#24 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
5971 reviews
I arrive in Paris CDG 2G aboard an Embraer 190 of Air France on a flight from Basel. Iget out of my seat just as the doors open and collect my jacket and my bag. The purser wishes me a safe onward journey and informs me that my driver to La Première lounge is already expecting me at the bottom of the stairs.
When I reach the bottom of the stairs, the driver takes my bag and takes me to a waiting Porsche. She inquires if the flight from Basel was to my liking and tells me it should take us about five minutes to reach the lounge.
The lounge is quite busy when I arrive, so I don't take that many pictures. My driver inquires if I would prefer to board the flight early or just before departure and then tells me she'll come back to pick me up in thirty minutes.
As she turns to leave she waves a waiter over to take my order. As I won't be here for long anyway, I just order a coffee.
About 45 minutes before departure, I am picked up and escorted one floor down to passport control and then to my waiting car. As we drive out to my waiting B 777, the driver inquires about by trip and makes pleasant conversation. And then, at least, we arrive in front of the mighty B 777. What a gorgeous aircraft!
Just before the L1 door, the groud agent overtakes me and steps on to the airplane ahead of me. She introduces me by name to the maître de and officially hands me over to the cabin crew. I am escorted to my seat, where the crew help me settle in. There is a red blanket and a pair of slippers already at my seat.
Shortly after that, I am brought my vanity kit. As a rule, no matter which airline, I have little use for the content of the kits most of the time. But I love the design of the Air France vanity kits.
And then shortly after that, the crew bring me an elegant small tray with a bottle of Evian and a flûte of champagne.
I'm also brought a small, hot towel.
Eventually, boarding is completed and the doors are closed. Air France 662 is officially on its way to Dubai.
We take off in a Westerly direction, which takes us due North of the magnificent city of Paris. It's a lovely day, and I can easily spot la Tour Eiffel in the distance.
As soon as the crew are released, the spectacular meal service begins - Air France style. First, the menus are handed out.
We start with caviar for an appetizer.
I love the attention to detail in La Première, for example the omnipresent little seahorse.
The caviar is followed by the superbe and delectable cream of carrot soup with cumin.
This is served with a wide selection of bread rolls and a choice of salted and unsalted butter.
The soup of followed by the gorgeous langoustines with celery and apple.
For the main course I have the scalop quenelles with a side of baked macaroni, both of which are divine.
The main dish is followed by the salad.
The salad is followed by the cheese cours. What can I say, I find it difficult to resist a good piece of French cheese…
And then come the desserts. The cabin crew encourages me to try one of each, but I beg for mercy at this stage and only have the one divine creation.
And just in case I haven't already had enough sweetness, the crew bring me some more chocolate with the coffee.
The table is quickly cleared. I ask for some sparkling water and then sit back and read. And digest.
About an hour out of Dubai, the crew come to inquire if I'll be joining for a 'light' supper. I figure I might as well, as it will be late by the time I reach the hotel.
Just as the crew start clearing the table, the cilot in command announces the top of descent, and our gentle giant dips its nose in the direction of Dubai.
We land on time and make our way to the satellite terminal that it used for most non-Emirates flights. As usual, the airport is busy at this time of night. There is a ground hostes expecting the La Prmière passengers as they step off the plane. She escorts us to the monorail to the main terminal, and then from there to the priority lane for passport control.
Well, what to say about this flight? Frankly, I think Air France is currently the market leader with its La Première product. They easily blow the competition out of the water. What I find most impressive about Air France's La Première product is the consistency of it service delivery and its branding. With the former, I mean for example that that the ground staff at Paris have clearly been trained very well in handling passengers. And that carries over to the cabin crew. As for the latter, the little seahorse is everywhere. It's an elegant logo and always appropriately placed with a lot of attention to detail. I can't wait for my next La Première experience!
5 Comments
The whole experience looks sublime beggining with your arrival into CDG and the Porsche pickup
😂.That is so much food! What a great dining experience!
Did you have anytime to rest? Seems like a lot of dining for a 6 hour flight (ish)
Can’t wait to try this product one day, thanks again for sharing!
What I like about the CDG to DXB service is that it's long enough to enjoy the service and the food but not long enough to get bored. For a while, Air France had a day time service from DXB to CDG, but that was switched from a B 777-300 to a -200. Only the -300 have La Première.
The ground service is also amazing with such high levels of care and proper personal transfers between flights. And of course the food on board is exquisite, as one would expect. It wasn't always that way, there was a time when AF weren't sure if they even wanted to keep an F product, but I'm glad they've found that balance and figured out which markets F can work. The 4-seat cabin is perfect for privacy and a small enough floor space that it's less financial risk for AF than the large cabins they had in the past.
The hippocampe china is gorgeous, truly one of the best First class products out there.
Thanks for sharing!
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