Aircalin A330neo Business Class: Sort Of Boring, But I Ate Seafood Sauerkraut!

Hello from Thailand, as I just completed the outbound portion of my review trip to Bangkok! For the third segment of my trip, I flew Aircalin’s Airbus A330-900neo business class on the 11hr5min flight from Paris (CDG) to Bangkok (BKK).

Longtime OMAAT readers will know how much I love trying new airlines that are a bit off the beaten path, so I can’t even say how excited I was to board this flight. Like, I was probably more excited than I was about my recent flight in Etihad’s A380 The Residence.

For those not familiar with Aircalin, it’s the airline of New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the South Pacific. The airline has a fleet of just four planes, with two A330-900neos and two A320neos. Back in the day, the A330s operated flights to Asia, primarily targeted at tourists.

However, following some unrest in New Caledonia, the airline modified its route network, and now operates from Noumea (NOU) to Paris via Bangkok (BKK). So I took the flight from Paris to Bangkok (not technically fifth freedom, since New Caledonia is part of France), which I booked using Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles.

So, how was the flight? I’ve gotta be honest, it was kind of boring and anticlimactic. Okay, admittedly it was a form of transportation and not a Las Vegas show, so perhaps boring is good. It wasn’t great, though there were things that impressed me. It also wasn’t bad, though there were things that disappointed me. It was just kind of… whatever.

But also, realistically, “good enough” is… well, good enough. There’s not much competition to or from New Caledonia, so it’s not like the airline is competing in the New York to Europe market (and keep in mind the airline didn’t initially intended to compete in the Paris to Bangkok market). Anyway, in this post I’d like to share some initial thoughts, and then I’ll have a full review upon returning home.

Aircalin’s A330neo business class seats are okay

Aircalin’s Airbus A330-900neos are configured with 26 business class seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration. The airline chose the Stelia Opal platform, which is in a staggered layout. This is intended to be a fairly efficient product, and on top of that, the narrower fuselage of the A330 (compared to the A350, 777, etc.), means that everything just feels a bit tighter.

I managed to grab a “true” window seat, and I just didn’t find it to be particularly comfortable. For example, there’s no proper armrest on the aisle-side of the seat, while the armrest on the window-side of the seat kind of gets in the way of moving around when reclining into bed mode (unless there’s some way to move it, which I couldn’t figure out?).

Of course I’m always grateful to have a flat bed, but I wouldn’t consider this to be up there in terms of being among the best business class seats.

On the plus side, the bedding was excellent, including a proper mattress pad. Sadly the cabin was kept rather warm, and there were no individual air nozzles, which made it tough to get too comfortable when sleeping.

Aircalin’s A330neo entertainment & Wi-Fi are less than ideal

Aircalin’s A330neos have 15.6″ touchscreen monitors in business class. So they’re not huge, but at least they’re high definition. Unfortunately the entertainment selection was really quite bad. There were a total of 63 movies and 25 TV shows, so that’s not many options at all, especially since this included an international selection.

There’s also a map feature, though that only worked for around the first hour, and then totally stopped working. I know to other people that probably doesn’t matter, but that’s probably my favorite part of any inflight entertainment system!

At least there was a belly camera (rare on the A330-900neo), and that worked (with a lot of glare)!

The good news is that Aircalin has Wi-Fi on its A330neos. The bad news is that it’s from OnAir, just about the worst inflight connectivity system there is, in terms of speeds. Equally bad is the pricing. The airline charges based on consumption rather than time.

Business class passengers get 250MB of free Wi-Fi, but with how people use the internet nowadays, that won’t last you long. Beyond that, you’ll pay $23.80 per 250MB. Unsurprisingly, the service didn’t work for much of the flight, given the part of the world this flight operates over.

Aircalin’s business class food is decent but quirky

Funny enough, Aircalin used to serve caviar in business class on many routes, so I had generally heard good things about the carrier’s investment in its catering. I found the meal service to be quite decent, though the pace was very slow.

This flight departed at around 9PM, and since it was 11+ hours, I guess there was no real rush. It’s not that I mind a slow paced meal service, but I think it’s nice when the crew gets out the first round of drinks fast, and then takes its time with the rest of service, as needed.

In this case, it was well over an hour into the flight before the first round of drinks were served, along with the amuse bouche. I had a glass of champagne, served with a mascarpone truffle amuse bouche, plus some raisins and cashews (or “gourmet pleasure,” as it’s branded).

There was a duo of starters, with one consisting of grilled prawns, avocado, and chili sauce, and the other consisting of paprika chicken, green beans, mushrooms, and mustard sauce. It was pretty good.

There were four main courses, and one in particular intrigued me — “seafood ‘sauerkraut,'” as it was described on the menu. I was intrigued, so I had to ask the flight attendant what exactly this was (maybe I live on a different planet, but I’ve never heard of this version of sauerkraut). Sure enough, it was exactly as advertised, and came with salmon, scallops, and shrimp.

You know, it wasn’t bad, but am I the only one who finds this to be a really random dish? Like, it also wasn’t particularly good, so it just seems mighty “out there” for something that’s just pretty random-tasting, and hard to execute well on a plane.

Lastly, there was the choice of dessert or cheese. Or since I was in the last row and had plenty, they encouraged me to have one of everything. This included a cheese plate, a chocolate cake, and an upside down cake.

Breakfast was served before landing, and I had a potato frittata with zucchini and mushrooms. It was one of the better egg dishes I’ve had on a plane, especially with the tomato sauce. Hilariously enough, one of the sides was described as “broken granola cookies.” I figured that surely an airline wouldn’t serve a cookie cereal for breakfast in business class, but nope, that’s exactly what it was. It was basically crushed cookies.

Aircalin’s A330neo business class service was a mixed bag

The crew was genuinely well intentioned and kind, and wanted to provide a nice service. For example, the lead flight attendant came around before landing to ask each passenger how they enjoyed their flight.

I think sometimes in reviews I’m a little too nice, though, because I don’t want to be mean. But there was definitely some room for improvement when it came to attentiveness. Admittedly this is the airline of a small South Pacific territory, and not Singapore Airlines, but still.

First the dinner service was really slow. But then when it started to wrap up, the crew didn’t actually clear the plates. After I had been finished with dessert for around 15 minutes, I decided to go to the bathroom, and the three business class flight attendants were sitting there.

Of course they deserve a break at some point, but you’d think they’d take it after finishing the meal service. I was then ready to go to sleep, so I just stacked the plates on the tray next to my seat. They were still there when I woke up.

So yeah, there’s room for improvement when it comes to how polished service is. But seriously, they were all very polite, it’s just a little more laid back service.

There were just a few other strange aspects to the soft product. For example, the bread rolls that were offered weren’t warm, there were no warm towels, there were no elevated amenities in the lavatory, etc.

Bottom line

I’m delighted that I finally had the chance to fly Aircalin’s Airbus A330-900neo business class, as this product has been on my list for a long time. Simply put, the experience was rather unremarkable, neither overwhelmingly positive nor negative.

I think my conclusion is that I’d gladly fly this if I were planning on visiting New Caledonia (which I do want to visit), while I think there are better options between Paris and Bangkok. The thing is, there were many charming aspects of the experience, though also some easy room for improvement.

What’s your take on Aircalin’s A330neo business class?