Air France

We like AF and have flown with them many times. Mostly, the flight attendants are helpful but not always. About a year ago,a young woman with her toddler was flying alone from Dulles to CDG. Child fussy; mom exhausted. Despite request for a cracker or something for child, nothing was done. I had some crackers which the toddler ate. Turns out the woman's mother had died and she was flying all the way to India! We helped her as much as we could but she had to transfer to 2C and we were going into Paris. The crew and ground personnel were amazingly nonchalant about her situation. If you have a problem, you are on your own!

I have flown Air France frequently and will do so again in December. The cabin crew are always pleasant and actually smile at you, which is a rare occurrence on Air Canada flights.

We've flown AF many times. The service has been much better than on most US lines. Presumably you would fly out of SFO; and they have a direct flight to Paris from there. Another advantage, longest leg straight to Europe, and change, if any, there. We also like the departure around 4 PM, which does away with any anxiety about getting to the airport and no getting up at ungodly hours. In that case, lucky us, we can have a friend drop us at the BART station and ride straight to the international terminal. So easy and inexpensive!

We always take BART to SFO. So easy for everyone. We buy a roundtrip ticket so we will be all set when we return. We never flown AF, as I prefer KLM or Lufthansa.

I have had positive experiences with Air France, and would not hesitate to fly them again. But, a little web searching will turn up some nightmare stories (I know that's true of every airline, but the AF nightmares seem particularly bad). I no longer expect anything from an airline except to get me to my destination in one piece. If they do better (for instance, Turkish Airlines was substantially better), I'm delightfully surprised. If they don't (Delta certainly didn't), I accept it. I also agree that routing considerations are important. If you can get a nonstop on Air France, that trumps the promise of "better service" on an airline requiring a plane change (at least in coach; in business or first, the service differences could matter enough to change my mind).

In the plus column for Air France: The in-flight entertainment tends to be somewhat more sophisticated (French movies, obviously, with subtitles.) The food is marginally better in the cheap seats than I have found on American-based lines, although none of them will ever be "gourmet" when everything is cooked in advance and warmed in a convection oven. The free wine includes champagne, or at least white wine with bubbles in it.
Realistically, Air France, its Dutch companion KLM, and Delta cross the Atlantic in many joint flights, and so the most important parts of the service, checking in and collecting baggage after landing, are pretty much the same. Except for the occasional blip or sale, the prices are nearly equal too.

We have had good experiences with Air France (booked as a codeshare flight through Delta). The food is usually better than the typical airline fare. The best part of flying with them is that it puts you in the French mood as soon as you step on the plane.

Thank you all for such great feedback. We have flown a lot of different airlines but never Air France and they sound pretty good to me compared to some of our past experiences.

We flew Air France last week, roundtrip between Paris (CDG) & Copenhagen and all was well. Of course, those were 2 hour flights vs an 8-10 hour flight between the US & Europe. We started & ended our trip with non-stop Delta flights between Minneapolis & Paris and had excellent flights... on time departures & arrivals, professional & helpful staff at the airports and in the air. Air France employees staffed baggage & gate activities for Delta at Charles De Gaulle Airport. Air France is now a Delta/KLM partner... so if you decide to fly with Air France AND you have a have a Delta SkyMiles account, be sure to get the flight miles from your Air France flights credited to your Delta SkyMiles account. Good luck!

We used to fly Air France a lot, and had good experiences. Staff was always friendly and helpful. They actually served real Champagne in coach on most flights to France. And the food was almost edible, at least departing from France. But then I think they started using the same garbage caterers that everyone uses, and their fares always seem to be significantly higher than most other airlines. So now I'm with Harold: "I no longer expect anything from an airline except to get me to my destination in one piece."