Review of Air France flight Osaka Paris in Economy

Airline Air France
Flight AF291
Class Economy
Seat 43A
Aircraft Boeing 777-200ER
Flight time 12:35
Take-off 30 May 18, 10:30
Arrival at 30 May 18, 16:05
AF   #26 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 6085 reviews
marathon
By GOLD 2131
Published on 15th June 2018
This was the return flight for a very unusual trip, the Shikoku 88 Temples Pilgrimage which I present in the bonuses of this FR and that of the incoming flight:

CDG – KIX: AF292 (B777-200ER) Economy upgraded to Business – it’s there
KIX – CDG: AF291 (B777-200ER) Eco – you are here

(The length of this FR is very unusual, too. You have been warned!)

I had used only one of my spare days for use in case of trouble, for bad weather reason, and after spending two days with my Japanese friends in Osaka, it was time to consider flying back to Paris. My FB award ticket was modifiable for a very modes 45 EUR fee, but AF did not seem to be aware of that.
Ce tarif ne vous permet pas de modifier vos vols = "This fare does not allow you to modify your flights".
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I only needed to call AF’s hotline, which transferred me to FB’s hotline, where an operator had no objections to my request. The flight on 31 May was full, but there were seats on 30 May. After a standard authentication dialogue, the change was done efficiently and politely, and since I was already at STD-15h, I checked in on line immediately thereafter. Spend “upwards from” 319 EUR or 53,200 miles to travel in Premium Economy? No, thanks.
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Of course, when you change your flight the day before, no matter your Elite status, the duo seats are already reserved but I nevertheless considered myself to be lucky: there were four window seats left, including two not overwing. They would have adverse lighting conditions during most of the flight, but that would also be above Siberia where there are few noteworthy features.
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Seats 43A and 42A also provided hope for an empty middle seat, and I chose 43A. Unlike on the way in, being in the front rows of the Economy cabins did not have much value to me: my European passport would let me through immigration reasonably fast in CDG and I had no time constraint upon arrival: I did not consider the “Plus seats” in yellow which would have been for free due to my FB-Platinum status, but were overwing which would preclude taking pictures of the landscape.
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It was a week day: the friend who had hosted me for my last night in Japan could not drive me to the airport, which I reached in a more conventional way by a regular train for a modest 1,190 JPY fare, which was cheaper and more comfortable than the RER-B trains serving CDG on half the distance. There were evidently mostly airport staff on board – there are faster, even more comfortable but more expensive through trains. Train punctuality can be taken for granted in Japan and I reached KIX at STD-3h as planned because I wanted to enjoy the lounge, knowing that my Flying Blue Elite+ would not be forever. There was zero waiting at the Skypriority check in counters, which was no surprise that early before the flight.
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Among other Flying Blue Elite+ perk useful for this flight was an additional piece of checked luggage, which was an unusual one: my pilgrim’s walking stick which I would have been sorry to be forced to abandon, or pay a fee worth several times its price.
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Contrary to my expectations, this checked luggage of unusual dimensions was not alone on this flight: another pilgrim connecting onward to MRS had already checked in, and the check-in staff affixed the luggage tag the same way.
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I hadn’t had any technical problem carrying a walking stick on a 1,200 km distance, especially since its weight was actually much less than one kilo.
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On the other hand, AF wasn’t sure about its ability in this regard: after assuring me that it would be taken great car of, the staff had me sign the responsibility waver on the back of the luggage tag.
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Note that AF could have countered that my own handling of my walking stick had been severe. See the difference of length between mine on the left and a new one in the same shop where I had bought it six weeks earlier: both my shoe soles and my walking stick’s end suffered from the two million steps recorded by my cell phone!
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Overall, thirteen minutes after leaving the train, I was without luggage too heavy or too long to be carried on board and facing a dilemma: which security check would be fastest? The “Not busy” one, or the “less busy” one? I chose the former, and even though the latter was maybe actually “Less busy than Not busy”, it was a welcome change from my Flight AF291 six months earlier when we had entered the terminal an hour later (there had been an incredible waiting line which was more like those in an amusement park in peak season).
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I was airside in precisely 9 minutes this time.
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The lounge used by Skyteam airlines (« Airside Lounge »: and accurate but not very creative name) is just before the people mover serving the south wing’s international flights. It is a minor inconvenience because it is a short way of predictable duration: the situation is unrelated to that of a landside lounge.
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I had a very old memory of another windowless and crowded lounge in KIX: this one was not huge, but alongside windows overlooking the apron and one of the runways.
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The lounge ends on the far side with a full height mirror which enlarges the visual space.
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The toilets were on the opposite side and all the cleaner that the lounge was then quasi empty: only one couple had arrived before me. (Passengers kept arriving before boarding time: the lounge did not become crowded but all the most desirable seats from my perspective were eventually taken)
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If by the end of your visit in Japan, you have not yet understood how the Japanese toilets work, it is too late: the remote controls are in Japanese only, with especially cryptic pictograms.
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There are showers and since I was among the first passengers in the lounge, the waiting time was probably nil, but I did not feel the need to take one. On the other hand, I requested and obtained a tooth brushing kit which was available upon request.
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There was a reasonably linguistically diverse selection of newspapers and magazines. I did not take a picture of the ones with ideograms, but there was a good supply too.
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The catering was better than in the lounge of a Japanese airline at home, and less than what you would often get in Europe. (Lounges in the US do not even try to enter the competition.)
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Fail for these chicken skewers, not for taste reasons
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But because the end of the skewers was covered with sauce, requiring tissue to wipe your fingers after eating them.
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No need to lift for you the lid of the onion soup
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Salmon flavored Japanese risotto. « Do not take out from the lounge » was written in Japanese only: because only they would break this kind of rule, or because no European would be interested by them?
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Very small onigiri
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These bowls with quasi-conical covers contained micro-portions of soup (hot water to be added)
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The dessert offering was minimal.
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A staff resupplying the buffet politely asked me if I wanted seasoning in my salad . Good reaction from her: I had not paid attention to the fact that it was provided separately.
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With regards to drinks, apart from the standard coffee and tea offering, there was milk and fruit juice.
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I’m no expert and let readers comment on these alcoholic drinks.
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This was my choice.
(I had asked my friend to not bother waking up earlier and prepare any breakfast for me. Driving me to the station was already kind enough from her – she had been adamant to spare me “walking all the way to the station with my heavy backpack”… the same that I had been carrying on a 1,200 km pilgrimage route !
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After a late-ish breakfast, after obtaining internet access without any cumbersome registration process, and still protected by Kōbō Daishi because my pilgrim’s hat reminded that he was still with me (同行二人: we are two on the same way)…
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… time had come for same plane-spotting through the windows. The awful weather was not going to make me regret having cancelled two days of tourism in Kansai to have two more days with my wife. It was next to impossible to have decent pictures of planes taking off from the runway in the background.
Garuda A330-300 (PK-GPU)
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ANA 777-200ER, in Star Wars livery (JA749A)
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Taking off the drenched runway, with the bridge connecting KIX to the mainland behind.
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ANA 777-200ER, in standard livery (JA707A)
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ANA 737-700 (JA05AN)
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Vanilla Air A320
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Air Seoul A321
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Jin Air 737-800 (HL7562)
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Jeju Air 737-800 (HL8064)
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A 737-400 of Japan Transocean Air, a subsidiary of Japan Airlines (JA8999)
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"The wings of Okinawa" うちなの翼
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Water splashing take-off of a Peach Airlines A320
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Asiana Airlines 767-300 (HL7248)
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Go to gate, and getting to Gate 38 will be much faster than I had expected. I had an overview of the domestic gates just after leaving the lounge.
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After a very short people mover ride, I reached the South international departures gates concourse which is quite plane spotter friendly.
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A brief overview of the planes at the gates: China Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Air France et KLM, from left to right.
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Garuda A330
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The carpeting in the part of the terminal would not change the habits of frequent flyers on this airline.
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It was no way as deep as that in SIN (Singapore Airlines 787)
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KLM 787-9 (PH-BHM)
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Arrival of a Korean Air 737-900 (HL7708)
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Jin Air 777-200ER (HL7734)
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Vietnam Airlines 787-9 (VN-A869)
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T’way 737-800 (HL8070)
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And last, the AF 777-200ER which is going to fly me home (F-GSPQ)
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I saw this deserted children play area on the way
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Boarding was by zone: Business class first, then Economy Premium and Elite status passengers, then the other Economy passengers in three zones.
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The jetbridge had wide windows overlooking the apron where the rain was not abating.
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Door shot
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This is what I did not want to pay 319 EUR extra, or possibly more
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The still empty second Y cabin from the rear
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A multistandard power port is now part of the equipment of a decent recent Economy cabin and this one had them.
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The carpet was clean
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On the other hand this was high density sitting: the backrests had a bad case of anorexia and the cramped 3-4-3 layout was perfect ground for armrest warfare.
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My safety information card (the one on the left) had suffered some damage
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The headphones are of course low quality. I had not taken my measuring tape to save weight, so I wouldn’t have taken a noise cancelling headphone, all the more that I don’t own one.
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In the absence of a measuring tape, I saw that the distance from the seat edge to the magazine pocket (with its standard magazine supply) was exactly the length of AF’s in-flight magazine.
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Pushback was on time
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I already mentioned several times that I do not like the current AF safety presentation that I find too fussy.
(No, AF, flights did not become non-smoking some twenty years ago because that was chic (quote), but out of concerns for the passengers and FAs’ health)
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The south end of the terminal is obviously dedicated to LCCs: Jetstar A320
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Eastar Jet 737-800 (HL8035)
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T’way 737-800 (HL8036). These two registrations are coincidentally sequential !
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Tiger Air Taiwan A320
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T’way 737-800, in special livery (HL8294)
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There was some taxiing traffic ahead of us: Vietnam Airlines 787-9 (VN-A866)
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Jeju Air 737-800 (HL8234)
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The KLM 787-9
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ANA 737-800 (JA82AN)
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Peach Airlines A320
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ANA and FedEx freighters parked close to the runway threshold.
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It was crowded too behind us: a China Airlines 747 freighter
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ANA 767
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T’way 737
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There were still a Jin Air 777 and a Garuda A330 behind, but our plane was already going too fast and there was too little light for an acceptable picture. This was a Finnair A350 shot just after takeoff.
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United 737 with scimitar winglets.
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The end of the terminal, with an Eva Air aircraft in the foreground.
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Interesting “flattened” interchange
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And then we entered the cloud cover which was going to be quite continuous. Do not rely on the moving map to know precisely where you are.
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Like all airshows that I know, this one displays by default the great circle trajectory ahead of the present aircraft position: it is of course unrelated to its actual air route.
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CDG –KIX flights pass close to Beijing and then wiggle their way between the military airspaces of Dalian and Yantai to South Korea. This route is maybe too narrow for bidirectional traffic: flights in the reverse direction first fly north above Japan before entering Russian airspace, passing close to the Chinese border near Khabarovsk, never entering Chinese or Korean airspace. Or maybe it is related to prevailing winds at cruising altitudes.
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I started to work on this FR as soon as it was possible to use my laptop which signaled that it was on battery power: would I need to save power (which meant an uncomfortable reducing screen backlight setting) until the beginning of the descent to CDG ?
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No, the indicator changes to « charging » quite quickly..
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The menu was distributed on a small leaflet format. I was not offered to preselect my preferred dish (like on the way in, as an extra FB-Plat advantage which could not be taken for granted), but I turned out to be available.
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Distribution of a drink (apple juice for me) and a 10-gram pack of salty snacks.
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The plane then went through a long zone of significant turbulences ; the FAs had to remind three times to an Asian lady that this was definitely not the relevant time for leaving her seat (FA service was even temporarily halted).
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Lunch was served this way. Either the Japanese employees of the catering company or the French FAs at AF should be taught that French etiquette dictates that bread should never be upside down, especially when served to somebody. My charitable guess is that they do not know the historic meaning.
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The same, after unwrapping. This was not refined gastronomy (who expects that in Economy), but I liked it.
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The hot meal container and its metal cover were ideal for receiving all leftovers after I had finished the meal, including the compressed capsule of water and the two other pieces of plasticware broken in three pieces each to reduce their length.
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The whole thing was then slipped in the seat pocket before FA came for clearing the tray tables.
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Until they came, I had a lot more space than my Japanese neighbors who apparently did not like Camembert cheese (Kiri cream cheese for dinner fared better with them). The empty middle seat gamble had been lost, but a Japanese neighbor was a guarantee of an armrest truce for the entire flight, and more generally trouble-free behavior.
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Coffee arrived later – I had kept my spoon and sugar ration for that.
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- Is everything all right, Sir ?
- Much better than on the way in, since the flight has not been cancelled!

- In that case, we can be sure to be better!

It was unclear if this was a discreet FB-Platinum recognition sign from the FA who had come to me, but my smiling allusion to the cancellation of my inbound flight due to an AF crew strike had been understood and deftly answered.

As for the landscape, it had yet to be better, because the cloud cover had been continuous up to there (not that AF could do anything about this), and all the long way above Siberia afterwards.
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The sky cleared up a little there. Left of the route, Birobidzhan (Биробиджа́н) is the administrative center of the Jewish Autonomous oblast, a curiosity created in the early 1930s which supported the Soviet Union’s claims of protecting minorities, while persecuting Jews who had generally not chosen to come to that place whose climate is as bad as its isolation.
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This was not an airbase, but a long storage of large diameter tubes for pipelines, in the immediate south-west vicinity of Khabarovsk. Only passengers sitting on the right hand side window seats got to see the city and its airbase.
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A river whose meanders were outlined by light colored banks (sand ?).
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Snow covered summits, later
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I took advantage of my neighbors going to the toilets to do the same. Nothing special to report about them:
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This folding seat is for use by the FAs for eating their meals in the rear of the galley, and for taking some rest.
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Self-serve drinks in the galley
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A FA had the passengers lower the window blinds after the meal: was AF taking the wrong track of KE that I now boycott due to their non-negotiable policy of darkening the cabin during day long haul flights, in both Economy and Business class ? I lowered the shade halfway and no FA came to object about this. What was the point of having a dark cabin when the amenity kit contained a blindfold in Economy too ? (but KE does not provide any on day flights…).
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The same FA came back five hours later, while I was still working on this flight report.

- Monsieur Marathon, is everything OK ? Do you need anything ? Do not hesitate!

Much like the somewhat insistent proposal for a tiny bottle of alcohol at the end of the meal (it was well meaning, but I never drink alcohol), this concern looked very much like an attempt at Platinum passenger care that the presence of two Japanese passengers between the aisle and myself did not facilitate. I did not need anything, actually, apart from not being forced to lower my window blind, and that was never requested.

What I did notice was that the FAs managing my area in the aircraft only smiled when they addressed a passenger directly: the smiles disappeared as soon as they looked back to the trolley or whatever else. It was a stark contrast with my experience on Finnair six months earlier: on all four flights connecting in HEL, the FAs smiled at all times.

Let’s take a break with a look at the IFE:

The games menu is identified by a game handle pictogram, but there is none: the only interface is the touchscreen, which in my opinion is not a good design, because this is likely to be a nuisance for passengers sitting resting on the other side of such thin seats
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The graphics of the airshow are neatly detailed and the touchscreen very reactive.
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The touchscreen is fortunately very reactive, because it reverts to cycling between the various display modes as soon as you stop using it and you must return to the relevant display if you want to know where you are approximately.
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« Approximately », because you can "turn around the plane" at will, which is initial fun, but the plane is especially imprecise. In this regard, this airshow is really frustrating if you want to identify a place that you do not know.
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A funny software bug gradually obliterates the plane and her trajectory if you zoom in enough.
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For the record, the « cockpit style display » which I find rather useless.
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A meditation program ? No thanks, I have had ample time to meditate while in Japan !
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The selection of classical music was decent. I am always annoyed that the record labelling focusing on the interpreter, not the works themselves, identified by the composer’s name only if it appears at all: you need to select the recording to know more about it. Readers can object that the precise works of Haendel were less important to me than the voice of Philippe Jaroussky when I selected this program.
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A very small ice cream was distributed halfway into the flight.
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My neighbors went to the galley and brought back these small sandwiches which were probably for self-service. I missed this opportunity and did not want to disturb them to go and get some.
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A brief view of the frozen Sea of Barents
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Distribution of a "refreshing wet towel" which was hardly either, no less than an hour and a half before dinner was served.
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The sky cleared up, but these scattered clouds did not help localization.
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Where are we now, actually ?
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I could not rely on the moving map to have an answer to this question: it was unfortunately not designed for that.
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Only after I was at home did I identify the airport of Lappeenranta (LPP).
(Readers will easily tell the difference between raw pictures and pictures with enhanced contrast, it what follows.)
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Same issue in this Finnish landscape:
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The eye is attracted by this airport, but the moving does not help.
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This was the city of Kovoula (right) and the military airport of Utti (UTI) on the left.
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Zoom on UTI
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And on Kovoula
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Now reaching the Baltic Sea
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The plane was actually much further south than the moving map was showing so I could not see Helsinki (I wonder why the trajectory was this wrong ?).
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This very good view of Tallinn on the south shore of the Baltic Sea was proof for it.
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Tallinn Airport (TLL)
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Ämari Air Base (EEEI)
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The small Kiltsi airbase which was abandoned after Latvia declared independence from the crumbling Soviet Union.
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Hiiumaa Island
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Zoom on Kärdla Airport (KDL) which now has flights to TLL only.
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Gotland Island is a favorite vacationing location in Sweden. Bad luck: the plane flew just on top of Visby and its airport (VBY), a medieval town which has been included by Unesco in its list of World Heritage sites.
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The southern end of the very long and narrow Öland Island
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Öland Bridge which links it to the city of Kalmar on the mainland
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Only by sticking my camera to the window did I manage to take a picture of KLR, Kalmar’s airport.
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As always keen on culture, the Soviets were so fascinated by the Naval Port of Karlskrona, listed by Unesco on the World Heritage List that they tried visiting it with a submarine in 1981. Forked tongues hint that they were interested in the modern navy base too.
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The last Swedish towns I saw, in Scania: Tomelilla
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And Ystad, made famous by Kurt Wallander, the main character in a series of police novels
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The dinner (same for all passengers), as served
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The same after unwrapping. There wasn’t much to eat: I was hungry when I made it to home ; maybe I was used to have very hearty meals in Japan, compensating the significant daily exercise.
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Compacting the wrappings was easy; they were collected before I had really finished this favorite game of mine.
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A cup of coffee or tea was served afterwards
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The harbor cities on the German Baltic coast: Rostock
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And Wismar
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The cloud cover closes again
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Munster (not to be confused with Münster), spotted through the clouds
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Herford, just north of Bielefeld
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When the skies cleared up again, I did not focus on the charming historic center of Soest, carefully restored after the bombings and ground fighting at the end of WWII. It took me some time to identify it because the trajectories on Flightradar24 appeared to have been shifted dozen kilometers south-east.
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This was Flight TK9 (IST-LAX), operated by TC-JJJ (interesting number, by the way), a 777-300ER
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The meanders of the Ruhr River in Neheim. This tributary of the Rhine River is mostly known for having given its name to the homonymous industrial region.
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Unlike the Möhne and Edersee dams, and despite taking a hit, the Sorpe dam resisted to the British bombing in the night of May 16th, 1943 aimed at flooding the Ruhr, and a later attempt in October 1944.
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The Rhine River in Bonn, through the clouds
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Information by the captain at STA-30’: the crew would be required to stop the engine power before reaching the gate because of excessive engine blow, and please remain seated until we are pushed to the gate. The captain also apologized for the welcome speech which had not been broadcasted in the cabins “due to a technical problem” (I suspect that he simply forgot to press on the relevant key).

Distribution of a sweet to all passengers shortly thereafter, presumably to help manage the pressure change (it worked well with me).
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The sparse cloud cover gave an impression of good weather to people on the ground but it was a disaster for localizing oneself in flight, with a checkered sunlit / under cloud shadow / hidden by cloud landscape.
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Turn to align due east
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The Oise River, between Cergy-Pontoise on the left and Eragny on the right
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Telecommunication tower in Montlignon Forest
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A housing project in Gonesse
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The hospital complex of Gonesse
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The limit of CDG appeared: we would land on the south runway pair
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Twin aisle AF aircraft parked remotely; the A320 with a blue tail in the background is used for training ground airport staff.
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Two Fedex 757s and an MD-11
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CDG’s Terminal 1 appeared under the wing
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Air Austral 787 and 777 in the freight area,
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An AF 777 and an Air Tahiti Nui A340
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Terminal 1
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AF was the Concorde yesterday and Joon today. What about tomorrow?
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Touchdown and heavy braking
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Arrival of a competitor on the Japan routes, coming in from HND
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Crossing Runway 09L after the take-off of this XL Airways A330
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Arrival of a Joon A320 lit by the sun through a break in the cloud cover.
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G-EZRS, an Easyjet A320, taking off
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AF 777 in Skyteam livery
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And JAL in standard livery
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The row of long haul planes parked at Terminal 2E Hall K
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The end of Hall K
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The plane taxied between Halls K and L to reach a gate on the other side of Hall K: Hall L is probably too close on the right to allow a plane to taxi on her own reactors power all the way to the gate.
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The last passengers started deplaning ten minutes after the picture above: the advantage of being in the front rows is significant only when the immigration control is not fluid.
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Tarom A318 seen from the jetbridge
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I doubt that Paris was waiting for me, but a Parisian woman was. There were too few PARAFE passport and fingerprint scanning booths to handle the many passengers who did not know how to handle them and slowed the line behind them, but this was not on the critical path to leave the terminal since I also needed to reclaim my checked luggage.
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The luggage delivery began much later than the announced target time, but mine arrived quickly: my backpack was among the first items on the standard luggage carousel, and my walking stick at the oversize luggage delivery counter. The staff (facing back, below) was surprised, to say the least, by the arrival of a piece of luggage which was that thin and lightweight.
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I took Elite+ status to be able to check in for free that specific pieces of luggage !
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My friends had warned me against the culture shock when coming back to Paris, and it was indeed a severe one, with this 21 minute line to buy a train ticket to Paris at CDG’s station. I had already complained in a previous FR about the absence of ticket machines in the luggage delivery rooms like in ARN. A reader had explained to me that state-owned Paris Aéroport, out of due concern of its finances and of the legitimate financial interest of its sole owner, presents a massive bill for the use of space and electric power for ticket machines in its premises, that state-owned French Railways, out of due concern of its finances and of the legitimate financial interest of its sole owner, righteously rejects. The interest of the passengers is not part of the rules of this zero sum game, all the more that those who set the rules don’t take the train to CDG.
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This is the end of this FR, and before you return to your daily routine, I offer you a bonus on a theme which is not quite daily routine: the Shikoku 88 Temples pilgrimage, continued.

Bonus : Click here display

Thanks for reading me !
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Verdict

Air France

7.3/10
Cabin7.5
Cabin crew7.0
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Meal/catering7.0

KIX Airside Lounge

8.0/10
Comfort9.0
Meal/catering7.0
Entertainment/wifi8.0
Services8.0

Osaka - KIX

9.3/10
Efficiency9.0
Access10.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness10.0

Paris - CDG

7.5/10
Efficiency7.5
Access4.5
Services8.0
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

"Air France in Economy on a long haul flight ? This is not the stuff that dreams are made of": this was my impression during this flight. There were insufficiencies in all grading criteria: nothing awful, but the kind which tells the difference with an award-winning airline.

A modernized cabin, with at-seat power, but a 3-4-3 seat layout and ultra-thin seat backs.
Reactive IFE touchscreens of decent size, but an airshow which cycles by default and does not provide a precise localization.
FAs making a small effort of Elite+ passenger recognition, but whose smiles vanish the second they turn the head away.
Rather tasty meals, but with insufficient quantities and the cultural mistake of upside down bread on the tray.

The Airside Lounge in KIX is reasonably close to the gates used by AF and the other Skyteam airlines. It is plane spotter-friendly, with many seats oriented towards the windows. European travelers would expect more from the catering, but it is above the Japanese average. Connecting to the internet is fast and registration hassle-free.

I obviously arrived to KIX in a low traffic time slot: there was very little waiting at security and passport control, whereas it was a disaster six months earlier. Since I was very early, waiting was nil at the Skypriority check-in and would have been minimal without FB Elite status. I haven’t seen a priority lane at security and passport control for Elite passengers. Connecting to the internet was fast, like in the lounge.

Going through immigration controls could have been faster in CDG, but this was reasonable, given that I was among the last passengers deplaning from a nearly full 772.
I holler again about the insufficient number of the train ticket vending machines, and their absence in the luggage delivery rooms. It is a shameful disregard of a basic passenger need.
The delivery of my luggage was fast and in priority, both at the standard carousel and at the oversized luggage delivery counter.

Information on the route Osaka (KIX) Paris (CDG)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 18 avis concernant 1 compagnies sur la ligne Osaka (KIX) → Paris (CDG).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Air France avec 7.5/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 12 heures et 37 minutes.

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2 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 451600 by
    Eric V P 123 Comments
    Thank you for sharing - yet another lovely report as always.

    Spend “upwards from” 319 EUR or 53,200 miles to travel in Premium Economy? No, thanks.
    - You should check how much they would actually charge you, but it's good that at least award tickets are still upgradeable - on GA (and perhaps many other carriers as well) they wouldn't even allow it at the first place.

    ... spare me “walking all the way to the station with my heavy backpack”
    - What makes your backpack heavier than the other pilgrims? 13 kg is a lot, and even at only 8 or 9 kg I would have already thought of it as too heavy for me to bring.

    My charitable guess is that they do not know the historic meaning.
    - I wonder what does that mean? But still, the bread looked way more substantial than what you could have in many carriers' economy class so let's say of it as a perk of flying AF?

    The empty middle seat gamble had been lost, but a Japanese neighbor was a guarantee of an armrest truce for the entire flight, and more generally trouble-free behavior.
    - Do you happen to know how was the load for that day in economy?

    The selection of classical music was decent. I am always annoyed that the record labelling focusing on the interpreter, not the works themselves, identified by the composer’s name only if it appears at all: you need to select the recording to know more about it.
    - Perhaps time to put it like Spotify where everything was displayed (e.g. the composer, conductor, and orchestra)? But then, that would amount to more computational power needed and IFE isn't exactly known for being as fast as a PC.

    I especially loved the unique bonus which seemed to be a very interesting experience - once again thank you for sharing for us!
    • Comment 451635 by
      marathon GOLD AUTHOR 10106 Comments
      “It's good that at least award tickets are still upgradeable - on GA (and perhaps many other carriers as well) they wouldn't even allow it at the first place.”
      - I remember the time when AF did not provide upgrade offers either. Historians would know when they changed their minds about it. It may only be a matter of time until all airlines do the same.

      “What makes your backpack heavier than the other pilgrims?”
      - Many Japanese are doing the pilgrimage one week at a time, traveling light. They know best which supplies could be procured on the way if needed, where and how. All accommodations have cheap coin-operated laundries : I knew it, but I did not optimize my clothing as well as the Japanese pilgrims do.
      On the other hand, I did not invest into new equipment for a one shot use : I had a very old backpack (new ones are much lighter). Because of the super-peak Golden Week, I had a sleeping bag and some other camping supplies in case all accommodations would be full - I eventually never used them because I walked much longer distances on a single day than most other pilgrims could, when needed.
      Last, not least, for both work and private reasons, I was carrying a 12” laptop that I did use every day.

      “I wonder what does (bread upside down) mean.”
      - I should have explained that in the English version of this report. There are variations in the stories around it, but in the Middle Ages, the upside down bread in the baker’s shop was reserved for the town’s executioner. To present ostensibly an upside down bread to somebody meant that he is ostracized / that he is the Devil / that he will die today / whatever other bad omen. I accept upside down bread on a foreign airline, but Air France should know better.
      (What is tradition to some is superstition to others: I am amused by Air France not having a row 13 in any of its aircraft and never mind about this bad omen number.)

      "The bread looked way more substantial than what you could have in many carriers' economy class"
      - The consumption of bread dropped precipitously in France, but it is still considered a quintessential part of French food.

      “Do you happen to know how was the load for that day in economy?”
      - I did not inquire, but it was extremely close to being 100% full; small wonder since the flight of the day before had been cancelled.

      “I especially loved the unique bonus which seemed to be a very interesting experience - once again thank you for sharing for us!”
      - Thanks for your appreciation; it was indeed a unique experience !

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