Best first class to SFO-Paris?
 

We are planning to go to Paris from SFO and would like to book the trip
first class. However we looking forward to more than comfortable
seats and a decent meal with drinks. We are looking for a memorable experience. Of course we would like to do this without mortgaging
the house and yes I realize my request may leave a lot of questions
unanswered but that the idea. Since I haven't flown FC with any additional
perks other than the usual comfortable seats and a decent meal with drinks
I'm looking for what your experience has been.

"Memorable experience" and "without mortgaging the house" simply don't go together on commercial airlines. In fact, between San Fran and Paris, I doubt you can even have a memorable experience unless all you have seen is domestic first class reclining seats.

There are only two carriers which fly nonstop SFO-CDG: United and Air France. Since it sounds like you are not an experienced international traveler, you may not realize that international business class often has a true lie flat seat so you don't need to pay for first class (don't worry, business class is plenty expensive!).

All of United's seats in business class SFO-CDG are true lie flat. Many of Air France's business class seats are still not true lie flat but one of their 777 types has them, so it will depend on the plane you get.

I don't think this will be best answered in the Amex forum so I am going to suggest to the mods that it be moved to somewhere likely to be more helpful.

We spent 8 days in Paris in August and flew Air France Business Class. It was a lie flat seat and the service was comfortable, friendly, and my bride was extremely impressed with the drink and dining quality. It was the first time we ever flew Air France, but it won't be the last.

There's an Air France A380 with a nine-seat La Premiere cabin, with an art gallery upstairs. Super service, grandly indulgent, great sleeping, fine wine and expensive. Recommended. SFO/CDG/SFO.

Regarding UA business -- utterly horrid which is why we ditched our un refundable return flight and booked La Premiere on the A380 home bound.

We make another trip to France in July and have booked Air France business both ways.

I just want make sure I understood your post... You ditched or did not use a revenue/purchased ticket on UA biz because the UA product/service was so poor? I did not know UA was offering non refundable biz class tickets until recently.

The UA biz fare was non-refundable. It does happen.

AF First Class (P) is indeed a very memorable experience. It's not only in the air where you have the best and most professional service in the sky, but also on the ground at CDG where they have one of the best first class lounges in the world and drive you to and from the plane in a limo. There's an private Alain Ducasse restaurant in the lounge if that give you any idea, and with a few limited exceptions, only people with first class tickets are allowed in. Elite status doesn't count.

All that said, you will have to a small loan out against your house to fly in AF P!

No-one suggesting SFO-HKG-CDG or SFO-SIN-CDG?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/singa...l#post23638972

Ugh. You'd have to really be desperate to earn qualifying miles to spend that much time on the plane. And how would you enjoy Paris after such a long couple of flights? I've done such kind of travel on business, but I didn't enjoy it.

Are you asking about the best experience which can be obtained by redeeming Membership Rewards points?

There are so many cultural and substantive disconnects here that no one could even begin to answer the question. You can see some of them above. Most obviously, a lot of frequent posters on Flyer Talk think of first class as something that's purchased with points rather than cash. A lot of points! Even more posters think of first class as something that's flown with many plane changes and what are euphemistically referred to as "positioning" flights; non-stop flights don't even make the bottom of the "things I'd like to have" list. And then there are real aficionados who make their living reviewing and critiquing micro-differences in high-end first class offerings. Some people (see above again) even put almost more store in the whole "ground experience" thing than the flight itself. Little details such as whether a flight operates every day or year-round kind of get lost in the shuffle. Some people might not even realize that domestic and international first class are two entirely different things that (misleadingly) share the same name. Finally, as others have said, business class today is way better than first class was even a few years ago.

Still, a few things can be said. Read the recent AF first class review at the One Mile at a Time blog; the author flies and reviews more different kinds of first class than practically anyone else alive. So far as I can tell, few would prefer any US airline's international first class (e.g., United) to a foreign carrier's (e.g., Air France). First class on AF from SFO to CDG seems to start at $10,300, which actually isn't that bad.

Since I don't even fly first class, I'm sure I'm missing more than a few issues: the last time I flew AF first class was over 30 years ago on a 747-100 out of CDG. The entire upper deck was a bar with huge leather couches against the windows. I know nothing about international first class, really.

It is still unclear whether the original poster is looking to spend cash or Membership Rewards points, but a few notes --

1. If looking to spend cash, note that Air France offers a Premium Economy product called Premium Voyageur which may fit your needs. It is not over-the-top luxury by any means, but if you are accustomed to flying only economy, it is a nice improvement. Bigger, wider seat, more recline, and slightly upgraded service -- somewhat similar to flying First Class on a domestic flight, whereas Business Class and First Class on an international flight are far more elaborate but also far more expensive.

2. If looking to spend Membership Rewards points or any other kind of frequent flyer miles, note that it is not possible to redeem points for Air France First Class unless you have Air France elite status, which it sounds like you do not. However there are many other ways to redeem miles for First and Business class if you have a lot of them, but we would need to know how many miles/points you have and of what type. (My vote would be to transfer Membership Rewards points to Delta and redeem for Virgin Atlantic Upper Class SFO-LHR, then connect to Air France LHR-CDG. Yes, the LHR connection is a pain and requires changing terminals, but Virgin Atlantic is by far the most "special" business class flying experience you could hope to have on that route, and one of the more readily available uses of miles for business class between the West Coast and Europe.)

Apples and Oranges to the OP perhaps, but FWIW in 2010 I burned ~300K MRs to go LAX-LHR(F)-CDG(C)-LHR-LAX(F) for 2 on BA, and got to use the FC lounge @LAX (which was great 'cause we were delayed for 6H) and the Concorde Room at LHR for a few hours on both ends of the trip, no status required.

... but FallenPlat is entirely correct; OP might as well have asked "How do I get to Paris" :)

RichardInSF may be correct.
I don't think this will be best answered in the Amex forum so I am going to suggest
to the mods that it be moved to somewhere likely to be more helpful.
Thanks for the response and sorry for posting this in the wrong place.