Air France and KLM

Be aware that KLM and Air France are the same company, they merged several years ago. YMMV, but I in my experience KLM (transatlantic)flight attendants are some of the rudest I have encountered. But keep in mind you are flying halfway across the planet in under 12 hours so grin and bear it;)

Brenda, unless you are flying First or Business Class you should not "look forward to great service". I am usually quite pleased with Air France but that may be because my expectations for any airline are quite low nowadays.

In a couple of flights with each, booking through Delta, I have seen little difference between KLM and Air France, or Delta, for that matter. Keep your expectations low, and you will never be disappointed. :)

I may have "overspoken" when I said "great" service. However, I have been told that "non-US flagged ships" have much better service that those from here. Emirates was super, but then, I think maybe it is in a class above these others.
I was just hoping for friendly, helpful people and descent economy space. I will only be on there for 8 hours (hopefully) and am pretty flexible to live with anything. Was just hoping someone would tell me "how great" their KLM or AirFrance experience was. Wishful thinking :)

In my frequent experience with Air France, they will keep loading you with plenty of complimentary champagne and other alcoholic beverages if you ask. Take advantage of their generosity and you won't remember if the service was good or bad. As a matter of fact sometimes I couldn't even remember why I was on a plane to Paris in the first place.

:) :) :)

I flew KLM/ Air France recently and really liked it - the plane wasn't even full so I had plenty of space and lots of stuff to do (movies, music, etc.) The food and alcohol were great too - I ordered a veggie meal and it was very tasty! I loved both airports - Schipol and Charles du Gaulle - it made me sad that there are so few American airports that even compare in terms of food choices, shops, and a nice design (Chicago and Denver perhaps, and that's it)

Thanks for the encouraging report, Agnes.
Don't worry, ROY, I won't get my hopes too high. :)

I've had excellent experiences on Air France, including an Economy flight on an A380 double-decker jumbo jet. Best Economy flight experience I've ever had. Very organized, orderly, quick boarding through multiple jetways on 2 levels (over 500 passengers); complimentary champagne; a multi-position footrest at every seat; loads of underseat space; USB port at every seat (to charge iPhone/iPad); decent food and drink; courteous service with a smile; excellent entertainment choices; precise on-time take-off and early landing at CDG - basically as good as it gets for an Economy international flight, though I've never flown Emirates. Low airfare is important, but I now pay much closer attention to the equipment. It could change, of course, after booking, but I will always seek out and fly an A380 whenever possible from now on. The high comfort level is worth a little higher fare. This flight happened to be cheaper than other available options for my dates.

I'd give AF an 7 out of 10 and KLM a 6 out of 10 for coach. For Business, no contest. AF get's a 9, KLM still gets a 6 even with the cute Delft houses full of gin. The meals on AF are double the quality (and they still kind of suck) compared to KLM. Alcohol is a different story :) Do yourself a huge favor and forget about Emirates customer service. This is old school how it used to be and too bad it still isn't standard. Delta is more your guide ruler here.

On pooled midwest routes trans-Atlantic I always watch which of the three airlines is actually operating the plane (KLM still looks like it has separate management.) Delta is competent; Air France has slightly more palatable food and a better selection of movies being French. KLM may have an edge on cabin crew efficiency. These are very small differences. The odds of drawing an indifferent cabin crew are tiny but it can happen. Anyhow, they don't keep the plane in the air.