Air France La Première to Chicago

From the lounge, it was a short walk and elevator ride down to ground level and our awaiting BMW.

For the long, drive to... a bus gate?  And where no one had yet boarded.  Yeah, so glad we rushed lunch.  Really?  The good news is that I good some up close pics of our 77W.

A tale of two classes.  La Première arrives by limo, everyone else by bus.  

After introductions to the cabin crew, I was escorted to my 1L as 1A was apparently defective.

A peek into Business Class since no one had yet boarded.  So glad I rushed lunch for this.  I guess, I've already whined about that.  

Back in 1L, my first of two La Première flight attendant, Georges, served a glass of champagne.  Unlike the wonderful Anne on MEX-CDG, this was the B team.  Little details like not opening and plating the box of cashews and cranberries.  And forgetting to close the galley curtain later on in flight.  Lots of yapping in the galley. 

 And no tray or chocolates like Anne had prepared even prior to my arriving at my seat on MEX-CDG...

My rushed lunch was even more annoying as the rest of the passengers didn't even board until our 3:30pm departure.  Some 35 minutes laterm at 4:05pm, we pushed.

The combination of my decadent eating and drinking from the night before and my rushed lunch... and my tummy was not happy.  I decided to sleep for the first two hours and then have lunch about three hours into our flight.  By that point, Georges had disappeared and another flight attendant took my lunch order and served.

Showtime.

The cream of artichoke soup was delicious. 

The lobster and green aspargus salad was a little bland.

On the other hand, the duet of shrimp and squid was excellent.

... especially with camargue red rice and tasty taragon lobster sauce.

For dessert, Michael Roth's Empress Rice pudding with candied fruit in a chocolate dome.

Wow, this was sensational.

Georges had made my bed next door and I moved over to sleep for a solid three hours, awaking about 90 minutes out.  As I was still full, I decided not to test my tummy despite lusting after the Tender beef and pan fried foie gras pastry puff on the Light Menu.  In a another service failure, I was never even asked if I wanted some more to eat.  Yeah, that was the B team.

Nice views of Lake Michigan and northern shoreline.

Since this was the first Air France arrival in ORD this year, I'll cut them some slack that the only door used was 2L.  To her credit, another flight attendant escorted me to the door ahead of other passengers.  When the door open, PA Michelle was waiting to escort me thru CBP immigration/customs which was pretty empty.

... and then to the exit to the third world experience that is ORD Terminal 5.

Despite the B team cabin crew, it was still another enjoyable Air France flight and a great 24 hour experience.