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Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Dinner was, well, disgusting. I got pasta which was blend, sticky and way too greasy: |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Well, the view was better than the food |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Very rare airline for me |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): In my seat – a nice surprise was the very extra elbow room with more storage space on upper deck seats – fantastic advantage for economy class passengers over other airplanes |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Passenger shaming! |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Lucky Paris is to beautiful to make up for it |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): as long as the roof stays on, of course |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): With not much place to walk around in an A320, seating in this seat was torture, and not something I expected from a premium airline like Air France |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): I must say it worked better than expected, it's not London or Hong Kong, but LA has made a big progress in the past few years |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Heading to LAX, there was one mandatory stop for lunch, a place I couldn't leave LA without visiting, the world famous in N out burger right outside the airport, so I got off the bus 2 stops before the airport. As it was a Sunday, the place was busy, yet I was lucky to have the table with the best view of landing airplanes, with no less than 3 A380s landed while I was there – SQ, BA & AF – the bird that will take me to Paris: |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Well, the view was better than the food: |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): There was no wait for check in, and before I noticed I was given one boarding pass for both flights, LAX-CDG with my pre-booked 92A, and CDG-TLV for 17B. I immediately asked the agent if he could change my seat to a window one, he looked a moment at the computer and said that the flight is very full. I answered that now it's more than 24 hours before takeoff, no way that all seats already booked (as AF doesn't allow to choose free seats while booking and online check in start just a day before the flight). I guess he had no answer to this, changed my seat to 17A but said that in Paris they may change my seat. |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): There were no less than 6 A380s at the gates – KE, BA, SQ, EK, AF & QF. Add LH B748 and TN A343 and you got a great view of big birds to watch at. |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Next to me there were some other people taking pictures of the plane – another thumbs up for airbus, as creating an excitement over an airplane flying since 2007 is an achievement for itself. |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): He called the purser who, gladly, showed me around, with his only request was to photograph facing forward and not backwards in order not to harm passengers privacy. |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): First class: |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): In my seat – a nice surprise was the very extra elbow room with more storage space on upper deck seats – fantastic advantage for economy class passengers over other airplanes: |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Snack and drinks – I was offered champagne without even asking. We are on French territory after all : |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Dinner was, well, disgusting. I got pasta which was blend, sticky and way too greasy: |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): When I woke up we were already over Britain with breakfast waiting on my table, again very greasy entrée: |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Another A380 advantage: |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Those huge JCL cabins on the A380 has disadvantage in my opinion, as they seat many passengers making felling on check in, lounges, boarding and flying itself a bit unrefined, common, with masses of people flying on JCL in each airplane. I would, for example, add a bulkhead in this cabin, so I wouldn't look so big. This photo shows only half of JCL seats on the plane! |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Don't ask me why, but the boy's mother was I guess freaked out that I was talking to her son (I'm 29 years old) and almost immediately after takeoff she asked him to switch seats with her. So on those cramped 3 seats there was now me, she with a baby on her arms in the middle and her daughter on the aisle – while on the other side 2 kids aged 14 and 7 had 3 seats for themselves. |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): At first I wanted to say something to her (about her twisted mind that if I am paying attention to a teenager I am probably planning to harm him) but decided to not to embarrass her in front of her children. |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Legroom was less then KLM on long haul flight, and simply unacceptable on the short haul flight. |
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): I once "enjoyed" a very tight legroom on KL's A332 - I doubt that AF can be worse. Never found it so bad on AF. |
Quoting mats (Reply 2): Thank you for your report, and for your fantastic photos of Paris. |
Quoting mats (Reply 2): Oooh. The A320 from Paris to Tel Aviv does not look comfortable in business or economy! |
Quoting Ytraveller (Reply 3): Loved your report! I also visited Los Angeles recently and visited many of the same places you did. |
Quoting Ytraveller (Reply 3): And you saved the best for last, the famous In-n-Out! Even though I live in LAS and visit Los Angeles several times each year, I've never been to that spot until a few months ago. It was Thanksgiving so no one was there, and just as we arrived I saw an EK A380 approaching... But you caught 2 A380s! Lucky... |
Quoting Ytraveller (Reply 3): Y on the upper deck...great! But I agree, the food looks quite greasy, and didn't the pasta and breakfast look so similar? |
Quoting 767747 (Reply 4): Nice report on your travels with AF. Great photos of being around Los Angeles and in Paris! My brother used to live in Venice, and it was always fun to visit him and do lots of fun things around there. Great place! |
Quoting 767747 (Reply 4): Sorry to hear the food was so poor. AF catering always in the past has looked pretty good, but the meal you took a picture of does look pretty meager and not great for a long-haul flight like this. Presentation seems a bit sloppy too; in the past their trays always have looked much more full of stuff? |
Quoting lychemsa (Reply 5): The meals on long haul seem to have been cut since 5 years ago. They were bigger and very good. I had a sandwich to Geneva from Paris also about 5 years ago. Thank God I opened it. Half of the ham was white fat. |
Quoting agrflyer (Reply 6): Ouch! That seating arrangement on the flight to TLV looks cramped. Last week on my flight to TLV on LX they still operated an A340-300 on the ZRH-TLV route but I think they will (or have changed it already) rather soon because on my upcoming flights to TLV of early February it is nothing than a A320 or A321 scheduled for the route. It was a pleasure reading your reports! |
Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Thanks for the good read. AF performing as expected here but not good to see such a bad legroom on what looks like an older configed A320. A full flight of course doesn’t help in this aspect Good to see you liked the A380 - it is a really monstrous plane and very quiet inside. |
Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): You shouldn’t go to the USA for culinary delights |
Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Yes, the upper deck is the place to be. Not every airline has a Y cabin there though. |
Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Yuck! Some people have no respect... |
Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): How long ago since I was in Paris? Don’t really know but a long long time. Heck, I should book a Thalys ticket and go there again with the kids as they would love to see the Eiffel tower. It’s just a 1h20m train ride away from Brussels! |
Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): Ouch |
Quoting sultanils (Reply 7): If it wasn’t for the AF logo I would say you were in a VY plane |
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): very nice last part of your series! Good to hear you enjoyed the A380 experience - I guess I will never get tired of that bird. Too bad AF's catering disappointed you - usually it's one of its strengths. |
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): LA's great, will always be among my favorites. |
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): One of the coolest places aviation enthusiasts can find on this planet - and btw. it can get busy on other days, too. |
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): You didn't like it? Those are really authentic burgers, always freshly made. Much better than the generic stuff you get in the other burger chains. |
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): Horribly outdated! |
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): But it's a nice change from the common omelettes. |
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 8): What? That's really bad. That would have really annoyed me. |
Quoting THEOBCMAN (Reply 10): A really enjoyable read & great pictures of LA & Paris. I just returned SIN-CDG on AF A380 so some nice memories for me !! Cheers |
Quoting EL-AL (Reply 11): Hey, thank you for your kind words. Regarding swiss - I think I saw your plane landing! Was it on the afternoon flight? I was on my way to work in Tel Aviv and I saw the A343 from the bus. Swiss usually operate in the morning narrow body and wide body in the afternoon, but on the winter both flights can be narrow body. |
Quoting raffik (Reply 12): Great trip report |
Quoting raffik (Reply 12): The A380 looks really comfortable- shame on AF for the catering though. It looks like they chose the cheapest option available? The champagne was a nice touch though. |
Quoting raffik (Reply 12): I'm surprised they use a short haul configured A320 to TLV. The Business cabin looks like a joke for the duration of the flight and the economy looks tight. No IFE either. I think they send 77W to BEY and CAI. Wonder why the 320 to TLV? |
Quoting raffik (Reply 12): Thanks for sharing, Los Angeles looks like it's worth a visit. I've been to San Francisco a lot but never ventured south! |
Quoting okapi (Reply 13): Hi. Nice report. The 380 looks amazing. I still have to catch one sooner or later. |
Quoting okapi (Reply 13): Interesting to see both flights with healthy loads although I never managed to understand why AF never sends wide-body planes to TLV. After all, Israel is still a huge market to and from France. |
Quoting okapi (Reply 13): On a side note, I never had issues buying tickets at the vending machine with my non-French credit card. Maybe some US cards do have security restrictions but I've seen dozens of foreigners purchasing without much trouble from the self-service machine. I do agree though the railway vending options at CDG are sub-par to say the least. |
Quoting okapi (Reply 13): Nice picture of the two cities. Thanks for sharing! |
Quoting flightsimboy (Reply 15): Great report, especially with the use of public transit on the ground. Los Angeles and Paris by bus and foot. Nice |
Quoting flightsimboy (Reply 15): Glad you got on the A380. That must have been quite a shock from the whale to the A320. Never heard of two seats assigned on one boarding pass |
Quoting MIAspotter (Reply 16): Fantastic report and nice pictures along with the story. |
Quoting MIAspotter (Reply 16): The A380 sure is a fantastic plane to fly one, but the food looks a bit icky... and wow, that flight to TLV on the A320 must have been torture! |
Quoting MIAspotter (Reply 16): The pictures of some areas of LA reminds me of Grand Theft Auto V lol. |
Quoting MIAspotter (Reply 16): Thanks for sharing. |
Quoting travelin man (Reply 18): Thank you for the write-up! |
Quoting travelin man (Reply 18): And there was a $7000 difference between Premium Economy and Business Class, and I'm sorry, but that price difference does NOT look like a good value! |
Quoting travelin man (Reply 18): That business class cabin looks very cramped! |
Quoting LondonCity (Reply 19): Seat pitch on major ailrines is being cut-back on short flights within Europe. BA, for example, offers only 30 ins of seat pitch in both business and economy class. |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Now that was one crappy flight. I was stuck in my tiny seat, the baby next to me wasn't crying but kept touching me and pulling my shirt while her mother holding her was asleep. |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): TN A343 and you got a great view of big birds to watch at. Very rare airline for me: |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): About in hour into the flight service began. Snack and drinks – I was offered champagne without even asking. We are on French territory after all |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): you can see the FA who was in charge for out area, who gave us fantastic service, kind and professional, |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Boarding – one guy really like me photographing as it seems: |
Quoting EL-AL (Thread starter): Legroom was terrible. I know that AF's A320 usually fly 1.5-2 hours flights out of Paris, but on 4 hours ride to TLV it was simply below the unacceptable level. With not much place to walk around in an A320, seating in this seat was torture, and not something I expected from a premium airline like Air France |
Quoting emek96 (Reply 21): Nice report, first of all. |
Quoting emek96 (Reply 21): Service of AF looks ok, but not too good. In general, I don't really like AF, as on all the flights I did on them, the FAs have been unfriendly. |
Quoting emek96 (Reply 21): The meals you got look fine, but a bit small. |
Quoting emek96 (Reply 21): The seats of the A380 are quite good IMO, flew on an AF 380 some years ago. |
Quoting emek96 (Reply 21): Nice you could visit Paris! Is one of my favourite cities, and great pics of it! |
Quoting 777way (Reply 22): Meal service look disgraceful cant believe this is on a prestige route on one of the top world carriers. |
Quoting SCQ83 (Reply 23): I have found funny your adventures to get in and out of Paris. I didn't know the train machines did not accept foreign cards (I never had that problem) but I am not surprised that happens. The RER to CDG (and ORY) has frequents break-downs (perfect for an airport!), it is usually dirty as hell, and from Paris to CDG (at least the ones stopping everywhere) it goes through some sketchy areas. Whenever I take it, there are usually tourists quite shocked like they have arrived to a 3rd world country. |
Quoting SCQ83 (Reply 23): Next time flying to the US you should try IB. They are starting one daily MAD-TLV with the new A333 this summer, the T4 is a much nicer experience than T2 at CDG and the metro and train to the downtown are clean and have no breakdowns |
Quoting vio (Reply 24): Great report. I really enjoyed it! Great photos by the way. I can't believe that guy just put his feet up like that. Unreal. |
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 25): Nice report, although you didn't really sell the experience! Food looks very meh, and the A320 to TLV looks awful for such a flight. I guess with the crew in the aisle the whole flight, pax couldn't even get to the bathrooms? |
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 25): Oh, that wuld have really annoyed me. If she was so worried about you touching her son, you should have made sure that her baby wasn't touching you! Why didn't she put 3 kids one side, and then sat on the aisle with the baby, and you by the window? Odd and annoying |
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 26): thanks for this report. Nice to read! |
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 26): After reading your conclusion, why didn't you try to fly that TN A343 to CDG? It does operate on LAX-CDG v.v. |
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 26): I can only praise AF staff. So far all my encounters with them on the ground and in the air have been great! |
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 26): Not unusual for YCL? KLM, LH, AZ, IB, would offer similar seating on the Europe-TLV flights. I'm sorry that you have to endure a longer flighttime to Europe, but airlines cannot keep cabins in the fleet for destinations like TLV (and CAI, AMM etc if that matters). You make a word about flying HV, EZY etc for a cheaper price, but then there is less service: no catering, no good care on the ground (if needed), no interline transfer/bag transfer, sometimes inconvenient schedules etc. I mean, good to see there is something to choose for everybody And you wrote your opinion in a honest way, positive and negative. Well done |