After many cancelled trips, it was finally time for a two week holiday to the west coast of USA and then onwards to Hawaii!
I arrived at CDG from Heathrow with Air France and after a few hours connection, it was time to board AF72 to LAX, operated by F-GZNA, a 14 year old Boeing 777-300ER.
Boarding area looked rather quiet and there were plenty empty seats on board. I was unsure of the best seats on this 777 layout and had opted for 28A, the row of two at the front of the economy cabin. Decent legroom too and the aisle seat remained empty.
Decent wing view too.
We had a slight delay due to loading the bags. We were later informed by the captain of another delay due to missing fuel paperwork however a quicker than usual flight time. After around one hour, we were on our way to the runway. I presume the paperwork was located and we had enough fuel for LAX….
GE90’s coming to life and powering us out of CDG
Shortly after takeoff, the Chief Purser came by and welcomed me for being a Platinum member and for choosing AF, which is a nice touch. Also offered a choice of drinks from the Business cabin. I chose some champagne.
We climbed to FL320 until leaving Ireland and climbed to FL340 for the Atlantic crossing.
Really smooth flight today, not much to see at FL340 either sadly.
Lunch was served quite soon after takeoff; I chose the Chicken with polenta and was informed this was a meal from Premium Economy. Tasted pretty good and the crew offered some more champagne or wines from Business.
After the meal service, cabin crew came round and closed all the window blinds.
The flight passed by quite quickly, watched a couple of movies and listened to music. Crew were always happy to give more drinks and snacks at the galley. Although only soft drinks, beer or wine in economy now.
Before landing, the crew distributed the second meal service. A hot chicken and cheese roll, another bread roll, yogurt drink, a cake and some tomatoes with a carton of orange juice.
Views from FL380 as we get nearer LAX.
These caused a few light bumps, not enough to switch on the fasten seat belt sign which remained off for the entire flight.
Approach and landing into LAX before joining the huge immigration queues for entry into the USA!
Nice report as always! Being in a bulkhead row and having an empty seat next to you certainly made for a much better experience. I've flown AF 77Ws in a standard Y rows before and found it very cramped, at least laterally because of the 3-4-3...the seat pitch was ok. Though 3-4-3 Y has become the norm on 777, I've been pretty successful at avoiding it altogether for the most part.
That's a really nice gesture. Great service! It's always nice to actually feel recognised
That's a shame. I used to enjoy a nice Cognac or Poire Williams digestif whenever flyinf Y or W on AF.
The main meal looks quite good, which is typical for AF--always solid catering in Y. The pre-arrival meal is quite underwhelming though, for an 11h flight--I believe pre-pandemic, that it was a proper meal...not just a hot snack.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your comments Kévin. Agreed, nice to be recognised and the row of 2 was certainly comfortable on the 777. Also Cognac was served after the meal service however when requested a top up in the galley, only beer or wine available. I’m sure if I’d asked the purser, he would have facilitated a G
Awesome report dude! I was wondering if they have wifi on board… Do you know if wifi was available for purchase?
Thanks! Yeah I’m certain we had wifi for purchase on this 777.
Thanks for posting your report. I guess you have status which allowed you to book the bulkhead? I've not been able to as a non-status member.
Hi Luckyc, yeah I have Flying Blue Platinum status.