French Bee's Secret A350 Flat Bed Premium Economy

Would it be farfetched to eventually see some form of flat beds in Premium Economy down the line? I'm sure there are many that would gladly pay a little bit more just to have a bed regardless of aisle access and how deep the recline is.

Interesting! Just tried MIA but looks like they don’t use that configuration on this route. Flight leaves MIA at 9pm which is perfect. If they had the flatbed on this route I’d book them in a heartbeat.

Presumably, you need to bring you own pillow and blanket. For around $1600, that's decent but you can sometimes get La Compagnie for under $2,000. And Air France sometimes prices at $2,200-$2,800 out of Miami and Mexico City.

@ FNT Delta Diamond -- The airline does offer pillows and blankets, based on the trip report that I found. Yes, if you can get a good deal on another airline roundtrip, that's of course worth considering. But an ex-US flat bed transatlantic seat for $850 one-way is pretty unheard of otherwise.

@ FE -- Same. Sadly only seems to be on very limited aircraft. It seems like the airline might be flying one or two Air Caraibes A350s over the summer.

@ Mike O. -- With how products evolve, I guess anything is possible. Then again, it seems like airlines would lose out by not marketing a flat bed product as business class, given that it can generally command higher fares.

Building on what commenter Mike O. Said, I would love to think that this is the future of Premium Economy. If you look at some of the legacy J configurations still flying, such as the United high density domestic 777s, that seat arrangement is very dense and could feasibly occupy a cabin floor space not far from what is used today for the recliners. 2-4 rows of 5-6 abreast… You will still have middle seats, the bed will be narrow, and only floor storage - still, it could work.

So have you booked your ticket?

For sure. For the life of me, I don't understand why more airlines don't offer the Air New Zealand couch-style option for economy class.

Exactly what I thought as well, if PE is going in this direction, I'd imagine it would be something along the lines of the 8-abreast UA 777 J.

Makes sense to assign this config to EWR given the significant extra premium capacity.

While many airlines have jumped on the PE bandwagon, I’m not sure they have quite figured out the business model / pricing. It’s pretty common to see many operational upgrades from Y sitting in PE.

I think there is so much opportunity for for a low cost airline to do a tight no frills flat bed across the Atlantic. Tight config (not all aisle), decent food, basic beverage, no lounge, decent flight timing.

The relative value to be have the using a points "pay yourself back" could be good because you get flat bed for 25-50% less and then 1.25 -1.5cpp

I think you need to fly this one direction and back on Air Saint-Pierre

Seth Miller just posted on BlueSky that he got a flatbed on Level. I’m not sure how that happened though.

Since First Class is becoming more like private rooms (think Etihad's Residence, CXs Halo Suites concept), Business becoming more like the First Class suites of today (think AF's current First Class), I can see Premium Economy having some sort of bed. Something along the lines of ANA's current cradle seats. A legacy/first tier carrier would have to flinch first, then the rest of the industry will follow.

actually flew on one of these air carib 35x back in sept. our original french bee plane came in late, had maintenance issue and then was unable to operate the flight.
4 hours later they bussed us all to the air carib plane and everyone was surprised by the swap and the fact there was a J section. all the front row PE passenger got a J seat. the flight was orly to ewr. very lucky to get on the J seat when paying PE price. very mediocre food since it is still french bee catering. the lay flat is very odd being the up and down ones.

if this becomes a competitive layflat j to cross the pond, jetblue will be in trouble. orly is great for being so close to paris but the terminal is literally like a county airport with 2 shops.

Someone once said the next improvement would be angled lie-flat PE seats. I think that would be a game changer, but maybe would cannibalize Business.

I would be very content with an angled lie flat PE seat. Before the 2000's, this was J class. I slept just fine without a door or all aisle direct access.

I would e hesitant to book them, because it is quite a gamble if only one leased replacement aircraft features this configuration. Aircraft swaps can happen anytime, evenwithout notice …

An A350 in 3-4-3, that should make 787 in 3-3-3 feel outright luxurious.

The $400 seat fee comes off when you actually checkout. I just purchased a lay flat seat for $417!!!

This seems to be the only accurate article about French Bee online. Just booked two one way premium economy tickets for $451 each can’t really beat that price when it includes a meal, free drinks, and two checked bags each. I am nervous about the restrictive space after watching a few videos. Hopefully it’s not that bad. But I am considering upgrading to the lay flat seats if I keep seeing negative reviews and the plane doesn’t change. We’ll see!

Wow! I just did that to my reservation and it worked!

If I fly alone, which seat is best to choose? Since I don’t want to wake up anyone to use the bathroom, and I don’t want no one wake me up as well

What you mean?

Does the bulk head row 1 have more room than the other lay flat rows?

Trying to do this today (May 18th, 2025); the seat map only shows rows 5 to 9. Looks like it is the A350 I want, since Premium is 2-3-2. But can't figure out a way to show rows 1 to 4, let alone assign a seat there. Am I missing something?

After you select the day it gives you a selection of cabin or premium and only if you select premium it'll then take you to the information screen where you put in all your name and all that stuff then after that it'll pull up rose 1 through 4

no. As you can clearly see from the photos the back of the unit in front of you is your foot rest area so whatever area the bulkhead has they put the footrest unit with the screens in front of you.

Great tip! I just added a day to my trip to grab the plane with two lay flats for me and my kid SFO to Paris!!

Both airlines, Air Caraïbes and French Bee always operate their flights with both IATA codes: TX for Air Caraïbes and BF for French Bee. In fact Im pretty sure they share their licence. Its quite the same company but with two brandings

I just bought an option for MIA-ORL flatbed for $1,100 for May 2026. I am wondering what the chances are for a refund if they decide to change equipment and the layflat turns into Premium Economy?

Is lie flat gone now? Tried checking lax to orly.