Review of Air France flight Fort-de-France → Paris in Premium Eco

Hello everyone and welcome to this return flight from FDF.

The stay was largely impacted by the rain, which left me with few options for lazing on the beach or hiking.
You have to be fair at some point and accept when you lose the tropical lottery.
It was also an opportunity to spend more time with the family on site and to take care of day-to-day business, as they say.
So there will be no bonus of beaches or other forests under the sun.

The routing reminder, simple, before leaving to FDF airport.

As usual, I check from home the identity of our plane for the day, which left ORY on time.
And as for the trip to TRN, it's the same plane that's picking me up: F-GZNG.
It must be said that it did almost all the FDF rotations during our stay.
I've also noticed that it's now very often F-GZNx, unlike my beloved F-GSQx 773. 

fdf, check-in, police and security

To get to FDF, no mystery, it's by car.
Given that there's been a lot of flooding during the week, that things are generally jammed and that I don't want to be stressed, we'll take a comfortable margin to get there.
But to be honest, and despite the message from AF urging me to arrive at least 4 hours in advance, there's not much of a crowd on this 2 November, which is a bank holiday here.
Although it was a very rainy morning, there were no incidents on the road and in just over 10 minutes I found myself in front of the AF gate, the first one of the building. OK, it's not working (…), but it seems that AF has found its way back to its usual check-in area.

We head for the next door.
The sky doesn't look threatening, but that's an illusion.

Here we are in the hall. There's no crowd.
AF is on the right as before, so I don't think I'll have to cross the whole terminal, but that was of course before I increased the distance myself.

Autumn is here and the cold weather has set in, so let's bring a few tropical flowers home to create an illusion.

Once the flowers had been carefully packed in their box, we head to the "regular" check-in area.
The photo speaks for itself. The formalities are completed in just a few minutes.
Everything is fast and efficient, but there's a catch…
The box of flowers is "oversized luggage", so you have to take it to the oversize counter which is the C10 one (the opposite end of the terminal).

So it's off for a long cross-country run.
It's an easy route, as there are still very few people and no pressure, given our time margin.

When we arrived at the C10 counter, the process took a little longer because it was surprisingly very manual in terms of formalities (the agent wrote lots of things by hand on his register) and there were two people in front of us. 5 minutes later, we were as light as air.
We headed upstairs, taking the "sports" stairs, because if you want to use the escalator, you have to go ahead to the next one.

At almost 3pm, we're at the entrance to the police.
Not many people.
It will take us exactly 10 minutes to pass through.
The delay was mainly due to the security controls, where the baggage of the pax ahead of us was thoroughly checked, and then to the rotation of officers, so we had to wait a little longer.
We quickly passed through the small duty free shop without last-minute temptatio.
There was the possibility of bypassing it thanks to the open doors just opposite the security.

lounge and airside

So here we are, literally at the lounge door

Inside, there were few people either.
We easily found our place and, despite the modest size of the buffet, we were delighted to be able to have lunch (as the quick option on leaving home had been very light and, in the end, the meal on board was still a long way off).
At the buffet, surprise, there are no mini Christmas ham/pineapple sandwiches, even though Christmas is much closer now, but there is Christmas ham! As for the "pâtés", there's only the vegetable version.
For the hot dishes, there are 3!
- Mushroom risotto,
- Tuna Provençal,
- pan chicken with curry and coconut milk with rice.

Unlike co-pax junior, who will have his lunch in stages (starting with fruit…), I'm aiming for an all in one for the photo.
In front of this overcrowded table, our choice may seem unfortunate, but at least afterwards we could enjoy our armchairs.
It was a very enjoyable lunch. On a side note, the vegetable mix could have been done with a bit more spice!

After lunch, I set off for a quick airside walk to take a portrait of the aircraft and update the status of on-going works in the terminal.
So that's our bird of the day.

The FIDS.

A very small spotting with DO for St Domingue and AF for Cayenne.

And the view of the works at each end of the terminal.

On this side, there's been more progress since August (at least visually).

After this samll walkl, back to the lounge for a big half-hour wait.

Boarding and cabin

At 4.35pm we left the lounge, despite the absence of an announcement, to be among the first to board.
At 4.44pm, the announcement was made for families with babies. Surprisingly, there were very few of them.
"Zone 1" is called (quickly, as the business max capacity is 14 people), followed by "zone 2".
It was a very clean route.

Clouds and rain now.

1st left turn for the 1L jetbridge.

Door picture and half fuselage shot.
On the door picture, the flight attendant (who are very nice by the way) take a step backwards, thinking of disappearing, but he remains in the frame nonetheless.
It was then almost an official welcome, bordering on military.
Still, I was expecting a salute and a "Mr President, welcome aboard".
LOL

Not the best view detween the two jetbridges.

Crossing the small J cabin.
Note: To avoid being in the flow of Y pax in JKL once you've settled in, prefer ACDE seats in J when leaving FDF.

Then our seats, with a very strong feeling of déjà vu (same seats, same plane).
It's 4.50pm, so it was a quick boarding for us.
We had a deal with copax junior, but the subject had changed again and I found myself at the window.
I have to admit that the argument that there won't be much to see at night is going to backfire on me!

Outside, it's raining… cats and dogs.

I'm performing a samll cabin review because you already know everything about this aircraft.

When I got to the underside, I found not only crumbs but also something rather unattractive…
I even had my finger on the lens.
In fact, I found the same traces of wine leaks (I guess) at the foot of the technical gallery between the seats as on my Oct 23th inbound flight… (I'll let you go and check for yourself).
The cleaning that's been done in the last week is not so impressive.
There was a drip between the remote control and the sockets, but these have disappeared, so we know where the cleaning ends.

So let's stay focused on what we can see.
The menu will come as a surprise as it is unavailable… 

I'm preparing my settings for take-off with a view ahead when the captain speaks at 5.25pm.
The flight was scheduled to last 7 hours and 35 minutes, with some turbulence on departure, a classic arrival via Nantes and no other surprises (even though Storm Ciaran had just passed through and seemed to have been followed by Strom Domingos…).
Surprisingly, there was no announcement in English from the captain.

Doors 1L and 2L are closed as soon as the announcements are made.

At 5:34pm, push back in a heavy rain.
I'm beginning to think that the captain might be too brave…

taxi, take off and flight

5:37pm, engine start.
I fill up on the GE90s vibes, and copax junior starts to enjoy it too, even though he admits that it makes a lot of noise.
It's true because in FDF, I live 10 km from the airport and if the wind is favourable, you can hear the GE90 start of the last AF flight (~21h+).
It's always surprising.
Launch of the safety instructions with few sound incidents (speakers seem dying…).

The photo doesn't really show it, but we're "fully rinsed".
My thoughts are with the man walking next to the pusher.

Here's the pusher.
A moment of self-satisfaction, because I think the photo is very nice.
This is a good opportunity to thank the ground staff who, thanks to their behind-the-scenes work, enabled us to leave on time, regardless of the weather.

Spotting in FDF is a bit limited
And the weather isn't helping this TX duo.

We're going so fast that I cut the tail off this ATR…

It's off for our little taxi up the runway towards the paddle for the U-turn.
Although the rain seems to be easing off, the runway is very wet. 

5.45pm, we're at the end of the runway, U-turn into the final and soon take-off.

Once lined up, direct take-off.
We're on time.
The take-off will be as gentle as the climb.

As for the photos of the flight over Martinique, I'm dead.
Clouds, twilight, in short, not much to go on.
The best part is here…
Copax junior is having a bit of a laugh.

If the views from the ground are nothing to write home about, at least the sky offers some beautiful views.

In the cabin, national ambience and the distribution will begin.

But first, a check of the wifi, and it works for real.
At least something will have been done on this plane in a week…

At 6.05pm, distribution of kit and wipe.
Same as inbound flight.

However, at 6:12pm, surprise!
The flight attendant went into the cabin to offer a glass of champagne or water.
I asked him about this and he confirmed that the W protocol had just changed and that the welcome drink was back.
He also tells me that stainless steel cutlery is also making a comeback.
It seems that AF has finally listened to its customers' complaints about the price/performance ratio on the W…
2 small improvements that are very welcome, but don't go to sleep thinking that it's good, we're at our limit!
In the meantime, I'm enjoying this little surprise cup.

PS: Previously, from FDF, the welcome drink was before door closure and there was also juice.

The film starts with champagne in hand.
at 6.53pm, the service begins.
I'm just saying, but a little J-style skirt on the trolley wouldn't cost much…

Zoom for the identity of the champagne.

Since the menu is the unknown, the flight attendant has to repeat the hot dish options to everyone.
So it's :
- Duck parmentier
- gratin of sun vegetables and bulgur.

In short, just like on the inbound flight. It sounds like the J europe trays that rotate for a while before changing….

Let's take a closer look.
The stainless steel cutlery is indeed there.
It's a small detail, but no one will miss the taste of wood from the wodden cutlery.
Even copax junior spontaneously appreciates the change. 

The starter looks just as cheap visually as during the previous flight, but will be much better.
We're still a long way from foie gras or shrimp salad, and there's still a lot of work to be done to improve the dish.
The dish is the same as on the inbound flight. Not bad but not overwhelming.
Especially as the cheese in the starter was quite salty, which made the parmentier that followed a bit stale.

The cheese is tasteless and, what's more, Dutch (too much KLM in Air France when speaking about cheese…).
The lemon meringue tart was pretty good.

In short, the catering experience is a little better than on the inbound flight.
Let's hope that the wheels of progress continue to turn at AF so that we can get back to the quality we had before (I'm willing to sacrifice the porcelain plates).
And copax junior?
He wasn't too keen on parmentier and even less so on the vegetable option.
But that was without counting on the secret contents of the trolley, which revealed a chicken rougail with curry rice (not originally announced as a choice). Still not very refined (including visually) but he was happy with it.

19h50, time for tea

At 8.40pm, the lights go out.
End of the film, no motivation for the next one, I wander around a bit.
Black and white atmosphere in the galley.
And the opportunity to exchange a few words with the cabin crew. I learn that our plane is the victim of an epidemic of IFEs outage and the purse spends her time rebooting screens and I see several of her colleagues walk by, screens under their arms… 
Bad day for F-GZNG.

A small view of the available bar with its door.

Quick look at the amenities, which had been properly taken care of during the flight, before returning to my seat to get some sleep.

Spoiler: I won't sleep a wink tonight…
Despite my head being in the stars, quite literally.

I'll also try to see if we hit the top speed of 1200 km/h seen in the news yesterday but my live FR24 consultations only allowed me to get a respectable 1098 km/h.

00:10, the lights come on! I'm delighted because all I want to do is arrive.
There's no change in protocol here, it's the same bon appétit bag as always.
It's still as light as ever for W class. 

landing

Past this gargantuan breakfast, karma returns.
Since we're early and it's winter time, we'll be arriving in the dark.
00:46, the descent begins.
Little or no view from the window before we get closer to the lights of the city.
At 01:05, the captain announces a landing within 10 minutes.

The growing confetti is ORY.

Blurred landing but still soft.
For a moment, I thought there would be applause!

We've come full circle, as we're back at the 07 from the start.

Taxi to the gate will therefore be quick.
I'll note a hidden ITA between AF and TO, and like this summer, we're facing a departing flight before the last turn.

Disarming the slides!
It's 06:32 local time!

The doors opened quickly, as did the disembarkation.
We'll make our way quickly to the border police, where we won't have to wait long.

We reached the baggage carousel less than 20 minutes after leaving the plane. Not bad.
Next door, the PAX arriving from RUN.

Luggage delivery will be quick, but we'll need more patience to pick up the flowers at the oversized belt.
All that's left is a short walk to our surprisingly cheap VTC this morning, but who's going to complain.
The last word with the FR24 trace of the flight and see you soon.
Thanks for reading.