Air France is known for its incredible La Premiere first class. I rank it as being the best first class product in the world, and also consider the airline to offer the best first class lounge in the world.
During Skytrax’s recent 2026 World Airline Awards, Air France was recognized for having the world’s best first class. To celebrate that, along with commemorating the 70th anniversary of La Premiere, Air France has released an incredible documentary about the evolution of its first class cabin, which aviation geeks and premium product enthusiasts will no doubt appreciate.
Air France’s documentary about the history of La Premiere
Air France has released a 35-minute documentary about the history and evolution of its La Premiere first class, and it’s just so incredibly well done. While all the conversations in the documentary take place in French, there’s a version that’s fully dubbed in English, so it’s easy to follow along (the embedded version below might not have the dubbing, but if you click the link and go to YouTube, the audio is correct there, for whatever reason).
Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith is featured throughout the video, and the idea is that he has conversations with all kinds of people involved in the La Premiere experience. This includes frontline La Premiere staff, ranging from flight attendants to the personal assistants who work on the ground. He also talks to some people from brands Air France partners with on La Premiere, including chef Alain Ducasse, and Sisley co-founder Isabelle d’Ornano.
The most incredible part is that the video also includes a visit to Musée Air France, which is a specialized documentation center and corporate archive for Air France. This isn’t open to the public, but instead, it serves as a resource for historians and researchers, and it’s rare to get an inside look like that, and see all the old cabin layouts, uniforms, amenities, etc.
Ben Smith’s passion is my favorite part of this video
It’s no secret that I have a lot of respect for Ben Smith — I think he’s an incredible leader, he’s a genuinely nice guy, and he’s also the world’s biggest aviation geek. It’s just so refreshing to see leaders at airlines who are not only so passionate about their company, but also about the industry as a whole.
There are so many airline executives who are just there for a paycheck, and quite frankly, seem miserable (don’t make me name them). You have other airline executives who are passionate about the business side of things, but for all they care, they could be working in any industry.
And then you have people like Smith — while there are lots of passionate people in the airline industry, you rarely see them in the CEO position, as that job all too often goes to CFO types. His passion for the industry really comes through here — this obviously wasn’t something he was annoyed to participate in, but instead, he was delighted by it.
For those who aren’t that familiar with Smith, I think this video really bring out his passion. I love the details he shares, how the 747 was his favorite plane (and he even remembers specific seat pitch!), and he talks about how his first car had “747” on the license plate, and his personal email address even has “747” in it.
And beyond passion, his knowledge is just absolutely endless. He knows as much about the cabin layout of a random plane from the 1950s as Delta CEO Ed Bastian knows about the importance of injecting the word “premium” into every sentence (and that’s a lot — I’m also guessing Bastian’s email address doesn’t have 767-300ER in it!).
Look, I don’t want to say that you have to be an aviation geek to be a good airline CEO. However, I think a genuine passion goes a long way in motivating employees, and aligning them with the mission of the company. It’s why I’ve mentioned in the past that American needs a CEO like Smith, who can actually change labor dynamics at the airline, and inspire employees to care again.
I’m loving this trend of Air France releasing these thoughtful videos. Earlier this year, Air France also released a video to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Concorde, which is also worth a watch, if you have the time. Keep it up, Air France!
Bottom line
It’s not often you see an airline release a documentary about its first class product, which is why Air France’s video about its La Premiere cabin is such a treat. It’s very cool to see Air France’s premium products from decades ago, and Ben Smith’s interest in all of this is also part of the fun.
Anyone else enjoy this Air France La Premiere documentary?
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