carnarvon

ORY EWR yesterday. A321. Real good. Boarding via jetbridge. Crew top notch. Food fine. Nothing grandstanding but real fine. Only complaint would be the IFE, which keeps switching off and the screen too reflective. Could live with it but a bit annoying though.

Was told the 2nd A321 would arrive 23 September, but the date was not certain yet.

One thing I have to say is that this plane is amazing. With 74 pax only, it is very light. I never took off so fast on a commercial plane.
We turned at the end of the runway and immediately after, the pilot gave full power and we were in the air in what seemed like seconds. Then it climbed effortlessly to cruising altitude. Just unlike a heavy 777 or 747, not to mention the A340 powered with moped engines!

frostyeric

La Compagnie's schedule has now updated on their site to show both A321neo planes in service starting Sept 25. That's news that I like!

TBD

La Compagnie website advertises a sale with fares as low as $1,600. I can find lots of dates on Google flights as low as $1,400 (also on Kayak, Expedia, etc). But when actually trying to book on La Compagnie website, I can't find below $1,800 or $1,900. Any ideas what they're doing? (ex: 13-16 Dec).

carnarvon

Super promo fares are not available everyday. You must widen your search.

For example:
- December 11 EWR ORY $ 867
- return December 16 $ 830

TBD

Yes, that isn't the issue, The issue is that super promos seem to be available from OTAs, but not from La Compagnie's own website. I just booked $1400 flights on an OTA, but the same flights are $1800 or 1900 direct. This is not a bundle deal from Expedia, either.

carnarvon

You wrote you could not find below 1800 on B0 website. I show you 1600.

Now you want 1400. You're greedy.

mauld

I just returned from my EWR-NCE trip (at $1088 r/t- booked last Dec). The experience mixed, as I mentioned in previous posts I did this due to the non stop from EWR more than anything else. Now that UA's announced service starting next May I don't think I'd do La Compagnie again anytime soon. My flight was delayed due to weather and left around 1:45am. Nothing negative about that, it happens, I just do not like leaving that late at any time. On board, the 757 was showing its age, with duck tape and non functioning seat buttons. Head phones didn't work, tried 2 sets, then used my own. I was in a bulkhead seat and while given a tablet (Apple), was told I'd have to hold it as there is nothing on the wall to hold it up. ( I decided to use my own iPad mini instead). As it was almost 2 am by the time we took off, I opted just to go to sleep, so can't comment on dinner. Breakfast was ok, I had the omelette, and it was your usual airline eggs. The supposedly great croissant, was on par with UA's, cold & hard-- so nothing special. We were given 'special' access through immigration on arrival, but there were no lines for others, yet we moved slowly because you had to scan your boarding pass ( which many had tossed) to get through. Return was similar, and dinner choice was 3 dried out pieces of veal or rolled eggplant, both served with rice for both. The starter was sliced chicken breast with a tomato purée, no salad. Desert was some sort of raspberry bombé and a cheese plate. But they had taken away all silver except for 1 spoon before service, and there were no crackers or bread with the cheese. No one came by with any beverage service at any time after dinner and the arrival meal was a tiny salad and a small square of cake. Overall, it was ok, and worth about what I paid for, but for the same $$ I would take the UA coach next time around. Food and service were (IMO) on par or lower than coach on UA, but as the seating was all BusinessClass, there was more room between seats. I'm glad I tried it and loved getting to the south of France non stop.
PS you do get Fast Track, but apparently that ends at midnight, so given our outbound delay, no fast track. On the return there were no lines at all in Nice, so can't comment.

TBD

Good feedback. I'm fine having paid $1400 just for the a321 bed (nevermind service and catering). I can download some movies for the westbound day flight and eat/drink in EWR. Hopefully Orly has some decent options, too...

carnarvon

Both 757 will be gone in a few days.

The route will be axed.

I am surprised that you prefer to travel Y in a wide body aircraft with 300-400 pax rather than C (with its deficiencies) with 74!

Boarding without having to use your elbows, room for hand luggage in the racks even if you board last, no broken knees etc would be enough for me to put up with an ageing cabin...

mauld

With UA I'm in Group 1, so board first, I'm not a 'large' person, so the E+ on UA is fine with me and as I only take carry on, there's always room in the overhead. What I didn't like about LaCompagnie was the late hour of the flight (scheduled for 11:30pm-- which is late enough, but we took off 2 hrs later). The condition of the aircraft was showing its age, with broken seats, duct tape and dirty bathrooms. The food was not at all what I expected, and service (in both directions) consisted of the FA's serving the meal then disappearing-- there was no second round of drinks and the choice of food was pretty bad. Yes, it was nice having a larger seat, but E+ is also sufficient for me. The entertainment options were poor, and as I mentioned, bulkhead seats do not have any place to put the Ipad, so your left holding it to watch anything. I only took this flight due to the non stop nature of EWR-NCE, but now that UA has announced the same route, I'll go with them in the future.

Freckles68

Ha, that's what I posted on Twitter. It's the Fyre Festival of airlines. Even down to the "food." A pile of canned spinach for breakfast, a cold side salad for an entree, and this was my delicious gourmet snack. I'm a vegetarian, not a goat. The only way I'd ever fly this sham of an airline again would be if it were the only way to escape the zombie apocalypse. Every single thing about the experience was dreadful and low rent.

mauld

Your 'snack' was certainly larger than the regular snack served on my NCE-EWR flight this past Monday, which consisted of a 1"square piece of cake with a tiny lettuce salad with one crouton. Dinner was 3 dried out pieces of veal and a timbale of rice, the vegetarian option swapped out the veal with a rolled piece of eggplant.

Freckles68

This was literally one slice of stale brown bread with neon cheese. And the pile of spinach for breakfast was such a treat. Other passengers received a spinach and cheese frittata with potatoes and bread and something else I couldn't make out. The couple across from us was given an extra full breakfast to feed to their cat. We had to ask for a bread roll.

The entree of a side salad (served with a smaller side salad) was an inspired selection. And while other passengers enjoyed a lovely dessert of Paris Brest pastry, we were given a tiny dish that fit in the palm of my hand, containing two grapes, a pineapple slice, two raspberries, and a piece of kiwi.

On top of all this, our seats on the ancient contraption (sorry, LUXURY BOUTIQUE AIRCRAFT) didn't work. Nor did the seats we were moved to. And though it was a night flight, the cabin lights were left ablaze the entire flight.

These are just a few highlights of our fantastic experience, but there were plenty more. Their response was to offer a $200 voucher for a future flight, as if putting ourselves through that misery again would somehow make it all better. Honestly, I'd rather fly across the Atlantic in the claws of a chicken hawk.

carnarvon

I flew their A321NEO and the experience had nothing to do with yours.

Try them again once they fly A321 only.

Then you can decide if "(I) will never set foot on one of their planes again" or not...

mauld

Unfortunately, they don’t fly those to Nice, and as you previously mentioned, they will soon be ending the NCE-EWR flights. I was honestly looking forward to my flight and fully understood that I was not going to get a real business class experience (given the price). But poor/ lack of service, food quality and overall condition of my aircraft made this a memorable trip, for all the wrong reasons.