Career Magazine

Flight Report: Air France A380-800 [F-HPJG] IAD to CDG

By Swayne Martin @MartinsAviation
Just 1 day after having arrived home from California, I was packing again. This time, it was for a visit to France. I was flying out to meet my friend and his family on the Island of Noirmoutier, on the Western Coast of France. My friend visited with my family earlier in the summer, and now it was time for me to go see him in France. 

After months of planning, it was time to book the tickets during the spring of last year. I decided to book my flights both ways on the Air France A380. To do this, I had to fly through JFK on the way back to fly on the A380 again. I'm not sure it was the best decision to fly on the A380 both ways, as I've always wanted to fly on a 747 or A340. I could've done one of each type both ways. I booked both of my tickets to have window seats on the Upper Deck economy section of the A380. It was definitely cool to fly on the 2nd deck of the plane. I loved that I was able to go up and down the aft stairs of the plane throughout the flight. Air France Flight 39 Information

  • Flight: Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) to Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG)
  • Flight Time: 7 Hours, 30 Minutes
  • Aircraft: Air France A380-800 [F-HPJG]
  • Seat: 92L (window)
Flight Report: Air France A380-800 [F-HPJG] IAD to CDGThe plane at the gate in IAD

Flight Report: Air France A380-800 [F-HPJG] IAD to CDGAnother photo of our plane at the gate (IAD)

Here is the video from taking off at IAD. It was so cool to have the live tail camera for takeoff and landing. More videos like this can be found on my Youtube Channel: MartinsAviation1


Flight Report: Air France A380-800 [F-HPJG] IAD to CDG
Business Class just forward of the economy section
I got extremely lucky on the flight over to CDG as there was no one sitting next to me in my row. Because of that, I was able to make a little bed. The plane was pretty lightly filled, some 4 seat rows in the middle were entirely open, but of course were taken over for use as beds at night.  
Flight Report: Air France A380-800 [F-HPJG] IAD to CDG
Window view from 92L
Here is the video from our early morning landing at CDG. You can see how hard the landing was in the video: 

I got somewhat lucky as were were de-planing. There was no second jetway for the upper deck, so we got to use the forward stairs in the plane. This allowed me to check out First Class and the In-Flight "Lounge/Art Museum." 
Flight Report: Air France A380-800 [F-HPJG] IAD to CDG
The Business/First Class Lounge/Art Gallery 

Thanks for reading and watching!Swayne Martin Twitter: @MartinsAviation 


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