Air France AF256 (CDG-SIN) A380 in Y (Dec 2012)

[yflyer]

Hello everyone!

I recently flew Air France from Singapore to Paris and back on their A380 in Y. Having flown the A380 with SQ and QF, I was keen to see how AF's A380 Y product stacked up.

It is interesting that AF flies both the A380 and 777 on this route. Some days it is an A380 and other days it is a 777. Although price varies by date, it does not appear to vary much by equipment type, so I managed to snag a good promotional fare for SIN-CDG-SIN both ways on the A380, instead of their 777 (Which is configured in the dreaded 10-abreast 3-4-3 layout in Y).

This trip report is about my flight on AF256, CDG-SIN, in mid December, departing Paris at 11.20pm and arriving in Singapore in the evening, at 6.45pm the next day.

More to come!

[yflyer]

Air France A380, operating as AF256, parked at gate L22 at CDG Terminal 2E. Fantastic views of the tarmac from the departure area.

[yflyer]

My flight departed from CDG Terminal 2E. This is a stunning airport terminal, architecturally speaking. The terminal is spacious, with graceful curves, wood paneling and large expanses of glass, which are great if you love ogling at aircraft parked at their gates.



The flight boarded on time, and AF has a very organized boarding system, with multiple queues and boarding pass scanners. They make full use of available aerobridges, and because the aerobridges have glass walls, aviation enthusiasts will also get great close-up views of the Whalejet while boarding.

[yflyer]

While boarding, I snapped a few pictures of J (2-2-2 layout), premium economy (2-3-2) before settling into the small rear Y cabin, which has just 6 rows of Y seats in 2-4-2 layout.

Business Class (2-2-2):



Premium Economy (2-3-2):



Economy (Upper Deck (2-4-2);





My initial impression of the cabin was that although business and premium economy cabins looked spacious and comfortable, AF has somehow managed the feat of making the A380 Y cabin feel cramped.

I am not sure if it was the dark blue colour scheme, or the very upright and high seatbacks, but the Y cabin simply did not feel as open and spacious as QF or SQ A380 Y cabins.

Legroom and seat width seemed fine, but perception is everything, and this was one area where I felt AF missed an opportunity to capitalize on the A380’s greater spaciousness.

[yflyer]

I also went down the rear stairs to take a picture of the lower Y cabin, in 3-4-3 layout.



Economy (Lower Deck) (3-4-3):



Here is a view from the upper deck Y cabin, looking forward.

[yflyer]

Before takeoff, headphones were distributed, together with eyeshades. The Y headphones come with leather earpads and were quite comfortable to wear. Sound quality through the headphones and IFE was reasonably good. I usually bring my own Shure earphones, and these worked fine using an aircraft headphone adapter.



The IFE is a modern audio/video on demand (AVOD) system with a wide selection of movies, TV, music, games, airshow, external view camera, and other travel information, including downloadable documents (plug in your USB stick and download the files, such as destination info, maps, video clips etc.). The controller is a rather retro-looking one mounted next to the display. I could not locate any in-seat power in Y.



The IFE screen is bright and clear, however most movies, including US/Hollywood hits, are shown in 4:3 format. Some movies, including international and animated movies, were shown in 16:9 with black bars at the top and bottom. Video quality and resolution are fairly good, though not as good as SQ. Overall, I would say the IFE is quite good, but not as outstanding as SQ or QF’s A380 IFE.

[yflyer]

The menu for the flight in Y consisted of a starter, a choice of two main courses and dessert. For mains, you had a choice of a Western style chicken and pasta dish, or an Asian-style spicy pork with rice and vegetables. There was a good selection of beverages, including champagne served as an aperitif!



I miss the days when SQ also served champagne in Y.

[yflyer]

I chose the chicken with pasta, which was quite delicious. Tender chunks of chicken in a creamy sauce, with a tasty pasta. I also tasted the Asian main course of pork and rice, which was fairly spicy, which I liked very much, but which may be too spicy for those who don’t like chilli.



The crew served the Premium Economy and Economy cabin from the same trolley starting at the front of Premium Economy and moving towards the rear. There was a copy of the Premium Economy menu lying in the rear galley, which I took a look at.





I chatted with the cabin crew who informed me that the main courses for Premium Economy and Economy were the same, with only the starters and desserts different.

[yflyer]

Sometimes a few Y passengers also get served the Premium Economy tray with Premium Y starter and dessert. This seems to happen at random, maybe when they run out of the regular Y trays. This happened to me both on my outbound and my inbound (I wasn’t about to complain!). I took pictures of both the regular Y tray and the premium Y tray for comparison. Cutlery is grey/silver coloured plastic.

Meal with Premium Economy starter and dessert:



I was pleasantly surprised to also see a small Mandarin orange on the tray. It was a quirky touch – I thought of saving mine to use when visiting during Chinese New Year next year.

Dinner service was friendly, efficient and quick, and the crew were quite happy to pour you a glass of champagne as an aperitif, and at the same time hand you a full small bottle of wine to enjoy with your meal. Overall a wonderful dinner service on par with SQ’s, if not better, and served more quickly too, at least on the upper deck.

[yflyer]

Then it was time to rest. The Y seats have average recline. Nothing especially comfortable about sleeping in Y, although the timing of the flight did mean that most people managed to contort themselves into positions where sleep was possible, at least for a while.



During the night, the crew came round with ice cream bars, and if you got hungry during the night, there were ample snacks and drinks laid out in the galley, including cups of instant corn soup, tuna sandwiches, crackers and soft beverages.

[yflyer]

AF has cameras mounted on the A380 and project take-offs and landings on each individual screen as well as the main cabin screen . These cameras are also accessible via IFE.



Our routing took us over Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, the Bay of Bengal, and directly over the Andaman Islands. During the flight, somewhere over Pakistan/India, our aircraft flew a few thousand feet above another aircraft on a similar heading, and this could be clearly seen from the tail camera. I hope one day the mounted cameras will have resolution high enough to make out the aircraft type and airline!

[yflyer]

A couple of hours before landing, breakfast was served. This was a very basic breakfast consisting of cold cuts and bread rolls with a few sides (apple compote, yogurt etc). This was enough to stave off hunger, however it was nothing like the full hot breakfast service that SQ provides on flights of this length. I have not flown SQ to Paris in a while, so I am not sure if they still do this, but I believe SQ serves a full hot breakfast prior to landing for flights of this duration (can anyone confirm?).

[yflyer]

A nice thing about the timing of this flight is that it lands in Singapore at around 6.40pm in the evening, when it is still daylight.



My flight was right on schedule, and we descended through the clouds for a typical A380 landing: smooth, silent descent to the runway before a big thump…and the thump seems to be something you get with SQ and QF too!

[yflyer]

Overall it was a smooth and comfortable flight. The cabin crew were friendly and professional, and the catering and IFE were very good.

The only real quibble would be the design of the Y cabin, which as mentioned earlier, feels less spacious than the A380 Y cabins on SQ or QF.

One final positive for AF: 2 days before my flight, I received an email from AF with a non-transferable one way “exceptional upgrade offer”: S$289 to upgrade to Premium Economy, and S$611 to upgrade to Business, all subject to seat availability. The Y upgrade to J for $611 is an absolute bargain, and I would have taken up this offer right away if not for the fact that I was travelling in a group of 4, including two children.

[yflyer]

Final thoughts...

Having flown QF, SQ and AF on their A380 in Y, I would rank SQ ahead of QF by a hair, with AF just a little further behind mainly because of the Y cabin ambience.

That said, QF has by far the best Y seat. This is an exceptionally comfortable seat, designed by Marc Newson. By comparison, the person who evaluates SQ Y seating must have a cast iron derriere. And the guy who designed the AF Y cabin must have been an ex submarine designer.

I have not flown EK, LH, TG or MH 380’s though, and hope to do so at some point.

All things considered, I felt that AF’s A380 service to Paris was pretty good, with superb catering and friendly service, and despite my reservations about the Y cabin ambience, I would happily fly the AF A380 again if the price was right.



Hope you enjoyed reading this!