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Air France



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anonymom




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 30 2009, 7:54 am
Has anyone used them?
Good or bad experience?
The reason I'm asking is because of antisemitic stories I have heard about ppl traveling through Europe.
Is Paris bad?
But they seem to have the best prices right now (to come home for Pesach)
Thanks so much.
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Mrs Bissli




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 30 2009, 8:50 am
Yes, I've flown on them several times. It's like any other airlines in terms of service, comfort etc. Kosher inflight food was ok, not as good as BA but better than US carriers. I won't be concerned about anti-semitism etc. especially if you're just connecting in Paris. Or are you staying over there?

Since the merger of KLM/AF and their affiliation with Delta via Sky Team consortium, you really do need to check if you're indeed flying on Air France aircraft or code-shared flights on KLM or DL.

Just one word of caution. CDG (Charles de Gaulle airport, which is pronouced with soft "sh", not "tch" as in Charlie) is not the most user-friendly airport. To top it off, AF has a stooopid policy of allowing VERY tight connection, as short as 1hr between international fights.
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anonymom




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 30 2009, 9:46 am
Thank you so much.

What do you mean by not so user friendly?
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chocolate moose




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 30 2009, 10:21 am
DS did, and HATED it. Mean ppl, lost luggage .....
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Mrs Bissli




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 30 2009, 10:36 am
I meant not user friendly, because the main terminal 2 AF uses is a huge dome-shaped building which can be VERY disorienting when you first get off the plane. You could walk around a while before figuring out where the connecting gates are. Transfer to other terminal building is reliant on shuttle bus (though probably less of an issue if you're connecting between AF flights). Signage is in both English and French but for some reason looks small or not quite noticeable compared to other continental european airports I use.

CDG has a reputation for lost luggage but probably not as bad as LHR. It definitely doesn't help if you have tight connection--chances are luggage may not make it even if you do.

On a positive side, if you have a very long transit time (like 5hrs) and are comfortable with the language or public transportation, CDG is quite close to Sarcelles where there are lots of kosher shops and restaurants. (any comments s.v.p, parisianne imamamans?)
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Mrs Bissli




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 30 2009, 10:40 am
One gripe I have is, AF won't let you do online check-in if you're flying to/from Israel. Also you need to be their FFP member and register online if you want to reserve seats. Sales/reservation reps won't give you confirmed seats till you check-in (by which point all the better seats are gone to FFP passengers). I think they missed my kosher meal once or twice but then again it was actually on DL flights with AF codeshare and I eat (or smuggle my own tunisienne sarnie) before I board so wasn't a big deal for me.
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 30 2009, 12:36 pm
Paris is not "bad" unless you go davka to bad areas. People live here, normally.
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Aribenj




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 30 2009, 12:56 pm
Our first 2 years of marriage dh had a lot of business in France and we would travel there often. We always traveled Air France and we noticed the stewardesses had a definate attitude. But we got used to it. 2 years later we flew American Airlines for the first time in 2 years and we couldn't figure out why the flight attendants were being so nice to us, welcoming us on board and asking us if we were needed anything all the time.

But if you can get past the attitude and don't mind the dirty looks when your baby cries, then they're great!
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PAMOM




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 30 2009, 1:50 pm
Flew Air France to Israel (on a Delta codeshare), thru Charles de Gaulle. Nice flight, perfectly Ok flight attendants, kosher meals, no lost luggage.
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goodness




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Oct 31 2009, 9:17 pm
I flew last yr from london to israel with air france. we made a stop in paris .
The flight attend. were pretty ok. just the seats were very close one to another. I was preg at the time and it was very squashed. When I sat straight my knee touched the seat in front of me (not joking). I had a very miserable flight just b/c of that. Couldn't really move. But from paris to israel (also on air france) the seats were further apart, much better. I dont know if I was just used to it or it was a bigger plane.....
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Mrs Bissli




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 01 2009, 8:00 pm
goodness, sorry to hear you had an uncomfortable flight. It's really tough when you're pregnant.
Having said that, London-Paris is really like a commuter route. It's only an hour's flight so seat configuration is really tight REGARDLESS of which airlines you fly.

Ditto for other short-distance intra-european routes, like London-Dublin, London-Geneve, London-F'furt, London-Amsterdam. Many also stopped serving meals in the coach class, makes sense with such short flight time. So treat them mamesh like a US domestic flight (except for the free booze).
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Rosemarie




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 01 2009, 8:36 pm
Just one note: If you are traveling with a child and plan to take your stroller until the gate and then check it in, like most airlines allow you to, know that air france does not allow you to take your stroller to the gate. They make you check it in with your luggage. And if you then have to carry around a young child who doesn't walk yet, but is heavy to carry, it is sheer misery! We had that but didn't know in advance. We had to carry our 11 month old baby from check in till the gate for boarding. Then from one flight to the other (connecting flight). It really was not fun. Having flown Delta the other way, where they allowed the carriage till the gate, we knew this was not the norm. Besides, the clerk who checked in our luggage told us that Air France is the only airline with this policy!
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Mrs Bissli




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 01 2009, 8:47 pm
Rosemarie wrote:
Just one note: If you are traveling with a child and plan to take your stroller until the gate and then check it in, like most airlines allow you to, know that air france does not allow you to take your stroller to the gate. They make you check it in with your luggage. And if you then have to carry around a young child who doesn't walk yet, but is heavy to carry, it is sheer misery! We had that but didn't know in advance. We had to carry our 11 month old baby from check in till the gate for boarding. Then from one flight to the other (connecting flight). It really was not fun. Having flown Delta the other way, where they allowed the carriage till the gate, we knew this was not the norm. Besides, the clerk who checked in our luggage told us that Air France is the only airline with this policy!


No SAS, KLM and a few other carriers I've flown have the same no gatecheck policies. If I recall it is usually specific requirements depending on the originating/departing gate or airport specs.
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Rosemarie




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 01 2009, 8:59 pm
Ok, sorry for the inaccuracy here. I guess I have mostly flown American, Delta, British... and this was a new idea for me and a very difficult one at that! Also the clerk told me that Air France is the only one with this policy, so I believed her.
What does this have to do with originating/departing gate or airport specs? I traveled to my destination using Delta and was allowed to gatecheck my stroller, but returning home, same airports, with air france they did not allow gatecheck.
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Mrs Bissli




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Nov 01 2009, 9:18 pm
My understanding is, different airports/terminals/gates can set different policies on gatechecking strollers depending on whether they can handle last-minute loading of gatechecked items. For example your flight may originate in Airport X that can handle loading gatechecked strollers. But on your return flight out of Airport Y, they may lack ability to load these strollers the gate.

Also about picking up gatechecked strollers, different airport have different procedues on where you actually pick them up. I know from my experience that you do collect strollers right after de-planing at TLV, but at LHR you will collect it at the luggage carrousel (which kinda defies the whole purpose of gatechecking if it''s not available when you get off the plane, IMHO).
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chaylizi




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Nov 02 2009, 12:24 am
Mrs Bissli wrote:
Rosemarie wrote:
Just one note: If you are traveling with a child and plan to take your stroller until the gate and then check it in, like most airlines allow you to, know that air france does not allow you to take your stroller to the gate. They make you check it in with your luggage. And if you then have to carry around a young child who doesn't walk yet, but is heavy to carry, it is sheer misery! We had that but didn't know in advance. We had to carry our 11 month old baby from check in till the gate for boarding. Then from one flight to the other (connecting flight). It really was not fun. Having flown Delta the other way, where they allowed the carriage till the gate, we knew this was not the norm. Besides, the clerk who checked in our luggage told us that Air France is the only airline with this policy!


No SAS, KLM and a few other carriers I've flown have the same no gatecheck policies. If I recall it is usually specific requirements depending on the originating/departing gate or airport specs.


lufthansa let us gatecheck. they have awesome service too. and if they lost our luggage, I'd be shocked

I can't believe air france gets away with gate check policies like that. air canada is also pretty obnoxious about gatechecking strollers. they have to be an umbrella fold. and if they don't feel like gatechecking- they will just leave it there.
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