Air France AF1980 CDG – LHR F-HPJA

Aug 19, 2010 by AirlinesAngel

After the excitement of the outbound flight, we made our way to the Sheraton Hotel located in the heart of Terminal 2 Paris CDG.  All of the rooms overlook either the runway or the apron area, we were on the forth floor looking out over Runways 27L/R, not only did we have great views of Terminal 2E (with the

A380 tail just visible) and the runway, but also the city of Paris.  As our flight was over an hour late we decided to stay in and went to the hotel restaurant for our evening meal. Our flight was the next morning at 1005 so we’d have to make our way over the the gate by 0920 (boarding time).

Pre-departure

We made our way towards the terminal, first stop Air France checkin, although we already had our boarding passes, we thought we would try and get seats on the Upper Deck.  The agent was extremely helpful and said that there would not be a problem in getting seats upstairs, new boarding passes issued, now to make our way to the gate.  This is were the first confusion occurred, there was a sign pointing to A380 Airbus Heathrow departure, so we, guided by ground staff, joined the queue, when we reached the security agent, she advised us that we should have taken a different route.  The sign was pointing in the wrong direction!

Upgrade

When we got to the gate we decided to look at the seat plan to find out where we would be seated and it was then we discovered that we would be travelling in Affaires.  It turned out the flight was overbooked in Economy and there were at least 5/6 people on the wait list.  This was a great surprise, as we certainly didn’t ask for the upgrade, but we were very grateful to be given the opportunity to experience the Affaires Cabin.

Boarding

This, surprisingly involved a lot of confusion by the ground staff.  We, like the people who were seated 2 rows in front of us joined the queue for the Upper Deck, however the agent told us we should be in a different queue  (even though our seat numbers were against the boarding gate), we questioned this, but were told no you are in the other queue.  So rather than cause a fuss we went to the other queue (lower deck seat rows 10-52) and were told (no surprise) that our queue was at the other Gate, so we made our way back, the agent again wanted to send us back to the lower deck queue, but we politely stood our ground and joined the correct queue.  I would have expected this to happen at Heathrow, mainly as the agents in T4 do not board this flight on a daily basis, therefore it’s good that Air France have the additional flights in place to accommodate further staff training.  Another interesting occurrence was the ground staff made an announcement to say boarding would be delayed slightly due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft, however the aircraft had been in since 0605AM.

Boarding commenced and we made our way up the escalator to the Point Superieur, and were again warmly welcomed by the crew and to my relief they spoke French to me.  I’ve been wanting to practice my French and yet everyone wants to speak to me in English.

Affaires

Now this cabin is elegant and spacious with calming neutral colours, it was just a shame our flight was only 38 minutes.  The seats were extremely comfortable, I just had to try the seat in lie flat position, and thankfully @plansairports was there otherwise I would have been fast asleep, before we left the gate!  As on our flight out the crew were extremely pleasant and helpful and very understanding of all the passengers (including me) taking various pictures of the cabins.  Then we were all presented with our Certificates to commemorate our brief flight on this magnificent aircraft.

Take off

As with the departure from Heathrow, the climb out was smooth, although upstairs it sounded more like an aircraft taking off, this was mainly due to the cabin interior, however it was still a lot quieter compared to other long haul aircraft.  Shortly after takeoff the crew commenced with the standard inflight announcements and gave information on the IFE system, they have a great selection, however the AVgeek in me wanted to enjoy the onboard camera views.  Then the inflight service began, and we were treated to some canapes and a glass of Champagne, very delicious and perfect for the short flight.

On the Upper Deck Air France have The Gallery, in the forward right area which is an area for Le Premiere and Affaire passengers.  I did visit the toilet on the Upper Deck and although it is well furnished, it did seem a bit small (I’m comparing it to my A319) for the size of the aircraft.

Approach

As with any short flight no sooner had we reached cruising altitude it was then time to make our approach to Heathrow, again the quiet of the aircraft was broken by the flaps extending on the wings.  We had some great views of London, before heading out to make our final approach on Runway 09L, however unlike the previous day’s landing this one was very positive.

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Overall

This was a great experience, the opportunity to fly on the A380 short haul has been a success for Air France, not only do the staff get to become more familiar with the aircraft, but those who don’t normally fly long haul get to experience it, oh and those with a passion for aviation get to fly on this magnificent aircraft!  Apart from the confusions at security (signage pointing the wrong way) and the ground staff sending us to the wrong queues, the surprise upgrade to Affaires class was great, maybe next time Air France will be kind enough to upgrade me to Le Premiere, I think it suits me

AirlinesAngel gives this flight 9 Wings out of 10

Heres to my next A380 flight, hopefully longer than 40 minutes

See you in the skies

AirlinesAngel

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About the author  AirlinesAngel has over 10 years experience within the aviation industry. Recently completed a MA in Airline and Airport Management and is now returning to work.

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