Air France? Or Delta?

[Wills Mom]

Has any one flown Air France? What are they like compared to other airlines? We've flown Delta, Virgin and Aer Lingus before but the cheapest prices at the minute are Air France and I'm a tad wary of booking without knowing anything about them. Our next option is Delta and to be honest I'm not mad on them as last time we flew Delta we had old planes and they didn't have the individual tv's. Silly reason really but it just makes the flight feel so much longer when you don't have them. Thanks in advance for any replies

 

[disneyholic family]

haven't flown them in a while, but the last time they had worse planes than delta - but maybe they've improved.

have you checked what seatguru.com says about their planes?

 

[chmurf]

they're not worse than the other airlines.

The fleet has a bit improved (PP's advice about seatguru is excellent). But haven't flown with them for a loooong loooong time (20+ years) lol

Do all airline have the credentials to make pre-clearance for us immigration ? If not that might also come into play in your final decision if you fly out of DUB

 

[wayneg]

Are you sure its an AirFrance flight?
I have just booked flights for next Easter with Lastminute.com & AirFrance but they are code share seats, we actually fly on Delta planes.

I really don't care who I fly with, my only concerns are route & times. I don't want to fly east to Germany or Amsterdam, really dislike Paris(CDG) I prefer my change to be at a US hub. Then I consider timings, I want outbound change to be 1.5hrs-3hrs max, coming home 1-2 hours. we also prefer to land home early, before 9am.

 

[Wills Mom]

haven't flown them in a while, but the last time they had worse planes than delta - but maybe they've improved.

have you checked what seatguru.com says about their planes?

I went onto the Air France website and it says that all their planes will have been updated by the end of this year - I haven't a clue how accurate this is and knowing my luck we'd get saddled with the last plane in the fleet that hasn't been undated I must look up seatguru!! Didn't even think of that! Thanks!!

 

[Wills Mom]

they're not worse than the other airlines.

The fleet has a bit improved (PP's advice about seatguru is excellent). But haven't flown with them for a loooong loooong time (20+ years) lol

Do all airline have the credentials to make pre-clearance for us immigration ? If not that might also come into play in your final decision if you fly out of DUB

I don't think all airlines can give you pre clearance! The only one I've flown with that did was Delta. We'll be flying out of DUB anyway though cause its our closest airport. The deals are really great at the moment and with the rising fuel prices I really just want to lock down a price while I can! My TA told me that there would be a sale on Virgin late Sept/early Oct but I'm half afraid to wait that long in case these prices are gone!

 

[Wills Mom]

Are you sure its an AirFrance flight?
I have just booked flights for next Easter with Lastminute.com & AirFrance but they are code share seats, we actually fly on Delta planes.

I really don't care who I fly with, my only concerns are route & times. I don't want to fly east to Germany or Amsterdam, really dislike Paris(CDG) I prefer my change to be at a US hub. Then I consider timings, I want outbound change to be 1.5hrs-3hrs max, coming home 1-2 hours. we also prefer to land home early, before 9am.

I just had a look there and some of them are Air France planes and other ones are Delta planes, the prices are in and around the same for both! Personally we don't really mind times, I'd like to depart DUB around 9am as I'd like to keep my DS in a semblance of a routine for at least the last night at home! Last time we flew it was just DH and I and we flew from Dublin to Gatwick at 6.30am and then had to wait til about 10am for our connecting flight to Orlando - I couldn't do that stopover with a small child, it was hellish enough for myself! And going direct is just so expensive when compared to the indirect prices at the minute! I haven't the foggiest what way to do it, and I'm booking for 8 adults and an infant so its not just myself I have to take into consideration

 

[wayneg]

What are your dates? DUB~MCO?
I just checked 4th May for 2 weeks, couldn't see any AirFrance flights, only Delta. BA were the cheapest at £388 per adult so I guess I have dates wrong.

I really wouldn't worry about availabilty if its early May you want, its low season.

 

[Wills Mom]

What are your dates? DUB~MCO?
I just checked 4th May for 2 weeks, couldn't see any AirFrance flights, only Delta. BA were the cheapest at £388 per adult so I guess I have dates wrong.

I really wouldn't worry about availabilty if its early May you want, its low season.

Thanks, you're very good! I checked myself shortly after posting and I can't seem to find any - and its the start of May between the 4th to the 8th or thereabouts, as long as we're back before the Memorial Day crowds start to arrive! The Air France flights I could see on skyscanner seems to be gone and only Delta ones there! I did come across a United flight for around €481 or so (can't remember exactly) and thats decent. I feel like we need to book asap cause we've always booked flights once they came available - and if I'm honest I'm just so impatient to lock down dates lol!

 

[Cyrano]

I would go Air France again if the price was right and often they are code share with Delta and KLM so you could get any of them.

However with Air France expect surly air stewards, poor food and not the greatest selection of entertainment.
Delta in the twice we have flown with them have had attentive and friendly stewards, reasonable food and better appointed planes.

 

[Wills Mom]

I would go Air France again if the price was right and often they are code share with Delta and KLM so you could get any of them.

However with Air France expect surly air stewards, poor food and not the greatest selection of entertainment.
Delta in the twice we have flown with them have had attentive and friendly stewards, reasonable food and better appointed planes.

I think I'm going to go with Delta! Better the devil you know and all that!! Having just been online I've spotted that the TA we've used rather a lot in the past has better prices for Delta than I've seen on Sky Scanner so I've mailed them and asked for an all inclusive quote! Heres hoping they have better deals on now than they did a few months ago

 

[skelfbsfb]

Flew with Air France in July and they where fantastic. Staff little bit older and took time to talk to people unfortunately some didnt speak English. Plane seats had plenty of room, seat back tvs, food normal plane food, plenty of drinks which where free. I would definitely book with them again if I managed to get the price we paid this year.

 

[disneyholic family]

Flew with Air France in July and they where fantastic. Staff little bit older and took time to talk to people unfortunately some didnt speak English. Plane seats had plenty of room, seat back tvs, food normal plane food, plenty of drinks which where free. I would definitely book with them again if I managed to get the price we paid this year.

interesting! i wouldn't have expected that.

 

[LauraDaveCharlie]

I'd be wary of booking with Delta. We have had flights booked with them since March for Oct HT - a clearly busy time for UK/US flights. We were connecting through Atlanta. I got an email two days ago telling me they had cancelled the return flight I had carefully selected as they are no longer flying that route every day; now every other day. They had moved us onto Air France, changed the route so we now had three flights (two connections) and got in hours later. But I could have a refund if I wanted it...

Ended up inconveniently moving return back a day to avoid such a long journey on three different planes so I now have to go to work on the day two hours after we have flown overnight. Not happy

Won't book with them again as apparently they are known for this kind of thing.

 

[wayneg]

Problem is Laura it happens with all the airlines. Steve runs a list here for Virgins mergers and cancellations for 2012. http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/wiki.php?p=697

Delta do probably mess a little more with their schedules but prices they offer still tempt me. Just booked again for Easter at £477pp, Virgin £1,300pp

 

[chmurf]

I would go Air France again if the price was right and often they are code share with Delta and KLM so you could get any of them.

However with Air France expect surly air stewards, poor food and not the greatest selection of entertainment.
Delta in the twice we have flown with them have had attentive and friendly stewards, reasonable food and better appointed planes.

Problem is, Reid, that as you mentionned, Air France and KLM are now the "same" entity.
And Air France operates Delta flights (and the other way around) on a very regular basis.

Airlines as a separate entity is a thing from the past when it comes to intercontinental flights.

What might be true about air france might only be true on short hauls (europe) or medium haul (morocco and northern africa)
What might be true about delta, might only be true on short hauls (transcontinental USA or commute)

Actually if you look at timetables for TATL flights you'll see a lot of flight numbers, but you can divide that number by at least 3 if you take out codeshares.

You might book delta and end up on an Air France plane, or the other way around.

Booking with the airline of your choice is one thing. But verifying that THIS airline is operating the flight is another important point to check, because if it's a codeshare, then your choosing of an airline is in vain

 

[disneyholic family]

Problem is, Reid, that as you mentionned, Air France and KLM are now the "same" entity.
And Air France operates Delta flights (and the other way around) on a very regular basis.

Airlines as a separate entity is a thing from the past when it comes to intercontinental flights.

What might be true about air france might only be true on short hauls (europe) or medium haul (morocco and northern africa)
What might be true about delta, might only be true on short hauls (transcontinental USA or commute)

Actually if you look at timetables for TATL flights you'll see a lot of flight numbers, but you can divide that number by at least 3 if you take out codeshares.

You might book delta and end up on an Air France plane, or the other way around.

Booking with the airline of your choice is one thing. But verifying that THIS airline is operating the flight is another important point to check, because if it's a codeshare, then your choosing of an airline is in vain

I always check which company is actually operating the flight
This is also important inside the US as delta has regional operators as well as their own planes on the same routes

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[disneyholic family]

yup, it happens with all the airlines..

it happened to DS last year and DD this year...

DS was lucky, as we had booked him through europe to get a cheaper flight, and in the end that flight to europe was cancelled and he ended up on the much more expensive non-stop flight without us paying a penny more... the airline moved him when they cancelled the indirect flight..

 

[gbaz44]

Also flew DUB - CDG - MCO in July with Air France. Had no problems either, actually enjoyed it a lot.

Individual TVs, saw a few films I'd been after for a while, kids were entertained for the most part (aged 4 and 5) and for the first time enjoyed the food on a plane.

Flew into and out of terminal 2E so transfer between flights wasn't too bad. I wouldn't have enjoyed CDG too much if there'd been different terminals involved.