Review of Air France flight from Paris to Lyon in Economy

BACK FROM ΚΡΉΤΗ

If you are here to read about the lounge, you need to scroll down a few pictures ;-)

καλημέρα from Κρήτη!

You might be surprised but besides aviation, I am also in love with my +1 and I could be romantic..! I organised a nice trip to where we spent our first holidays about 5 years ago, I thought it would be nice to refresh our memories and going back on the roots of what we became :-)

Flying blue Miles earned with this flight: 161
Status earned: 2 XP
Air France doubling the XP status in 2021: 2 additional XP

We flew on the way out with Transavia, so it had to be two seperate bookings because Air France doesn't allow you to have one leg operated by TO.

Even though the majority of the Air France medium haul fleet is made of A320s, I must say this was one of the rare occasions for me to fly onboard one of these since covid. As an elite skyteam member, I was able to choose for free, from the time of booking my seat on this A320.

AT PARIS - CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT

We left you from our previous flight from Heraklion… And here is the excitement of the trip!!

Really love this open lounge, where there are no gates..

AT THE 2f AIR FRANCE LOUNGE (new!)

You can only enter the lounge if you scan your boarding pass, and even though this is not new (like the old 2F lounges), what is new is that you can only talk to an AF staff once passed the gates.  
Once this is done, the lady was really warm and gave us such a nice welcome, describing the features of the lounge and essentially she said that
Ground floor is for people with short connections
First floor for people awaiting for a few hours. 

and of course I couldn't not take a picture of this beautiful staircase..

The steps are not very high, which is good I guess for elderly passengers, a bit less cool if you are excited like I was to go upstairs! The view though is stunning; on both inside and outside the lounge. I must say also that even though this was the evening you can tell how bright the lounge is.

It doesn't feel like a big hall but it is actuall very spacious enough to combine both old 2F lounges and still not be overcrowded like these two used to be before.

We started off by having diner and we saw a lot more free tables on the 1st floor..

There is a lot of bars for refreshments, a lot more than the other lounges at CDG I feel…

The view is stunning… Especially with the natural yellow colours of the evening.

Another new element: there are water fountains for both sparkling and still water, so a lot less cans - I was told for "green" reasons. Well this particular one didn't seem to be dealing anything at all, but I tried on the others and the AF staff told me sparkling water was of Perrier.

Another bar - near the stairs this time… There is a choice of light snacks as well as very usually champagne Laurent Perrier, two choices of white wine: Crozes Hermitages and Pouilly in Burgondy, and as of red: one Bordeaux and Saint-Joseph. 

Morality: apart from Champagne and Bordeaux, Air France seems to offer the majority of booze from my region: GOOD! 

There are some elements that are similar to the other and former lounges like this salad for example but the food is much better than our last experience at 2E hall K where it was sausages and green beans! Here it is a bit more elaborated. As for the dessert, exit the usual flan, there were chocolate cake and this passionfruit cake.

I tried to find the macarons buffet that I famously read of this review from Christophe but couldn't find it.
After diner we wont on waiting on this comfy seats overlooking the first half of the F terminal. 

 The seats are screwed onto the floor, which is a bit of a negative as you can't really organise your space as you wish.. 

And I went downstairs again to explore a bit further. Really love these curves!

First up: this refreshments and snacks bar, just like the one found upstairs.

Next up: another food and drinks point next to a nap area… Look at this "prawn" of AF..

Next: the little patio behind the staircase, with same furnitures but different design of space.

The boutique: a nice new element… With still the presence of the Iconic A380..

Next: the bar area and also where you can order food to go, that is different from the buffet…

And where you can either help yourself or order a cocktail! You know me, there is always time for a cocktail!!

Heading back up with my cocktails

Did you notice how the lights against the windows are regularly changing colours? Is it randomly? Or following the colour tones of the sky?

Next: picture of the upstairs buffet

The Clarins Spa corner… unfortunately closed at this time - damn I need to come back!

I never take pictures of toilets but the mirror is really nice so for once here are the toilets!

Next up: one of the two resting areas, properly split into personal sections… unlike some other lounges…

And finally the spaceous showers! You need to scan the QR code on the leaflet held onto the bar to get in and keep it with you. This way the cleaning staff knows when you leave and when they can operate.

Really spacious from the inside…

With brand new furniture of course

And a good selections of toileteries.

Once I was refreshed, I felt it was time for me to do a quick reveal! There you go!
 Hello everyone!! 

Finally back up there for a detox tea (found on the bar on the ground floor)

And it was time to go… I had no idea if priorities were called and respected - they usually are at CDG - we boarded almost last!

onboard the a320

Aircraft: Airbus A320-214
Registration: F-HEPE
Engines: 2x CFM56
Age: 11 Years
Layout: Y174
Observations: One of the A320 used on European destinations.

Someone didn't like me taking pictures!

With the lounge behind this A319 tail….

With a newer cabin this time, but still with the well known Smart and Beyound seats.

I gave up my seat to my travel companion… See how Kind I can be? :p

Taxiing nearby terminal 2B… The hub for orange planes..

And the service started as soon as the seat belts sing was turned off, I apologise I realised afterwards I didn't take a picture. so just of this galette left.

Wifi was working perfectly from the moment you step in the plane till reaching the gate at arrival. The basic option to send and receive messages is free, that can also send pictures on whatsapp if there are not too large…

There are still no paper magasines on board and so I read it on the app. 

Air France does much better pictures of the lounge than I do!

A quick word on welcoming the A220…

And it was the time to approach and fly over Lyon Presqu'Ile - aka the capital of France. Yes did you know that Lyon was the capital of France under the Roman Empire? Well not sure why they chose this little village called Paris afterwards but they made a mistake!

AT LYON - SAINT EXUPÉRY AIRPORT

We arrived at terminal 2 as usual, gate Q06.

The only thing regarding luggages, mine are always tagged with the yellow label "priority" but every time I have a connecting flight, they always arrive last… There are some mysteries here.