
I've visited Paris many times, but every time I go, I feel like I've left something undone or overlooked something, and I hear that many women end up boarding the plane for no apparent reason. Paris is a city with such a mysterious charm. It's also a city visited by executives from around the world for business.
Air France's First Class offers the finest service for repeat customers and business executives at the airport, in the air, and on the ground. In this second installment of our First Class feature, we'll introduce the service in Paris.
The on-ground service department, staffed by six elite staff members led by Jan Chipp, acts as a concierge for customers visiting Paris from around the world. For example, if a First Class passenger requests a tour of a newly opened museum, their job is to immediately contact them and make the arrangements.
The museum visit program prepared for this interview was the Fondation Louis Vuitton, an art museum that opened in October 2014 in a corner of the Jardin des Acclimatations in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. The Fondation Louis Vuitton is a museum run by the Louis Vuitton Foundation, established at the initiative of Bernard Arnault, head of the LVMH Group. The museum was designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, and its glass and steel building is a contrast to the Grand Palais, built for the 1900 Paris World's Fair. We were first guided to the top floor. However, the building's unique lack of hierarchy makes it easy to lose track of your location, as even the lower floors offer windows with views of the sky. From the top floor, we could see a panoramic view of both old and new Paris, including the Eiffle Tower, a historic landmark in Montmartre, the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, and the Arc de Triomphe de Defense, a symbol of the new Paris. The museum houses a permanent exhibition centered on contemporary art, as well as spaces for temporary exhibitions and concerts and performances. With new exhibitions starting every few months, the museum is attracting a growing number of repeat visitors. A new special exhibition just began this June (for more information on the exhibition, please visit http://www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr/ja.html).
In addition to the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Air France's first-class customer service representatives can also guide you to art galleries and museums run by luxury brands that are often difficult to access. They can also arrange restaurant reservations and accompany you. They ask about your health and preferences at the time, and have a system in place that allows them to make reservations at restaurants throughout Paris at any time, so they are always fully prepared.
This time, I was taken to Ladurée, a long-established salon de thé on Rue Royale near the Madeleine. Founded as a patisserie in 1871, Ladurée's interior is filled with elegance, featuring a "Pastry Angel" painted by Jules Cheret, who also created the ceiling painting for the Garnier Opera House. Inside, stylish ladies were chatting over patisserie and tea. At lunchtime, light meals known as snacks, such as salads and clubhouse sandwiches, are popular, and at this time, more and more suited gentlemen are seen having business lunches. Of course, when you think of Ladurée, you think of macarons. I wondered if the macarons in the original country had a slightly richer taste, and if this was due to differences in taste between French and Japanese, or if the recipe had changed.
I enjoyed the latest Paris at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, and a teatime at Ladurée, where classic Paris still lingers. The Air France first class service exuded an air of intelligent and light French chic.








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