As ya’ll know, I’m pretty excited/hormonal about La Compagnie, the new all business class airline flying between Paris and Newark.
La Compagnie 757, per their Facebook page
Their business model is as flawed as the 787’s battery was for the first year, but that’s part of the fun.
What’s fascinating is that even though their service was supposed to launch on July 11, they’ve experienced rolling delays without any explanations. When I asked them last week when their inaugural flight would be, they said “soon, very soon.” Well that’s useful!
Then they flew what looked to me like an empty plane from Paris to Newark last week and called it the inaugural, though their schedule still only shows roughly once weekly service.
I’ve been monitoring Paris to Newark availability, and haven’t seen much space at all. Their first flight looked like it would be last week.
Fast forward to this morning.
I’ve been in Brussels for two days, and have hardly slept. The night I arrived I took a nap from 6PM till 10PM, but then due to jetlag and commitments, haven’t slept otherwise. So last night I went to bed without an alarm, and woke up at 10:17AM this morning. Crap, the main reason I extended the stay at my hotel another night was because I wanted to be sure I reviewed the breakfast buffet (which I couldn’t the previous day due to the Tomorrowland flight I took to Frankfurt and back), so I ran down as fast as I could to snap some pictures.
I didn’t realize my shirt was on the wrong way around and that I forgot my glasses until I was down there, but minor details. Then at breakfast while having a cappuccino I opened up La Compagnie’s website to see when they were selling their next tickets.
I nearly wet myself when I saw that they were selling business class seats at the lowest cost for this evening’s flight from Paris to Newark.
I can’t properly describe how excited that made me. So still half asleep I ran to the concierge, and like a madman said “I need to get to Charles de Gaulle. Now. How?”
I packed up my stuff, showered, and moments later was on the TGV to Paris Charles de Gaulle.
I had aspirations of going to Tomorrowland or Stockholm or something, but this was clearly more important, because the opportunity to fly La Compagnie is much rarer. 😉
I’m so excited to give this product a try… you guys have no clue.
With my luck, I feel like a Qatar Airways A380 might just be subbed in for the flight. 😉
My only hope is that they’re legally allowed to communicate in English on the flight… unlike on Facebook!
WOOOHOOO!
Any predictions? How full will the flight be, given that they seemingly haven’t actually been selling tickets? How will the service be?
@Drew I got 2x points for TGV in March when I was in France, maybe they fixed it, or maybe it was the terminal.
You can fly the return tomorrow for $620 all in if you want.
So you can prepare for next year by going to TomorrowWorld and stalking the housewives of Atlanta ;)
@echino, the flight is showing up in the FlighTrack iOS app (the old one, hate the new FT5 app) under DJT100
'Can only'
Sorry....
Flight aware shows Bens flight airborne. We San only assume the wifi is not working or I am sure he would have posted.
@Lucky, just FYI if you used your CSP to pay for your train ticket you might not receive double points.
Both the French train systems and the Belgian train systems are coded incorrectly in the merchant processing system Chase uses to award 2 points for dining and travel. I've fought this with them multiple times, and twice I was able to get them to add the additional points, but they won't any longer.
...@Lucky, just FYI if you used your CSP to pay for your train ticket you might not receive double points.
Both the French train systems and the Belgian train systems are coded incorrectly in the merchant processing system Chase uses to award 2 points for dining and travel. I've fought this with them multiple times, and twice I was able to get them to add the additional points, but they won't any longer.
Both train systems are coded in the merchant system as 'freight trains' not as 'passenger trains'
Okay, that was hard to find - but apparently on Google and others (flight aware) if you put in DJT 100 (flight # 100) it will show up for tracking purposes.
@echino The Newark airport website says "No Recent Info - Call Airline" but they actually list B0 flight 100 as scheduled to arrive at 8:30 pm.
I have a feeling Ben will have the cabin all to himself and the flight will take off... after all, they now have one passenger more than their inaugural flight did
Is there tracking available for this flight? CDG airport website says:
Flight number: B0100
Departure: Paris, 25/07/2014 17:50
CHARLES DE GAULLE TERMINAL 1
Arrival: NEW YORK NEWARK on 25/07/2014 20:01
Status: Take off at 19:19 *
Stopovers: No stopover
Type of aircraft: BOEING 757-200 (WINGLETS) PASSENGER
Airline: LA COMPAGNIE
Phone number: 08.92.23.02.40
But I can't find any trace of the plane on any trancking websites using B0100 or...
Is there tracking available for this flight? CDG airport website says:
Flight number: B0100
Departure: Paris, 25/07/2014 17:50
CHARLES DE GAULLE TERMINAL 1
Arrival: NEW YORK NEWARK on 25/07/2014 20:01
Status: Take off at 19:19 *
Stopovers: No stopover
Type of aircraft: BOEING 757-200 (WINGLETS) PASSENGER
Airline: LA COMPAGNIE
Phone number: 08.92.23.02.40
But I can't find any trace of the plane on any trancking websites using B0100 or DJT100. Any ideas? Lucky, if you are on the plane and WiFi is working, post here!
Wow, that fare is less than coach! Are you posting from aboard the Thalys? How much did the train ticket cost? Thalys with its monopoly is such a rip-off, especially last minute. It will take you about as long to get from Gare du Nord to CDG as from Bruxelles Midi to Paris. Hope the CGT is behaving itself today (i.e. no wildcat strikes). With today's unemployment news you never know...
It indeed is an adventure. Love their website with drawings of the plane seats, no photos. But sure you'll post them here.....assuming you actually take off.
Let's hear it for Lucky, this airlines first and only paying customer! Ben: ask them if they'll let you land the thing at EWR
You're crazy Ben - sane people do not make travel plans like that and jump on a TATL plane :)
That said - I totally understand you so hats off! Awesome day!
Enjoy your flight.
lol this is too awesome. Staying tuned for the next episode of As the World Turns with Lucky and La Compagnie
Have to say I don't get why you are so excited about this. Old-ish style seats. Is it the free wifi that you are jazzed about? The fare seems reasonable enough. But, whatevs
You'll be the only pax or flight will be cancelled (cash in EU261). Can't see any other option
That's awesome! With a little luck you'll have the entire cabin to yourself...;-)
I'm going to predict that it will get scrubbed. If it does depart - I predict 40-50% capacity.
Anyone else find it comical that their message stating they can't legally communicate in English...is in English?
I wonder if you will actually have a plane AND if they can't speak English yet I wonder what their return flight ewr-cdg loads will look like.
How much was the train/ any good award redemptions for trains in Europe (or lucrative earning abilities)?