I wanted to post a brief trip report for a recent trip I took on L'avion, since it seems that there is not a lot of information available on them here.

In general, I was very pleased with the airline, especially since we paid $3000 for two round-trip tickets at a time when coach tickets were $1200 a piece. However, it comes nowhere close to VS J or LH C (my usual TATL choices).

More details:

Checkin at EWR was easy, and the crew was very friendly. No line, but the number of keystrokes required to process our checkin seemed inordinately high. They leave from the middle pier at EWR, which has no priority security line. The regular line was about 15 minutes. Instead of a lounge, they had a curtained-off gate area where they were serving Bud, Bud Light, and water, as well as Kraft cheese and Ritz crackers. Really. On a French all-business class airline.

On board, the FAs were very friendly, except for one who seemed to be going out of his way to be rude -- he flatly refused to serve me water at one point when I went to the galley. It took about an hour for the service to get started, but when it did start it was fast. (They tried to take away the tray before I was done eating -- and I'm a fast eater!) The quality of the food was good, and the presentation was very nice. (They used good-quality plastic plates, and provided high-quality stainless cutldery.) I found my main course (cod) to be oversalted, but I think that was just a personal preference. During dinner, they were not refilling our wine glasses, except by request. The wine was decent -- I had a Bordeaux. Oddly, they ddidn't offer a wine card or dinner menu.

After dinner I slept. While the seats were old-stlye (very similiar to the old LH C), I slept quite well. The cabin was very dark and quiet. When I woke up, I had trouble getting water -- they FAs weren't passing through the cabin after the breakfast service, and I had the above-mentioned problem when I went to the galley.

Arrival at ORY was a bit hectic as there were a number of other flights arriving at the same time, but still a breeze compared to CDG. We arrived at a bus gate, and it probably took about 45 min from arrival until we were out of the terminal. (Most of them time was waiting for luggage.)

On the return trip, we arrived at ORY at about 11 for a 2PM flight. The staff was busy chatting by the checkin counter, and told use that they would open at 11:30. (The website said 11 when I checked, but whatever.) The finally openned at 11:40, and after another 5 minutes of keystrokes, we were on our way to the lounge. They have access to the iCare lounge which was between the LH and VS lounges, in terms of quality. The seats were very comfortable, and there was champagne, but not a lot of food choice. (The lounge was pre-security.)

They suggested we leave the lounge an hour before the flight. That seemed necessary, because they only had one security line for our flight. (The single security line offerred the "enhanced" US-bound security.) Departure was again by bus. Even given the odd security situation, still much better than CDG.

The crew on the return flight was much nicer. (And I had the chicken this time, which I liked more.) They kept our glasses full throughout. The lunch was substantial, and there was a small, open-faced sandwhich served prior to arrival. I also noticed that there were no small children on either flight in any cabin. For me (who has noise cancelling headphones which cancel all other sounds), this is a huge plus.

Arrival at EWR was easy. No lines and bags came right out. Also, we hit the AirTrain and NJT right as they were departing :-).

IFE was via a Digiplayer. I didn't use it, but my SO said that the movie selection was limited by good. Mostly movies for adults, no family films.

Also, note that they don't offer a welcome drink. It didn't seem very practical to do so for the entire flight, but I figured this would bother some folks.

Bottom line:

Overall, a great value at the current fares. A little more employee training and better organization will help a lot. For me, the big downside is that I don't get any miles .