Le Paris daytrip

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited by Air France and KLM to take a day trip to Paris to see the airlines' facilities at their hub, Charles de Gaulle airport.

In order to get the most out of the day we had an early start, and I decided to let the train take the strain, and catch the Heathrow Express from Paddington station in central London. It's been a long time since I used the service, but I was very impressed. The train left exactly on schedule, and took an impressive 15 minutes to do the journey to Heathrow compared to nearly an hour on the underground. It's a bit more expensive, but in my opinion worth every penny in order to arrive at the airport in style, and feeling relaxed.

As I had checked in the previous day, all I needed to do was go straight to passport control. Once through, I headed to the Air France/SkyTeam lounge in terminal 4. Breakfast was being served, and I was able to read the paper and catch up on the news before heading to the gate.

The flight was on a new Boeing Dreamliner aircraft, so we had state of the art facilities at our disposal including seat back television, and full 3 cabin service (economy, business and first class).

The flight only takes 45 minutes, so there was just time to get a quick bite to eat and a hot drink, before it was time to land.

Once in Paris, we were shown round the great facilities available for passengers transferring flights with Air France. The process is very simple and easy to follow. There are wonderful shuttle trains that take you between terminals, and there is even a portal for you to scan your onward boarding pass to be shown where to go in the unlikely event you get lost.

There are so many staff on hand (wearing orange) to help you, and an hour's connecting time is more than enough to transfer between flights.

I saw the new business class lounges, as well as check in and transfer facilities throughout the Air France terminal.

Air France has excellent destinations throughout the world, so it really is simple to connect. The airport has undergone major renovation works over the last few years, so if you haven't tried Air France for a while, or visited Charles de Gaulle recently, it is well worth paying a visit.