When booking my tickets to go back to France for the holidays, I saw that I could make a stop to JFK and take the brand new, and at the time of booking not even in service, Air France Airbus A380. It’s very easy to make the decision if you’re as passionate as me about planes. The A380 is also very special for me, because I followed that fantastic project from the beginning, the construction of the factory in Toulouse, my hometown, to the first flight, and the first inauguration. I just wanted to share my experience on board of this fantastic aircraft, round-trip from New-York JFK and Paris CDG.

Of course, the first thing that is impressive, is the size of the airplane. The tail is just gigantic and the surface of the wings as big as a football field. The engines diameter is the same as the diameter of an A320 fuselage itself! (hard to believe but it’s true!) It’s nowhere near the size of any other airplane, which make the A380 very noticeable. Boarding didn’t took much longer than my previous flights on a Boeing 747 or 777, especially from Paris where the Charles De Gaulle airport has 3 steps connected to the plane, while JFK only had 2, one for each deck.

What is different in Economy class than other airplanes? Well, quite a lot. First, you enjoy 1 inch of more legroom, a much bigger screen in each seat, and a compartment on the side of the window seats both on the main and upper deck. Windows are bigger than other airplanes, which is enjoyable. I was now seated, mood lighting was blinking and changing colors gently and we were ready to go and enjoy the show!

The plane started, and we were aligned to start taxiing to the runway. Everyone was really surprised to see the plane live on their screen, thanks for the “tail cam”. It’s a camera that is located at the top of the tail of the plane, and that gives you a live view of pretty much the whole plane, during the whole flight. It’s a really nice touch, and it’s available on all A380. Now we could see the runway, and we were ready to take off. Full power… and we could barely ear the engines! Believe it or not, as soon as the tires are not touching the ground anymore, we could barely ear a small noise, that were the engines. It’s is very impressive, and it was the first flight in a while where I didn’t had to put on my in-ear earbuds. Also, something impressive during the takeoff is that you really feel that it’s an Heavy plane (notice the capital H). It’s fairly slow to take off and get some altitude at takeoff, something I never felt in any other airplane. There’s that “huh” moment at takeoff where you ask yourself if you’re actually going to make it.

We were now at our cruising altitude, it was time for me to discover the brand new video on demand system that Air France specially redesigned for the A380. There was about a hundred movies, old or new to enjoy, definitely the biggest selection I ever got in an airplane. The screens have a much better resolution than the ones you’re used to, you can create chat rooms or use pre-defined rooms and chat live with the passengers thanks to the keyboard located at the back of the remote, you can watch one of the 3 live cameras located at the tail, under or in the nose of the plane. Something that is really nice are the new upgraded high quality maps displayed during the flight, they even added history fact on them like where the Titanic sinked, or where some historical battles took place. Definitely a nice touch. Just like the USB plug available next to your screen. While you cannot watch your own movie you could have stored on it, you can download content from the plane to your key. Content include some desktop widgets (Windows only), metro maps and other tourist documents from your destination, videos about Air France, the construction of the A380.

During the flight, I couldn’t resist to walk a bit in the plane, especially in the bar area at the back of the plane, next to the stairs that brings you upper deck, which is about 70% reserved for Business class seats, and the rest were Economy class. As Premiere or Business passengers you can also access a “Gallery” area in front of the plane, that display art from museums all around the world. I cannot say more about it since I was in Economy and could not access this part of the place.

7 hours after it was time to enjoy the sunrise while starting our descent to Paris. The flight was super smooth, super quiet and enjoyable. Definitely better than on board of old planes, which makes you want to only fly A380s after. We just have to patient for the A380 to be available in more airlines, and more routes. With 25 deliveries since it’s commercial launch, and as many planned for 2010, that’s mores chances to fly a A380 in the next year!

More photos are available on my Flickr.

The RATP (Paris transport system) is included in the entertainment programmes offered by Air France on board its Airbus A380. The maps of each transport network are available for download via the USB socket in each seat of the aircraft.

Air France chose the RATP as a partner to offer its passengers information which can be downloaded and which can help them prepare their trip into Paris and its suburbs by public transport on all bus, metro, train and tram networks.

Don’t waste time figuring it out on arrival, there’s so much to do in Paris

via @AirFranceUS

Today, November 20, the day of the aircraft’s inaugural flight, visitors to this dedicated space as of 2 pm (CET) will have access to photographs, videos, a scale model and a speciallycreated Freebie.
At the Air France-KLM Island, visitors wishing to learn more about the Group can already access an interactive library containing the Group’s most recent financial publications, 3D information on the Air France-KLM stock price, a Corporate Social Responsibility space, a virtual auditorium, a ‘lounge’ where they can view corporate films, a room with information on the partnership with Alitalia, and the Air France Museum, with scale models and posters from Air France and KLM.
Check out this new space, dedicated to the largest civil aircraft in the world.

Via JeanRem

You can now book tickets for the Paris to New York JFK Route with the forthcoming A380 service, which will begin on November 23.

Tickets are now available online: flight number AF006 – departing Paris at 1:30 pm arriving into New York at 3:45 pm will be daily plied with the A380 except Wednesday.

The return leg (AF007 — soon to be called James Bond flight?) departs New York at 7:10 pm landing back in Paris at 8:35 am the next day.

Book your seat on board the A380.

Air France is also planning a special commemorative A380 flight. This October, Air France will auction off 380 seats on board its inaugural Airbus A380 Paris-New York (November 20) and New York-Paris (November 21) flights.

You can sign up for e-news to stay informed about the auction launch.

Note: This post is not sponsored by Air France or Airbus in any way. Alas!
Frankly, I would have loved it to be sponsored and gladly flown on this flight!

The twin-deck aircraft, which has been undergoing final preparation at Airbus’ Hamburg plant, is to be deployed on the daily Paris Charles de Gaulle-New York JFK route in November this year.

Air France has configured the jet for 538 passengers, which will make it the highest-density layout of any A380 so far put into service.

The airline has a mix of 80 business-class and 106 economy-class seats on the upper deck. The lower deck will feature nine first-class and 343 economy-class seats.

Air France has 12 Airbus A380s on order, four of which will start operating in winter 2009 and spring 2010.