The following post was first posted on 19 Dec 2013 on my older blog. This has been edited for contemporary, sophisticated readers.
At the point of writing, I’m about 30,000 feet above ground, somewhere above the South Asian sub-continent, seated between 2 ladies being fully aware that my tailbone still exists (and there’s not much flesh to cushion it from the pain of long haul flights).
Yes! I’m on my way to my long-desired holiday in France and what better way to do it than to go all the way by taking Air France? Oh… so it had been told (perhaps to the level of common sense) that Air France sucked, from the small cattle seats to the uninspiring cattle feed. But oh well… Since I’m in a holiday (good) mood, I might as well deviate from my SIA routine and really really make my France experience French.
Singapore to Paris (SIN-CDG)
Flight Number: AF257
Aircraft Type: B772ER
Class: Economy
Departure: 2315hrs (GMT+8)
Arrival: 0600hrs (GMT+1)
Duration: 13h 45m
Seat: 35C
Meal Service: Supper and Breakfast
Paris to Singapore to Paris (CDG-SIN)
Flight Number: AF256
Aircraft Type / Registration: B772ER / F-GSPP
Class: Economy
Departure: 2320hrs (GMT+8)
Arrival: 1855hrs (GMT+1)
Duration: 12h 35m
Seat: 35C
Meal Service: Supper and Breakfast
Air France B777-200ER Economy Seats
Let’s start with the seats. I was rather amazed that they had designed seats for the big sized Westerners that even a small sized Asian deemed small. The Boeing 777 has been around for quite some time and the 3-4-3 seating configuration seemed to be a concept of more than a decade ago, but the idea of wider seats definitely has not caught up with this airline.
I’m actually seated beside the emergency exit, so I had plenty of leg room. For an average traveller, the only downside is the inability to keep your cabin baggage with you during take off and landing (my sister was rather upset about that). And there was no cup holder so that you could sip your drinks instead of gulping them down. For me, especially for an overnight flight, I needed something in front of me. I tend to slip down my seat when I’m sleeping and I needed something to stop me from slithering to the ground halfway through the flight.
Supper on Air France
Somehow that also helped shift the weight from my tailbone to my butt lol So I couldn’t really sleep (which explained my writing) but I was compensated with the room for me to pace around to ease the pain from my back and to feed on the tidbits and drinks because the food gallery was just in front of me ๐
Speaking of tidbits, I just had their bite size sandwich that tasted good. In fact, from the supper they served earlier, I was convinced that Westerners can only do Westerners food well… oh… supper… I had itchy backside to go and choose their fish with rice dish. The fish was covered with chye poh (officially turnip, but which I realized was actually ginger and garlic topping) that tasted nice. But the fish was tough, the rice was dry (think leaving rice in the fridge without the shrink wrap) and the broccoli was overcooked and soggy. Sad~
The salad was good… It was mushroom drenched with olive oil (I hope!). The brownie lookalike also tastes nice. (Me from 12 years later: That was Sachertorte, if you had bothered to read the menu that you had snapped a picture of). The fruit salad was ok and the baguette was too hard (think stale). Considering what was deemed nice by me, I suppose my conclusion that Westerners can only do Westerners food well was valid, ya?
My dinner on the return trip was an equal disaster. I didn’t learn my lesson and opted for a rice dish. The accompanying protein was mostly goo. But the Western food part of the meal was decent. Like the orange. Just kidding! The cold pasta was standard and the dessert was satisfying. But I wouldn’t want to eat them again if I have the freedom.
French Breakfast
Breakfast was omelette. Yep. There was no other choices. The omelette came with chicken sausage and potatoes. Then there was croissant and a bun. The others were standard fare: coffee, juice and yogurt.
My breakfast on my return flight threw me back to my India trip. I mean, just look at the picture below – soft diet, anyone? It was actually mashed potato with mashed spinach. Paired with plain bun. The catering from Paris really failed France’s reputation of a culture of gourmet! But then again, we were on the Economy class of a European airline. You get what you pay for.
Service
As per European flights, everything that had to do with service by staff interaction was bad. Right from boarding, my sister had an argument with the cabin crew. Apparently, the crew had reprimanded her for blocking the aisle. Well, we had just boarded and needed time to settle down, right? But they were expecting us to plop right into our seats immediately after reaching it.
Like an obedient Asian.
But my sister didn’t hold back. After all, we had paid extra for our bulkhead seats. No way should we be treated like the cattle who paid the least.
Thankfully, that was the days before the United Airlines incident when cabin crew of Western airlines could easily call on the security to drag Asian passengers off the plane for standing up to their colonial overlords bullying. We made it safely to France, and then 10 days later, back to Singapore.
The snacks in the galley – free for all to take – was a nice touch. As long as we needn’t interact with the crew. As it was a red-eye flight, the cabin was dark for most of the flight time, so there was nothing much to kaypoh anyways.
That quite summed up my experience for Air France. For savings of $600 odd, you would have to contend with seats with thin cushions and sub par inflight meals.
Arriving at Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport
I had been to New York’s JFK, and Singapore’s Changi Airport was huge too. But Paris CDG took busy-ness up one notch. We had to make our way to the transport hub in the middle of Terminal 2E, where we would catch the train to bring us to Colmar in eastern France.
We had ordered our tickets online, but they were not delivered to our mailing address. When I sought help at the customer service, the staff actually chided me for opting for home delivery. Why? Because “Asian addresses are not in proper formats”. Gosh! It was my first time in Paris. But after visiting it a few times, I know for sure the addresses in Paris was at best haphazard, but at worst, random. On hindsight, it was real racist of the customer service agent, but oh well. In the days of social media, I believe their customer service had improved, ya?
Parting Words
I’m not going to recommend SIA over Air France (everyone who knew me knows that I’m a fan boy of SIA), but there are times when money does play a big part. Saving $600? You need to contend with small and uncomfortable seats. And cabin crew who treats you like you owed them money instead of the one paying their paychecks. Anyone contemplating on a cheaper choice would have to be clear of what he is really getting himself into.
12 years later, I explored other air travel options to and from Paris, but that would be for another post. But if you ask me, nah… My money can be better spent elsewhere. Though I must say their new First Class seat looked darn chic.
