Flight to Paris on Air France

I almost always fly United Airlines, so was really excited this time to be booked on an Air France flight to Paris. I had planned to check-in early to try my luck on getting a seat on the emergency exit row, but ended up arriving pretty late at the airport (thanks to the various constructions on 101). If you are on a 10+ hour flight, the biggest benefit of being seated in the emergency exit row is not that the leg room is unlimited, but most importantly you don't have to get up 25 times incase you end up sitting next to someone with a bladder problem.

Upon check-in I asked the airline for an exit row seat. She tried to ignore my request first, but with my never-say-die attitude I shamelessly asked her again just incase she did'nt hear me the first time. She gave me a long stare from head to toe and called someone on the phone. I was'nt sure if I committed some crime by asking an exit row seat, but after few mins she looked up smiled. I knew then I got an aisle seat on exit row. It was 43J . Woohoo!

Flight was on time. I was a bit disappointed that the seats did not have the personal TV screens, which was a bummer, but I did not plan on watching any movies either. I could'nt sleep much during the flight as I had intended to, but the Kiwi lady sitting next to me was nice and we chatted during most of the flight. It was her first visit to Paris so I became her Paris tour guide during the flight. The dinner menu had Champagne listed which was a suprise. I had heard from lot of travellers that Air France's food was not that great, but I felt the food and the service was really good. Maybe its because I have very low expectation being a frequent flier of United Airlines.

After a good 11 hours we touched down in Paris on time. My Hotel was in Montparnasse (left bank), so I went straight to the Air France Bus (Les cars) counter. Air France operates coach services between CDG and Montparnase and will cost you around 20 euros for a round trip which is much convenient than taking the metro/RER. I think this is the most ecconomical way to get from CDG airport to Gare de Lyon or Gare Montparnasse. The Air France coach departs from all the CDG terminals on a regular schedule, so no more carrying your luggages in the airport shuttle to RER station and from there to another Metro line. I did that last time and it was a pain.

Eiffel Tower celebrating the 2007 Rugby World Cup

Anyways since I had been to Paris as a tourist before, I avoided all the tourist stuff this time. On a side note, the Rugby world cup is currently going on in France and the entire country has been gripped by rugby mania. There were giant TV screens set up telecasting games live at most of the public places in Paris. Eiffel tower was decorated with Rugby world cup theme and so were most of the stores in Champs elyeeses. I spent couple of evening watching rugby games on one of the giant TV screen in Notre Dame which was fun.

Well, to end my blog, I tried the same drill (requesting exit row seat) on my return flight to San Francisco and again I got a seat on the exit row. Woohoo twice!