txp

Hi everyone,

Do you happen to know if the B737-800 or the A318 that operate between OTP and CDG have a north-american style business class cabin (2 x 2)?

Seat maestro shows the A318 with a 2 x 2 business class cabin, and some travel blogs state that the new B737-800 also has a 2 x 2 cabin. I am wondering if this higher-end business class cabin is part of Tarom's new business model. If it is, they certainly do a good job at keeping it secret.

Tarom does not list the seat map on its website.

Thanks!

Romanianflyer

AFAIK at least half - if not all - of the A318s have the crap eurobusiness product. Last time I flew CDG-OTP on an A318 in business class for sure there were no proper recliner seats like you would find in F on a domestic American flight but just a very, very old economy seat with the middle seat blocked with a table.

I don't want to give you a 100% guarantee but checking the registration codes at Flightradar24 of the two 737-800s used in the last week on CDG flights, and searching a bit on google in Romanian, it seems that both do have a proper business class cabin (one of the planes for example is an ex-Malaysia Airlines bird). I would highly suggest you to go for the 737-800 and not the A318.

Romanianflyer

For if you are interested, on the below link from the trip report section at Flyertalk I have a review of CDG-OTP in the A318 - it dates back from last February.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29921620-post63.html

txp

Thanks very much. Would you recommend Tarom on the 737-800 aircraft, or Air France with the usual Euro-business class product? Thanks again!

Romanianflyer

Tricky one. It would depend on your own preferences.

- None of the airlines involved will have wifi, so no difference there
- The soft product on Air France is vastly superior. Food is very tasty and wines are actually good, instead of the lower-end stuff TAROM serves. The meal AF served on my OTP-CDG flight was one of the better quality ones I had this year so far on planes in J.
- If euro business style seat, there is no much difference. Would give the slight nod to Air France in this.
- Yet on the 737 TAROM has a proper biz seat with power outlets, which is of course a superior hard product over TAROM,

So if you need to do some work or might prefer sleeping above eating/drinking (eg. early morning flight) I would go for TAROM. If a mid-day or evening flight and you want to have a good meal and/or a drink, it's a no-brainer to go with Air France.

FYI, this is a trip report of the Air France flight OTP-CDG so you can compare a bit.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29995220-post74.html