Leadership

Hi guys,

Last week I had the opportunity on behalf of flight-report to try Air France latest product: their brand new business class, marketed as the 3F experience:

1. FULL FLAT
2. FULL ACCESS
3. FULL PRIVACY

The first aircraft fitted with this new cabin is a 777-200ER which is curently solely operating AF009 JFK-CDG & AF008 CDG-JFK.

The seat is the well known Cirrus, developed by Zodiac Aerospace and already available on selected aircraft with Cathay Pacific, American Airlines, US Airways, Eva Air or China Eastern.

Some pictures:



Cabin




Seat





Meals




With this new seat Air France has shown its true commitment to providing a high quality and comfortable product. The French flag-carrier has made a significant investment to regain its place as one of the world’s top carriers.

Thanks to this new cabin, Air France will most likely offer the best Business class product of any European airline. Although many European carriers have been installing new cabins over the last several years, most new cabins are not offering full aisle-access.

That being said, there are still areas that could be improved, such as the roughness on the sidewalls and the service protocol on these short night flights. The introduction of new china is positive, but it is a shame that dishes are pre-packaged and reheated rather than being plated in the galley.

Today, Air France has chosen one of the best Business Class seats in the sky. For consistency, the French flag-carrier would do well to review its service guidelines in order to offer a truly top-notch experience.

THE POSITIVES:

- A full flat seat.
- Full aisle-access for every passenger on a spacious 1-2-1 configuration.
- Privacy thanks to a separation screen between seats, which can be removed for passengers traveling together.
- Bed length of 1.96m / 6.44ft
- New and improved pillow, cover, and amenity kit

THE NEGATIVES:

- Some rough finishes
- The actual cabin (walls, lighting, lavatories, bars, etc) has not been updated.
- Service guidelines lacking
- A rarely updated menu

Full review & additional pictures, please click here

Feel free to ask any question you may have on this new product.

Happy Flying

Joely

Apart from Iberia of course, oh and AlItalia, and Air Berlin, and Swiss, and Virgin Atlantic....

Carfield

Thanks for a nice trip report!

Air France definitely has stepped up its game but too bad they belong to the SkyTeam Alliance.

The meals look great.

Thanks for all the great details!

Carfield

Leadership

You right for AZ, IB and VS, I am not sure for AB though as only some of their aircraft are equiped with the EY like seats.
Some seats in LX are not full access (duo pair on throne side).

IanFromHKG

OP said "most", not "all"

And I agree with OP's other conclusion that this is probably the best J product of any European airline. Which means better than Iberia of course, oh and Alitalia, and Air Berlin, and Swiss, and Virgin Atlantic....

SkyTeam777

I thought AF always served champagne as a pre-departure option. When did this change?

sbams

Are you serious? Just look at that breakfast. That is supposed to be a croissant, from the country which "invented" croissants. Appaling!

Certainly a step backwards.

And just to show that I am not totally negative: the cabin and the seats look great - and looking forward to trying them out.

CHOPCHOP767

I think that this requires AF to pay US taxes on the liquor, hence they didn't serve. I've noticed this with a few European carriers in that an alcoholic pdb wasn't served until the door was closed.

Nevertheless, the new business looks like it's worth a try. I've had very positive experiences with AF. Still, I'm surprised no other cabin updates, eg lighting.

Thanks for posting!

Leadership

I always had Champagne before with AF as PDB, sometimes they wait for the doors to be closed (India), but in the case of US it seems that they now refuse to pay applicable taxes which is a shame IMO.

Leadership

Agree, this croissant was dry and tasteless.

DartagnanHSC

I've heard that before and also that it has something to do with the US dept of Agriculture since the beverage was not bought in the US--no idea if that's true or not, but it's a shame. I've had instances where AF has served Champagne PDB ex-US and others where they haven't. I've also experienced this on DL overseas.

GateGuardian

Thanks for the post, I'm so jealous as I'm flying AF from YYZ-CDG and does not have lay down seats

cxny1090

Great Report!

I just visited the Air France Expo in NYC and got to sit/test in the new Business seat. I was fascinated how great it was and how it's a huge 360 from what AF currently has. I just can't wait to try it out on an actual flight!

brewdog11

My cynical comments about AF's soft product non-withstanding, it looks like a very nice hard product. Probably won't ever fly it, but I certainly wouldn't mind if the price were right!

MatthewLAX

Seats look good. That's about it.