Emirates v Air France - opinions please

wisbech_lad

Emirates isn't worth the difference.

fifeken

I've travelled long haul with both companies in the last couple of years and would much prefer Emirates. I would also chose Dubai airport as a stopover point, even for a short duration stop, over the abomination that is CDG.

However £800 would get you another flight to Mauritius so it really depends on what is more important to you. The journey is only a small percentage of your trip and either way you're stuck in a metal tube with not much to do so is it worth paying this much more for a slightly better service?

Ems!

dmg24 wrote: »

I would echo nico26's comments about Emirates, and also about KLM!

Do you have to go on a package deal? It may be cheaper to build up the trip yourself, which should give you more choice of airlines?

I have picked a specific hotel that I have my heart set on and so far can onlly find it available through Thomsons or via the hotel itself at a cost of around €6,000 for half board! ( The price I have via Thomsons is AI). So unless I find another hotel , I am a bit stuck. I have a couple of weeks until I can book so plenty of time for me to hopefully find the hotel elsewhere.

Ems!

Does anyone have any thoughts on BA compared to Air france? I've managed to find the holiday for around the same price with a BA flight for approx the same price , but it would be for 1 night less due to flight times.

ryandj

My girlf's bro just flew Air France and did not rate it very highly. The planes were a bit old fashioned, the service was "Parisian", and also the plane was very noisy, and the food was not very good.

Emirates is (I hope) pretty good as we are flying with them for our honeymoon.

alanrowell

The main advantage of flying Emirates is that it means you don't have to go anywhere near Charles de Gaulle Airport

However I'm surprised that AF & Emirates are your only choices, have you checked Air Maritious & BA?

Voyager2002

I like both Air France and Emirates. As noted, KLM and Air France are the same company, but operate as two separate airlines, and in many ways Air France is superior to KLM.

I think that I would choose Air France over Emirates, because I like their selection of in-flight entertainment better and I appreciate the unlimited free champagne. Plus, leg-room is lacking on the Emirates 777s (but much better on their Airbuses). Although the need to transit through CDG is a definite disadvantage.

I am quite sure that the difference between these airlines is not work 800 pounds, or anything like that much.

Ems!

alanrowell wrote: »

The main advantage of flying Emirates is that it means you don't have to go anywhere near Charles de Gaulle Airport

However I'm surprised that AF & Emirates are your only choices, have you checked Air Maritious & BA?

I'd heard such terrible reviews of Air Mauritius that I didn't look at them, I did look at BA (a few posts above), and wondered if anyone can comment on them compared to AF. They are around same price as AF but, due to days they fly, I'd have a day less holiday ( 9 nights instead of 10)

Voyager2002

Ems! wrote: »

I'd heard such terrible reviews of Air Mauritius that I didn't look at them, I did look at BA (a few posts above), and wondered if anyone can comment on them compared to AF. They are around same price as AF but, due to days they fly, I'd have a day less holiday ( 9 nights instead of 10)

The difference between AF and BA is marginal, and certainly not worth a day of your holiday.

Personally, I think AF beats BA for in-flight service and catering, but against that BA has better service on the ground (it is hard to imagine service much worse than the off-hand incompetence of some of the AF ground staff at CDG), and I would pay a good few pounds to avoid having to change 'planes at CDG.

becominganobsessivesaver

Here's my thoughts having spent my entire maternity leave planning a trip to Mauritius.

I booked flights directly through BA (as I had tesco points to covert to BA miles and could then upgrade.)

I found that a lot of the online agents (Tropical Sky, DreamTicket, Destinology etc.) offered accomodation only, so haggled a bit between these for that

I've booked private transfers directly with a company in Mauritius

You may find this a cheaper way to do it - our holiday's coming in about £600 more than the travel agents quoted for the whole thing - but we paid for premium economy flights with that (and of course got our Tesco upgrade to Club free:j ).

Not sure if this is any use and if you want any of the websites I used feel free to PM!

Out of interest where are you looking at staying?