air france

cena

Anyone fly with these guys? what are they like. Only one stop over to paris for new york. But its a 11 hour flight to get there and direct coming back.

Aer lingus over 700 now.

athtrasna

I like Air France and am currently an Elite Flyer in their frequent flyer programme so fly frequently with them and their partners.

In their favour

• generous baggage allowance
• free food and drink on Dublin-Paris & Paris-JFK
• Modern aircraft including the A380 on some flights on this route
• good entertainment selection, personal tvs

Against

• have to clear customs & immigration on arrival in JFK rather than in Dublin
• CDG is busy and security can be slow, you need a decent time gap between flights
• Some of the cabin crew are far from friendly

Who is travelling? Are children involved? How precious is your time? How long is your stay in the US?

All those are factors I would take into account in making the decision, along with price.

cena

Against

• have to clear customs & immigration on arrival in JFK rather than in Dublin why not in dublin. Is it tougher going through state side than here.
  
  Who is travelling? Are children involved? How precious is your time? How long is your stay in the US?
  
  
  just Me and my mother. Hoping to stay in the states for 3 weeks with family.
  
  
  All those are factors I would take into account in making the decision, along with price.Price is just under 500

athtrasna

cena wrote: »

Against

• have to clear customs & immigration on arrival in JFK rather than in Dublin why not in dublin. Is it tougher going through state side than here.
  
  Who is travelling? Are children involved? How precious is your time? How long is your stay in the US?
  
  
  just Me and my mother. Hoping to stay in the states for 3 weeks with family.
  
  
  All those are factors I would take into account in making the decision, along with price.Price is just under 500

There are only a few places in the world where you can pre-clear US immigration and customs. Ireland is the only place in Europe where you can do this, you can only use those facilities when flying direct from Ireland to the US (and provided the flight is at a time when the facilities are open). Clearance on landing in the US could take 20 minutes, or it could take 2 hours depending on how many other flights get in at the same time and how many staff are on border control at the time.

For a stay of 3 weeks I could certainly justify taking longer to get there and back. If you were going for a weekend I would say your time was precious but for a 3 week stay, a couple of extra hours won't be that big a deal.

That's a big price difference..I would be leaning towards AF, but others might disagree.

cena

athtrasna wrote: »

There are only a few places in the world where you can pre-clear US immigration and customs. Ireland is the only place in Europe where you can do this, you can only use those facilities when flying direct from Ireland to the US (and provided the flight is at a time when the facilities are open). Clearance on landing in the US could take 20 minutes, or it could take 2 hours depending on how many other flights get in at the same time and how many staff are on border control at the time.

For a stay of 3 weeks I could certainly justify taking longer to get there and back. If you were going for a weekend I would say your time was precious but for a 3 week stay, a couple of extra hours won't be that big a deal.

That's a big price difference..I would be leaning towards AF, but others might disagree.

I be guessing we could end up flying with delta if I book with air france. I should of booked the flights 2 months ago when they where around 300 mark

athtrasna

cena wrote: »

I be guessing we could end up flying with delta if I book with air france. I should of booked the flights 2 months ago when they where around 300 mark

You would be flying Delta if you booked Air France out of Dublin. If you book Air France-JFK via Paris, the likelihood is that you will be flying Air France (though Delta do operate a couple of flights a day from Paris) - it should be clear on the booking who is operating the flight. As I said, AF have a lot of aircraft on the route, including the new A380 Superjumbo.

cena

athtrasna wrote: »

You would be flying Delta if you booked Air France out of Dublin. If you book Air France-JFK via Paris, the likelihood is that you will be flying Air France (though Delta do operate a couple of flights a day from Paris) - it should be clear on the booking who is operating the flight. As I said, AF have a lot of aircraft on the route, including the new A380 Superjumbo.

I'm still not sure I want a stop over. Really don't want an 11 hour trip to new York. But it works out cheaper this way

puma90

Do air France let you bring a carry on and a handbag on their planes? Thinking of booking a flight from Dublin to france

jjbrien

They go into Terminal 1 as well in JFK its prob the worst terminal I have used at JFK for departure. Just really nasty in general and thers big steel sheets every so often so if you have a rolly bag you have to keep lifting your bag over it. Id try avoid terminal 1 at all cost.

Arrival expedience was a bit better than Terminal 4 as immigation was fast but they force you to use machines, lucky mine couldnt be read so as there was a long queue for people who had been processed by the machines and I was able to walk straight up to a counter. Lucky/unlucky for me I have a common Irish name with a us and irish passport.