Review: Air France Business Class 777 Paris to New York JFK

I am sorry you did not get the new 777 Air France business class product. It is really nice. I had a chance to try it (and review it) in December of 2014. May last Air France (old) 777 flight was in November 2014 MIA-CDG prior to Air France switching to the A380 for the MIA-CDG route. I do find that a window seat, bulkhead on the (old) Air France 777 did allow me to get decent rest. I enjoy flying Air France, and echo most of your sentiment with regard to the food and beverage. Quite frankly, all of my experiences on Air France over the past year have been positive (even my CDG connections). I "guess" my only very minor complaint is the lack of glassware on the short haul Air France CDG-AMS flights (plastic Champagne flutes in Euro-Biz but still poured from large bottle of Champagne). So odd, as KLM has real glassware in Euro-Biz on such short intra-European flights.

"Well played, señor!" - classic. I have no idea who you are, Nick. But you've made me laugh and one day I will buy you a beer.

that's a giant hunk of foie. gimme!!!!

You have the same delightful writing style as Ben. Unfortunately, you also seem to share the same alcoholism tendencies.

@Voice of reason: Thanks!

"About an hour and a half into the flight, another flight attendant set my dinner table"
what were they doing for an hour after the initial take off?

also, if is there a way to know if my flight will have new biz class before i book it?
thank you.

@Lantean, you should be able to check the seat map on Expert Flyer. On the Air France website, you can check the seat map before you commit to purchasing, although you have to plug in some basic information first. Any layout showing three middle seats together in the Business cabin will be the old cabin (2 + 3 + 2). If it's 1 + 2 + 1, it's new Business.

I think there are also some threads on FlyerTalk that get into detail as to which flight numbers are the new business class and when and where the rollout is expected. Just so you know, very few of AF's planes are outfitted with the new business class so far. Right now I think it's one flight to/from JFK a day, and that'll be bumped up to two flights next month when AF 10/11 come online.

Don't feel too bad about staying put, if they had any fantasy baseball experience, they ought to have suggested a threeway swap - trade you 8A for 8B, and then trade 8B for the other aisle (8C??) seat.

OK, thank you.
one last q... are they retrofitting 777-200 as well as 777-300? seems like 777-200 has a much small biz class cabin.
thx.

@Lantean: yes, I believe they are retrofitting both 777's.

@Voice of reason: Yes, I was hanging in there with Nick, too, until the beer. What was he thinking? A few sips of Champagne? Bien sûr! But beer? Still a great report, though on a Westbound flight I have to admit that I'm 100% ok with flying Y.

The last time I flew AF/KLM, they also took my seat. The Gate Agent said, "You have to be here an hour before the flight." I looked at my watch: 63 minutes. I looked back at the Gate Agent and cocked my eyebrow, politely. She gave us the exit row.

My problem with Air France's J offering on their A380s (and older or non-retrofitted 777s) is not whether or not angled lie-flat is comfortable - I don't think it is, and I *always* slide off - it's that Air France had the perfect opportunity to be innovative, and they squandered it. Brand new planes, new class of plane altogether for the carrier, and a huge chance to meet current market standards for a J offering, and they totally screwed it up by keeping with a terrible status quo.

I'm not sure if it was financials, or just a lack of give-a-shit, but it doesn't show a company that's trying to be cutting edge - as much as they think their new safety videos are - and maintain modernity. I'm glad they're doing something now, but I think their being tardy to the party is indicative of what they feel about their position in the market, and that's that they don't (at the time, I guess) need to be competitive.

@Adam — I agree, AF's decision to install angled flats in its brand new A380s was truly baffling, especially considering that flat beds had already been around for many years at that point.

@Adam - Lufthansa did the same thing: they took delivery of their A380s with their old, angled J product. They only delivered the 747-8 with the new J seat.

I love your writing style Nick.

Air France has a reputation of being racist, here:

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/indian-passengers-illtreated-by-air-france/92407-3.html

I would never travel on Air france

and here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PdG2_jhimM

and finally here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy5DwLzm6c4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcUKHUfa984

@Anil C

i read the article but it seems to me like it was a visa issue... evidently passengers who did not need French visa we given hotel rooms because they were able to enter France... the airline can't just decide to allow someone into the country...

while they were waiting in the basement they could have been given chairs and water to drink, if not bedding to spend the night .

@lantean - its a question of how they were treated overnite, no chairs, bedding, not enough water and fodd etc. Pretty shameful. No air france for me

Great sense of humor Nick! Hope you're feeling better next time you fly. When can we look forward to your next contribution to our daily fix?

And your last paragraph? Ahem....well played Monsieur. 🙂

Considering all the drama that has become of airline seats (See AA and their 787s being delayed) could it be AF saw problems with their seat selection and rather than delay their planes went ahead and got seats that were tried and true for manufacturing and could be delivered on time?

I absolutely loved this trip report!!
I had a great Air France experience in economy!! They gave us a menu. Seriously!! a menu in economy. while i do accept that the choices were not really more than what you would normally get on an international flight it was a nice touch. Good service in business should be the standard and not the exception. However, in economy I found the service to be ummmmazing. The purser and i engaged in a long conversation and he even pointed out several cities as we were dying past them and gave me accounts of his time in those cities. All with a smile!! One thing i have noticed is that airlines from a particular region generally have similar service standards. The middle-eastern airlines (with the exception of Kuwait Airways), the North American airlines or the Asian airlines. @Lucky I know this may be much to ask but please consider travelling on Jet Airways business class(international long-haul) and first class if you are able to. I find this airline has the best service as compared to even SQ!! Popcorn while watching a movie-check. Amazing seats-check. Turndown service in biz-check. pyjamas in J-check. Amazing staff-check.

I had a chance to fly (and review) AF's new BEST 777 J seat in June. The new seat is magnificent but service for me (both the to and return leg) was borderline garbage. Maybe it was my zero knowledge of French, maybe I just got unlucky with the crew, maybe they just got a huge paycut, who knows.

Both legs were red-eyes though, so the lack of service wasn't *that* bad since I slept most of the flight(s) away. Full write-up here: http://bit.ly/1CftzhO

This is pretty much the dumbest review I have read in a while.
Maybe you should seriously think about what you write and not complain about the person's hair next to you.