[Flight Report] KLM/Airfrance. DUB - AMS - NRT - CDG - DUB [Picture Heavy]

Disembarquing in Amsterdam was done quickly, and once inside the terminal building, there was machine's a short distance away to print my next leg's ticket. Fairly easy to use and they give you many options to print your connecting ticket.
The woman beside me was in difficulty however, the machine didn't seem to have her details. I tried to help her but to no avail.
She had just got off the same flight as me and her next connection was to Keflavik, Iceland. (just thought that was interesting).

Amsterdam operates all flights in one single terminal unlike most other airports, this made it a fairly big place but everything was sign posted with how long of a walk one would have to their gates etc.

The shopping and restaraunt area here was absolutely gigantic, with so much to chose from. Really a great place for a connection, it even has showers and massage area's you can avail of. I just got a small bowl of pasta and picked up an AirlinersWorld magazine, which I paid a whopping €13 for :eek:. I knew I should have picked it up in Dublin :rolleyes:

and of course, some plane spotting was in order for me.









Seond leg: 14:55
Amsterdam - Tokyo, Narita.
KLM 747-400.
Flight time 10 hours 30 minutes

I made my way to the gate, having to go through a brief security check which surprised me.
It was a whole hour before my flight, yet they were calling passengers for the flight. I didn't want to board so I just sat at the gate for a few minutes until a KLM staff member came around and informed me to go queue.
We were actually put through another security checkpoint, and then all the passengers were put into this large room/mini gate. There was hardly enough seats for everybody and it was un-airconditioned so it was a bit hectic and annoying. Eventually, after about 30 minutes they started to call passengers for boarding. A slow enough process.

The aircraft I was flying on, looked old and dirty. Maybe this was a bad thing to other passengers, but for me, it lovely as looking it at I knew the 747-406, named "The City of Bangkok", was nothing short of a powerful workhorse, a pure beast of a machine





Once on board the aircraft I took my seat and waited to go. My seat which was 23A, was a good one because it was towards the front of the aircraft, and there was a galley wall in the way. So instead of a large cabin 3x4x3 feel, it was just 3 seats and then a wall, so it felt nice and quiet.

The aircraft itself seemed a bit old, but it was comfortable at least and to make things better there was nobody sitting beside me again
The leg room was very good.




We got going, and shortly after take off, they came around and gave us peanuts and drinks, as well as our blankets and headphones.
No more than an hour later we were served our first meal. A Japanese style curry and rice, with salad and other bits. It was actually quite nice.
I tried to hide my lame chopstick skills from the Japanese business man who was sitting on the aisle seat



Shortly after we were over Russia, I was asked to close my window shutter as it was a night time flight, even though it was bright the whole way. So much for getting to see some cool siberian landscape
I wrapped my legs in the blanket they gave us, and attempted to get some shut eye.
I can't remember how long I was asleep for, but I was abruptly awoken by one of the cabin crew members, who seemed adament in giving me a small tub of ice-cream and a cup of tea, something which I shall never turn down hehe.

I should note that the KLM service was fantastic, they came around so often with tea, chocolate, and other food bits. They really spoilt us and thats what I like to see in an airline.
I heard so many bad things and reviews about them, but after this experience I would highly recommend them. Great airline.

continued-

After my long trip I made it back to Narita Airport on Saturday morning. Narita Airport is served by a really handy Express train which goes direct from Tokyo station every 30 minutes or so to each terminal, it takes about an hour and is free if you have a Japanese Rail Pass.

Third leg: 11:55am
Narita - Paris CDG
Air France A380
Flight time 11 hours 30 minutes

The first thing that struck me about Narita was that even before I entered the airport there was a security check, and signs everywhere notifying "Baggage searches ahead". Luckily, only my passport was checked and I was sent on my way.
I took the escalater up to the terminal (which you can bring baggage trolleys on. Just thought it was strange).
I checked in on the Air France ticket machine and queued up to drop my bag at the Air France desk. The queue was fairly big and took about 30 minutes in total, but the Japanese check in staff were very helpful and informed me that my bag was checked in the whole way to Dublin.

I immediately went to queue to go through security which was also a very long line, and took about 30 minutes. No problems, just the usual emptying hundreds of random coins into the tray, seperating the euro from the yen, laptops out of the bag, watches off, etc :rolleyes:. I do loathe security sometimes.

Straight outta security and right into immigration. My passport was stamped and I was sent to the gate. At this stage there was only about an hour left so I was in a little bit of a rush, but my gate was only around the corner so I decided to have one last delicious bowl of Shoyu Ramen before I left Japan. Just as I sat down to eat it, the P.A system was calling for all Air France passengers to come to the gate immediately! shortly followed by staff coming around and telling me to make my way to the gate.
So I shovelled the ramen down my throat with my best chopstick abilities, burning the absolute mouth off myself in the process and leaving a quarter of my lovely meal left in the bowl.
I jogged around the corner, and low and behold there is a queue of more 100 people for my flight. Very annoyed I was.

I took the opportunity to sit down and snap some pictures of the A380, which is huge. You really cant get an idea of the size of it until you see it for yourself up close.




The cabin of the aircraft is new, modern and bright. Some people say Air Frances cabin is boring and plain but it was better than I expected to be. My seat was in the rear cabin, on the lower deck. Seat 48A I think.
The flight seemed to be mostly full with no empty seats around, so there was 2 elderly Japanese ladies sitting beside me. I was reluctant to get up and move about as much as I would liked to during the flight due to them but what can you do.

After my rushed experience in the airport, I wasnt in the best of moods. But now there was a commotion at towards the front of the Cabin. It seems a French lady with her baby wanted to sit on the floor for take off. I dont know what she was thinking but it took the cabin crew a few minutes to persuade her to sit in her seat. This annoyed me for some reason.
Then the person sitting in front of me tried to adjust his head-rest. He pushed it so hard that the head rest flew off the seat, bounced off the roof, and landed right down on my lap. I didn't care, I just smiled and handed it back to him. I got a dirty look.



A nice little feature of the A380 is that it has cameras mounted on the outside of the plane, on the tail, the nose, and the belly. You can view these as you please throughout the flight, but for take off its set to the tail view.


The inflight entertainment system was easier to use than KLM's and had many more features, including in flight instant messaging. Each passenger could log into a chatroom and talk away. It seems I was the only person on the entire plane that wanted to use it though.


this picture does no justice to the pure size of that wing.

Shortly after take off were handed menu cards with a selection of dishes for our meals. I chose salmon for both my dinner and lunch.
I must say that the quality of food on Air France is superb! Very nice meal, like something I would expect from a restaurant.




After our meal, the cabin crew disappeared and were never to be heard from again. If you wanted a drink or food you had to go up to the front of the galley, and pour yourself one from the many 2 litre bottle's of coke scattered there. The only snack options they had were small ice creams, and peanuts.

Time for more mischief and annoyance! I got up to get my pillow out of the overhead bins. When I opened it I was met with an avalanche of duty free and bags. 2 one litre bottles of water fell right down on top of a French guys head sitting on the aisle seat infront of mine. I apologized in Japanese without thinking, not that he cared what I said because he gave me a blinding talking to in French. How nice :rolleyes:

I sat back down, in great mood alltogether and endured the next several hours of the flight bored out of my brain. I dont know what it was, but the flight back was much more tedius. Probably due to the fact that I was returning to Ireland and was finished my holiday.

The legroom on the A380 actually felt quite cramped. There was a big bar under the seat infront so I couldnt really stretch my legs much, and I suppose my backpack didnt help either. I preferred the 747.



As we flew down over northern Europe and Finland I was standing waiting for the toilet to be free. This is when I spotted something strange, a Japanese man appeared to be desperately trying to wake his wife up. Slapping her in the face constantly. I got a bit worried and was just about to offer my help when she awoke, and the cabin crew came over to help.
Being terribly selfish, and not in the greatest of moods I said grand, and proceeded to go to the toilet.
When I finished, I came out and told the cabin crew if they wanted any help I could lend a hand. (I'm a community responder). Gladly I didnt have to put my CPR skills to use.
The cabin crew layed her out on a bed in the back of the cabin and gave her oxygen and went through the drills etc. She was very sick, puked twice, and had a pulse rate of 36 iirc. Thats very low. Normal pulse rate is about 60-100.
She had no other complaints of pain or anything, just very thirsty and tired. Im no doctor so as long as she wasnt having a heart attack then there's not much more I could do. Cabin crew and myself monitered her for the next 2 hours and her situation improved greatly as we landed.

Before landing we were served our second meal. Salmon once again, it was very nice. Props to Air France for their great food.



Landing on time in Paris, it took a while to empty the plane. I usually wait until everyone is gone before getting up as I hate the hustle and bustle of rushing. No point to it really. The Cabin crew thanks me greatly for what little help I could give and I left.

Caught one last nice view of the aircraft at the stand before I made my way to the next part of my journey.

Incase anybody didnt notice, I have completed the entire trip report from my time spent in Japan. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056696321