Toulouse, France August 2008: Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Roissy France (CDG) to Houston Intercontinental, Houston TX (IAH)

AF38 24AUG08 Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Roissy France (CDG) to Houston Intercontinental, Houston TX (IAH) 3:55p 7:30p 332 F-GZCL

Flight Time: 10:00
Seat Map

It was 3:24p as I handed my boarding card to the smartly dressed male flight attendant who indicated I should go to the second aisle and make a right. I made my way through the Business class cabin with its 2-2-2 configuration, then to the Tempo class with its 2-4-2 configuration tapering to a 2-3-2 for the last few rows.

As I was about to sit, a flight attendant asked me if I wanted to switch with a guy who was traveling with his girlfriend, but they were separated. Sure I said and moved to his seat which was a window. As it turns out, it was actually the seat next to my traveling companion who arrived just as I was settling into my new seat.

The lead flight attendant announced at 3:45p that we should not buckle up as the aircraft was still being refueled. As i looked outside, I confirmed this wondering how come the truck was under the left wing. Actually I did notice it as I was boarding and walking down the jetway.

The Captain on the PA and welcomed us onboard and advised that our flying time was 10:00 today and that the temperature on arrival would be 25C. He did this first in French and then in English. The English version is always an abridged version.

At 3:50p, boarding was complete and a headcount was done before passengers started to switch seats in order to get more comfortable. Even my travel companion switched to another seat. The doors closed at 3:56p and at 4:04p we were pushing back and the animated/non-animated safety demo was playing on the monitors.

We had a relatively short taxi to the runway and was airborne at 4:12p. Soon after takeoff, we were given a packet with a blindfold, a pair of headsets and ear plugs for the flight. A really cute menu followed.

At about 4:37p, the Captain came on the PA and advised that the navigation computer had developed a fault and we were returning to Paris. What! I thought...

I felt the airplane make a right turn, but did not notice any fuel being dumped form the wings and we started a slow descent into Paris-Charles de Gaulle where we landed on runway 26R/08L at 5:14p. We taxied up to an end gate at Terminal E once more. I did notice that this gate is actually capable of handling an A380. This was evident by the extra jet bridge that is at the gate.

You can see the flight status information at http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus/flightStatusByFlight.do;jsessionid=F160CB5D23AE72FD5A208A57E71AA2CC.ned:8009?airline=(AF)+Air+France&flightNumber=38&departureDate=2008-08-24&x=5&y=8