane, so I see no reason to not book the Delta flight number.

Even if you don't fly often, you will earn almost 10k miles - use them to buy magazines.

However, if you don't fly often, then I would certainly recommend against ever paying even $1 more for the miles.

suze

Got it. Thanks for the detailed information. Much appreciated.

yk

suze - did you get your ticket? did you see this?
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35163575

P_M

yk, it looks like this doesn't affect any flights from IAH or to IST. Whew!! If you hear otherwise please give me a shout. Thanks.

suze

Unfortunately it's not for me, I'm helping a co-worker & it's his first trip to Europe.