Banner based on Airliners.net picture #1756246 by Samuel Dupont.

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There are already a number of reports on this site dealing with the famous Air France A380 offer between Paris and London during the summer 2010. That being said, as I took advantage of that offer on August 8th, I thought some of you might be interested in seeing my photos and reading about my personal impressions. So here it comes.

I booked my return CDG-LHR-CDG ticket on June 15th, after having been informed of the offer on A.net. Before booking, I phoned my wife to check with her whether she wouldn't mind me leaving her alone on full summer Sunday (as she's pregnant and can be quite tired), but not only didn't she mind, she also insisted to pay for the ticket herself as a birthday present ! I opted for Sunday the 8th as I didn't want to take a day off from work, while at the same time the fares were among the lowest on that day.

I selected the outbound leg on the A380 and had multiple choices for the return, but I decided the occasion was too rare for me not to fly on the A380 again, even if it meant the tightest connection. After all, should the outbound leg be delayed, the return would automatically be late as it would be the same aircraft.

Initially I was thinking of driving all the way to Paris to catch the flight, which would have meant a little bit less than 3 hours each way in the light Sunday morning traffic. But after finding an attractive offer on the TGV Europe website for a TGV (high speed train) return between Lille (northern France) and CDG airport, I decided it was a better option as the ticket was dirt cheap, with free upgrade to first class, no hassle, no highway toll and no expensive airport parking. Of course, I would still have to drive to Lille, but it's a much shorter and hassle-free journey for me.

On Saturday the 7th, the day before the flight, I woke up very early to check-in online on the Air France website, with the hope of securing good seats. However, it seemed that everybody had already had the same idea (or special privileges...), so I couldn't find any window seat left, on both decks. Not being too disappointed (after all, I would soon be flying on the A380...), I selected an aisle seat on the second-to-last row of the main deck. For the return, I selected an upper deck window seat among a couple open window seats. I printed the boarding passes (actually, just one page for both legs), and the special "I flew on the A380" certificate that Air France had emailed me. By the way, I completely forgot to ask a crew member for a signature on it... oh well.

Sunday finally arrived. I woke up early, had a few cups of coffee and took the road to Lille. It was a bit weird to be alone on large portions of highway at this ungodly hour, but at the same time it made the driving very relaxing.

Alone on the highway.
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I arrived in Lille around 6:30 and had no trouble finding a free parking position very close to Lille-Flandres station, from where my TGV would depart.

Front side of the Lille-Flandres train station.
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My train is the first one on the board, continuing to Marseilles.
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After a few minutes in the waiting area of the still quiet station, the TGV-Duplex (= double-decked) train arrived and I boarded my first class carriage.

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I wasn't too impressed by first class, although it was still a bit more comfortable and relaxing than second class.

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The ride to Paris was smooth, with intermediate stops in Douai, Arras and the Haute-Picardie TGV station, and we arrived at CDG airport before I knew it.

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My TGV in the Charles de Gaulle train station.
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Nice departure board inside the train station.
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Detail of the above.
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I exited the station directly into a hallway leading to terminal 2E.

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Boasting an impressive architecture, the terminal is used by Air France and its SkyTeam partners, namely Aeroflot, Aeroméxico, China Southern Airlines, Delta Airlines and Korean Air, the only non-SkyTeam airline there being Japan Airlines. I've heard some bad things about CDG being a disorganized airport, but until that time, I didn't find it difficult to navigate (OK, I only went to 2E). I was glad however that I had checked in online, because queues for the Air France check-in counters were huge.

It turned out a bit more perplexing when I reached passport control : there were a couple different lanes for specific destinations / classes, but signage was not so clear. Some ADP agents were trying to direct passengers to the correct lane, so I showed my boarding pass to one of them, asking which lane to take. He directed me to another agent, who indicated me a line, where another agent told me this was not the correct lane and he didn't know why I had be sent there. He finally sent me to the front of another queue, the one I would have selected if the first agent hadn't told me otherwise. The good thing is that this allowed me to bypass the entire queue, not that it was huge anyway.

I followed the signs to my gate (E53) which took me to an automated shuttle train leading to a remote area of the terminal. There I passed a relatively relaxed security check to finally emerge in the beautiful terminal E gates area. It didn't take me long to figure out where "my" A380 was parked, as I spotted a small crowd of people taking pictures and looking through the windows in amazement.


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And indeed, there she was. Let's face it, she's not exactly the prettiest babe out there, there's something about her forehead that I dislike, but what a great piece of engineering she is. It was not the first time I had found myself face-to-face with her, but I couldn't help being amazed once again. She's huge, definitely, and she knows how to attract attention, judging by all the photographers pointing their lenses at her.

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Sister ship F-HPJA being prepared for flight AF006 to New York.
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Containers being loaded into F-HPJA to New York.
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The windshield being cleaned before the flight to JFK.
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You know you're about to fly on a special baby when the crew takes photos of their own aircraft.
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I spent a few minutes watching her before exploring the terminal. I found it really pleasant, with an impression of space provided by the large glassed wall, the high ceiling and the unusual V-shaped seats arrangement, while being cozy at the same time, thanks to the (probably deliberate) choice of soft lighting (granted, not too many flights were departing from this particular section at the time).

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A couple of those Internet points can be found in the terminal.
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At the end of the concourse, a large seating area with high glassed walls offering nice views of runways 26L/R action was occupied by a group of spotters.

Spotters at the end of the concourse.
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Plane loving doesn't know any barriers. Not even religion.
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Delta B767-332ER N1604R.
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The main building of terminal 2E.
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Air France A318-111 F-GUGQ.
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Air France A340-313X F-GLZL, will depart to Chicago as AF664.
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Air France (by Brit Air) CRJ-702 F-GRZO.
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Air France (by CityJet) Avro RJ. I'm due to fly on CityJet later this month, although on a Fokker 50.
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Almost all AF long haul types gathered at Terminal 2E.
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Air France B777-328ER F-GZNC.
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The mighty GE90-115C of F-GZNC.
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I went back to the E53 gate as soon as boarding was called. Actually, two separate gates were being used to board the A380 : I think E53 was for the upper deck, with E54 for the main deck, but I'm not 100% positive. An agent with a small sign was trying to organize different queues according to seat numbers, but the overall queuing process looked quite confusing, with the agent ending up checking almost every boarding pass one by one, to direct passengers to the correct queue.

The gate.
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Upper deck on the left, main deck on the right.
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This montage shows the signs for both decks.
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I became excited when I realized I was actually walking the airbridge to board my first ever A380 ! The impression of living something special was reinforced by all the photographers in action inside the airbridge itself. The airbridge system consists in 3 fingers, two for the main deck and the other one for the upper deck. It was cool to watch passengers having to take an escalator inside the airbridge towards the upper deck.

Inside the divided airbridge, with upper deck passengers on the left.
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The three fingers of the airbridge.
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Air France flight AF1980
August 8th, 2010.
CDG 10:05 - LHR 10:25.
Airbus A380-861 F-HPJB (MSN 40).

Once inside the aircraft, I was greeted and directed to my seat by very friendly flight attendants. I walked through three sections of the economy cabin before reaching my seat at the very back of the plane. As almost everyone was taking photos (with true aviation fans easily recognizable), I joined the party, while the very friendly crew encouraged us to explore the cabin, galleys, stairs, etc...

Economy cabin in the middle of the main deck.
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The rear stairs.
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The last row of the main deck, on the right side.
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Large space between the actual external window and the interior window panel.
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The M5R door, on the right side at the very back of the main deck.
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Galley at the back of the upper deck.
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Loo at the back of the upper deck...
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I then took my seat (51G) while boarding was going on. I think the seat is very comfortable (for an economy seat, that is), equipped with movable headrest, retractable footrest, IFE touch screen, advanced IFE remote control, cup holder on the bottom face of the tray table. According to SeatGuru, the pitch is 32 inches with a width of 19 inches, which would make them a bit wider than the company's other long-haul equipment (17-18 inches).

My seat (51G). Two FA's are having a chat with a passenger, while other passengers are exploring the aircraft and taking pictures.
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The mandatory leg room picture...
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The IFE is designed to prevent anyone from being bored on long flights, with an offer of 100 on-demand movies, 300 audio CD's, 26 games, news flashes, destination info and more. For the moving map, the user can chose one of the proposed modes select an automatic mode cycling through different views. The moving map can be displayed / hidden on a corner of the screen while watching a movie or listening to music. An interesting feature is the ability to watch the view from one of the three external cameras (nose, tail, bottom), or to chat with other passengers. Finally, an USB port allows the passenger to download documents such as audio guides, subway maps, games, timetables and some music.

The IFE still suffers some translation issues, as evidenced by this hybrid French/English screen.
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Boarding took a while to complete (1 hour from entering the aircraft till start of taxi, more than the time spent airborne !), the beast being refueled during the process. A safety video in both French and English was played (the right bulkhead monitor in front of row 45 stayed blank and could not be reset) and the captain made a short speech about the flight time and weather (also in French and English). Finally, engines were started and we began our 8 minutes taxi to runway 27L.

When take-off power was applied, I immediately remembered the A.net threads praising the quietness inside the A380. Seated at the second-to-last row, the engine noise was barely noticeable... impressive ! I kept watching the view from the tail camera during the whole take-off, which is a very nice feature, until we passed through a cloud layer putting water drops on the camera window.

Lined up.
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Airborne !
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Water drops on the camera as we have crossed the clouds.
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A few moments later, the crew began to prepare the carts for the in-flight service, while, immediately after the seatbelts sign went off, a few passengers (including me) got up for further cabin exploration. As far as I could see, the load factor on this flight was quite high.

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Taken through the M5R door window.
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Service consisted in a choice of drinks accompanied by crackers or cookies, the short duration of the flight not permitting anything more elaborate. Soft drinks, such as the coke I took, were served in 15 ml cans, which is a bit too small in my opinion.

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Time was flying really fast and before I knew it, we were already waiting our turn for approach inside the Biggin Hill holding stack. I switched to the external camera view again to enjoy our approach to Heathrow's runway 27R, on which we landed spot on schedule. Immediately after touchdown, some corrections were applied to keep aligned with the runway, during which we were violently shaken. I guess the oscillation movement was emphasized by our position at the very back of the plane, however, I wasn't the only one to notice it as a few passengers shouted in astonishment.

Runway 27R in sight...
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Almost there...
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A few seconds to touchdown...
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Vacating the runway.
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We then started our long taxi to Terminal 4, passing the central part of the airport on taxiway E and crossing Runway 27L (in service for departures at the time), before parking on stand 406 at Terminal 4.

It took us a while to disembark, possibly because a lot of people were blocking the aisles taking pictures. Instead of using the M2L door to exit the plane (second door on the left side of main deck), I continued into the "Première" cabin (first class) to take a couple of pictures of the seats.

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I then reached the main stairs where a large group of passengers had gathered, taking pictures of the stairs.

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On the right, I noticed that the flight deck door was open and that some people were waiting their turn to visit it, so I joined the queue. I sure did not regret it : the A380 has an amazing flight deck, Airbus-style but with some distinctive features such as larger screens, computer keyboard on the tray table, an interestingly shaped pointing device on the FMC keypad, and multiple exterior camera views to help ground maneuvering. This particular aircraft was also equipped with head-up displays (I don't know how standard this feature is).

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I didn't stay for long in the flight deck as the queue behind me was still long, I took some photos, thanked the crew, had a chat with a German guy who had come from Germany just for the sake of flying on the A380 (like I did, actually, from Belgium), then exited the aircraft through the M1L door.

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Needless to say, I was more than satisfied with the experience : comfortable and (very) quiet cabin, smooth ride, extremely nice crew understanding the PR importance of the flight and trying their best to please aviation enthusiasts, flight deck visit, all topped up by an exciting "special event" flavour.

Upon entering Terminal 4 (the cleaning team was patiently waiting inside the airbridge for everyone to finish visiting the plane... which took a long time), I followed the signs for flight connections in Terminal 4. I had to pass a thorough security check, with mandatory shoes removal and almost everyone (including me...) triggering the metal detector. The security staff was OK though, not what I would call friendly, but still correct.

Once inside the departures lounge, I joined the crowd of people photographing the A380 through the windows.

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I then headed to Costa Coffee as I was becoming a bit hungry. I took a sandwich and a bottle of water, and was (by chance) able to get a very well placed table, against the windows with a fantastic view on 27L departures.

This is Heathrow : A380s from Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Air France. They will be joined in a fews minutes by Emirates.
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Aeroflot B767-36NER VP-BAV departing to Moscow-Sheremetyevo.
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Virgin Atlantic B747-41R G-VWOW.
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Virgin Atlantic A340-642 G-VMEG.
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Continental B777-224ER N77014.
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Air Transat A310-308 C-FDAT.
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TAP A320-214 CS-TNK.
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British Airways B747-436 G-CIVT.
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After this small lunch, I found a place where some spotters were frantically photographing departing aircraft and I joined them, although with a much less ambitious photographic equipment.

Emirates A380-861 A6-EDH arriving on runway 27R, from Dubai.
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Delta B767-432 N831MH in hybrid livery (not evident on this photo).
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Detail of the above, showing the need for a paint job.
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KLM B737-8K2 PH-BXA in retro livery, being pushed back for its flight to Amsterdam.
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Almost one hour before scheduled departure time, boarding for my return flight to Paris was called. Gate 6 was divided between 6a and 6b, the latter being used for upper deck boarding, with a BAA agent guiding passengers to the correct subgate. In appearance, the boarding process seemed better organized than at Paris, despite of the less sophisticated gates.

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Once again, in the airbridge, lots of people were taking pictures of the aircraft, although no satisfying angle was to be found.

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Air France flight AF1981
August 8th, 2010.
LHR 12:50 - CDG 15:05.
Airbus A380-861 F-HPJB (MSN 40).

I boarded through door U1L, was greeted by a friendly attendant, and walked through the large business class section towards my economy seat 84A.

Business class (Affaires) seat.
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This time again, taking pictures was the norm. I sat on my seat and looked through the window to confirm my impression from the morning : the A380 windows feature a large space between the actual external window and the internal window cover, which somewhat restricts the outside view, comp