Did you know that long haul, low cost carrier French Bee actually has a flat bed premium economy product? Well, neither did I, until now. For that matter, it seems the airline barely even acknowledges this exists, since there’s virtually no mention of this product on French Bee’s website. Let me explain what’s going on here (thanks to David for flagging this)…
In this post:
French Bee’s unadvertised flat bed experience
For some context, French Bee is a French low cost carrier with a fleet of six Airbus A350s — four are A350-900s, and two are A350-1000s. The airline is based at Paris Orly (ORY), and flies to Miami (MIA), Newark (EWR), San Francisco (SFO), Papeete (PPT), and Reunion (RUN), and will soon launch flights to Montreal (YUL).
French Bee’s A350s are in a high density configuration, with both the carrier’s A350-900s and A350-1000s being among the densest in service. For example, the carrier’s A350-1000s were delivered with 480 seats, including 40 premium economy seats and 440 economy seats. On a per-seat basis, this is the world’s most efficient aircraft.
However, as it turns out, not all of the A350s that French Bee is selling tickets on operate with this configuration. For example, take a look at a Newark to Paris flight for this summer, which is operated by an Airbus A350-1000. You can book the carrier’s “premium” fare for a very reasonable $451.50.
But when you go to select seats, you won’t find the product that you’re expecting. Instead, the airline is selling two different kinds of premium economy seats. On select aircraft:
- There are 24 fully flat premium economy seats, which are spread across four rows, in a 2-2-2 configuration; on this route, these cost $400 to assign
- There are 45 standard premium economy seats, which are spread across seven rows, in a 2-3-2 configuration
As you can see, not only is there a flat bed product, but the standard premium economy product is also more comfortable. Rather than being in a 2-4-2 configuration, this plane has seats in a 2-3-2 configuration.
Before we even talk about the product, let me point out what a good deal this could be. You’d be paying around $850 for a one-way flat bed seat from Newark to Paris. If rest is what you value, then I’d say it’s hard to beat that. For that matter, French Bee’s premium economy soft product looks pretty decent as well, so the food and drinks shouldn’t be bad. Here’s a trip report I found about the product.
French Bee is actually leasing Air Caraibes A350
So, what’s actually going on here? Has French Bee reconfigured its A350-1000s, to have more of a focus on premium seating? Nope, that doesn’t seem to be the case (even though I could see merit to it).
While there’s very little mention of it online, I think I’ve figured out what’s going on. French Bee has the same parent company as Air Caraibes, based in the French West Indies. That airline has a fleet of over a dozen aircraft, and seven of those are A350s.
It would appear that at least seasonally, French Bee is operating some of the Air Caraibes jets. That’s because the seat map displayed by French Bee exactly matches that of the Air Caraibes A350-1000.
While wet lease agreements aren’t that uncommon, it’s a bit odd how French Bee’s website makes no mention of some flights being operated by another airline, since that’s usually something airlines disclose when selling tickets.
What kind of a product should passengers expect? Air Caraibes has one of the stranger flat bed business class products out there (the airline markets it as business class, unlike French Bee). You can see a video about it below.
Shifting capacity between Air Caraibes and French Bee seems to make a lot of sense. As you’d expect, French Bee has strong demand across the North Atlantic in summer, when people want to fly between the United States and France. Meanwhile Air Caraibes’ peak season is winter, given the desire for people to travel from Metropolitan France to the Caribbean.
The one caution I’d add is that while I think this flat bed product could represent a great value, there’s always the risk of aircraft swaps. So if you’re only willing to fly in a flat bed, I’d be cautious about booking this far in advance, since there’s a chance of a plane being swapped at the last minute, and French Bee’s own aircraft don’t have a flat bed product.
Bottom line
French Bee is selling a flat bed premium economy product on some of its A350 routes. It would appear that French Bee hasn’t actually reconfigured its own aircraft, but is instead leasing some planes from Air Caraibes, which has the same owner. If you simply value a flat bed at the best price possible, it’s hard to argue with the prices being charged here…
What do you make of French Bee’s “flat bed” premium economy?
Seth Miller just posted on BlueSky that he got a flatbed on Level. I’m not sure how that happened though.
I think you need to fly this one direction and back on Air Saint-Pierre
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
Makes sense to assign this config to EWR given the significant extra premium capacity.
So have you booked your ticket?
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,...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@ 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.
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.
@ 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.
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.