gilbertaue

Wonderful report SFO777!! ^

You better have a good TR to tell me!

LivelyFL

Your trip report is a great read! Thanks.

JHIN

Wow completely amazing!! Ive long been a fan of CX in F and seeing 4 complete windows per F seat on AF with those perks & foid service makes me wanna try it.

Ok so how much outta pocket? PM me. Then again how can anyone use points?

benjahman

yet another great TR! Thanks for sharing SFO777 This helped get through another sluggish day at the office

stephem

Thanks for posting, and agree it is very stylish all around. My wife and I have been working our way through various F products and she still swears the LH new F is her favorite, saying that open seats are preferable to close suites like EY. We're trying EY apartments and then ANA F this year, but I have to say this new AF product looks really nice. While the EY onboard chef was decent, the meal you had bested what we had on EY. And lastly, your F experience appeared seamless from door to door, certainly not true of EY unfortunately.

worldtraveller73

The hard product, lounge and door to door service looked impressive but I couldn't help but notice the wine list. I agree with the Viogner being an odd choice for the only white. I also agree with Purim regarding the alcohol selection. The reds looked interesting but seemed slightly less "showy" than you'd get on some of those high end Asian carriers. Perhaps it's just a difference in execution . . .

Thanks for posting.

Goldorak

will think about it

joshwex90

Wow! As always, I absolutely love reading your Trip Reports!

I really like the idea of the curtain for the middle suite. Do the side seats have curtains as well, and if you're not traveling with the other middle person, how easily can they separate those 2 seats? (Privacy wise)

Did you sit on the ottoman at all - if so, how was?

hugolover

Great to see AF on top form...finally.

France has all the elements that should mean that AF has the best European First Class but it will take a long time to see the experience across the fleet.

SFO777

Thanks very much jlemon. Currently, new La Première is offered only on one NA flight, AF 8/9 to from JFK. My suggestion is to use expertflyer.com and check the seat maps. If it shows one row of First, you're good. But keep checking as AF has been know to move the plane to different JFK flights. Gradually, more flights will be added (next summer shows 2 new 77Ws) and to more cities (IAH and LAX).

As for La Première Lounge access for your connecting Business flight, I'm not familiar with the policy. But since they appear to be directly competing with LH, I would guess yes as long as it's same day. But others with more knowledge will be able to answer that one.

Thank you LifeontheBeach.

Merci beaucoup Goldorak. I am indeed a convert and am officially addicted to La Première.

Thanks Zembla. Agree completely that no airline's F cabin and service comes close to the style and elegance on in the new AF cabin. Not surprising since it is France and they didn't have to go far for ideas.

Thanks so much hamburglar and angeloedades.

Thank you tuchop. Sorry but we agonized over that since we had just had lunch only a couple hours earlier at Buvette.



Thanks LukasVIE. It was difficult to decide. By that time I was stuffed and only had room for one.

Thank you GDOCA. What is BA?

Actually it was Loro Piana. And mercifully, they didn't have her size in the one she wanted.

Thank you FallenPlat.

As I said earlier, the First Class experience is not just the on board hard product. But having said that, I've flown numerous EK First flights and it does not blow AF F out of the water. It's good and the shower is wonderful but the A380 F suite is small, seats narrow and a tad confining. And ground service at DXB is non-existent. You are on your own from plane to plane or bus to bus. I'd take AF First anytime over EK or EY.

The Etihad First Class experience at AUH.







The Emirates First Class experience at DXB.







Thank you s0ssos. We did have any real chit-chat with the crew. They were extraordinarily friendly but in a professional service manner.

Thanks so much gilbertaue and LivelyFL.

Thank you JHIN. You can use points but only if you are Flying Blue elite. And then they are ridiculously priced. 200,000 one way from US-Europe plus $300 or so surcharge. By comparison, Lufthansa First ranges 62,500 (on Aeroplan), 85,000 (M&M) and 110,000 (UA).

Thank you behjahman.

Thanks stephem. Lufthansa was also our favorite before this flight. Now they have some serious competition.

Thank very much worldtraveller73. It looks like AF decided "hey, we're French" and that they don't need to impress with showy labels. I like Krug and Dom on SQ and EK, but the Bollinger was outstanding. We only tried the Drouhin Beaune Premier Cru and it was delicious.

Thanks so much joshwex90. Yes, the window suites had curtains as well. The middle seat also have a full length divider wall that rises to just above eye level. The ottoman was comfy but I didn't spend much time there and Mrs. SFO didn't want to me to sit there during dinner.

stimpy

Actually almost all the elements that SFO777 raves about are available across the entire first class fleet and have been for years now. All but the new seat with the curtains. And I slept just fine on my flights with the old La Premiere seat with the hostess laying down a very comfortable duvet. Personally I don't care a lot about curtains. The real pleasure for me is the service and dining. And of course the ground experience as SFO777 has mentioned several times now. While certain details of the dining have been updated recently, the rest is the same as it's been for a long time now. And AF updates the dining in all classes every year or two.

And the other thing I want to say is that while I've experienced international first class on a lot of airlines, I really cannot recall hating any one of them. I can and will choose AF as the top, but that doesn't mean I don't really enjoy flying F on LH or EK or JL, or NH, or CX, etc.

Dieuwer

Maybe you should bitterly complain about having only one white wine choice. Maybe the give you 50,000 miles as compensation! Oh la la!

fly747first

Not sure I'm following you. My comment explicitly said EK A380 F "on a good day," since I fully acknowledge how inconsistent EK can be. However, some food for thought:

- The EK DXB F lounge is massive with full meal options, spa, and even features a large relaxing fountain, plus you can board flights directly from inside the lounge
- On long layovers, EK provides complimentary hotel rooms with generous meal vouchers and chauffeur to take you there; thus, I don't understand why you say that EK ground services are lacking
- All EK A380 flights board from a standard gate; passengers certainly don't board buses when flying A380
- The window row 1 suites on the EK A380 are narrower than those on rows 2-4; personally I love row 2

farbster

Excellent report. Thanks for taking the time to do yet another A+ report and make the masses jealous.

Using Aeroplan miles for first class in Lufthansa...close in booking only? Do you have status with Air Canada to avoid last minute change fees? Or do you just suck it up and pay (probably worth the fee).

cmd320

I'm no AF expert by any means, but does anyone know if there are plans to roll this product out on other aircraft (A380, 772, 747)? I'm guessing AF is about done with their 747s but I imagine they must be keeping F on the A380.