Mrs. Billygoat and I just returned from JFK-CDG-NTE-CDG-JFK, of which the transatlantic segments were in Premium Voyageur. Some thoughts:
Good on the ground:
- J class check-in at JFK
- Surprisingly cheerful staff throughout the journey, and exceptionally helpful service on the outbound as our CDG-NTE flight was cancelled due to snow in CDG. Probably helped by the fact Mrs. Billygoat is French, and I spoke my "1st grader French"
- Priority Boarding (especially useful around Christmas)
- Priority luggage tags (useful in France, not so much on the return to JFK)
Good aspects on-board:
- Essentially our own overhead in the 777-200 (1 bin for 2 seats)
- J class style reading light in the seat
- J class pillow (good for most -- unfortunately, Mrs. Billygoat is allergic to feathers, so we went sans pillow)
- Y class food (our opinion, AF's Y class food has a better taste than J class on some airlines - hello Emirates????)
- Universal power adapter
- Noise-canceling headphones
- Calf-support for the seat
- Nicely styled amenity bag
- Nice seat width (non-bulkhead rows only)
- Big tray table (non-bulkhead rows only)
- Decent sized monitor and AVOD programming
Poor aspects on-board:
- Undoubtedly the worst seat I have ever been in for sleeping. This was the first flight in 35 years where I was unable to sleep (and I have no problem sleeping on 30 minute flights on CRJs, E145s and ATRs). The Y seats on our A319 on our 45 minute flight from CDG-NTE were FAR more comfortable.
- Bulkhead is
AWFUL.- Very poor seat width due to tray tables and entertainment systems
- No footrest in bulk-head
- Lack of amenities in the nicely styled amenity bag (comb, toothbrush, shoehorn, socks, headphone sanity pads)
- Need to add the aforementioned "sanity pads" from the amenity kit to the built-in headphones yourself.
- Can imagine the headphones "connected to the seat" won't last (reminds me of those listening stations at Virgin Megastores, which look great but the headphones never work)
Executive Summary
- Everything done well EXCEPT seat comfort for sleeping
- Excellent offering if you don't plan on sleeping
- We don't plan on taking it again (we will, however, continue to fly AF in J/Y)
- If you do decide to try it out, avoid bulkhead at all costs (row 22 in the 772)