Trip Report: Paris Manila AF

[AZ1774]

I left Hyatt Hotel in CDG very early in the morning and after 10 minutes I entered the airport for checking in.

A very kind lady at the first class counter, did everything in less than 2 minutes and she informed me that the business class was booked by 10 pax only. I was really glad but soon she told me that economy class was overbooked so they would upgrade many pax and that at that time the business class cabin would be full. She then informed me that if they needed more seats, I would be upgraded to First class.

I cleared immigration and entered the Business Class lounge that is not bad, with a lot of space and at least 8 PC. Wireless internet access is also available.

Soon the boarding time arrived.
To my surprise, there were no separate lines for First/Business class pax.


As soon as I boarded the plane, a very kind F/A escorted to my seat, 7B which is in the second section of Business class. The seat is not really comfortable but also not really uncofortable; soon they will be repalced by new lie-flat bed.


Boarding took a lot of time and we took off almost 1 hour late.

The flight time, due to very tail strong wind, was expected to be around 120 hours.

After the seat bealt sign had been turned off, I checked if there were any 2 seats empty, and surprisingly, I found 2 of them in the first section of business class.

I then moved there and a F/A took all my stuff and helped me to get to my new seat. Very nice indeed.





Soon, aperitive were served and I had a glass of Bordeaux red wine, which was not very good.

Meal started minutes later and I must say that the variety and quantity of food, was not very impressive. Anyway, I had a crab salad, not bad, some fish that was not too good, some mushrooms rice and a nice plate of french cheese, which is always good on Air France.


Dessert, tea and a real espresso coffee, were served at the end of the meal.

After the service, the lights were dimmed and then turned off so I tried to watch a movie that in this case was Matrix reloaded. Really don’t like it. I then turned on my laptop and a F/A came to me and asked if I was a pilot since I was browsing my thousands pics of planes. My answer obviously was, no I’m not.
I then asked her if it was possible to have my logbook filled in and she immediately took it to the cockpit.


At that point I started to feel a little sick because of my usual stomach problem which, I don’t know why, is really stronger when I am flying. After 4 hours into the flight, I tried to have some sleep, helping me with a few drops of Valium, but as my previous hundreds flights, nothing happened, no way to sleep. At that point I was feeling very bad, so bad that a F/A asked me if everything was O.K. She helped me a lot with a cup of tea, some water and they also offered me some medicines that never works when I am flying. The real bad thing is that they informed me that the captain invited me to visit the cockpit. Now, I’m really unlucky, I always ask to visit the cockpit, but in the last 2 years, no way to do that. Is that possible? Of course I was not able to move from my seat, so I told her, I will try later !!!

I guess every 20 minutes the same F/A came to ask me how I was feeling. I found this crew very very professional. Well, time fortunately passed, even if very very slowly, and 2 hours before landing, a dinner were served. I was a little bit better so I had some fish and a plate of cheese.

A cup of espresso coffe, and I was ready to land in Manila.

The plane started the descent and I started to feel bad again, this time the pain was even stronger. I reclined my seat again and prayed to land very soon. Announcement to have the seats in the upright position was made but I was not able to do that. The crew allowed me to land with the seat reclined and I must say it is very a nice experience. We touched down as scheduled and after a short taxy, we reached the finger.

I then deplaned and went immediately to my Hotel to have a rest and I feel much much better now.

Well, Air France is a good airline, I had a very good service, as soon as they change their seats, it will be one of the best, I’m sure. Thanks to the crew for their attentive service.

Sorry if this trip report is quite long.

Daniele.

[I-DAVE]

Ciao Danile, bel trip rep, mi spiace per i tuoi dolori di stomaco! Spero che sia tutto ok ora. Alla fine immagino che tu non sia riuscito a visitare il cockpit...

DaV

[AZ1774]

In Origine postato da I-DAVE
Ciao Danile, bel trip rep, mi spiace per i tuoi dolori di stomaco! Spero che sia tutto ok ora. Alla fine immagino che tu non sia riuscito a visitare il cockpit...

DaV

Ormai sono abituato, sono anni che tribulo.
No, il cockpit non l'ho visto spero domani di riuscirci.
Devo fare un MNL-HKG con Cathay. Speriamo.

Ciao.
Daniele.

[freesurfer]

Mi spiace per te', cioè quello di non poter aver ususfruito dell'accesso al cockpit dopo che il comndante ha offerto la possibilità di farlo. Cosa alquanto rara ora dopo quell'evento dell'11 Settembre.
Ti dico che è una bellissima impressione specie se riesci a fare decollo e atterraggio. In paricolare l'A340 in quanto è già eccezzionale al decollo...ultimo volo su un /200..253 tons di peso al decollo..max 257..V1 a 140..Vr a 146 nodi. Ma il problema è che è lentissimo l'anemomentro lo vedi lentamente salire fino ai 90-100 nodi..molto lento rispetto ad un altro aeromobile della stessa size, poi decolla. L'atterraggio invece è un trampoliere..galleggia nell'aria sotto i 1500 ft fino al touch down. Quanto a qualità aerodinamiche è eccezionale. Lo stesso per i consumi a 40000ft solo 1,25 tons/hr per motore.
A me' capita abbastanza spesso su richiesta alla compagnia di essere in cockpit per scrivere articoli su diversi voli, tipi di aerei e compagnie.
Ultimamente è un po' piu' facile, l'anno scorso volai una sola volta. quest'anno già 5 volte, con un altro non effettuato causa guasto aeromobile.
Sarà per la prossima volta..mettiti a posto...e cerca di riguardarti. Anch'io ho quei problemini..ernia ietale all'esofago che mi limita di parecchio..pero' stando leggerissimi..è tutto OK.
Bella comunque la descrizione...vai avanti cosi'!!
Free

[I-BIMB]

Bellissimo post, ottime foto... davvero interessante per noi curiosi!

Approposito:

visto che ogni tanto leggo questi trip report e mi mangio le mani dall'invidia, che cavolaccio di lavoro fate tutti quanti per fare tutti sti viaggi?

Noi poveri studenti viaggiamo poco in aereo... e quasi sempre quando pagano gli altri

D

[Worldclimber]

Bellissimo report!!
e poi tu riesci a mettere anche le foto, molto interessanti.
(ma prima o poi ce la farò anch'io!)

I really like the logbook.
mitico l'adesivo che raffigura il pilota!

buona continuazione nel Far East!
byebye

[italex]

Ciao Daniele ,

complimenti per il trip report e per le foto ( prima o poi mi spiegherai come si fa )
Enjoy the trip
Ciao
Italex

[ATLMXP]

Bel report, grazie Daniele, e get well soon!

Decollo al maximum takeoff weight, vedo dal tuo logbook. 270,5 tonnellate, solo 500 kg meno del mtow dei 343 AF. Wow! Eravate belli pieni. Immagino che avrà preso un bel pezzo di pista per alzarsi.

[freesurfer]

c'e chi viaggia per lavoro, c'e chi ci lavora, c'e chi nel tempo libero è riuscito a sfondare facendo articoli dal cockpit come mè..nulla di altro.
Non ti perdere d'animo.
Free

[AZJumbo]

wow che gran figata! Ti do un nove e mezzo

Senti un po' mi spieghi esattamente cos'è un logbook? Un'agenda di tutti i tuoi voli? Simpatico il comandante ad aggiungere quelle 3 righe! A proposito, due comandanti tedeschi (o austriaci o svizzeri insomma) su air france...accade spesso di avere comandanti stranieri sulle compagnie di bandiera?