I’ve been writing quite a bit about Air France lately, given that I’ve earned Flying Blue Platinum status with Air France-KLM. I’ve covered the ability to redeem miles for Air France first class (which is limited to Flying Blue Platinum members and above), and in this post I wanted to talk about the other best-value way to fly Air France first class, which is through a paid upgrade.
I doubt all that many people are going to be rushing to take advantage of this opportunity, but I still think it’s worth covering.
In this post:
Air France first class is amazing & exclusive
Air France first class (branded as La Premiere) is an incredible product. It’s only available on key routes on select Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The cabin features just four seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration, with each seat having a floor-to-ceiling curtain around it. Personally I rank Air France first class as the world’s single most well-rounded first class product:
- I rank the inflight experience as the third best in the world, after Emirates’ new first class and Japan Airlines’ new first class
- I rank the ground experience in Paris as the world’s best, as it’s jaw-droppingly good
Air France will also soon be debuting a new first class, though details about the product remain limited.
The catch is that actually booking Air France first class is costly. Air France probably has the most consistently high cash fares in first class of any airline in the world. That’s not surprising, both due to how Air France is trying to position itself, and also due to how small the cabin is.
When it comes to award redemptions, only Flying Blue Platinum and Ultimate members are able to redeem miles for first class, and the redemption rates are quite high.
Air France sells first class upgrades at check-in
If you’re looking to fly Air France first class without outright paying for it, there’s one best way to do so. Specifically, Air France will often sell first class upgrades at check-in:
- This is available either during online check-in (typically starting 24 hours before departure), or at the airport
- This is available to those with confirmed business class tickets, whether booking a revenue fare or redeeming miles
- If you upgrade to first class, you receive all the standard first class services, including the amazing ground experience in Paris
Air France is pretty consistent about offering these upgrades, assuming there are seats available. Just keep in mind that with just four first class seats, it’s common for the cabin to be sold out. So if you want to figure out your odds of there being seats available, you can always go to Google Flights and do a “dummy” booking, and see how many first class seats are still being sold on an Air France flight.
The cost to upgrade to first class really does vary considerably, and I’ve seen reports of upgrades costing anywhere from $1,000 to $2,500 (that’s one-way pricing, and per person). There are a few general concepts to understand:
- Typically upgrade pricing is the highest to and from the United States; routes to Dubai, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Singapore, and Tokyo (when operated by planes with first class) often have more attractive pricing for upgrades
- Pricing is dynamic, so the cost could differ significantly for a particular flight; the upgrade cost may be different at online check-in vs. at the airport, and different passengers may even be offered different upgrade prices
- While these upgrade offers also often let travelers redeem miles for the upgrade, it’s rarely a good deal, typically offering well under a cent of value per mile
Generally I’d expect an Air France first class upgrade to cost somewhere around $2,000, give or take, as that seems to be the most common pricing. For the United States, I wouldn’t expect to see pricing lower than that, and might even expect to see higher pricing. Meanwhile for other routes, don’t be surprised if pricing is a bit lower.
I’m sure many people are curious about upgrade costs, so I’d love if OMAAT reader could share data points in the comments section, when offered a cash upgrade to first class on Air France.
Let me also mention that Air France sometimes tries to sell first class upgrades prior to online check-in. However, it’s typically going to be more expensive then, and the cost will often be the fare difference between cabins.
Is an Air France first class upgrade worth it?
It goes without saying that Air France’s first class upgrades aren’t cheap. I’m by no means suggesting that this should somehow interest everyone, or that there will be widespread appeal to this. That being said, a few thoughts:
- If you’re an airline product geek and want to experience Air France La Premiere on one segment as economically as possible, a paid upgrade on a one-way award ticket is probably the best way to do this, assuming you don’t have Flying Blue Platinum status or above
- In general there’s more value to this if you’re either originating in Paris, or are flying to Paris and connecting same day, so that you can use the Air France La Premiere Lounge in Paris, which is half of the experience
- Since Air France has flat beds with direct aisle access in business class on 777s, I’d be more interested in this on a daytime flight than an overnight flight, since I’d be more likely to stay up and “party” on the latter
- Since Air France only has four first class seats in a cabin, expect that these upgrade offers often won’t be available, as Air France often sells out first class in advance (especially to Los Angeles and New York)
Bottom line
Air France sometimes offers paid upgrades from business class to first class, including on award tickets. This is most commonly available at check-in, though expect it to be pricey. Upgrade costs will rarely be as low as $1,000, and it’s much more common to see upgrade offers in the range of $2,000-2,500.
While upgrades aren’t cheap, I think it’s at least worth being aware of this option, if you’re a huge airline product geek, or want to spoil yourself for a special occasion and experience one of the world’s best first class products.
At what price would you take advantage of a paid upgrade to Air France first class? And if you’ve been offered a paid upgrade, please report back with what the offer was, as I imagine others will appreciate these data points!
Yesterday I flew CMN-CDG-LAX in business. There were two seats available in La Premiere, I was offered to upgrade for the staggering price of $3,119. That was an easy no merci. As a Platinum member I was in 3L, with the larger footwell, all was wonderful. I've flown La Premiere numerous times using my miles, a much better option, at least for me.
Did the upgrade last year...Did not regret the probable "once in a lifetime" experience...
It's worth noting that (perhaps due to there not being that many Flying Blue Platinums in the US; Platinums are disproportionately EU-based) it's quite common, especially on flights to/from the US, for AF to charge less for a La Premiere award than a business class award (e.g. 250k miles for a one-way P award to JFK vs. 350k miles in business).
Currently “cheating” on LH HON (2027), due to a status match to platinum with AF. Looking at getting UXP, so called in to see if I could do a paid upgrade to La Premiere which I sometimes do with LH/LX as it’s sometimes CHF900 a leg. The platinum line was super helpful (wasn’t expecting that at all) and gave me all the rules of the game:
1. Paid upgrades are by invitation only and...
Currently “cheating” on LH HON (2027), due to a status match to platinum with AF. Looking at getting UXP, so called in to see if I could do a paid upgrade to La Premiere which I sometimes do with LH/LX as it’s sometimes CHF900 a leg. The platinum line was super helpful (wasn’t expecting that at all) and gave me all the rules of the game:
1. Paid upgrades are by invitation only and only to Platinum and above. So that means that if there are 2 seats left in F, they will be offered to only 2 platinums. Indeed there were 2 paid F and me so the other platinum didn’t take advantage and the 4th seat went empty. So I guess AF prefers to leave it empty rather than sell it at a discount. You can upgrade your ticket without the invitation of course but the leg I checked CDG GRU about a week in advance was CHF4,000. No way.
2. “Invitations” are sent a couple of days before the flight. My “invitation” price was CHF1850 on top of my very well priced (CHF4,000) biz class ticket so receiving the invitations for the round trip would be CHF8,000. Ok. So clearly the “invitations” are exclusive…and a relatively good deal compared to full F.
3. Ground experience is awesome. Pick up at the door of the plane and off in a macan to the lounge. You have an advisor who drives you, informs you about the flights and even is in charge of ensuring (!!) your bags are on the flight. Not sure why Ben gushes so much about the lounge. LH/LX first are far superior. The food in the lounge in CDG is spectacular and it’s really nice overall, but it’s kind of smallish and very open with no real privacy so you’re all kind of looking at each other across the room. The red pleather seats looked very 80s. It’s overall enjoyable and you are right above all the best shops if you want to shop. But nothing compares to the F class terminal in FRA or the international F in MUC even after all of these years. when it’s time to go your advisor whisks you off in the macan. Not a care in the world. I literally didn’t keep track of time at all and couldn’t care less!
4. Onboard was great. Ben has covered that. Curtains were interesting but I think I would enjoy SQ or EK full walls/doors more.
5. The catch? XP/UXP miles do NOT accrue (and as I found out it’s in the T&C) on the invitation upgrade. I found this really annoying. When you buy an upgrade (by invite or otherwise) with LH/LX your HON circle miles accrue for the fare that it is (ie F). Afterall, It’s an upsell for them and extremely lucrative, but not giving one XP more than my regular biz class made me think twice about upgrading to F by the platinum invitation. Wonderful experience yes, but the whole idea behind status and so on is exactly to spend more which I did.
If they had the XP/UXP accrual, I’d probably leave LH/LX altogether! Ok, well, not quite yet. UXP doesn’t give you access to the F lounge…
Travelling to the Far East from LHR as a couple we prefer SQ, we value the space of the suites and we prefer the arrangement of the beds, etc.
We did take the same route once with AF, however, connecting delays are just not practical, also, the double suite with curtains less spacious.
The major upside was that no Delta flight could ever dream of offering anywhere near the same quality experience.
...
Travelling to the Far East from LHR as a couple we prefer SQ, we value the space of the suites and we prefer the arrangement of the beds, etc.
We did take the same route once with AF, however, connecting delays are just not practical, also, the double suite with curtains less spacious.
The major upside was that no Delta flight could ever dream of offering anywhere near the same quality experience.
Finally, I am yet to take a Boeing flight, with any airline, which can better the A380 or A350 flight experience.
I fly AF about 5-6 times yearly and hold Platinum status. Every time I have flown first class, upgrades are available as long as it's a First class flight. The cost from NY and Paris is consistently $2600. As hard as I have tried to negotiate, there has never been any give. Once, I had to buy a Business class fare upgrade from Z to J, pay $800, and then upgrade using 80k miles. I...
I fly AF about 5-6 times yearly and hold Platinum status. Every time I have flown first class, upgrades are available as long as it's a First class flight. The cost from NY and Paris is consistently $2600. As hard as I have tried to negotiate, there has never been any give. Once, I had to buy a Business class fare upgrade from Z to J, pay $800, and then upgrade using 80k miles. I have flown Emirates, Etihad, Swiss, British, Cathay, and AA, and you are right. I find AF Lapremier the best first-class experience all around, hands down.
DXB-CDG Nov 24 USD 1830. Didn’t take it up, as I was in 3A (the best seat in J) and was asleep from 2 min after take off to 15 min before arrival. If it was the other way around I might have…
Was quoted $1700 during airport check-in to upgrade from a redemption Biz ticket, CDG-DXB. Took it as 'once in a lifetime' thing and did not regret it at all. Truly a PHENOMENAL flying experience!
Offered for $1800 per passenger, didn’t think twice about it. For CDG-LAX. There was no fourth passenger, used that space for dining.
Just did HND to CDG last week and it was USD 1990. For a 14.5 hour flight and a 3.5 hour layover, it was definitely worth it! Had the entire cabin to myself!
I feel like if I was going to splurge on La Premiere, I'd want a longer flights, either from the US west coast or somewhere in Asia-Pacific. It doesn't seem worth it on any of the east coast flights, which are so short you barely have time to enjoy the luxury.
South America should work fine. Personally I never fly in Y on long haul flights, but I recently did a daytime LHR-BOS in premium economy and found it more than sufficient, I really can't see myself spending thousands extra just to fly in a better seat, particularly when flight length and timings aren't conducive to getting a proper night's sleep. Of course, spending a few more miles is a different kettle of fish.
There are multiple ways to approach it. Dubai is short but it's also quite cheap so you can get that once-in-a-lifetime experience for relatively small amount of money (relatively being the key word here). You still get the full ground experience and nice meal on board so it may just be worth it if the fare is right. On the other hand, if I were to splurge and was willing to spend extra to get...
There are multiple ways to approach it. Dubai is short but it's also quite cheap so you can get that once-in-a-lifetime experience for relatively small amount of money (relatively being the key word here). You still get the full ground experience and nice meal on board so it may just be worth it if the fare is right. On the other hand, if I were to splurge and was willing to spend extra to get as good experience as possible, I'd preferably go for Singapore (they use the fantastic Qantas First lounge there on return), or maaaybe Tokyo. I definitely wouldn't upgrade the US routes - expensive and the experience isn't nearly as good (e.g. terrible lounges and overall ground exprience in the US).
Facinating
I paid $499 to upgrade Houston last week.
To First??? :-0
Air France doesn't run La Premiere to Houston
Gotta say I was really surprised on my AF flight home from Europe last month, business and premium econ upgrade cost was incredibly reasonable. $180 per person to go from econ to premium econ, and $380 for my parents to go from premium econ to business. I was expecting a much bigger amount to get into the lie-flats. If space is available, it's a really good way to save both cash and points.
Ben—you wrote last year that Air France had restricted paid first class upgrades on award tickets. Did they reverse that policy?
@ John -- Yep, Air France did indeed reverse that policy (and also reversed its policy on only one first class award seat per flight).
Pretty sure this was never a real policy.
It was, because I was denied an LP upgrade twice for it. Apparently it was short lived. I wouldn't be surprised to see more restrictions with the new cabin though.
DELTA ONE is better!
While a person might disagree with or have an opinion about the real Tim Dunn, your obsession with him suggests he has a level of control over your consciousness. Whether you realize or admit it. If you continue such comments, it would suggest I'm right. Prove me wrong.
Don't talk about Daddy that way!
Both of you fake Tim Dunn‘s are psychopaths who need some sort of life.
February 2024, I had upgrade offers priced around $1,800-$2,000 a person for my IAD to CDG flight and CDG to IAD flight. Both were booked on points. One was even booked through Virgin Atlantic.
If I recall it was closer to $1800 when only 1 of 4 seats were picked from CDG to IAD.
It was $1,960 for IAD to CDG and only the 2 middle seats were left.
Does an upgrade also entitle you to La Premiere ground services if originating or connecting in CDG? I thought it only gets you upgraded services after after boarding.
Oh I had ALL the services on my connection at Paris and on arrival to Washington. Sublime start to finish.
You get everything - including the limo transfer - except the extra XP.
I took advantage of an offer to La Premiere in March. Was on a business class ticket, an award redemption, going from Dubai to Washington via Paris. When I did online check in, I got an offer of $1993 for the Paris-Washington segment. First was full on Dubai-Paris. I took it and it was a fabulous experience.