How is "Air France" to fly with?
 

I've always flown with SAS going to Scandinavia. This time I will be going with Air France. Are they good and are they strict with your luggage? I tend to overpack and I read that you can only bring two items of 23 kg each?

All of the European airlines are strict with regards to the luggage, so you will need to be careful of the weights.

Otherwise, Air France is decent, and should offer a similar experience to SAS. Some think the food is good, but it is still airplane food. The biggest issue will be that connecting in Paris is not as easy as connecting in Copenhagen or Stockholm.

Oh no. What makes it so difficult? Is it just a big airport? And do I have to claim my luggage there or does it go the whole way to Scandinavia? (I was going to ask at the airport)

CDG is an enormous and confusing airport, but as long as your connecting time is sufficient (two hours is good, three is better) you'll be fine. Your luggage will be checked to your final destination, so no worries there.

And no real worries with the luggage allowance unless you are moving there or need to transport very dense objects, like books or large volumes of liquids: 46 kg is 100 lb, and if you travel with anything approaching 100 lb of clothing, shoes, and toiletries you really are overpacking. A lot.

These luggage weight limits are similar to those for U.S. carriers.

Oh, and the Air France in flight experience is very similar to any other mainline European (or U.S.) carrier. I find the food horrifyingly bad, but then I can't stomach most airline food.

I didn't mean to imply that Paris is that bad of an airport. It is more a reflection of how easy it is to get around the Copenhagen airport.

I wouldn't worry about the connection. Yes, it is big, but this means that millions of others make connections there all the time without incident, so it can't be that bad.

>I find the food horrifyingly bad,...

It is better than Delta.

My experiences with AirFrance have been good as have my experiences with transfers at CDG so I think you are fine.

My experience (ONE) with SAS was poor and as a result have avoided them but experiences can change from day to day.

if you want to be absolutely horrified (if you look hard enough) you might try doing a search for reviews at www.airlinequality.com

If you stay there long enough you'll honestly wonder how any plane on any airline actually successfully takes off!

We had a good experience on AirFrance and will be flying them again in September and December. I found their service to be above AA on international flights - the food was a tad strange but it is airline food. The bathrooms were actually cleaned up by the flight crew through out the long flight (we flew from Santiago Chile to Paris) - the inflight entertainment was great with the children. We watched a number of movies.

Well, I land in Paris at 18.45pm and my next flight is 20.00pm. That scares me now. I hope I have enough time to find my way....

We flew Air France on a 747 from San Francisco to Paris and (both being tall) found the seats very very cramped- absolutely no knee room. The poor German couple sitting in front of us must still have indentations in their kidneys from our knees, and of course they couldn't lean their seats back at all without crushing us. We had chosen seats just barely in front of the wing, and I can't recommend them. Next time, I am going to insist on moving once the plane is up if I can't move my legs at all where I am - during our flight, the entire tail section was almost empty, and I would much rather have been there.

Also, the electrical bits that ran the movie didn't work on our aisle and we had to watch the beginning of several movies two or three times before we could watch the end (we never did see the end of two of them).

We both liked the food; compared to United, it was a feast. The service was great. They didn't charge exra for wine or brandy, and provided Hagen Daz ice cream and snacks throughout the flight. They weren't overly fussy about the weight, but coming home they quibbled over my quart-siz ziplock in which I had lipsticks, hand cream, etc., nothing over 3 ounces, but too many in the bag (even though it closed easily). I never did find out what the "correct" magic number was for items in the bag. So I had to give some to my partner, who had very few items in his bag, and all was well.

On our way out from SFO, it was simplicity itself to check our bags and get on the plane; coming home from CDG, people (and the overhead sign) kept directing me to check in at a desk that was completely closed; when I tried to talk to the sole woman there who was deep in conversation with someone else from the airline, I was told to wait until it opened. But people kept lining up to go through the line at the opposite desk, and my flight time was getting nearer and nearer. Finally, I asked someone at the line opposite the counter I was supposed to use how I could check in, and he told me to get in the line that was being served, which I did. Finally, about 20 minutes before we were supposed to get on the plane, they opened the original desk and split the lines so that all the desks were finally open. Nerve wracking, to say the least.

Actually, compared with other flights I've made, this one wasn't too bad; minor annoyances, but as I said, the food and attention from the flight attendants were excellent. I do wish I'd seen the end of that movie, though.

Air France is absolutely not in charge of the security of what you have in your little plastic bag.

As for the actual quality of just about any European airline in economy class, I think it is totally hit and miss, depending on the destination, the time of year, the time of day, and all sorts of other things. I have had great and terrible flights on just about every airline.

I would nevertheless affirm that almost all of them are better (in economy class) than any American airline you can name.

kerouac,

I actually like American and their amenities much better than Swiss for overseas travel. I believe I'm not alone in this.

gruezi

"It is better than Delta."

Not in my experience, but of course your mileage may vary. It's a moot point for me, as I just bring my own food on board these days.

The best coach airline meal I've eaten in recent memory was on Olympic Airlines, which is often panned but on that occasion at least managed to put together a very nice meal (intra Europe flight between Athens and somewhere in Germany, as I recall).

Regarding Air France,

A long, long time ago I traveled to Paris and back alone. I was 23 and single. On the trip back on Air France I took the fancy of a young steward who filled me up on free champagne, chocolates, FC amenities (I was in economy)...

It was a wonderful way to end my first European vacation....

Sigh... thanks for the memories. I'm sure it's all changed... Well, I have too I guess:(

g.

Probably even longer ago than you, gruezi, I flew my first TATL ever on Air France. I was 17 and the food was fantastic. A very, very long time ago, in more ways than one.

American Airlines in economy class? The horror! The horror!

Not to mention the math! "Cocktails are $4 or 4 euros." Anybody see an exchange rate problem here?

<i>I would nevertheless affirm that almost all of them are better (in economy class) than any American airline you can name.</i>

Nope. I think Northwest on an A330 is easily the best coach experience across the Atlantic.

I will admit that I quite liked Northwest from Detroit to Paris, but the only reason I took it was because it was the cheapest option when I needed to go from Paris to Tampa and back.

But I really needed the cheapest option at the time and would have taken it even if it had been terrible, because Paris-Tampa via Detroit is really not the most direct route.

&quot;Not to mention the math! &quot;Cocktails are $4 or 4 euros.&quot; Anybody see an exchange rate problem here?&quot;

Not really. If you were on the ground in Europe a 4 euro cocktail would be pretty darn cheap, and if you were on the ground in the U.S. a $4 cocktail would be pretty cheap. The only people who'd really lose out on this deal would be American's using euro to buy their drinks, which they're unlikely to do.

And if a European uses $ to buy his cocktail he's getting one very, very cheap. Not free, of course, but pretty cheap.