Review: Air France Business Class 777 Paris To Toronto

Ben, does AF ever open up any award space with the new business class from LAX? Would love to fly to Europe on this.

Thanks for publishing this very fair and excellent review about Air France New Business class product. I really believe AirFrance has made huge improvement for the last 2 years ans that both their Première and Business products are now among the best. Some details still need to be fixed ( the trolley service should be scrapped, and rumours say it will on some routes,but altogether it's again great airline to fly. The tableware, cutlery and amenity kit are really modern and nice.

Chicken tortilla served on a French airline landing in Canada. Wow!!!!! Vive la mondialisation!!!

Ben,

How were you able to kick your diet coke addiction? I can't get rid of mine.

Thanks for offering an escape from my desk job with these great reviews.

Why did you have to clear both Canadian and US immigration? You should be able to enter the US side directly from the international area. At least you can do this in the AC terminal 1

@Tom You can only do that in Terminal 1. For Terminal 3, you have to clear Canadian immigration first.

Wow - Iknow its a French airline and all, but foie gras as a standard appetizer rather than one which the customer selects really is a pretty bold choice.

Interesting review for me to read, because I booked business class on Air Canada for this same route (round trip though as I'm from Toronto) for vacation in late July 2016. It was a toss up on whether to book AC or AF (it was the same price) and I chose AC because I collect their Aeroplan miles. And I also know the AC business class product from previous experiences although AC has been installing new pods and has a new chef designing the meals, which should up their game a bit. I'll save the link to this review so I can compare my upcoming experience on AC to Lucky's on AF.

Lucky, you have to keep in mind, about the width at the feet being better than the Finnair A350 J product, that the 777 is slightly wider than the a350

What is the difference--besides the smaller TV and the storage cabinet--between this business-class seat and what's found on Delta? They look very, very similar. I'm not keen on not having a pillow in a sealed plastic bag. At least the blanket was clean. The pillow? Who knows.

@Ben, were you able to assign yourself 3L in advance?

It may be worth noting that -- at least as of a year ago -- only the middle non-window seats are assignable online (unless you've bought a full-fare J seat, or are otherwise a Flying Blue elite) in advance, though Air France's Twitter team is good about noting preferences and assigning you the window seats once they become assignable.

If they've changed that policy -- all the better!

Same review as always. Seats, eater, amenity kits, etc.

Zero awards availabilty CDG-YYZ from now until Nov 1 from what I have seen today. same heading east.
terrible....even on old equipment

Hi Lucky - random question, but what was in the strawberry coulis (besides strawberries)? I'm a bit confused that it appears to have red and green colouring.

@JR - ??? And what should he write about when doing a trip report???

What routes to N. America employ the new J? AF has certainly upped their game here.

No PJs and no foie gras..........what shame!

The French have always done a fantastic job of highlighting their national colors, especially in sport. From the national soccer and cycling kits to Paris St. Germain, they always look great. While the pods have a classy red vertical stripe in the console section that forward-looking view of the business cabin is screaming for some red and blue accents.

@JustSaying there was foie gras which Lucky didnt eat.

Great review!

Interesting you say that the cabin lacks style. From the pictures, it looks very stylish in my opinion. But it might feel different in real life?

I love fois gras, it's cool that they seem to have this as a sandard appetizer in C.

Why don't you eat it Lucky? Because of the way it is produced or just because you don't like the taste?

Nice to see that you enjoyed your flight with AF. I just recently flew with KLM 787 with the new Biz seats and I see that they are exactly the same as the AF ones - only difference is the colour scheme and headphone. Love the new IFE system.
I too like the service aboard AF- the crews are always friendly and if you can speak French, they can be quite chatty.
@ Ben you should plan to try KLM as a comparison - added advantage - you have WiFi onboard the 787 planes 🙂

Just flew AMS-AUH last night on brand new KLM flight (their first time flying it actually) extremely similar to the biz AF seat but even better features! Window shades dont "black out" they "blue out"

@Ankush

It was basil. An interesting combination.

Glad to see you liked AF's new seats, though I wonder how much you would have enjoyed the experience in their old seats...at least AF is stepping up it's game in regards to the soft product as well.

Also, is it just me, or is the TV screen a bit smaller than what you normally get these days with reverse herringbone seats?

Thanks for the review, as a French person, it does feel good to see the national airline doing a great job. You mentioned you connected to LAX after arriving in Toronto. Did you think of taking the Air Canada 789 from YYZ to LAX? You reviewed a lot of Business Class lately, but this one would have been interesting.

What struck me most.....though it shouldn't have......is the difference between AF 777-200 business and UA 777-200 "business". I was just researching UA flights to Europe and boy oh boy what a difference.

Thanks for the nice review

Great review Lucky. Your experience was very similar to mine on the same flight (well, reverse - YYZ-CDG). Great hard product for an overnight, great service (I speak French so that helps, but regardless language was not an issue for anyone and the crew were lovely) and catering.

As someone else mentioned above, as you arrived at and connected at T3, there is no option but to clear Canadian customs and immigration and then proceed to customs pre-clearance for the US and pass through security again. This is not required at T1, where incoming international pax can simply pass from international arrivals into the US customs pre-clearance and security queues without passing through Canadian customs, which is very convenient.

Compare the 1-2-1 Configuration on this 777 with the disgraceful "industry leading" 2-3-2 layout on Emitates 777's reviewed March 9th. Which Business Class would you rather fly???

Thanks for the review! Air France is my favorite economy product for transatlantic (Yes it is possible to have a good economy long haul!) and so their business class or even their La Premiere (*swoon*) is on my aspirational travel list. Their food is top notch, the entertainment is always good, and the staff are excellent.

I definitely understand when you say the cabin lacked style. Air France has a very polished and purposeful look that permeates everything from their ads to their menus to their uniforms. Especially coming from the first class lounge, Business looks a little average and not quite "AF" enough.

Once again nice review! I was really looking forward to your thoughts on the new AF business class. From some of the press photos I've seen, I thought the cabin would have a much more dramatic black/white contrast. I was a little surprised to see the cabin to be almost entirely some sort of creamy white. Happy to hear you had a pleasant experience overall.

Torontonians are very lucky. They're treated to the NEW BUSINESS CLASS configuration on their Boeing777-300ER but us Montrealers being second class citizens, do not have the right to this. Thank you very much Air France. Ça me fait comprendre le manque de considération que Air France accorde aux gens de Montréal.

Even eating only half of that it's still way too many carbs for 10 hours.

@Nicole: Montreal is primarily leisure traffic so gets more flights and generally bigger planes for higher Y capacity. Toronto is the commercial capital with greater premium traffic so has priority for the new J seats. It's the same reason AC flies the high-capacity 777 to CDG from YUL but not YYZ. Don't like it? Thank the Quiet Revolution!

On the bright side, YUL seems to get a mix of 777-200s, 777-300ERs, and A380s from AF depending on the day/time/season, so hopefully the new seats will be available at least some of the time.

Sat on the Air France flight to Toronto, had to come this way as my normal options all sold out. The business class seat layout of 2-3-2 is poor and the bed is not a real lay flat. Based on what was paid for the flight there are many better options. Won't be flying this way again. The business class lounge toilets were in a dreadful state.

I've booked this business class flight from TO to Paris, and it's the 2-3-2 layout although it was POSTED online as the new, nicer business class. Trying to sort it out with Air France, but I'm not holding my breath. It appears they have now given the nicer planes to the Montreal-Paris route, and Toronto is screwed.

Just got off the phone with Delta-Air France. It appears some flight on the TO-Paris route are the nicer business class, but others aren't. When I booked my flight, it was listed as the nicer one, but turns out it's not. There was no other route to re-book us on that would work, so...we're stuck in the 2-3-2 business class with no recourse. They gave us $100 vouchers...

Does Air France give out Pajamas on long hauls in business class?

@ Peter -- They don't, unfortunately.