my first time in business in an A220
Hello and welcome back on this journey to attend a Flight Report french speaking gold diner.
If the journey out was in economy, the return flight was kind of "cheap" for a business, and as I am not flying on daily basis, I though I deserve/ need / require to indulge myself!!
Scroll to the end of the FR to see a Bonus on Warsaw if you are interested.
Flying blue Miles claimed with this flight: 982
XP status points: 15
Enchainement de vols
- 1TGV Lyon- CDG
- 2
- 3AF WAW - CDG
- 4
I used the Air France app as always to check in. I must say the app is now quite robust and user-friendly.
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.
at warsaw - chopin airport
I reach the airport with an Uber and Esteban.
LOT is of course very well represented at WAW.
One will note that the dreamliner cockpit windows aren't clean, luckily the pilots have some auto landing capacities!
And it is with this illustrious site member that I go thru the fast lane!
at the lot lounge
I am a nobody for Star Alliance, I barely have any miles with them but I still follow Esteban in the hope that the lady at the counter would let me in so we could have a drink but nope.
After having made a U turn, heading to the Skyteam lounge, I walk passed our boarding gate, the same gate where I arrived at the day before.
at the fantazja lounge
The lounge has a good amount of natural light, has nice decoration and furniture and this is where I run into the Boss, aka Leadership. (if you were ever wondering who that leadership is!).
This wall plants remind me of the Skyteam lounge at the T4 at Heathrow..
Not only this lounge offers a good variety of newspaper but there are actually some books!
There are even some work dedicated space, but don't worry I did not use them :p
Showers - always a big plus at any lounge
There is even a small resting room - which - again - is a really big plus for a lounge that is not a Hub lounge!
There is a good amount of variety in terms of food and beverages, including the beverages for adults!
One of us is having water with lime, the other a GinT - I let you figure who is drinking what and it is not that easy!
Sausages everywhere!
Oops… I need to go perhaps?
Here is our cute A223. If the cabine is undeniably a success, I am unsure of the outside look of the bird… The nose looks like that of a 787, wing tip from the CRJ1000 and the rest of the fuselage a skinnier version of an A319..
onboard the a220-300
Aircraft: Airbus A220-371
Tail registration: F-HZUG
Engines: 2x PW1524
Age: 6 months old
Layout: Y148
Named: Provins
For the english speaking readers of Flight Report, who have not ventured on the french pages:
The "door" instant is now as popular and famous as a well established religion, and so as I first wrote this report in French, I couldn't risk our Door God fury :p
Just like on the way out, KLM is parked next to us.
My seat is on the first row (and to our North American friends: Yes this is the Business Class ahah).
The pitch is huge, there no less than 3 windows just for me - almost like on the First eheh. The guy behind me is an ultimate card holder, and clearly he has the full attention of the cabin crew, and especially the guy in charge of the J today.
So much attention that I start wondering if they are actually flirting or not?
I had no idea this kind of status would grand such favors!!
I am really surprised to see the Business class 100% busy.
Air France starts to put its red comma a bit more in the cabins.
Our departure is a tad delayed so I go to the toilets and I ran into our ultimate / cabin crew in a very close discussion..
Anyway here is the view on the Pratt & Whitney engine, a brand that Air France has not seen in a while.
As I was mentioning earlier look at that space!
The WiFI is available from the minute you board the plane on an Air France plane, unlike some other carriers you don't need to wait to pass the 10,000 feet.
We are finally pushing back.
Take off ! The engines are definitely quieter than the A32X CFM56 engines
Ready for some cloud surfing?
Just like on the way out, Air France if you wanna contact me for royalties I wouldn't mind at all :p
Not sure why but there is no privacy curtain on this particular unit (the others A220 I have been on, have that curtain) - mind you the difference with the Eco isn't particularly mind blowing.
The service starts very shortly after with some bubbles that I couldn't refuse - I'd hate to be rude !
The cabin crew asks me which wine I would like for the main, as he sees that I am hesitating he made me try both and I went for the Saint Emilion wine.
The food is well presented, although it is shame there are no tablecloth nor menu - some other legacy carriers do have them.
It is actually tasty, the portions are a bit light to my liking though.
You can actually see on the second picture how much more light there is in the cabin than the good old A32X.
The cabin crew come to talk to me for feedback, in a nutshell I told him that I am very pleased to see Air France becoming more premium on both soft and hard product on long haul but the European and Domestic markets are a still suffering from their cost cutting. For example Air France is now refusing to serve hot meals, despite the presence of ovens on board.
The dessert was stunningly good.
Am I easily convinced?
Or just Alcoholic?
I gathered from Esteban that the blue light means that the cockpit would like some beverages, hopefully less booze than I had!
The cabin crew was realllllly looking after us, always to have a kind word, offering some refill, crack a joke, and even offering a babysitter service when the mum went to the toilets!
Not as funny and warm as the very famous Delta Grannies but still very Professional and keen to go the Xtra mile.
In terms of entertainment Air France stills offer unlimited newspapers and magazines on their phone app, and with some help for those of us looking for a tiny modest propterty!
Envol is the new magazine (Air France magazine was stopped with Covid).
If the seats in First are better nowadays onboard, I am not sure the food followed that trend.
The service was so opulent!
As an avgeek, here is my favorite double page of any onboard mag!
We are back in the clouds.
at paris - charles de gaulle airport
2A and 2C were still open, they are now closed for refurbishments.
The very famous K concourse of terminal 2E.
Don't look for variety here !
A cockpit visit!
I asked to see the cockpit (I am usually a bit too shy to ask for a visit) and the captain and first officers were super kind to let me in.
I was surprised to see that are a bit less buttons than the A32X (which already has far less commands than the B73X) and the screens seems to be really larger.
Warsaw bonus
It was my first gold diner and I was really happy to meet a few gold members sucha as Tango_Bravo, Isaac, Airbretzel, Nicobcn, Leadership, F-OITN, MichelG, AirBerlin, Sconnie83, Scorph, FiftyTwo, Mendes…
Fiftytwo organised the visit of the historical district of town - a big thanks to him.
