DESTINATION UNKNOWN…
Do you know the famous 2000's electronic music song?
Well I won't tell you where we are going to!
Welcome to this serie that will take us to a very special destination, and with a very good reason since this is nothing less than our Honeymoon..
Flying blue claimed: 171
XP status points earnt: 3 (Air France was offering 50% more XP after Covid)
Flight routing
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I checked in online with the application, Air France and KLM do offer a user friendly one, although not as comprehensive as I could have experienced with the Delta App.
By being a Skyteam elite member, I have the possibility to choose my standard seat for free on this A321 with 212 seats called "ironing board"
AT LYON - SAINT-EXUPERY AIRPORT
We arrive under a blue sky that we will also have at our final destination.
The T2 has since been closed for planned engineering works.
The T2 terminal building back then was mostly used by Air France & friends..
Once you have climbed the escalator or the traditional stairs for others, land on this view of the old drop-off point, for perhaps one last time before the terminal reopens.
The Airport was named after the famous Little Prince novelist and aviation pioneer, who was never to be seen again (his planewreck is now found near the french Riviera)
The checkin counters are not that busy but in any case we are going to go through the Sky Priority desk where there are even fewer people, and where I want to take the opportunity to see with the attendant what she thinks of our ultra short connection and the fact that we have a checked in luggage - more in the next episode.
The lady was incredibly kind, coupled with a pronounced sense of humor; it had been a very long time since I had seen such good humor.
She tried to check our luggage in all the way through to the last destination but the system didn't let her - one segment in particular caused the issue.
She nevertheless shared her experience of our destination with us and warmly recommended two restaurants that we tried and also approved!
AT AIR FRANCE T2 LOUNGE
when it comes to jokes, short and sweet is best they say but that does not apply to the aviation industry..
Lyon has always been a major Air France hub for domestic destionations.
As the lounge was closed, we were entitled to €11 vouchers.
The very long boarding pass!
Air France bound to CDG was always departing from Q06 gate.
We spend our voucher at this food corner, next to the gate.
You don't go that far with just €11 at the premium food corner..
Our plane was a tad late, but nothing to worry (yet!)
The Domestic flights connection usually busier..
Our A321 arrives, this unit is partircularly famous amongst plane spotters for having an unpainted white tail - no dirty jokes please!
On the background, this is nothing but the highest montain in Western Europe, the famous Mont Blanc!
I told you he had his tail all white..
I love to see these metallic reflections I find it beautiful and it’s even better with the new livery, the "shrimp", the blue wingtip, the headline on this A321 which is not so old (14 years) compared to the others A321 of the fleet.
Boarding priorities are respected
ONBOARD THE A321
Aircraft: Airbus A321-212
Registration: F-GTAP
Engines: 2x CFM56
Age: 14 Ans
Layout: Y 212
Name: Epinal
Comments: with the domestic cabin
The domestic seats we call in france "ironing boards"
The only premium elements are the USB plugs and the cub holder…
We push back 10 min later but I am not worried on such a short flight time.
Nice wing flex!
In case you wonder where the fashion of eating frogs came from..well right from these lakes!
The service began quickly, above Châlon sur saône with the "business calss" not materialized by a curtain.
The pursuer reaches our level and hands us a madeleine and asks us what we want for drinks
She is a lady of a certain age, a bit like the famous Delta Grannies….
I usually do not tell much about my private life… I asked her if we could possible have some champagne.
She told me unfortunately it is just for the business..
I tell her that I know that very well but since it was particular trip for us - our honeymoon - if she could perhaps do something..
There she answers is litterally "ahhh monieur but this is a great exception, wait do not move" and she comes back with two glasses of champagne with chocolates, some shortbread, and all the other snacks from business.
Cheers!
We really appreciated the fact that they were able to make an exception to the protocol, and I found that AF is perhaps more used to that LH.
The whole crew was so lovely, they all came to us to congratulate us.
In terms of entertainment, the aircraft was equipped with WiFi
And even Angrybirds if you remember!!
At that time, Air france just changed its multi decade lasting magazine for a new one "EnVols"
AT PARIS - CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT
We landed on the 26L
Taxiing is quite long since you have to pass in front of the 2A, 2C, 2E/K, 2E/L before parking at 2F…
Only been on this big baby once..
Air France started the process of replacing its old A318 and A319 with the A220.
FR24 stats of the flight
Hi dear ChrisB and thank you for reporting your first flight of this mysterious travel !
That is quite strange nowadays to see Air France operating at the terminal 2 of Lyon. Most of european routes were already and unfortunatly closed at that time. However, flights to Lille and Pau were still there.
The crew was so lovely ! That is really enjoyable to see that some cabin crew members are firstly considering humanity instead of economy.
See you soon !😀
Heeeey Yann thank you so much for your comment, I didn't remember you were also reading english reports :)
Well this is a routing I pusblished about 2 years ago in french so you might already know the destination :)
yes Air France at T2 is a sight we have long forgotten
maybe also Rome etc
Hi! Thank you for sharing this FR!
I doubt Air France will ever return to T2. They don't seem to care much about anything that's outside of Paris, so having a terminal that's almost only for themselves is a bit too much for the route network they currently have from LYS.
The Air France lounge in T2 was closed, how surprising! (sarcasm, of course)
I don't think this "hub" (if we can stil call it like that) will last much longer... Although I hope I'm wrong.
It's nice to have such lovely crew! It certainly makes the experience much better.
Hi A380 and thanks for the comment!
yes it has been the case for decades although Lyon seems to be an exception in domestic France has still offers a good variety of destinations with Hop (I agree not as many as before covid)
Yes and never re-opened but luckilly now there is an eligible lounge at the T1
Hey Chris, thanks for this 1st leg of a very long trip!
Hmmm...I guess that's a nice gesture, though it's a very off number, like why 11 haha. It's way better of a gesture than most other carriers who closed lounges during Covid and didn't give jack s*** haha
These (very) old Métrolpole cabins are holding up surprisingly well despite being like 15 years old. I wonder if they redid the upholstery and seat paddint at some point. I'm guessing possibly so when they added Wi-Fi and USB outlets (which is great BTW). I also think it's great that AF resisted the urge to densify the cabins from 212 to 220, which is now the standard for all-Economy A321s. So a little better legroom on AF than BA or IB for example, who both have Y220 configurations.
Thanks for sharing!
hey mate and thanks for the comment!
Yes it was nice but luckilly a lounge has been available since then :)
Really didn't like these very old ironing boards but they are now more and more rare since the A320/A321 where they were found are slowly being retired
yes you were right to point it out, it could have been more dense