$5400 RT La Premiere good deal
 

Have to go to LHR in Dec. Found a fare from JFK-CDG-LHR round trip on Air France for $5450 including all taxes . This would be La Premiere transatlantic and Business intra euorpe. I am usually a ONe world flyer and was going to take BA... Do you Air France guys think this is a fare that is special or is that te usual fare of Air France... Thanks...

It’s not bad at all.

And a far, far better experience than BA.

You guys are great! Thanks ..

JFK-LHR/CDG is a very short flight 6+ hours. Little time to enjoy F. And you add several hours by transferring in CDG. The return might be more enjoyable as it is a day flight.
Try to avoid the A380 as it offers an outdated seat.
Personally, I would choose AA nonstop J over that itin.

Good price.
Try to stay in CDG several hours before transit flights as you will discover the best First class airline lounge for dining according to Skytrax and all members of this forum :)

Given the circuitous route when so many direct flights are offered to LHR AF LA Premier is consistently priced at this level.

If you have time to spare, I say go for it, but I think AA/BA F nonstop can usually be had for $1000 less booked far enough in advance. AA supposedly has excellent First Class dining in its lounge at JFK (but only 1x daily flight with F) and on the return you can use the CX F lounge. Definitely won't be as good as AF but it's still a decent product.

I took this routing a few weeks ago, having heard how much better AF's La Premiere is than my usual BA First class. However I made the mistake (referred to above) of booking the A380 and I'm afraid I found the in-flight elements of the journey, and especially the seat and the food and wine choice, inferior to the BA offering.

The situation on the ground, however is quite different. The individual care, including shepherding me to my connecting flights, was extraordinary - BA doesn't even attempt to offer anything comparable. The AF lounge at CDG and the VIP part of the Skyteam lounge at LHR are also far superior to the BA/AA alternatives. At JFK, however, it's a different matter and both BA's Concorde room and AA's flagship lounge and first class dining are better than the strange little room AF uses for its Premiere customers.

Bottom line: if I had to fly this route and all 3 carriers were offering first class at the same price I would probably choose AA. Pre-check at JFK (for me) cancels out the AF escort through the zoo that is T1, and in the end, for me at least, direct flights have to be significantly more rubbish or more expensive than the alternatives before an indirect routing makes sense. Perhaps if I'd known to avoid the A380 I might think differently but my recollection was I would have had to pay more to fly on different flights.

I'm surprised to hear that. While the seat is of course different on the A380, the food and wine are the same as what AF serves on the 777. To me it's always much better overall than what BA serves on the same route, including the seat. The AF A380 seat is a good bit wider than BA's F seat. But I mostly have flown a lot of IAD-LHR (or CDG) recently so can't speak much to JFK. That flight is so short I don't even eat on the flight, assuming I had a good meal in the lounge.

The main difference IMHO between the AF A380 seat and the new 777 seat is the ability to sleep very, very well thanks to the privacy and bedding. If I am flying west on a day flight I don't care which of the two airplanes I'm on.

But to your latter point about preferring the direct route, I agree. The main reason to choose AF with the stop-over is to try out the AF ground service and La Première lounge. Once you have that out of your system, it makes sense to go back to BA for the JFK-LHR route unless there is a significant price difference or you really want Skyteam miles. ;) This is all speaking as a regular business traveler. For tourism I would always choose AF with the stop-over.

I agree that BA is not a top benchmark in F. But I find their A380 F suite truly excellent (BA 77W and 744 are clearly inferior), much better than AF A380 F seat, which are old with no privacy and small screen.
I would agree with CCaley that AF A380 should be avoided in favor of the 77W.
Unfortunately AF curerntly schedules two A380 and one 77W to/from JFK. From CDG the 77W is usually on AF22 which depart at 08:20 so impossible to connect from LHR. From JFK AF23 (77W) departs at 16:25 and lands at 05:40. If you are on American time, this is not a good time to take an overnight flight and enjoy dinner before some sleep (you land before midnight NY time). Then you might get a quick breakfast at the wonderful P lounge and connect to LHR at 07:20. Or you have a long breakfast and take the next flight at 10:05, but that is a very long sleepy wait and the CDG-LHR flight with Y seating and the middle seat left open will be brutal.
Furthermore, the lounges at both ends of your journey will be inferior on AF. The CCR in LHR and JFK are good with excellent wines and nice little dishes. The AF lounges in JFK and LHR are clearly inferior.
Finally, you can currently buy BA F from JFK at $4,890.

Well, horses for courses. I think the 380 seat and cabin is far superior on AF compared to BA. It may be older but it's ideal for sleeping as well as simply sitting. I like the openness of the cabin too. I agree about the small screen but that doesn't bother me as much as the superior service, food and wine I get on AF. All in all, given a choice I would opt for AF La P over anything else.

To save some $, I've done business on the outbound and P on the return on this route. Making sure to have a 4 hour or so layover at CDG on the way back.

Or you became addicted to the pasta with ham and black truffle from the La Première lounge ;)

on my side, I have a very strong addiction to their beef filet, black pepper sauce, mashed potatoes 😋😋😋