Originally Posted by
DartagnanHSC
Thanks for your comment! One thing AF is good at, IMO, is esthetics. Even the cramped 10 abreast Y cabin on 777s is visually appealing to me...comfort is another story. Premium Economy is definitely a good option if you don't want to shell out $4K+ and have more comfort. As a DL Flier, I fly in Economy Comfort a lot, and of course there is no comparison since AF's is a true Premium Economy product. I wish DL would introduce a true W cabin. Some people don't like the AF PE seat because they either find it hard or that it does not recline enough, and although I agree to a degree, I find that the extra legroom and width (comparable to domestic F as you say) far outweighs the negative points. The 150% MQMs and 25% class bonus is definitely a big +
I agree with you about one of AF's strengths being their good esthetics.
AF holds a special place in my heart, being the first foreign carrier I flew in a premium cabin. At the time, DL/AF still allowed DL SWU (old useless international M+ fare ones) to be used to upgrade any AF Prem Econ fare and I got in right before DL/AF closed the loophole, shortly afterwards only allowing SWU use on 2-3X more expensive full fare PE W fares.
Since I had only flown the DL (NWA World Business) A330 slanted Biz seats before the AF experience, my AF flights seemed very nice.
Of course, now that I have experienced SQ/LH/CX F not to mention many lie-flat J seats, if I flew on AF's old slanted J seats again today, I suspect my experience wouldn't be nearly as rosy. Ahh, I guess it's all relative!
I was glad to hear AF finally announced the upgrade of their J product to the top notch Cirrus reverse herringbone lie-flat seat that CX/AA/US/DL (747) uses in their new J. Hopefully AF rolls out the new J upgrades quickly!
When stuck flying Econ, I'll still take DL/UA/AA's E+ product in 9 across seating vs a glitzier carrier like Emirate/Ethiad/Lufthansa's 10 across 31" pitch seats.
Outside of affordable J fare sales and award redemption J/F tickets, the sweet spot is with the true PE products AF/CX/BA/QA offers. And it provides a safety net in case the Econ->J upgrade fails. I try to encourage the trend by voting with my revenue spend on the routes I'm flying.
More carriers need to introduce a true PE product to slot in the giant canyon that has opened up between cattle class Y and 5-10X more expensive hedonistic class J. Thank god for the USA domestic usable SWUs in the meantime!
P.S., in regards to the USA carriers' econ plus product, the only example I can think of with a wider E+ product is AA's new 77W main cabin extra product. AA made those extra legroom E+ seats 9 across vs the rest of the E cabin being 10 across. Unfortunately AA's old 772 birds were all 9 across in E so this case is more of a one step backwards and then forwards.