Flying: Air France A318 Economy Class Paris to Zurich 2015

As I took too much time writing postcards before catching the metro and the RER B to CDG airport, I was rather pressed for time. In addition, I had underestimated the time needed to get from Gare du Nord to the airport. As I had arrived in Paris at night, the train from airport to city was a non-stop service to Gare du Nord. On the return trip however, the train stopped at every station along the way, effectively adding another 10 minutes to the train ride.

Despite that, I arrived at the airport at 11:55AM, an hour before the departure time, which would have been sufficient if departing from Changi, Zurich or even Kuala Lumpur. Yet I again underestimated the travelling time from the RER station to terminal 2F, where my flight was departing from. 

While the signage was sufficient to guide me to terminal 2F, it took a breakneck rush down several escalators and travellators to get to the terminal, only to realise the check-in desks for my flight was all the way down at the other end of the terminal.  

Air France 1614
Paris (CDG) – Zurich (ZRH)
Tuesday, Apr 07 2015
Depart: 12:55PM
Arrive: 2:10PM
Flight time: 1hr15min
Aircraft: Airbus 318
Seat: 23C

After I got the boarding pass, it was already 12:25PM, leaving me with only 10 minutes to get to the gate, since boarding stops 20 minutes before takeoff. 

Looking at the long line queuing for security checks, I knew I could not clear security within 10 minutes and would almost certainly miss the flight. I rushed to the priority lane for first and business class passengers, showed my boarding pass to the airport personnel and explained that my flight will be departing soon. Thankfully they waved me through the queue.

This time round, boarding was from a remote stand and we had to take a bus to get to the plane. As I flashed my boarding pass to the gate agent, I asked her whether I am the last passenger to appear, to which she replied,"There are four more". Well done!

While the Airbus 318 is the smallest in the Airbus 320 family, it still looked huge from the boarding stairs.

I was the last passenger to step into the aircraft at 12:52PM, and the doors closed shortly after I sat down on my seat. 

The captain welcomed us onboard, announced our flight time of approximately 50 minutes. We pushed off at 12:59PM, had a quick taxi and took off at 1:09PM. 

It was a fairly full load, with all but a handful of seats filled. Although it was a short haul flight, it's still interesting that Air France managed to achieve such a high load factor given the stiff competition from high speed trains and budget carriers. 

Then again, no budget airline was serving the Paris-Zurich route direct, or even the Paris-Basel for that matter, and Geneva is really too far from Zurich, so perhaps airlines still have a niche competitive advantage on this route.

The Seat
Perhaps it's just me, but somehow the seat at the rear felt more spacious, with slightly more leg room than the seat I had in the middle on the outbound flight.

Food
Service began shortly after takeoff. Unlike the outbound flight, where service was from both the front and the rear of the cabin, this time round, service was only from the front.

Again it was the familiar tomato mozzarella sandwich, though this time round I had it with an apple juice instead. I was really tempted to try the red wine they offered, though decided against it since it's only early afternoon and I still had work to do when I get back in Switzerland.

Soon after the cups were cleared the captain announced that we would be beginning the descent to Zurich. The final descent was amid heavy turbulence, and I can feel the plane rolling and yawing even as we approached the runway. Thankfully the crew managed to land in peace.

We landed at 1:59PM, had a quick taxi to the terminal, where we parked between a KLM Cityhopper Embraer and an Aeroflot Airbus.

Since I had no check-in luggage and no immigration to clear, I quickly made my way to the airport center, where I grabbed a quick drink and waited for the train back to St Gallen.

While catching up on the news after I landed, it seemed that I just had a close shave with the huge cancellations sparked by a strike of the French air traffic controllers.

BBC, 8 April 2015, French air traffic strike prompts hundreds of cancellations

Wow, if only I had left Paris a day later, I might seriously be stranded at the airport, and probably would be incurring hefty expenses. Thankfully I was spared of that fiasco, and I made a mental note to check out such news before leaving for the airport, not after landing.

Flying: Air France A318 Economy Class Zurich to Paris 2015

Arriving from St Gallen on the 6:48PM train, time was tight as I got off the train at Zurich Airport at 7:41PM.

As I had selected my seat online, it would have been more convenient to collect the boarding pass at the self service kiosk. However, I made a silly mistake of entering my frequent flyer account wrongly and had to get that corrected at the counter instead.

Air France 1315
Zurich (ZRH) – Paris (CDG)
Friday, Apr 03 2015
Depart: 8:55PM
Arrive: 10:15PM
Flight time: 1hr20min
Aircraft: Airbus 318
Seat: 18D

Since there is no immigration passport checks for Schengen travel, it left me with a fair amount of time to roam around the terminal. As I was really tired after a longhaul flight on my flight from Singapore to Zurich via Helsinki in February, this was the first time I managed to examine Zurich airport in greater detail.

I was pretty attracted to the black marble tiles and soft lighting, which somehow managed to add a classy touch to the decor.  

It was a quick walk to gate B34, hence I had some time to charge my phone before boarding and snap some photos.

The Airbus 318 really looked minuscule as compared to its A320 sister that I was so used to in Asia.

We boarded at 8.25pm, and were greeted by the purser and the copilot.

Seat
Looking sideways the seats are razor thin. In fact, the seats looked thinner even when compared to budget carrier Ryanair. Nevertheless, there is a good amount of support at the back when I sat down, and the thicker padding at the neck area, together with a reasonable (though not fantastic) amount of legroom made the seat comfortable enough for a shorthaul flight.

Boarding was completed quickly but due to an absent passenger, the crew had to offload his or her checked-in luggage, which took a a few more minutes. Soon the purser announced that we are ready to go. The cabin door was shut and we pushed off from gate B34 at 8:54PM.

During the safety demonstration, we paused at the apron for a few minutes, supposedly waiting for permission from the tower to taxi and takeoff. We continued to taxi for another 10 minutes or so before taking off at 9:11PM. 

Food
After a short climb the seatbelt sign was turned off and service began. Since it was a shorthaul flight, only a light snack consisting of tomato mozzarella sandwich and drinks was served, though Air France did better than many other airlines by serving alcoholic beverages even on an one hour shorthaul flight.

After the snack service, we began the descent and landed at 10:04PM. After a quick taxi, we arrived on time at gate F52 at 10:15PM.

Conclusion
While most European cities are fairly well connected by rail and air travel might not always be the fastest way to get you to your destination, the revenue management on some of the high speed trains can make the airfare look competitive in some cases.