Flight Review - Air France BUSINESS CLASS Heathrow to Paris to Seville
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- Опубликовано: 16 июн 2024
- I recently took the opportunity to visit one of my most favourite places - Seville. And as direct flights are dull, I chose to fly on Air France via Paris, in Business Class. The first leg from London was on Air France proper, the connecting leg down to Seville was on Air France's "full service" subsidiary Hop. Or perhaps that's Hop!
In this video I review those flights, plus the lounge arrangements in Heathrow's terminal 3 and Charles de Gaulle airport's Terminal 2G - otherwise known as the "short straw" area of Terminal 2...
⭐ #flightreview #airfrance #MattsPlanet ⭐
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⏰ Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:28 - Heathrow Terminal 3
5:55 - LHR - CDG
9:50 - Charles de Gaulle Airport
12:34 - CDG - SVQ
15:45 - Seville Airport
16:25 - Conclusions
great videos as always
Thanks, as always!!!!
Hi Matt awesome channel mate! Your latest Australian Subscriber! ( and part time RUclipsr🤣).Keep up the great work!
G'day! Had a few Aussie's viewing this video... Welcome aboard!
I do like the Amex lounge in t3… it’s really nice and relaxing…. Aspire always seem to be full now..
Don't have a shiny enough amex to get in sadly... Did visit the one in Las Vegas a few years back and it was ok...
Another great one Matt. Love the sense of humour😅. Full service, methinks not "full service" let alone business class??
Can't wait for the Seville video. On my wife's bucket list😊👍🇿🇦
Thanks Peet. Seville video is in production...
I have to agree on the HOP use of seats in Business Class. KLM do the same on the Embraer, it's really. not on especially after a 10 hour overnighter.
Yet Lufty manages to keep a seat free... Competition should equalise this out you'd think!
I recall sitting in an airplane seat that seemed to have been designed by someone blissfully unaware that human arms have elbows but I wasn't in a business seat at the time .
Seville is a great place to visit and I am looking forward to your video on the city.
Thanks Les. City videos are so much harder to make than flight videos as there's no obvious skeleton of how to structure them but I'm looking forward to seeing what I end up with too!!!
Great video as usual, Matt. Looking forward to the Seville video. When Air France was at T4 at Heathrow, passengers connecting to La Premiere were guided to a separate, private part of the Skyteam lounge. I presume they now just have to use the Aspire like everyone else?
Hi Rob - yes all AF (and KLM) pax were sent to the Aspire lounge from what I saw... There may have been a nod and a wink for La Premiere pax with them sent elsewhere but I didn't see it if they did!
Nice video and review. I think your summation of Hop! is pretty decent. Have flown them Economy on the Embraer and rows of two always much better, and worth seeking out if pricing similar, than rows of three on their Airbus and Boeing brethren you'd get on Ryanair/BA/Easyjet etc.
Thanks Josh - I agree that a 2-2 is more relaxing than a 3-3 although I think the seat width is a little bigger on a bigger plane... Best of all would be a half empty 2-2!
Quite correct about T3's ratio of shops vs restaurants. Our normal BA morning flight last summer had been moved from T5 to T3, and the queues for all the eateries were excessive, whilst the upmarket shops were deserted.
It must make economic sense for the tenancies to be that way, its just so hard to believe!!! The margins in those boutiques must be astonishing....
Thanks for sharing. I have a lot of VS miles and was planning on booking AF Business Class for a Europe trip to have a break from the tired BA offering not to mention the scrum that is the BA hand luggage woes. Shame about the T3 lounge - although I find that most lounges now are generally at capacity and often not a relaxing experience with the exception of the VS Clubhouse maybe
Another commenter had found word on a website that Virgin will allow KLM/AF into the Clubhouse then they are full SkyTeam members so perhaps hold on until then... Flying KLM long haul in January myself, although direct from AMS. AF did have a certain panache...
Your videos remind me not to complain about domestic first class seats in the US. Even the Embraer 175 isn't too bad upfront. Especially compared to the business class options you showed in the video. Overhead bin space........ always an issue. Thanks for the info + video!
There's lots to complain about with American airlines, but space up front isn't one of them! Compared to Europe at least... Cheers.
@jimmyjames6492 I’m finding this funny somehow but I’m not sure how common it really is this side of the pond
I’d love to know you better @jimmyjames6492 , thats only if you dont mind cos you seems to be a nice and cool person
Think I would have seen if there was a routing via Madrid on UX or IB maybe on the A330? Great vlog Matt.
Thanks Richard - wanted to cross AF off the to-do list. Had an Iberia flight later on that trip, albeit 45 minutes on a subsidiary of a subsidiary... The widebody Europe flights are fantastic but I'm keen to focus on the "regular" narrow bodies which contribute the bulk of journeys for this series...
I thought that Hop was the AF budget subsidiary? And terminal G was for low cost carriers? I was Skyteam platinum and had a number of issues getting into partner lounges, in Asia. Great video!
Thanks Colin. Hop is "full service" - having champagne and cognac aboard in business suggests that claim holds some water! Think I'll be testing my Sky Team status in South America but don't think it'll last until I'm next in Asia sadly....
Interesting video on making a connection at CDG. I have only flown AF-Hop (economy) from CDG to OSL seven years ago. I found OSL a weird choice for AF-Hop when they could have chosen to deploy the mainline there.
Thanks Paolo - Seville makes sense but a capital like Oslo? Sounds like it should be mainline to me!
Lovely video as always Matt. Been to France once, not going there ever again. Not the friendliest of countries for English speaking brown boys !. I’m eagerly waiting for your thoughts on the recent BA Avios sale. Is it worth it? I want to do my tier run first, as that is more important to me than Avios at this point. And congratulations on 6K subscribers. Onwards and upwards.
Thanks VC - sorry to hear about your experiences in France... Getting a chunk of avios for close to 0.8p each is good - the Nectar conversion rate seems to be establishing a price point... If you have a way of spending them then it can be great - if you want club to NYC then you'll probably find availability and get the value back. Similarly with some Qatar routes. If you buy them and hope to get club to the Maldives on BA at short notice then there's no price where you can buy those avios and feel like you're getting value...
This is brilliant Matt, I've been looking for the same thing, i.e a Business Class service to Seville from London. So far no luck and the BA rip-off so called Business Class has not inspired me. Maybe best to try Iberia or Air France.
Thanks Arun. There's really not that many options to Seville - perhaps next year when service levels have returned to "normal" for all Euro airlines. AF wasn't perfect but it was business class!
Both AF and KL have all seats occupied on their 2-2 cabins. However, AF does keep the seat empty on their A220 which is 2-3 (therefore in business: 1-2). AF's business class catering on longer European legs is rather bad (No hot meal), though KLM's is even worse with their Wanders boxes.
Thanks again Xandros... Flying long hail on KLM next month on a 2-2-2 and I expect all of them will be filled! Booked onto their new 787 with 1-2-1 but there was an equipment change after booking... Grrrrrrr.... Expecting the long haul catering to be decent!
Hi Matt,
Good video, think you have really tidied up the intros now and they are much slicker.
Meal on Hop looked pretty good for a European flight, perhaps you could have been a bit kinder.
Passed through T3 for the first time in 3 years (after our Ozzie lock down) recently (the direct QANTAS flight). Used the Cathay lounge and really nice, plus very quiet. One World entry and various passengers on the Iberia A350 flight to Madrid that day, as someone else commented perhaps this is another way to Seville.
Have you been banging your head in frustration????
Thanks Stephen! Managed to get a whole 2 seconds out of those revised intros too... First comment on the forehead - something that refuses to clear up, regardless of what I smear on it... Pharmacy advice is now to see a doctor but that is a non-trivial undertaking in the UK these days... Easier to go and buy a hat...
You're probably right too about the meal - it was very tasty, and that is the most important thing! Just would have liked to know what it was!
Cheers Matt,
Enjoying your travels, more real life than some bloggers. Keep up the good work. We occasionally think we may return to the UK someday, but when I call our GP, the receptionist says, not sure we can fit you in today, but no problems tomorrow, guess we will stay.
@@stephendalton6339I’m finding this funny somehow but I’m not sure how common it really is this side of the pond
@@stephendalton6339 I’d love to know you better, thats only if you dont mind cos you seems to be a nice person and sound so cool with your words
Ah, the Embraer...I've not seen them as often in Europe or the UK as you do in the US. Stateside, they are used quite a bit - generally from smaller airports with fewer available passengers that the major airlines still want to serve. The common complaint about them in the US is that if you take a standard US carry-on aboard, there is a good chance it will need to be gate checked as the overhad bins are smaller than what you get on an Airbus or Boeing. I have overheard many an argument between passenger and staff when there is an equipment change on a multi-leg journey, and a carry-on that would have been acceptable at check-in now no longer can be stored in the cabin. Which - if you have meds, or jewelry, or a laptop, can be a pain.
Not sure how many times you have had to gate check a bag - but what it means is that at the gate, you are given a tag (much like you do at the departures area check in). That tag is placed on your bag and you are given a small receipt. At the airplane door, you deposit your bag in a pile or on a trolley of some sort. Those gate checked items will be the last bags loaded. Then, when at your destination, you wait at the jet bridge (or on the tarmac) as those bags are brought to the entrance of the airplane for you to reclaim. This process is fine when it works. However, it has been known to happen that, during a quick turn, some of those gate-checked bags get left accidentally on the tarmac by ground handlers trying to get the aiplane turned around.
Funnily enough I had gate checked bags on the next 2 flights I took on this trip. Both on ATRs rather than Embraers. One worked very nicely, and was actually a really convenient way of handling the bags on a 40 minute flight. The other was a little less well handled and ended up being actually quite funny... Sorry to be a tease, but those videos will be along in the next few weeks!
@@MattsPlanet OK, thats funny (to me, anyway). I have been fortunate enough to have not needed to gate check in the UK/Europe. Not sure how common it really is this side of the pond. In the US, pre-the-you-know-what, it was becoming all too common as the majors for a time were shifting to the fuel efficient smaller jets on some internal routings. Depending on where you were in the US and where you were flying, you could run into the situation quite a lot.
Hi Matt, I’m using ITA matrix for a tier point run after watching your previous videos. When I ring BA to book or use book with matrix they say it’s not available! Any ideas?
There can be issues with a concept called "married segments" which render a fare unavailable as legs need to be paired in the real world while that can still show as available on Matrix. I don't completely understand it myself but when it happened to me I contacted Propeller travel and they were able to dig into it... Still couldn't book it but found the reason why. I actually got chatting with the owner and he said Propeller can usually get around married segment problems (if that is the issue) by using multiple points of sale. So that would be the place I'd go if it's not going through organically. Good luck!
@B78X I’m finding this funny somehow but I’m not sure how common it really is this side of the pond
Hello Matt, good to learn how you managed on this routing which I've seen reported before. Point is these short flights are really feeders to CDG long-haul rather than p-t-p travellers. As you rightly say short-haul business is nothing special but AF needs to look after its premium class customers who might be connecting to JFK, SIN, HND, DXB etc etc.
Thanks Alex. I guess its a similar experience if you're flying BA from MAN or NCL to connect with a long haul flight out of LHR... You're expectations shouldn't be too high, although if you've paid thousands for a premium experience perhaps your expectations should be!
@@MattsPlanet Indeed. A few years back these BA domestic flights were one-class. It was only that BA faced competition from (long-haul flights by foreign carriers) the regions that it introduced a business class.
A bag on the blocked seat next to you? Think yourself lucky I was reading on Flyertalk the other day someone was planning to use it to store their guitar on a future flight 🙂
I didn't really mind and probably wouldn't mind a guitar - a good conversation starter if nothing else!!!
Question for you Matt, does the south coast of Spain get cold in the winter? It's at the same latitude as Athens and it can snow in Athens in the winter. It generally cools off in Crete in the winter and stays relatively nice in Cyprus.
My last trip to Seville was in early January and I remember sitting outside quite comfortably in a sweater deep into the evening... A quick google suggests that the last time snow settled there was 1954...
Often in the Algarve in winter now retired. T shirt on the beach for new year's Day not unusual.
I went to Seville in mid February and temperatures hit 20!
As long as you pack a coat/jumper and a small handheld umbrella just in case.
Good report Governor.
Thanks!
If it helps, the SkyTeam website states access to Virgin Club lounges in Heathrow will be happening for status holders and business class passengers once they formally join the alliance. There is no guarantee for their satellite lounges around the world, but, that is going to be negotiated.
Thanks Lawrence! That'll make a difference for sure... It makes sense I think although they must be (rightly!) wary of people paying £40 for a super discount ticket to Paris and spending 8 hours in the clubhouse beforehand...
We've flown BA club europe Malaga to Southampton. Being BA Cityflyer on the Embraer, it's 2.2 seating all the way along the aircraft. I actually found the seat far more comfortable than the Airbus aircraft from other airports.
We noticed euro traveller pax got pretty much the same service as club and I spoke with the CSD who said to consider Cityflyer like Old School BA. I look forward to flying it again but would only do it in economy as the status gives you an the perks you need on the ground. We only went club as had some miles to burn.
Thanks for the content. Looks like T3 was considerably quieter than when we were flying out of it! We had a nightmare experience going Iberia from T3 with the security queues even for priority.
I wish they would put a proper business class service on aircraft in Europe. It really is not what it should be. The narrow bodies should be 2.2 and the embraer should be 2.1 to make it more comfortable. Just my opinion.
Cheers Michael. The Cityflyer flavour of BA is still old school from what I believe, so not having a spare seat pretty much eliminates any point of picking business on a short flight! Quite a few routes from Southampton at weekends I believe?
@@MattsPlanet in the summer it's really convenient as they have quite a few routes. When we landed from Malaga there were around a dozen BA Embraers on the apron which was a pretty impressive sight. The runway extension may open the doors for BA to put more routes on as they pretty much dry up in the winter.
@@michaelfretter9394I’m finding this funny somehow but I’m not sure how common it really is this side of the pond
@@michaelfretter9394 I’d love to know you better, thats only if you dont mind cos you seems to be a nice person and sound so cool with your words
T3 feels like a deep and dark mine 😢
It's an old terminal - built when ceiling height wasn't important!
Full marks for the croissant 🥐🙂
Well spotted....
@@MattsPlanet 😄 Although I still prefer the eggs in your Concorde Room video. Not that I'm obsessed with breakfast...
Yes Matt your first flight was fairly good to Paris with the middle seat empty. But the next leg was extremely poor, paying business class price for that seat you should be looking for a refund from Air France.
Looking forward to Seville review
Thanks Peter. Seville video is getting scripted...
Be warned Matt and other readers, I am about 95% sure on flights from London City Airport with BA City Flyer (or what ever the subsidiary is called), they also fill all seats in business class and leave no seat next to you free!
Also BA at London City don't even provide a lounge!
I loved Seville too, when I visited in February...
Also had a far quicker, comfier, more convenient and cheaper flights with easyJet from Luton, my local airport, The A320 was only about 30% full and had three seats to myself! 😜
Thanks Giles - that does ring a bell. Been a while since I flew from LCY - probably BA1 actually! And you can certainly get to Seville quicker and cheaper than I did on this occasion! Dull video though....
Hey is Gatwick airport gd or do u avoid it
It's more of a touristy airport so can be busy with inexperienced travellers but I quite like the BA lounges there. Flying from Gatters next month and will make a video about it
@@MattsPlanet thx is London Luton better
well, cattle transport alike alas!
At least when I desembarked I was in Seville!
I wouldn’t be too disappointed about non entry to airport lounges these days. Most are not exclusively for First/Business passengers and from my recent experiences overcrowded. The Aspire lounge at T3 is frankly pathetic.
Cheers Paul. I mentioned in a recent video about the CCR that everyone travelling in First is likely to be in the CCR rather than the F lounge... So as business travellers without gold status would be in the galleries lounges, the only people logically in the Flounge would be gold card holders... I went to the Aspire lounge in T2 when travelling ITA and thought it was better than the T3 one...
I’m finding this funny somehow but I’m not sure how common it really is this side of the pond
I’d love to know you better Paul, thats only if you dont mind cos you seems to be a nice person and sound so cool in your words
China's zero covid and Russia being blackballed will in my view reduce the number of ultra premium shops at airports
Good point - a big chunk of demand would certainly be stuck at home if those conditions prevailed for any length of time...
I like the content in terms of what you do and the detail you give but the quality of the camera is like you would've seen 5 years ago maybe. Maybe because of what I'm watching it on makes the floors more noticeable but nonetheless I can't watch with such a grainy picture.
You clearly put a fair amount of effort into your videos so it does seem an oversight to not improve your filming gear. I'll resub in the future hopefully 🙂
Thanks so much Ryan. Had a few comments like this and I have been doing some experiments to see quite what the cause is.... I have been tinkering with colour correction in the editing suite which can add a hint of graininess to the adjusted footage but I'm not convinced that's the entire reason why the picture quality is dipping... I think low lighting creates the worst images... Would be happy to upgrade the equipment but I need to be certain I don't buy something which gives me the same issues in a few months....
I'm flying Virgin Business to Mumbai in February, but I have ditched my Virgin credit card and will never go Virgin again as they are now a woke freak show. I refuse to have their ideology rammed down my throat.
Seeing half of the passengers in face rags just goes to show how brainwashed those sheep have become lol.
Great video 👌
Afternoon MTD. Virgin is advertising that strategy quite aggressively - they obviously feel they will win more customers from it than they will lose from it... I thought I'd see you comment about the face masks!
VS is not the airline it once was. Branson no longer holds the price strings ...that task belongs to Delta today. As you may know VS is becoming London-centric with a reduction in direct regional services.
@@MattsPlanet I think their 550 million pound debt is about to increase. They don't even fly anywhere these days as they've dropped half of their destinations. We are living in very strange times and the feeling isn't good for what lies ahead
@@Mark.Claughton As noted above it is Delta who makes the decisions these days. So expect more transatlantic. VS says it will not return to Hong Kong but Shanghai will, hopefully, restart in 2023.