Review of Air France Hop flight from Nuremberg to Paris in Economy

#47 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 1000 reviews

By mgescheidt 1728

Published on 9th March 2016

A big hello to all of you dear readers!
It´s been quite some while since I posted my last FR here and I know that I owe you some of my not reported flights up to date so I´ll try to fix it in upcoming weeks and months. But this time I´m here with my most recent trip when me and my girlfriend went to Mexico to enjoy a vacation in February 2016.

Everything started back in November 2014 when Czech charter operator Travel Service offered flights from Prague to Dubai for as low as 200EUR with both onboard meal a checked baggage included. We opted to travel in September 2015 and had almost the whole year to look forward to our vacation in UAE. Everything changed in April 2015 when Travel Service (QS) decided to cancell all flights to Dubai from PRG to DXB from June to September, probably due to low demand for Dubai flights during Dubai´s extreme heat summer.
As we got our money back I looked for some other options and my desire was to make it long haul. There were several options, most of all it was QR´s good fare from Budapest either to Kota Kinabalu or Denpasar Bali and also AF´s very good deal from Nuremberg to Cancun for 400EUR. The latest was what we ended up to decide for and we were due to fly in February so we had almost a year of waiting ahead of us once again.

Originally the routing was:
NUE - CDG AF E170
CDG - MEX AF B744
MEX - CUN AM B738
CUN - MEX AM B738
MEX - CDG AM B788
CDG - NUE AF E170

After few changes from airline and after surviving a threat that we couldn´t fly due to work duties the final trip was:
NUE - CDG AF E170
CDG - CUN AF B773
CUN - MEX AM B738
MEX - CDG AM B788
CDG - NUE AF E170

Luckily the time ran by quite well and soon it was 23rd February 2016 and we were about to start our adventure. Getting to the airport was some sort of challenge as living near Brno, Czech republic it takes quite some time to get to Nuremberg and with departure time at 06:30 everything was even worse. After arriving at Brno by bus we changed it for EuroCity train and continued to Prague where we arrived at around 16:00. We had over 2,5hours to spare as our bus from Prague to Nuremberg was about to leave railway station at 18:40. It was a direct service bus by Deutsche Bahn that runs several times a day. To my surprise there were only 9 passengers on this non-stop ride. I don´t know if it is a common load factor for this line but I guess in this way it is not really too profitable. The whole return fare from Brno to Nuremberg was around 60EUR per person.

Our stay on the bus was pretty comfortable and almost 4 hour-ride felt quick and we also managed to get some small sleep. That was important for us because we knew we had to wait for 8 hours for our departure out of NUE and then we had another around 20 hours to get to our hotel in Cancun.

After arriving at Nuremberg we look around local railway station and had a small diner at McDonald´s. Then we took a U2 metro line for 3EUR or something and reached "Flughafen Nürnberg" in less than 20 minutes just around midnight. At that time there was not a single passenger anywhere around. There were only few airport workers whose shift seemed to just had finished. As we had over 6 hours to kill and we both started being tired we found "hidden" seats in first floor landside and we decided one of us will try to sleep while the other one will stay up just to keep an eye on all our stuff.
Other possibility for an overnight stay was to get a hotel either in Nuremberg or at the airport, but I found the prices to be way to high. Hotels in center close to metro station were starting at 90EUR and the Mövenpick hotel located right next terminal was twice that price. I found to be too pricey for something like a 4 or 5 hour stay.
To prevent myself from falling asleep while "on patrol" I took a walk around several times. Free WiFi also made our waiting little bit more pleasant. Saying altogether, sleeping at Nuremberg airport isn´t too comfortable but still it was okay and also we were not questioned by local security or something.
The only thing that left me disappointed was the observation deck that was said to be opened 24h a day but in fact I couldn´t get there as access was through restaurant that was closed during the night. Don´t know if there is any other way to get there.

At around 03:00 airport started being slightly busy with new shift of workers arriving and also first of passangers as well. 2 hours before departure we went downstairs to see if check-in is already underway. In fact it started only 90 minutes to departure and although we were first to reach airport we were almost at the end of check-in queue for our flight. Seemed like everyone except of us had 2 and more baggages to check-in. It almost made me wory where are they going to put it in our small ERJ-170.

We were checked-in straight to Cancun and we got boarding passes for both segments. Right after check-in we went to quick security and then headed to the first floor to gate area. We went to explore the whole area as I couldn´t wait see our plane that was parked at the airport overnight after arriving from Paris late in the evening before. Unfortunately we didn´t find it which meaned our ride was parked somewhere on the remote stand.

Bad luck these comfy seats were not landside where we tried to get some sleep.
Boarding started soon and on time.

As it was around 0°C in Nuremberg that mornring we wanted to get to bus among last because we chacked-in our winter clothes. The bus was totally cold and we ended up waiting for a late passanger with doors opened for few minutes.
There she is, F-HBXK a 12 years old frame that entered service in 2004 with Alitalia Express and later switching to (AF) Reigonal, now HOP!. And also my first Embraer ERJ-170.

Boarding was done only via front door.

View from my seat 15A. Load on this morning flight was 100%.

The seat was quite comfortable and it offered generous legroom for such a short flight.
On the other hand I hated how the seats were positioned relating to windows. Seemed like almost every seat had a window too much in front where it is impossible to see anything while the other window was located in an unpleasant position right where the seat is.

There were 2 cabin crew on this flight and I can´t say much about them they were just fine.
No TVs onboard so it was only outside views saying where we were located. There was an inflight magazine in the seat pocket but I found it to be one of those less interesting.

Taxi to RWY 28 took quite long despite no traffic ahead of us. It was still much darker outside than it looks on pictures.

We departed to the west which offered us some nice views of the city.

There was very nice sunrise going on outside throwing some nice colours on our aircraft.

Breakfast consisted of chocolate cake and a choice of tea or coffee. I expected to eat something at McDonald´s at Nuremberg airport but it caught me little surprised as it was closed during our stay. I was pretty hungry so I was more than happy for this cake even though I´m not usually a big fan of the chocolate inside. Still it was a nice start of the day.

As our flight was only about hour long we soon started our descent to Paris´ Charles de Gaulle airport.

From this moment it was clear we were about to land from west.

Arriving over morning Paris suburbs.

Sadly there was not very much traffic approaching CDG visible.

Making a final left turn to line up with CDG´s runway 09L. Sitting on the left side we we´re not threated with any breathtaking views. Our whole approach was pretty quick with no waiting time.

After touchdown I enjoyed our CDG tour during long taxi to the outermost terminal 2G.

Everytime I am at Paris CDG I´m absolutely amazed by this airport in terms of traffic and great size of the airport.

We disembarked the plane through front door again and headed into terminal for our first ever transit at CDG.

That seems to be all from this short HOP! from Nuremberg to Paris. As you see I let pictures to do the most of talking as it was ordinary short european flight with nothing too interesting to long write about.

I´ll be back during several days to cover the next leg to Cancun.

Thank you for your attention.
Michael

Verdict

Air France Hop

7.8/10

Cabin8.0

Cabin crew8.0

Entertainment/wifi6.0

Meal/catering9.0

Nuremberg - NUE

9.0/10

Efficiency10.0

Access10.0

Services7.0

Cleanliness9.0

Paris - CDG

9.0/10

Efficiency9.0

Access9.0

Services9.0

Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

Although it was a standard intra-european flight it was a pleasant experience. Except of badly located seats in realation to windows I liked HOP!´s ERJ-170 and the seat comfort was very good. With arriving on-time and being offered with nice breakfast (for such o short flight) I think we really couldn´t ask for much more. I don´t know AF´s prices for only this segment so in case it is expensive I would maybe change my opinions a little but with this flight included in our trip I was more than happy.

I like German airports and Nuremberg was no exception of that. It´s really easy to get either from the city center or with a direct service offered from Prague by Student Agency bus. I appreciate a free WiFi throughout the whole airport and also it has everything that airport of this size needs to have. Bad luck only that the shops and fast food were not opened as we stayed overnight.

I have only positive words for Paris as well, but more about it will come in the next report.

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10 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !

marathon GOLD 10136 Comments 2016-03-09 17:36:50

How much time from home to take-off from NUE ? You must have been whacked at final destination, I admire your going for such a challenging ground segment.
It is a decent short flight. I like the 2+2 seating in the E-170/190.
Thanks for sharing ! 2016-03-09 17:36:50

mgescheidt AUTHOR 51 Comments 2016-03-09 17:44:37

Well from leaving home it took some 12 hours to reach the airport followed by the 6 hour wait. I don´t find long repositioning on ground any bad, but I don´t like waiting except of airside when on airport.

I have to admit that this trip to airport was kinda extreme and next time I´m going to choose either closer airport or more convenient departure time :-) 2016-03-09 17:44:37

pititom GOLD 11490 Comments 2016-03-09 21:59:39

It's always a pleasure to read you :) Please pardon me if I don't take the time to comment all of your Flight Reports, but I always find them equally captivating.

I believe this line is quite cheap, and I wouldn't be surprised to easily find 50€ per segment on the line.

What surprises me is that your routing gets cheaper from NUE, than from PRG, where AF is usually quite challenging.

Thanks for sharing :) 2016-03-09 21:59:39

mgescheidt AUTHOR 51 Comments 2016-03-09 22:24:47

Thank you very much for these very nice words.
AF/OK flights between PRG and CDG are you usually no lower than 120EUR return. And honestly I have never seen such a good offer to Cancun from anywhere nearby Czech republic. I saw some last minute offer with Eurowings from CGN at around 280EUR but that was few months after we bought this one.
And also flying there and back on the same A330 is not what we are all looking for right? :-) 2016-03-09 22:24:47

Rl 777 802 Comments 2016-03-13 20:00:00

Thank you for sharing this very interesting FR with us!

Very interesting way of reaching the airport, NUE airport looks pretty decent.

Nice shots of your ride before boarding!

The E-170 looks very clean and pretty comfortable. Seat pitch looks acceptable as well.

Absolutely stunning aerial shots, especially the shots taken during sunrise. I love the feeling you get when the sun rises.

A decent snack for an hour's flight I guess.

Thank you for this very interesting read!

Have a good one, see you!

2016-03-13 20:00:00

mgescheidt AUTHOR 51 Comments 2016-03-13 20:51:53

Hello and thank you for your comment.
I think you just sumarized it in an efficient way with few words but very well. Maybe except of legroom which I find more than sufficient.
Michael 2016-03-13 20:51:53

KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6733 Comments 2016-03-20 01:19:27

Hi Michael, nice to see one of your reports again after a long hiatus! Great report with beautiful photos! What an adventure to get from Brno to Nuremburg! But at 60EUR roundtrip, it's definitely worth it to take advantage of the awesome 400EUR fare from NUE! I like that AF has croissants and especially chocolate croissants on morning flights. E-Jets are always comfortable. Ok, time to go check out the next flight in this routing. Thanks for sharing and welcome back :-) 2016-03-20 01:19:27

NGO85 SILVER 1977 Comments 2016-03-28 01:23:24

Thank you for sharing this FR with extremely good quality photos, a real pleasure to read with your narrative.

400EUR is phenomenal for this TATL, especially with a return on AM and their generous 34 pitch.

The E-Jets are always comfortable and the AF pastries are superior to the cakes offered by LH at breakfast time, IMO.

The trip to NUE sounded grueling, but not as grueling as the trip from NUE to Brno will be on arrival^^ 2016-03-28 01:23:24