Insights From La Compagnie About Their Expansion Goals And Profitability

Breakeven two years is a surprisingly good result with no connections, alliance, or GDS.

And consider the weakness in Europe and tragedies there, and, well, they are in much better shape than any of us thought.

Will they last two more years? Who knows. Just enjoy the fares.

I agree Ben. Surely there would be room for them to raise prices if they had a competitive hard product, especially if they're not filling the planes as it is. I don't think they need connections if they take advantage of OpenSkies and just sit on the most important point-to-point routes.

I suspect the lack of a feeder route network (and frequent flyer program, airline partners, etc.) limits La Compagnie more than the seats do. Definitely a bummer to hear they're only breaking even, which brings into question their ability to ride out industry (and oil price) cycles. All one can do is drink a toast to the additional competition that they provide, and encourage people to ride that pony as far as they can.

Ben,

Do you know how the BA flight from JFK to London City does as far as making or losing money? I assume it loses, but the fact that BA owns it tips the scales.

Sam

You should fly them again later this year and do a comparison on how/if they've changed since 2014.

If they can get some partnerships going to create a feeder network, the concept appears sound. You are getting too caught up in their marketing, of calling it business class. They are selling ultra premium economy, for cheaper than any competitors.
I am in Chicago, if they were here, I would be using them to fly to London and Paris for any non award personal travel. Business is a bit out of my price-range, and this looks so much better than economy.

LuckyOz - An angled lie-flat seat is NOT "ultra premium economy". It was state-of-the-art business class just a few years ago, and it is nothing at all like the most premium of premium economy seats (which are nowhere near as comfortable as angled lie-flat business class seats because they don't recline very much, even if it's more than regular economy).

They will likely get an identical 767, the seats are amazing for the price, and West Coast will likely have an NYC stopover eg OAK-EWR-CDG with the transcon priced competitively with JetBlue Mint.

Any idea if they allow you to book one way fares cheaply? As in half the price of a return? Could be decent to get a redemption on a major airline one way then book them on the way back.

$1,600 RT is quite a good fare for business class but where they really make their money is the checked bag fees. Just like Southwest you get 2 free checked bags but any additional bag is $300 from the US to Europe and 200 Euros from Europe to the US

It looks they actually have two different seats on their two planes. One is as shown in the pictures here, the other one is the old Lufthansa seat with some slight changes (Branding, IFE replaced with tablet holder). Over all, I guess the old LH seat is still better than the one shown here.

http://milesfromblighty.boardingarea.com/2015/05/19/la-compagnie-in-the-air/

@Peter Y - thats simply not possible. The company isnt based in the US, which means it cant sell domestic tickets. It will be able to sell OAK-CDG and EWR-CDG, but it cant sell OAK-EWR for the same reason QF cant sell the QF17 tag on from LAX to JFK, or why SQ cant add passengers in JNB for its SIN-JNB-CPT route.

I would love to see a partnership with Alaska. Alaska's current European partners offer garbage availability to Europe from the west coast -not to mention BA's fees. Yes you could stop in Reykjavik, but the FI product is on par with B0.

They are going to buy a few 757 s from Delta. LOL

@SNIC
Hence why he used the term "ultra premium economy" referring to the fact that it's way beyond premium economy but in fact not a business class product at all.

"Seats are angled, while the industry standard nowadays is for business class seats to be fully flat (at least to London and Paris). But for the price, you really can’t complain."

Have I missed something or have AF magically transformed all of their wide-body fleet to fully flat? 2/3 of the B777 fleet should be done next year, but the A380 will not even start to update the J cabin until 2018.

So out of Paris they are competitive, not so much out on LON.

Fully flat J and a normal Y+ product would probably be the way to go if they are getting bigger aircraft, and yes I would probably be the B767 since it shears a type rating with the B757 making it possible to have one pilot pool.

Are there any other airlines taking advantage of England's Seventh Freedom agreement? If not, the EWR to LTN flight would almost be worth taking just to say you've done it.

Hi. I love your texts and insights. Any time to recommend me what to do if I want to fly me and my family (wife, 11yr and 9yr) from Mexico City to Tokyo between December 18th and January 6th 2017 for holidays as the biggest surprise ever? I need to use my miles and have 260k on Aeromexico (skyteam) 230k on united (star alliance) and another 230k on my travelpass credit card. Not sure if I have some hope 🙂 anyway. That's for your insight and time.

Business class fares from NYC area have skyrocketed...for example I can't get a seat on any airline direct to CDG or ZRH. So my choices are multi-connection itineraries for $7000 to $9000 or direct to CDG on La Compagnie for $1800 and the TGV premier class back and forth to Zurich for $300. Pretty compelling saving for my client.

For those calling this "ultra premium economy" and/or sub par business can I just point out that both emirates AND etihad still use angled lie flat business class seats for the ~11 hour flight from Dubai/Abu Dhabi to Perth, Australia.

This is just the one example I have to draw on personally as I fly from London - Perth yearly but I am sure there are many others.

I am not suggesting La Compagnie meets the standard of emirates or etihad business class but I just flew it myself and it more than qualifies as BUSINESS CLASS. The seat allows anyone who isn't unusually tall to fully stretch out and the service was lovely. Additionally I have no doubt it is a superior product to many of the business products still out there for a much larger price (ie El Al)

Whilst I appreciate they are trying to market to people travelling on business, in my opinion, where the value lies is wannabe luxury travellers such as myself.

This airline is AMAZING for those holiday goers who want a little luxury but can't usually afford it. Instead of booking flights to return home at the last minute, leave the night before (ie Friday night not Saturday night when returning to work Monday) and if the worse happens you get an extra day of holiday free!