Why would an airline that desperately needed to watch its pennies experiment with flying to remote destinations just because Patrick Smith thinks it would be romantic?

Most of the international traffic in Africa is with Europe -- European companies investing in Africa, Europeans going to Africa for tourism, Africans going to Europe, often for education or a job.

Paris, London and Frankfurt have direct flights to much of Africa and much of the US. It's a little longer for Americans to reach Africa by flying through Europe -- but not much. Europe's really on the way. At best, American companies could experiment ona single flights from one US city to one African city wheras the European companies have a network that reaches many cities in both North America and Africa.

Romance? Eh.

...misplaced, I fear. I flew Afrique from CDG to Cotonou, Benin in July 2001, with a stopover in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (whose airport bears a striking resemblance to the Oneida County Airport my Dad flew out of for Mohawk Airlines back in the '60's.)

The flight, on an Airbus A330, was hilarious. It left late, but that was excusable since it was raining in Paris that day like I've never seen rain before or since. Once aloft, the service was just stunning. The cabin crew was either indifferent or absent, the food was minimal (although I was, regrettably, in coach), and the in-flight entertainment consisted of watching the video screens deploy, play some South African quasi-pornographic fashion show for about 45 seconds, then watching the screens stow themselves. This happened no less than five times! However, the scenes out the window of the Sahara scrolling by were more than enough for my Africa-virgin eyes.

On the other hand, I got to where I was going safely, and everything was OK other than when my equipment case - with much valuable video gear in it - didn't show up. (It did, unmolested, about two days later.) And leaving Cotonou, whose airport rivaled Abidjan in both antiquity and decrepitude, was even weirder - how the Air France crew managed to both land and take off in a massive A-340 on that tiny strip was quite impressive. (And we stopped in Lagos, Nigeria, on our way to Paris as well.)

Romance has it's limits, even in flying!

Have to share the puzzlement. Patrick, you're sounding positively Empire! Flying the flag across the globe, wot.

After thinking for a moment, I think I can honestly say that the last thing I care about is the flag painted on the fuselage. First is safety, second is service, third is convenience. (And, for the latter two reasons, I try my best NOT to fly US carriers.)

I recently flew from Vancouver to Jakarta via Frankfurt, Zurich and Singapore solely because it meant I got a sweet deal on SQ, the universe's finest carrier. More than worth the extra hours, and, as it happened, I suffered the least jetlag ever upon arrival.

(Oh, and please god, would someone at United ditch the Gershwin? Isn't 20 years of aural torture enough?)

Patrick,

As someone who lived in Mali for 3 years, I share your affection for the country (which you've brought up several times previously), and the continent in general. Whilst I never got to fly Air Afrique, in a sense it does still live on.

Practically everything in Bamako-Senou airport, from the luggage scales to the check-in counters to the boarding "trucks", is still painted and logoed in the unmistakable Air Afrique livery. Indeed, Air Afrique cargo containers are still used & loaded onto AF 791 every night. Even on the drive to the airport, the Air Afrique logo still stands (proudly?) on a large building just down from the BCEAO...

I think it's great that there are now two opportunities to get to West Africa direct from the U.S., though with that said it was always a nice happening to have a stop-over in Paris en route to Bamako, Dakar or anywhere else (nice) in West Africa.

Chris

Bamako'kaw 2002-2005. I ni barra!

Yes, I would like to see US carriers flying into exotic locales also! I am sick of the whole 'alliance' concept where one buys a ticket on United but ends up boarding a non-United plane to an overseas destination. Heck, I am dismayed about buying a ticket on United and boarding a USAir 'codeshare' flight to domestic destination too! Airlines are losing their once-proud identities through these 'bottom-line, money-making' deals..and in turn, customers, I think are being cheated. If I buy a ticket on American, for example, I want American Airlines trained crews, American Airlines maintained aircraft etc..not some weasel deal where I am shuffled off onto some codeshare 'partner'..OK done ranting..

I agree that there is something special about a non-stop flight from the US to Africa. But, being from a smaller city (and an infrequent flier), I felt the same excitement about flying directly from Charleston, SC to Chicago. The contrast in culture, architecture, and city size was striking, yet only connected by a short plane ride.

I flew Air Afrique quite a few times in the late 90's and it was uniformly awful, even by African standards. There were problems with tickets or reservations almost every time. My first experience with Air Afrique was a flight from Douala to Dakar. I'd had my mother book the ticket because it was much easier to do in the U.S. than Cameroon. She paid in dollars of course. When we went to pick up the tickets the day before the flight we were told that the dollar had slipped some relative to the CFA (the local currency) and we had to make up the difference. Only after our rage exploded into shouting did they back off (In Air Afrique's defense this was most likely local corruption and not company policy). Their flights were always heavily overbooked and if you got bumped they did not consider it their responsibility to get you on another flight. You were on your own to figure something out. One time I was flying New York to Douala with a one night layover in Abidjan. The New York to Abidjan leg went fine and I enjoyed my night in Abidjan (which is/was a hopping city). However, they told me I was bumped when I returned to the airport the next morning. I asked when they would get me out and they said that I would have to go the Air Afrique office in Abidjan and buy a new ticket. Given that all their flights were habitually overbooked, it could have taken weeks to get out. Now, it may be that a bribe was required at this point, but I was too pissed off to try. It eventually came out that they had first class seats available, but that I would have to pay $700 for the upgrade. This seemed ridiculous, but I needed to get to Douala that day and so ended up paying it - figuring that I could sort it out when I returned to the U.S. Well, I fought with Air Afrique for the better part of a year but never got my money back. So, I was rather gleeful to hear of Air Afrique's demise (although I am sure that it has made finding flights within West Africa much harder).