I was lucky enough to get both of my booked flights with just a 1 hour delay on the first leg of the trip from Luton to Newark. Sadly they didn't make for up the delay and we arrived about 1 hour late in EWR. I had the plane with light blue seats on the way there and the dark blue seat on the way back. The plane with dark blue seats looks nicer, and the seat feels marginally better, but none can be classed lie flat (oh it has power plugs but the light blue has usb charging as well). It wasn't too comfortable to sleep on the lie flat position, so I reclined it as much as possible to keep my knees on a higher position and sleep on my back.
The lounge in Luton is under renovation and really small, but still miles ahead if compared to the lounge in EWR.
Once you get inside the plane things get better. Actually, the check in team in Luton were excellent, the one in EWR were a bit aloof, but not too bad. The service from the cabin crew was excellent, sometimes they forgot about our drinks order but they made every effort to provide us with the meal of choice or any extras we wanted. I have to point out that the flight from LTN to EWR was cancelled the day before my flight so the plane was almost full and the senior cabin crew was running up and down fixing various problems but always had a smile and was very professional when dealing with us.
We went to EWR on 16A and C, they were good seats, but the people in front had to move as they said the seat wouldn't recline. I've heard quite a few people moving seats for that reason, and most of the tablets didn't work (they had spares, but honestly it's not that good, old movies and 2 week old newspapers loaded). On the way back we were on 1D and F, a bit of extra leg room, but faced the senior cabin crew during take off and landing. She was lovely with us.
I enjoyed the food, bearing in mind I've only tried business class on BA and TAM, it wasn't as good but not much worse either. We ordered vegetarian meals but got Vegan, there was no sign of egg, cheese or diary in our food making it a bit too bland, I then asked for the fish main meal and got it. After food you also get a choice of tea from a box. I think their service takes a bit too long and could be streamlined so we get more sleep time.
The flight back was on time, one of the cabin crew liked us and we had a long chat about the airline, she confirmed a crew member ill on Sunday night and couldn't fly, hence why they bundled everyone in one plane. She apologized and seemed to genuinely believe that the airline can make it and grow.
I think they read the reviews on blogs as they served drinks before taking off, they included a dental kit as these issues were mentioned in a blog review.
By far the best reason to fly with them is the extra space you get for the price. I used BA's World traveler plus a couple of times and La Compagnie is much better than that. The seat is slightly worse than the business seat on TAM, so obviously BA wins on the seat.
Last but not least, Luton is not a boutique airport, and I hope I never have to go there again. I hate the fact you need to get into a cramped bus from the train station to the terminal. I can't understand why they chose the only airport without a train station attached to it.
I would use La Compagnie again if I had to travel to NY and the price was right but it would need to be cheaper than BA's premium economy, even though La Compagnie is better, the hassle to get to Luton puts me off. It would be wonderful to have an airline like this flying to other destinations such as MIA or SFO.
Feel free to ask any questions about the experience and I'll reply while it still fresh in my mind.