Whilst I usually prefer to use Aer Lingus over Air France for a number of reasons, when the price is over €200 cheaper for a family of four to go from Dublin to Paris, it makes it worth looking into. It has been a number of years since I travelled with Air France, and have had a couple of negative experiences with staff in the past. Time to test the waters again.
Flight/Check in from Dublin to Paris
Our journey starts in the airport. Here, we needed to get a tag for our pram/stroller, which we wanted to wheel to the gate. We had received an email the day prior about a ‘full flight’ and that they would take our cabin baggage at the drop off. Two birds with one stone; pram is sorted with tag, and all 4 of our cabin bags are taken care of till Paris.
From here, boarding Air France on a 9am flight from Dublin was excellent. The seat in particular must be commended; the tray system built in is ingenius, with a place for just a drink, for your mobile/tablet to balance at a comfortable height to watch things, and the seats also recline. There is plenty of space in the seats and I found no issues at all. There is also a charger on every seat to plug your device in.
You also get snack and drink included with your fare. On our outbound trip, it was a madeline cake that was given out, with drink of choice. Flight takes about 1 and a quarter hours. Kids loved getting the snack and some apple juice.
Arriving at Charles De Gaulle with Air France
Terminal 2 is where all Air France flights take off from. This terminal is not quite as fancy as terminal one, but is larger (or feels larger). The dedicated family check in lines are not particularly useful when there is only 2 or 3 staff on the passport check, and we waited nearly 45 minutes to get through the queue. Finally, we collected our baggage and pram which was well waiting for us on the carousel, and met our private transfer (see our Deals Page!). Positive experience so far for Air France.
Return journey – Paris to Dublin with Air France
We had a 10pm flight coming back from CDG. One benefit of this is we were able to take the train from Disneyland Paris directly to Terminal 2, where Air France check in is located. On arrival, we found the check in desks easily, and as always asked about the tag from the pram. We were brought directly over to a check in person who was excellent in his role, with perfect English. I asked if we could send the cabin bags through here and he thought for a second, I added in ‘it would help a lot with the kids’, and he quickly obliged my request. Passport control was empty with a dedicated kids entry point for families, and the terminal itself has a good number of stores and areas to play if you need, very spacious, with free water filling stations near the bathrooms along the gates.
The flight was as pleasant as before, receiving option of a chicken or cheese sandwich, both of which were lovely. Very few announcements and I found the cabin crew to be extra nice on this evening flight, both at gate and on the flight.
Overall thoughts on Air France with families
Pros:
- Quality and Comfort: Air France is known for its premium service, offering comfortable seating and quality in-flight meals, ideal for those seeking a more luxurious travel experience. The seats on board are excellently designed.
- Convenient Airport: Operating from Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Air France flies into Terminal 2E/F, which is relatively close to Disneyland Paris and offers modern facilities, and includes the train directly to the parks only taking 7 minutes. The terminal itself is not as fancy as Aer Lingus’s T1 at CDG, but its more convenient if you’re doing the train in the same trip.
- Cost: A previous con of mine; looking at our dates, they were significantly cheaper than Aer Lingus.
Cons:
- Cost and finding the right flight: Still a premium fare; you can do cheaper going to Beavius with RyanAir, but at some stage the convenience is worth the cost. This time it was well worth it. We could have also done the cheaper 6am flight and reduced it even further (Another €120 less overall), but that was worth it.
- Baggage Fees: Lower-tier tickets may not include checked baggage, leading to additional costs. If you do really need a bag, it can cost. But we did not; we managed with 4 cabin sized bags easily for 5 days during extreme heat in Paris.
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