OA260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 24873 posts, RR: 60 Posted (4 years 5 months 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
I wanted a new way to get to Athens so I saw that Air China offers seats between CDG-ATH. What a great way to travel so I booked a seat.
DATE : 12/DEC/2008
FLIGHT : CA 963
ROUTE : CDG-ATH
AIRLINE: AIR CHINA
A/C : A330-243
REG: B- 6079
SEAT: 14L
CLASS: BUSINESS
I checked in at Terminal 1 CDG at 0600. The lady at the desk was very nice and gave me my boarding card. She also gave me an invitation to the new Star Alliance lounge. I did not need it as I am Star Gold but took it anyway.
Impressions of the Terminal itself are rather dissapointing and old. It needs knocked down and re built IMHO. Very cold and un inviting.
I proceeded to the Star Alliance lounge .
I entered the lounge and noticed it was a bit dark . The girl at the desk said that they had no electricity but the lounge was open anyway. Ok I said I then proceeded down the steps and this is what greeted me ::
Very bad indeed and I was not impressed. The First Class lounge upstairs was empty and had electricity. There were only 4 of us in the Star Gold lounge at this time and we asked if we could use the First class lounge as this was not good enough. Sometimes common sense needs to prevail. The manager of the lounge was arrogant and rude and shrugged his shoulders and said no. On hearing this the other guys said some things and left the lounge in disgust. I decided to stay . I was not happy either but was too tired to do anything else.
View into the F class lounge
After 45 minutes since I had first entered the electricity finally came on. It certainly looked alot nicer with the lights and working Coffee machine.
Soon it was time to go to the gate .
Time to board.
I was greeted by two Male FA's who directed me to my seat. As soon I was sat down a Female came to welcome me onboard and offered me Slippers and a duvet and a drink. I was very impressed.
SAFETY DEMO VIDEO
I was very impressed with the IFE.
After a long taxi we took off and after about 20 minutes the FA came to me and asked me what I would like to eat Western or Chinese. I of course went for the Chinese. Then she offered me a drink.
After that the meal arrived.
It was very tasty and really filled me. It was perfect for that time of day.
Time to visit the bathroom
Crew rest behind the cockpit
My bed !!
In case your wondering after the meal service had finished the crew came and pulled down all the shades.
I got a bit of a sleep then watched some more IFE
The FA came to me and asked me if everything was ok and if I wanted a drink. I opted for Orange juice.
Soon we were in Greek airspace and it was time to land .
The crew made the cabin ready for landing .
We parked at an off stand and I decided to take the opportunity to take some pics in Y class.
Then it was time to disembark and I thanked for crew for an excellent flight.
So thats the end of my report. I hope you all enjoyed. It certainly was a great trip and a new way to get to Greece.
I appreciate all your comments as usual .
OA260
OLYMPIC AIR - ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΗ "Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΨΗΛΑ" "GREECE FLYING HIGH"
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6182 posts, RR: 79 Reply 1, posted (4 years 5 months 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Very interesting report (despite the loading time), great to see the interior of the aircraft which I had originally wanted to fly to China (before switching to Hainan). However, both the Business and Economy Class cabins look quite dull - especially compared to Hainan.
Picture by Satchmo
Picture by Satchmo
And even though the seats in Economy are almost identical to the ones on Hainan Airlines, pitch seems to be worse on Air China. For all those interested:
BA319-131 From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 8258 posts, RR: 56 Reply 2, posted (4 years 5 months 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Thanks Philip, excellent TR, never knew CA operated this route, really want to try it myself!
Quoting OA260 (Thread starter): I entered the lounge and noticed it was a bit dark . The girl at the desk said that they had no electricity but the lounge was open anyway
- Amazing they actually allowed you in the lounge without power, surely it breaks some regulations!
FLIEGER67 From Georgia, joined Sep 2003, 4387 posts, RR: 57 Reply 3, posted (4 years 5 months 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Hi, Phil,
I´ve waited for that one, but when I´ve followed your return, I´ve asked me, what about the inbound?.
So, one more real interesting way to travel to Athens.
Nice pics and good story, as usual.
CDG 1 is for sure not the up-do-date airport nowadays.
That A3 Avro looks nice, a well known machine to me!.
And BTW, do you remember our discussion about intra european long haulers?.
EK 77W MLA-LCA is fixed for March.
Shamrock350 From Ireland, joined Mar 2005, 6099 posts, RR: 15 Reply 5, posted (4 years 5 months 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Another great report Philip, really enjoyed it.
I've heard mixed reviews about Air China but it sounds like they provide a good service in business and I must say the meals look very tasty and well presented. The cabins look a bit cold and boring, a few warmer colours would be nice but at least it had mood lighting and I really like the gold Air China logo on the wall.
How did you find the seat in that angled recline? The design on the seat covers in very nice.
It's awful about the lounge, surely it would have been better just to keep it closed and offer an alternative.
OA260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 24873 posts, RR: 60 Reply 8, posted (4 years 5 months 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 1): both the Business and Economy Class cabins look quite dull - especially compared to Hainan. Wink
Hi thanks , well for me I actually prefer Air China I like the interior , maybe its different when your inside the cabin. Horses for courses and all that. lol
Quoting BA319-131 (Reply 2): never knew CA operated this route, really want to try it myself!
Hi Mark,
Neither did I until recently, I found it by accident.
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 3): That A3 Avro looks nice, a well known machine to me!.
Yes you are no stranger to it .
Quoting EICVD (Reply 4): Slightly more interesting than the majority of your trip reports lately I must say Wink.
H Mark,
Hope you are all set for Xmas . I hope you have a good one. I couldnt make you read another EI or LX report lol.... You were all Swissed out lol....
Quoting Shamrock350 (Reply 5): How did you find the seat in that angled recline? The design on the seat covers in very nice.
Hi Kev,
Surprisingly comfortable but I think I will prefer horizontal flatbeds like AC NZ etc.. I will have to try them out and compare.
Quoting Shamrock350 (Reply 5): It's awful about the lounge, surely it would have been better just to keep it closed and offer an alternative.
Yes with only 4 of us it would have been no issue to let us use the F lounge we were all Star Golds .Again a major failure of customer service .
Quoting CO7e7 (Reply 6): Do you plan on complaining or anything like it?
Also, the 2 747s at ATH... what airline do they belong to?
Hi yes a letter with photos is going to head office along with the name of the rude manager.The 747's are a Greek Charter airline ''Hellenic Imperial'' I dont like the name or logo though.
Quoting Futureflight (Reply 7): Looked great having only two people in your section! Big grin
Yes it was very nice. The flight came in from PEK-CDG-ATH so only a few for ATH but I ws told cargo is good on the PEK-ATH sector.
OLYMPIC AIR - ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΗ "Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΨΗΛΑ" "GREECE FLYING HIGH"
Longhornmaniac From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 3094 posts, RR: 48 Reply 9, posted (4 years 5 months 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Wonderful report, on a airline/route pair that I had no idea existed.
One question for anyone in the know? Are those J seats the same Recaro seats that AA uses in their J cabin? They look strikingly similar.
Quoting OA260 (Thread starter): There were only 4 of us in the Star Gold lounge at this time and we asked if we could use the First class lounge as this was not good enough. Sometimes common sense needs to prevail. The manager of the lounge was arrogant and rude and shrugged his shoulders and said no. On hearing this the other guys said some things and left the lounge in disgust. I decided to stay .
= Jaja. This is absolutely unacceptable. But then again, it is Paris airport? I could write a book on how horrible it is ... I don't joke when I say, I prefer transiting at Libreville ... and for those who have been to Gabon, you know what I mean.
Airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 4015 posts, RR: 52 Reply 14, posted (4 years 4 months 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Hi Philip,
wow, you found indeed another good way to fly to Greece!! This is really interesting to see a Chinese carrier on a inter-Europe strech. I will look into the possibilities to try this one out myself soon in the future
I don't like CA's Y-class interior, the C-class is ok, but also not my style. This I prefer the red fron Hainan, which was covered in PlaneHunters report lately.
Thanks for the details and good pics.
Merry X-mas,
Eric
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
Ryanair!!! From Singapore, joined Mar 2002, 4652 posts, RR: 27 Reply 15, posted (4 years 4 months 4 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
You just reminded me of my nightmarish transfer at CDG some years ago. I have never wanted to go through something like that EVER again. Customer service is just not their forte at the terminal. All that passionate ooh-la-la in the French culture suddenly seem so starkly absent there.
Good to see how a long haul product of CA looks like. They are probably feeling the heat from the private carriers that they have been forced to up their offerings lately. Glad to see they are scoring quite well from what I see in the photos. I am, however, not too sure about that meal though. Was it only one course?
Welcome to my starry one world alliance, a team in the sky!
Lufthansa747 From Philippines, joined exactly 14 years ago today! , 3174 posts, RR: 47 Reply 16, posted (4 years 4 months 4 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Excellent way to travel intra-Europe, I never realized either this flight exists. Looks like the Recaro seats LH/AY etc have in J.
Nooo..... that building is great. An architechtural gem. It's getting on a bit but I have to say it really takes me back. Alos love the noise when they make announcements there.
Nice report - CA looks good and a great way to travel around Europe.
DALCE From Netherlands, joined Feb 2007, 1581 posts, RR: 7 Reply 19, posted (4 years 4 months 4 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Hi Philip,
What a great way to fly intra-european!
A great discovery I would say. Although others might not like the cabins of the aircraft, I think it looks a tad better than the JL C-class featured in AirbusEric.
A very interesting read I must say, really something different than our shared hobby of posting LX-reports
Cheers,
Joost (D-ALCE)
flown on : F50,F70,CR1,CR2,CR9,E75,143,AR8,AR1,733,735,736,73G,738,753,744,319,320,321,AB6. Next flights AMS-ZRH-AMS on
ManchesterMAN From United Kingdom, joined Sep 2003, 1192 posts, RR: 1 Reply 20, posted (4 years 4 months 4 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Thanks for sharing - another great trip report.
How did I not know about this route?! I just looked on the *A website and notice it only flies on Friday which is a shame as I was thinking of taking it one weekend (without taking time off work!) Seems strange that they route the flight PEK-CDG-ATH-CDG-PEK rather than stopping on ATH on the way to CDG....
Airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 4015 posts, RR: 52 Reply 21, posted (4 years 4 months 3 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Hi Joost
Quoting DALCE (Reply 19): I think it looks a tad better than the JL C-class featured in AirbusEric.
Hmm... all personal of course, but I have the feeling that JL's C-class coloursetting provides a bit extra 'warm' feeling since colours are a bit darker. But I can't comment on comfort of the seats and IFE of course, because for sure IFE needs a huge improvement on JAL.
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
Oa260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 24873 posts, RR: 60 Reply 22, posted (4 years 4 months 3 weeks 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Quoting Airbuseric (Reply 14): This is really interesting to see a Chinese carrier on a inter-Europe strech.
Hi Eric, Yes thats why I decided to do it. Was really a nice route.
Quoting Ryanair!!! (Reply 15): You just reminded me of my nightmarish transfer at CDG some years ago. I have never wanted to go through something like that EVER again.
LOL.... You know those drugs your own. Send some my way LOL....
Quoting Ronerone (Reply 18): ATH-DXB with the 767. Does that route even exist?
Hi Roni, Yes they still operate that route. Id love to do it sometime also. There are certainly some interesting routes out of ATH , I hope they never change them otherwise it would be boring. Athens was always a link between Europe and the East/Middle East and thats what I love about it.
Quoting DALCE (Reply 19): than our shared hobby of posting LX-reports
Yes although I feel a Swiss trip coming along soon.
RICARIZA From Colombia, joined Apr 2005, 2355 posts, RR: 29 Reply 24, posted (4 years 4 months 2 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 32767 times:
Great TR... Thank you!
..
..
I miss ACES, I am proud of AVIANCA & I am loyal to AMERICAN
25 OA260: Thanks for the thumbs up. Well its not an isolated incident looking at comments on other websites. There was a passenger revolt over the lounge staff
26 akhmad: Hi Philip, Nice report. Pity that CA has dropped this route. Judging on your experience, it must have been the best way to travel from CDG to ATH. You
27 QatarA340: Excellent Trip Report! I never knew Air China flew from CDG to ATH! The J offering looks dated though and the screens look smaller compared to similar
28 oa260: Yes certainly was . They dont anymore sadly. Maybe one day it will return, it was a great chance to experience such a product.
29 QatarA340: You know what! I never realized this Trip Report was one year old! I assumed its recent. Yet, its still fantastic and helpful.
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