I flew business class on Air France's Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger jet, and the experience is what I imagine the golden age of air travel was like

Rebecca Harrington/Business Insider

Boarding an Air France Airbus A380.

• Flying in business class on Air France's Airbus A380 from New York to Paris round-trip was a treat.
• The airline only has five superjumbo jets in operation, and Airbus recently announced it was ceasing production on making any more new ones.
• Travel junkies laud the A380 for how quiet it is. I couldn't believe how soundproof the mammoth double-decker plane was.
• Here's what the journey was like, from check-in to the lounge, to the flights themselves.
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I'm rarely excited to get on a plane. These days, flying feels more like a chore. Airlines are packing more and more seats in planes to boost profits, and passengers are crammed in as tight as can be. If you didn't know your neighbor before you got on the plane, you sure do by the time you get off.

But for a recent trip to Europe, I flew business class on Air France's Airbus A380-800 - the legendary superjumbo jet. I'd never been on a double-decker plane, and I was so excited!

Read more: The $446 million Airbus A380 superjumbo is the largest and most expensive airliner in the world. Take a look inside.

From check-in to the airport lounge, to the seamless boarding process, to the plane ride itself, Air France's attentive service, delicious food, and thoughtful amenities made flying a luxury.

But the A380 is a dying breed. Airbus announced in February that it was discontinuing production of the model, and Air France said last fall it was getting rid of five of its 10 superjumbos, and retrofitting the other five. As Business Insider's correspondent Benjamin Zhang has written, the plane is simply "too big, expensive, and inefficient for most operators."

I usually fly Delta, and we booked these round-trip tickets from New York to Geneva through them, so I ended up getting almost 14,000 SkyMiles for my flights. Air France and Delta are partners in a trans-Atlantic joint venture that allows them the ability to jointly market their flights and share costs. The highlight of the journey was flying on the superjumbo from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport to Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Here's what it was like to fly business class round-trip on Air France's A380-800.