Review: Air France HOP Business Class Embraer E190 (CDG-FRA)

Looks like the exclamation mark started falling off naturally without any repaint required 😉

From the world’s best business class seat the arguably the worst…

What does "into" mean in "…especially as we took off into the east, and then made a sharp turn to fly into the west ..." since

a) Frankfurt is east of Paris

b) it looks to me from your 2nd 'view after take-off' photo that your plane took-off from east to west

Similarly with "Since we were landing into the east, we first had to fly past Frankfurt Airport ..."

Cheese looks good, was it?

"The snack and drinks were served at once, unlike on some other airlines, which first bring out the food, and then bring out the snack."

I think there is a mistake in that sentence...

@Ben Europe the weakest region in the world?! In business class of most of european airlines you get a substantial snack or a meal (sometimes a hot meal) even on a 60-minute-flight... while in the US if the flight is below 2 hours the most you get in first class is a bag of pretzels...

@ Alex -- Personally I'll take a much bigger seat with zero service over an economy seat with a lot of service, but that's just me.

@ Julia -- Fixed, thanks!

@ hbilbao -- It was very good!

@ Jones -- My mistake. Fixed, thank you!

And don’t forget regular lounge access

I agree. While EU business class doesn't compare to Asian airlines, it's miles ahead of American business / first. I don't really see a benefit of huge seat on a two hours flight - and I'm 120 kg!

You may not need a bus to get to an aircraft at Terminal 2G but the only way of getting there in the first place is.....by bus! I don't know why 2G is not integrated into 2A-2F at CDG.

It all comes down to what you prioritize...food and lounge access versus a better seat.

Since Lucky has status with all 3 alliances (I think?) plus priority pass, he usually gets lounge access so he can eat in the lounge. Therefore it's basically just an issue of the seat for him.

Completely agree with the review, on the more mainline routes AF is using the A220 where you get the block out seat. 2G must be the world's best fitted out modular frame terminal, the lounge is great but in comparison to 2E/2F the lounge lacks the polish. The food on AF is super but on short haul they need to fix the bread, given French bread is the world's best on the ground.

Indeed the automated rail should continue there

In the US you’re not even guaranteed lounge access. And the majority of flights in the US have subpar service on 90% of routes

The exclamation mark was removed in 2019 and rebranded as Air France Hop. The aircraft are due to be repainted

Aaaaand.... salmon

😉

You compared AF's intra-European business class product with LHG's, but in fact LH, LX and OS are the only airlines in the world I'm aware of that end up having a 1x1 seating offering on their short-haul flights when operated by regional jets.

For most airlines the standard short-haul business class product is 2x2. They end up blocking middle seat on B737s and A320s because the standard configuration is 3x3. Since the E-Jets and CRJs are 2x2 as standard, there is no need for middle seat blocking. Thus, the business class product is 2x2 as in their narrowbodies, with a differentiated on board service and a curtain to separate economy class.

I don't see a problem with that choice of product offering.

I was so surprised about your positive take on terminal 2G haha. I despise that terminal and the fact that the Airtrain doesn't get there. You also must have lucked out on the lounge because the norm there is that it's a complete zoo with no air conditioning and hardly a seat available. I guess it highly depends on the time of the day.
Btw, the bread roll may have been stale, but French people don't really ever heat up their bread so I would not expect it to be warm ;). Unless it's toasted or fresh out of the bakery. I know Americans tend to be surprised by that.

Lounge access and a worthy business class meal with champagne on a one hour RJ flight. Those of us on a US carrier's RJ "F" class....um.

Great food for a 45mn flight but you'll get EXACTLY the same offer for a +04:00 hours flight on AF 🙁

Same as on British Airways E-190 flights at London City Airport - no blocked seats in Business.

Unfortunately the comfortable Hop cabins will be refurbished, less pitch due to more density.
Yes it's high time to change the cliché : CDG is usually nice and efficient, with lavish AF lounges.

Maybe Air France got the message on blocking seats? I just received notice that my connecting flight from CDG to VCE was changed from a 777-300 to a HOP E190. They blocked all the business class aisle seats, placing my wife and I in window seats with her sitting directly behind me. I guess we'll either sit in one of the blocked aisle seats or if there is another couple, swap so each couple gets a full row. Or maybe if we're tired of each other after the long SAN-CDG leg, we'll enjoy the separation.