lloydah

Am I the only living soul who actually likes/d the old style 380P cabin? Flying during the day with an empty or nearly empty cabin it seemed sort of like one's "own living room". Loads of space, exceptional service, quiet and comfortable. But then I suppose the fact that the cabin was often less then half full at most was its own demise to some extent. Flying on a 777, yes the cabin was new, the seat was slightly better and the curtains were very nice for privacy but it was noisier and I found it claustrophobic. I dislike the enclosed suites so often seen in many F cabins.

San Gottardo

I would think so

But indeed, the Premiere product may be a collateral damage of the A380 retirement. How many A380s did AF still fly before the lockdown? Ten? So retiring them now will withdraw 90 P seats from the AF fleet. Not all of them were needed, they often did not manage to sell all nine P seats. But let's say they still want to bring sufficient P capacity to at least some of the A380 desintations: JFK, LAX, PVG, JNB, MEX, SFO (note that some of them weren't going to see the A380 anymore anyway), so that P capacity would need to come from the 77W fleet. There aren't enough 77Ws with P to cover all of that, so AF would need to reconfigure some planes. The plan of having planes with 8 P seats becomes relevant, these could be used on some routes (but not all that saw A380 with 9 P seats previously). But then, does AF have the money to finance that reconfiguration?

Lots of unknowns, let's hope P stays with us and that it will be widely available.

Bullspread

Hopefully AF will find the money to insert a P cabin in some 77W.
Personally I am ready to do a stop in FRA/ZRH to flight F on long haul flights if I really want to flight First

AshleyB

The A380 first cabin has been in my experience usually quite full on AF6 CDG JFK. The night flight AF7 JFK CDG is less appealing for obvious reasons although the service remains as superb as always. I do rather wonder though if AF will fit future A350 cabins with the new improved first given that at present the A350/787 fleet are limited to Business/Premium Eco/Eco. It would be a pity to see it go.

San Gottardo

From own experience indeed the P cabin on the JFK and LAX flights has usually been well occupied. Those (and I presume other) routes might then be a candidate for 77Ws with 8P seats. If that scenario still exists.

tff

For Y pax, it's a loss. The mini cabin in the aft of the upper deck was the best in the fleet.

ATLCDG

You are not alone. I like that P cabin as well...except for the tiny screen. 😎

MsEllie

Sorry to see the a380 go, but would LOVE to see La Première seats on other planes if only to increase P capacity and keep it from being phased out.

If we could get a row of La Première seats on the DFW-CDG non-stop, I would leave AA for AF in a heartbeat. Plus, AF allows paid upgrades at the gate while AA requires what, a blood sacrifice? A special rain dance?

IkarosBOS

i know it sounds strange, but on the 777 P I arrive less rested than on the 380 P. I say this after approximately 20 roundtrips in the 380 and some 15 in the 777
In the 380, I like the openness of the cabin and the size of the ottoman more. If they had been OK’d to mount curtains on the 388 it would have been superior, although obviously a bit less exclusive. As for the IFE, in the era of downloadable netflix it doesnt change much

IkarosBOS

Theyre both nice. Late 90s esrly 2000s classy is the 380 cabin

IkarosBOS

Agree I rarely have seen a 380P empty to LAX. But at least twice we were the only 2 pax to SFO a few years back

IkarosBOS

i know it sounds strange, but on the 777 P I arrive less rested than on the 380 P. I say this after approximately 20 roundtrips in the 380 and some 15 in the 777
In the 380, I like the openness of the cabin and the size of the ottoman more. If they had been OK’d to mount curtains on the 388 it would have been superior, although obviously a bit less exclusive. As for the IFE, in the era of downloadable netflix it doesnt change much

Goldorak

It will require a lot of rain dance to have AF P on DTW-CDG . The 1st challenge for AF will be to survive on this route who has always been very difficult for all non-OW carriers.

gaukuser

Here! Happy to see it leave the fleet. My beef did indeed include the terrible interior fittings - but these could have been improved on. My main problem with this bird was always the length and convolution of accessing the aircraft. In most airport (JFK being my home airport), they weren't designed for 500 passagers waiting in line and it was just madness. At CDG, the bleeping purpose built gates at M48-50 were so far away from everything else, I always thought we were in Belgium by the time you got there. In fact, landing there was the worst after a long flight ... The enddddddlesss hallways to get back to the luggage area.

I really will not miss you, A380

ddutil

if there are some good gates at CDG, I have not found them yet