Like all of you know, I was in Toulouse last month to be in presence of reception of a new plane. I flew out on Jet Airways, which is my usual, all the while hoping in my head I was going to be in a different carrier but eventually back to 9W. I’ve already shared some pictures from the outgoing trip where I was on Jet Airways 3-class Boeing 777 flight between Mumbai and Amsterdam. I connected from there into a flight to Blagnac on KLM.

On the way back, I was booked on Air France all-economy flight from TLS to Paris. It was a long weekend, so everyone was travelling. Luckily I could find a lounge airside in Toulouse, called La Croix du Sud which was largely empty.

After a pretty boring flight to Paris Charles De Gaulle, I had a long trip of the airport thanks to the bus drop transfer, and eventually arrived at Terminal 2C which is where Jet Airways operates from in Paris. Somehow, Jet Airways has not been able to yet organise a transfer desk in Paris, so I had to show my ticket printout to everyone who needed to see a boarding pass, such as the guys at immigration control.

I eventually arrived at the Etihad First & Business Class Lounge, which is tastefully done but I’ve seen service go down year on year around here.

I parked myself in the restaurant area, where I ordered some Eggs Benedict. These ones came with a slice of salmon. But there was just one piece and not a pair. No menu was offered, and no drinks were on display, just coffee at the bar.

The area that will eventually be roped off for the Etihad Residence when they start the A380 operations in a few weeks.

I eventually arrived to the gate about 45 minutes before departure. It was here that I got my physical boarding pass. Once on board, I was escorted to my seat. This time I was flying on 1A right in the front of the plane. Like you would see, Jet Airways is operating an A333 which has the new business class, a staggered and more dense configuration for the airline to maximize their space usage.

After take off, I gave a pass to the Billecart Salmon champagne and stuck with a Coke light. It was time to get some work done. The screen size on these monitors is smaller than the B77W and the A332 herringbone configuration.

Soon enough it was time for lunch. I’d pre-booked a Western Fish dish, however, the crew did not get any notes about it as a part of the manifest, or they pretended to not know. So, I eventually got me an Indian meal, which was quite nice. It is always good to eat a hot meal after so many days of not eating it

Somewhere after watching a movie, I dozed off. So, I did not even have the crew set up my bed for me, and I just slept by bringing the seat to rest position and pulling over my duvet. When I woke up, I was dozing for over 5 hours and now hungry. So, I asked for the evening light meal to be served. I went with a fish selection, served with some potato wedges.

This was followed by a dessert which I’d asked for to be saved for me. This was the dessert I gave a miss at lunch. A Cold Gulab Jamun was served.

Somehow I did not know I was in for another sweet treat after. After a while, the crew brought me over to the galley, and set up a small cheesecake for me there. They thanked me for my business, and it was an unexpected surprise!

Soon enough, it was time to land, and after landing, it was time to navigate the entire Mumbai passport control before getting the ride home.

All in all, a pleasant flight. However, a lot of minor irritants as well. The meal which was missed was one strike, they did not have an amenity kit was two strikes for me. However, they managed to get me a sleeper suit while it was not a part of the day service on long haul flights, so one good point about it.

More details when I write a full review of the flight sometime shortly I hope.