Today I continue my journey from Frankfurt to Paris with Air France. In Paris I’ll be connecting to an intercontinental connection. My flight to Paris departs at 07h15. So, at 05h00 I exit the Marriott and make my way over the footbridge back to Terminal 1. From there I follow the signs to the SkyTrain for Terminal 2, which shuttles between terminals 24/7, running every six minutes. From the Marriott to the Air France check-in counters in Terminal 2 takes me 15 minutes at a leisurely pace.

Check-in

In addition to the self-service check-in kiosks and baggage drop, there are two counters open for Economy Class and one for Business Class passengers checking in the Air France flight to Paris and the KLM flight to Amsterdam. At the head of the Business Class queue is a flight attendant from some airline (not AF) who is deadheading to Paris and then onward from there. But there’s something wrong with her listing, so they can’t seem to check her in. I think I would have just asked her to step aside to process all the other passengers first. Instead, it’s only after 40 minutes of waiting and the queue growing longer and longer that the station manager finally wakes up and starts managing the crowd. He asks the staff ticket passenger to step aside so that the check-in agent can handle the guy in front of me. As soon as the Economy Class counter next to her becomes available, he asks me to come forward and apologies for the delay.

The next hold up is at security. First, because there does not appear to be a priority lane. And second, because I end up stuck behind an old lady who’s seemingly never heard of or seen a bard code in her life. She turns to me with pleading, watery eyes and a trembling voice and explains to me that “I don’t know how to do this”. So, I take the boarding pass off her and scan it for her. Poor woman!

The Air France KLM Frankfurt Airport Lounge

I reach the lounge just as it opens at 05h45. At the end of March or beginning of April 2026, Air France KLM will move to the newly opened Terminal 3 at Frankfurt Airport. Probably that is why they don’t seem to be doing any maintenance on the current lounge here in Frankfurt beyond what is strictly necessary. The furniture is old and tired and the leather on the upholstery is mostly cracked.

The lounge has a hot and cold buffet. The hot buffet has scrambled eggs and bacon, although at this time of the morning, all I’m interested in is the coffee…

Boarding

At 06:30 boarding for the flight is announced from gate D 22 on the Schengen concourse. Parked on the stand right in front of our departure gate is a Vietnam Airlines B 787-9 which has just come in from Saigon. The German kid next to me takes one look at the beast and excitedly asks his dad “ist das da unser Flieger?”. My heart cracks as his dad tries to ward off the inevitable disappointment by cautiously explaining that our plane will likely be a bit smaller. The poor little dude has no idea…

In any case, we’re bussed to our aircraft, which is parked on a remote stand close to the runway threshold. I’ll get to take some decent photos of my ride to Paris.

The Cabin & Seat

The cabin looks tidy. I’m seated on 1A and the seat pitch is good. A while back, Air France finally gave in and decided to keep the adjacent seat on each row of two blocked in Business Class on the E 190, which is nice. On today’s flight there are five rows of Business Class for a total of ten seats. And the flight is fully booked. At my seat when I arrive is a small, comfortable pillow.

The Service & Cabin Crew

There are three cabin crew on this flight. The Business Class cabin is served by the purser only, who is a gentleman in his forties, if I had to guess. The crew are friendly but otherwise not really remarkable. While we’re still on the ground, there is no service. Usually on Air France you get a packaged towel and a bottle of still water, so I’m not sure if this is a change, or simply something the crew forgot. Our flight time is 45 minutes.

The Meal – Breakfast

It takes quite a while for the breakfast service to begin. Breakfast on Air France short-haul is always a bit odd, and this one is no exception. It consists of two sandwiches. Then there’s a bowl of “fresh” pineapple that is still half frozen, which produces a not entirely unpleasant effect on the palate, but still… And then there’s a huge breadbasket with a wide selection of spongy croissants and stale bread rolls. I ask for a coffee to drink, which served with a small bottle of still water and a can of orange juice I didn’t ask for. All in all, this is not a remarkable meal. As far as breakfasts are concerned, I really think you can’t beat British Airways.

Arrival in Paris CDG

We land in Paris on time. Approaches are from the west on the northernmost of the four 27s. We taxi to our stand at Terminal 2G. It takes us a while to get there as there are quite a few widebodies standing around waiting for a stand assignment at 2E.

Transfer in Paris CDG

My onward connection will depart from the non-Schengen satellite M of Terminal 2E. Emigration to exit the Schengen area takes place in Terminal 2G, and it’s taking a long time because the biometric passport readers are on the blink today. There’s also a very tall young man with rather an unusual problem. The scanner is not having any problems reading his passport, but when he steps into the holding bay, he’s so tall that the camera cannot scan his face… Once I’m through passport control I head out to the waiting airside transfer that will take me to Terminal 2E.