A bit over a week ago I shared the rumor that Air France would be bringing back their flight to Seattle Tacoma. The airline flew to Seattle between 2007 and 2012, at which point they handed over the route to their joint venture partner, Delta.
Well, there’s now an update on this front — Air France is officially launching flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Seattle Tacoma as of March 25, 2018. The flight will initially operate 3x weekly (Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays), though in the peak summer season will operate 5x weekly (with the addition of flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays). The schedule for the new flight will be as follows:
AF338 Paris to Seattle departing 1:10PM arriving 2:20PM
AF355 Seattle to Paris departing 4:30PM arriving 11:10AM (+1 day)
The flight will be operated by a three cabin 777-200ER, featuring 40 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 216 economy seats. Business class will have reverse herringbone seats with direct aisle access from every seat, which is tough to beat.
The flight will cover a distance of ~5,000 miles, and is blocked at 9hr40min eastbound and 10hr10min westbound.
The other good news is that award availability on this flight is wide open. I see up to nine business class award seats available many days, even in the peak summer season. Most of these seats shouldn’t just be bookable through FlyingBlue, but also through partner airline programs, like Alaska Mileage Plan, Delta SkyMiles, etc.
Air France’s new flight will nicely complement Delta’s existing daily flight between Seattle and Paris, which will be operated by a 777 for the peak summer travel season.
Air France’s new route is also great news for Alaska Mileage Plan members, given how many Alaska loyalists are based in Seattle. Air France is still partners with Alaska, so you can earn and redeeming Mileage Plan miles for travel on this Air France flight (at least for the time being). You can earn Alaska Mileage Plan miles on Air France flights at the following rates:
Meanwhile you can redeem Mileage Plan miles on Air France at the following rates (and you’re even allow a stopover on a one-way award):
Does anyone plan on taking this new Air France flight between Seattle and Paris?
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