Review of Air France flight from Paris to Warsaw in Economy

the french flight report community gold members meet up

Hello everyone and welcome to this first opus of a routing that will lead me to WAW, where the meet up was organised for french speaking gold members.
This diner was a first for me, if this flight was also my first time on a A220 so a double first time - and we all remember our first times right? :p

From Lyon, there aren't a lot of routes possible since Wizz Air stopped the only direct flight, I went on to look at flights with the european legacy carriers and Air France was the cheapest, which is a good news for my XP hunting. 

Flying blue Miles earned with this flight: 982
Status earned: 5 XP

I used the Air France app as always to check in. I must say the app is now quite robust and user-friendly, although I miss the bit where the stats were displayed (how many times on each aircraft, time spent in the air, around the Earth and so on), I guess this wasn't very compatible with the company's green policies.

Air France offers me a possible upgrade but at this rate, thanks but no thanks..

I wish the upgrades were given for free according to your frequent flier status like Delta does.

The flight will be operated with an A223 with the new cabin of 148 seats, which have been designed to be close to the European seat of Air France, namely Smart & Best.
For record, Swiss the "reference" in terms of A220 in Europe chose to equip its fleet of CS series with 145 seats, Air France is not so far from it and the good news is that we will see less and less recarro "ironing boards" seats.

I started a few Fr ago to post a couple of bonus pictures from the origin of my flights, so below a few pictures of Paris I took during the "heritage days" 

The holy chapel, always fascinating as it is about 800 years old and was designed to host the tresory french king Saint Louis brought back from his crusades.

Le Quai d'Orsay, the foreign affairs office, which has been built to impress clearly..

Is it the famous "Gold diner" for the Flight Report community??

at lyon - perrache train station

My flight being at 9am from CDG airport, I am taking a 5.37am High Speed train service from Lyon Perrache train station, which is luckily just a short walk from home. At leasr there are a lot of direct services to CDG airport from this station so I can' really complain

I am on a "Business" class cabin, if only the seats in Europe could be as wide and as confortable! 

And unlike an upgrade on a flight, it costed me just 10€ for this upgrade. 

at paris - charles de gaulle airport

My train arrives a little over 2 hours later, bang on time. I do hurry a little, I know going through security at the 2F terminal could take some time.

I am surprised by the amount of planes ready for their flights on this very early saturday morning.

I am a Flying Gold member and I can go through security a lot quicker with the fast lane, a move that will allow me to indulge myself longer in the lounge :p

The very famous roof of the 2F terminal built in the 90s.

With my gate not open yet, so what does it mean? Plenty of time at the lounge!

at the air france 2f lounge

The Lounge has been well reported on the french speaking community of FR but not so much on the English speaking side of the website so here is the famous staircase leading to the 2nd floor.

Shame the B747 and A380 aren't there anymore.

I was super lucky for once to have some available time slot for a facial treatment at the Clarins spa, and I couldn't recommend you enough Sophie!

Something should tell you 
A/ It is breakfast time!
B/ We are in France!! 

Some healthy options are also available..

I am leaving the lounge about 10 min after the boarding started, I am not particularly in a hurry and I am seating in front of the cabin.

At least this is what I thought because when I turned up at the gate, the screen was displaying a bright-red-you-should-hurry-your-fat-ass-last-call!

You can see the A220 winglets in the distance

Aircraft: Airbus A220-371
Tail registration: F-HZUH
Engines: 2x PW1524
Age: 6 mois
Layout: Y148
Named: Rocamadour
Observation: in leasing

on board the A220-300

A door instant…

As most of the first timers on a A220, what one immediately realises is the amazing quanitity of natural light, the windows being much larger than any other aircraft type of this range.

The colours are neutral and cosy, but also very chic with this navy bleu and the red "comma", the icon for Air France. 

The FSU is modern of course however lacks the mini IFE that most companies (including Swiss) chose to fit their aircrafts with.

The seats have similar features to that of the Smart & Best cabin seats 
- coat hook
- a fair reclining seat
- a headrest that you can adjust
- the seat itself is quite thick 
- a cup holder
- USB A & C plugs

but with new features such as the additional magazine pocket and the tablet/phone holder

I managed to spot a French Air Force A330, not so common for me.

The safety card…

This is when I hear a voice I recognise, and I look up and it was the first time I met Flavien, the co founder of the website. 

The crew is kind enough to give to gold and platinum member seating in economy a refreshing towel an a bottle of water, that are typically given to Business class passengers.

An A319 on our left, an aircraft the A220 is supposed to replace in the Air France strategy.

We are pushing back with a slight delay (25min) and unfortunately one of these Parisians has to be a cliché and starts insulting the crew which remained perfectly calm…

Not much variety on this side of CDG!

Here is the moddlighting!

It is only during take off that I noticed how quieter the Pratt and Whitney engines are compares to the cat-stuck-in-a-washing machine kinda sound of the CFM56 that are largely seen and heard on the A32X fleet globally. 

And yes the wing always do flex a tad!

It almost could be a corporate picture right? 
@airfrance I am ready for royalties :p 

The toilets (if you are from the UK) / restrooms (from the USA) are quite narrow, a con for me.

Coming back from the facilities, here is a cabin shot, you can easily tell how much light there is compares to the A32X.
 
I will sit down next to (Leadership) on row 14 to have a little chat about the world of aviation, the A220, Flight report and how we could change the world!

Air France also customised the carpet with these typical Parisian woodeen floors.

Two Madeleine cakes were given to all passengers, so a bit more than usual.

The crew asked me what I wanted to drink and I - jokingly - said that there is always time for a little glass of champagne… I am not sure if my joke or my flying blue status allowed her to be a bit flexible with the rules but Champagne here it was!

When the captain announced our descent I went back to my window seat…

By the way, have you noticed how large the luggage racks are? 

The WiFi has worked on all the flight and - Air France is one of the few in Europe to do so - also on the ground which enables you to be connected literally door to door.

Air France also offers a digital press phone application, and despite what you can see on my screenshot, there is a solid selection of newspapers and magazines in other languages than French.

The onboard magazine, that used to be on every plane, now only available at the kiosks or the lounges.

Some interesting articles about the La Première food service.

And my favorite page in any in flight magazine.

The airport seems to be quite near the city centre (UK) / downtown (USA).

at varsovie - chopin airport

We smoothly landed at Chopin airport, with the view on that very famous ATC tower.

For our North American / Asian / African / South American (well not European), here is a business class cabin in Europe: good luck to spot the difference with an eco cabin besides the food and drink service: there are none!

Good bye Bombardier plane!

The airport is quite bright despite very little amount of sunlight.

I was staying at the Marriott, that my friend Esteban couldn't recommend highly enough, and I must say, with reason.

A sky scrapper that allows me to enjoy a stunning view from the hotel room.

Thanks for reading my report!