Air France aircraft
 

Has anyone flown on Air France lately? How are their 747 planes and the 744's? We flew on their 747's four years ago for an 11 hour flight and ended up with backache each time as the seats had no back support. We noticed also that the planes were badly maintained and obviously old.<BR><BR>If they are still using these 747's now we want to avoid them and fly on 744's if these are better. I know the Airbus 330's are very comfortable as we flew on one with another airline.

The &quot;744&quot; is a 747-400 Series.Typically with 380-450 seats.AirFrance has typically used these on long haul routs, HKG/NRT-CDG as they are phasing in the 777's.As everything,their aircraft/routes are subject to change without notice.I agree that the 747 in any series is ancient and very uncomfortable.

I've flown AF several times within the past couple of years but I don't think on those model planes -- I think they were always Airbus or 777s (which I dislike). AF and online ticketing sites tell you the type of aircraft for a particular flight, so why don't you go by that?<BR><BR>I recently flew twice on a BA 747 and 767 and don't think I will again because they do something to the headrest that makes it stick out and cause a crook in your neck, the back of the headrest is not flat but lumpy. I think that was supposed to be desirable, but I found it very uncomfortable. I don't like seats that aren't relatively flat in back, and especially at the headrest. I know AF does not make lumpy headrests like BA or I would have noticed given how often I've flown them. I have been on some of their Airbuses that were pretty old, also, but I prefer them to any Boeing plane.

I have flown in the Boeing 777 as operated by Delta, for Air France, and Air France itself on trans Atlantic runs. The cattle class seating configuration in the Delta and AF 777s is reminiscent of a medieval torture rack. I think the incarnation of that designer was at work when he laid out the pitch of the seats, and he rubbed his hands in glee as he looked into the future and saw thousands of writhing, tortured souls actually paying money to be squeezed.<BR><BR>I think a contortionist could be comfortable, but not an average person 6 feet tall, or more. <BR><BR>

what is the coach seat configuration on the Delta/AF 777s?

Stan,<BR>Here's the link for Delta's 777 seating:<BR><BR>http://www.delta.com/travel/maps_guides/aircraft/b-777-200/index.jsp<BR>

I flew on an Air France 777 roundtrip to Paris from Washington DC last month. The Tempo Class configuration was 2-3-2. I bought the tickets on Air France's website; they showed me a graphic of the seat configuration and I was able to pick my seats from it. You might be able to access the graphic by going thru the reservation process. At any rate, I prefer the 2-3-2 configuration. Of course, I wish they'd remove a row or two, because its pretty snug. However, this roundtrip was the most comfortable I've flown on Air France, partly because the lfights weren't full. The fact that every seat has a personal TV/entertainment center helps too.

On the Atlanta - CDg route it was 3 - 3 - 3 in cattle class.

We had to fly Lufthansa this year-same 10+ hour flight time. But we were very surprised at how much more comfortable the seats were compared with AF and BA.<BR><BR>We flew on the Airbus to come home and you could tell it was fairly new. It was comfortable (i.e. no backache or neckache).<BR><BR>Maybe we should consider taking Lufthansa again if cost is the same.