"I also read somewhere in all this that AF was not convinced the new pitot tubes were really an improvement."
Other way round, according to what I've read, Graybeard. Airbus said that there was no proven need to replace the pitot tubes, Air France (an airline for which I personally have enormous respect) reckoned different and replaced them anyway.
A bit of what I personally consider to be 'good news.' My daughter is a prosperous international lawyer living in Hong Kong. She often makes short visits home and I've quite often 'advised' her to choose Boeings, rather than A330s/A340s, whenever possible. Without going into too much technical detail.
She just emailed me this arvo to say, "Thanks, Dad. Reading about the Air France thing, guess I'll try to follow your advice from now on........."
Anyone on here think that a basically-thick, but luckily 'cunning,' guy like me was over-reacting? Or that my (highly-intelligent, 'to a fault', honours-law-degree and Masters' ticket) daughter, who knows nothing at ALL about aviation, is over-reacting too?