On Tuesday Air France officials were in Everett, Washington to take delivery of the company’s 50^th Boeing 777-300ER airplane. The flight home to Paris had room for a few guests.

Highlights of the trip:

• A chance to see – and smell – a brand new airplane. Turns out, like new cars, new airplanes definitely have a very recognizable fresh smell.
• The chance to explore the upgraded entertainment system, with personalized instruction from one of the designers. Passengers can choose from 85 on-demand movies (I squeezed in three fresh French comedies on the flight between Washington state and Paris) and create personalized music play lists from a very extensive and somewhat eclectic list of CDs. The first screen of jazz and blues options, for example, included complete albums from John Coltrane and Ray Charles.
• By far, though, my favorite part of the entertainment system: Seatback Berlitz language classes, which provide lessons in key words and valuable phrases, such as “Somebody call the police!,” in 23 different languages.

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