While we waited in the Air France Lounge for our flight, we received notification that our flight would be delayed an hour due to an equipment change. This was not a problem, if it would be truly an hour. As time passed, I started to feel uneasy so we grabbed our bags and headed tot he gate anyway.
At 1045, people were queued only to be told it would be another 20 minutes. We grabbed a seat so I could request a refund for the exit row seats I purchased. As soon as I sat down, the agent called boarding. The line was crazy.
As I scanned my boarding pass, I was pulled to the side to be informed that the center partition between our seat did not work. I asked if it was stuck up or down. The agent did not know.
It got even more crazier from there because we had to catch a bus to a far out remote stand. The process took 45 minutes until that point.
AFR158
CDG-DFW
Takeoff: 1020
Landing: 1450
Duration: 9hr 5min
Business Class
March 14, 2025
Every passenger entered through the front left door which made it difficult to get situated in the seat at the rear of the second business class cabin. My initial thought of the seat: WOW. It looked amazing!
The seat was angled toward the opposite seat and included a lap belt and shoulder harness. It offered a ton of privacy with the door and center partition.
Waiting at the seat was a big pillow, plush blanket, slippers and a hangar.
An amenity kit was passed out next, it included toiletries, toothbrush, eye mask, socks and a pen. I felt like it was kinda cheap quality but did include quite a few items to keep me refreshed/comfortable for the duration of the flight.
The seat included USB-C and USB-A chargers. There were also two charging stations built into the center console. So sick.
There was a storage compartment which housed the headphones and a bottle of water.
There was side storage which I used it to hold the menu, hangar, and my Stanley Cup.
A tablet was on the left of my head. It could be used to control the entertainment screen. It was very user friendly but unnecessary.
The huge tray table was stored in the center armrest. The table had some flexibility as it swiveled forward if I needed to use the lavatory.
The entertainment screen was stuck so the flight attendant called maintenance to have a look.
They beat on it, shimmied it, and shook their heads until one of them hit it like a Heinz 57 bottle. Voila. We found a way to get to rotate, at least for my flight.
The business class menu booklet and champagne were distributed throughout the cabin.
The menu book had English and French descriptions, which made it easier for us.
Lunch
Pre-arrival Meal
Drinks
The cabin was nearly full. The guy in front of Nicholas upgraded on the plane while the window seat next to me remained open.
The cabin was quite chilly when compared to the other flight. Again, there were no individual air nozzles so the crew controlled the temp.
The welcome announcement was made and the safety video was played. This was nearly two hours after scheduled departure. If they did not push back in four minutes, we would get $600 EUR for delayed flight compensation. They did it with one minute to spare.
We started our taxi on a narrow taxiway. I am assuming because we were pushing off of the remote stand.
We made it on the runway 15 minutes after leaving the remote stand. Instead of a rolling takeoff, we had a ten count on the runway before getting on the go. It was another gorgeous day in Paris and the climb out was really smooth.
Nicholas and I played with the suite door during the climb. He actually figured out how to operate it while I was playing with the entertainment screen.
The flight attendants brought the refreshing towels 17 minutes after takeoff. They were the same towels as in economy but they were not in a package and served with tongs.
Food orders were taken 10 minutes later. With us being at the back of the second cabin, we were stuck with whatever was left from the dishes. I had Nicholas give me two options for his meal. He wanted chicken or shrimp. Chicken was out so I ordered him the shrimp. I ordered the beef chuck and champagne for myself.
The champagne was served with what I can describe as a cheesy, breaded snack. It was like a Combo but lighter. The snack was tasty.
The pumpkin cream with citrus and goat cheese was served a minute later. It was a dish that I had never experienced. There were so many flavors mixed together that I could not stomach it. I only ate a few bites.
It should also be noted that the flight attendant was handing out starters and drinks much like Air France Economy Class last week.
The starter was delivered 40 minutes after the appetizer. I asked for a baguette and vodka tonic as well. The baguette was munched on before I took the picture. 😬
The rainbow trout salad had goat cheese and bacon bits. It was the same as the starter, I could not get into it. The smoke salmon alone was great but the raspberry sauce did it a disservice. The baguette gave me life. I did not touch the salad.
One hour and five minutes after service started, they brought around a drink cart. No entrees, a drink cart. I ordered another vodka.
The beef chuck with olives, celery and potatoes was delivered 10 minutes later. It gave off beef stew vibes.
The first few bites were not bad. Nicholas saw this and asked for a taste. I then ended up with his dish. 🙄 oh brother!
For some frozen shrimp dish, it was not too bad of a dish. The curry sauce really helped this dish.
I was offered a cheese plate 15 minutes later. The plate was declined because I did not feel like dealing with the lengthy service so I let it be.
At this point, there were a lot of passengers from the economy cabins coming forward to use the business class lavatories, while the curtains were closed. They formed a line to the right of me until the purser recognized they were not in the cabin and sent them away.
The dessert cart came around 30 minutes later. I was offered the cake or sorbet and a whisky. I ordered the strawberry sorbet and a whiskey while Nicholas ordered the vanilla sorbet and cake.
The sorbet and digestif went well together. Nicholas said that his dessert was great as well.
At this point, I put on Gladiator II to relax. We had been airborne nearly two and a half hours and the lunch service was just coming to an end.
I was asleep before the opening credits were done. The lie flat seat was comfortable. The only issue is that my arm hit the controls on the side and inadvertently rang the call button for the flight attendant. I was awaken by her asking me to be careful. I hit a couple of more times because I found the seat moving back to the upright position on two occasions.
I went to check out one of the two lavatories at the front of the cabin. The one closest to my seat was on the right. It was small for a lavatory in a premium class. The only other thing that stood out was the bench that could fold down from the left wall.
I dozed back off for a couple more hours and were just over an hour and a half from landing in Dallas.
The pre-arrival meal was served moments later. I had the choice of a chicken breast or the vegetarian option. I chose the chicken. The tray came with a cake and grapefruit.
The boneless chicken thigh and potatoes were in a garlic, herb sauce and were absolutely perfect. The dish was done within minutes.
The cake on the other hand tasted like a cake version of the Christmas cookies my mom used to have in the big blue tin. It had great flavor but was too dense for my liking.
The grapefruit was grapefruit, nothing special about it.
Service items were collected 30 minutes later. I prefer a quick service this as opposed to the one we had earlier.
The flight attendant working Nicholas’ side of the cabin came by with 45 minutes left in the flight to present him with an Air France bag tag. It was a cool and much appreciated gesture.
The descent was announced 10 minutes later. The captain apologized for the delayed getting to Dallas and thanked us for flying Air France.
The refreshing towels were given out a few minutes later. It was at this time I felt the plane begin its descent into Dallas.
We had a choppy descent and a hard crosswind landing at DFW.
We then taxied for 10 minutes to reach our arrival gate of D6. This put us into Dallas almost two hours behind schedule.
Final Word
This flight from Paris to Dallas was the perfect way to end Nicholas’ spring break trip. The crew members were attentive, the food was delicious, and I was able to get some sleep. Air France Business Class is special and I cannot way to fly it again.
