Details: New Air France First Class (La Premiere) Cabin

Details: New Air France First Class (La Premiere) Cabin

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In mid-2022, Air France formally announced that it planned to unveil a new first class product. Details were fairly limited at the time, and we haven’t heard many updates in the 18+ months since that announcement was made. Interestingly, this was touched on during the recent Air France-KLM 2023 investor day presentation, so I wanted to go over all the details.

What we know about Air France’s new first class

Air France is working on introducing an all-new first class product (known as “La Premiere”). As of mid-2022, the product was still in the design phase, and the airline was confirming its commitment to maintaining first class for years to come.

Air France’s new first class product is expected to be unveiled in 2024, and should enter service as of early 2025 (that represents quite a delay, because previously the product was planned for late 2023 or early 2024).

So, what else do we know about this new first class cabin?

  • The new first class will be “the longest cabin” on the market
  • The new first class seat will be fully private; we’ll see if that comes in the form of curtains (as Air France currently has) or a floor-to-ceiling wall
  • The new first class seat will have a modular design, with a seat, a sofa, and a fully flat bed
  • The new first class cabin will consist of just three seats, so presumably it will be one row of seats in a 1-1-1 configuration
  • According to Air France CEO Anne Rigail, “we aim to position it as the best in the world”
  • While I can’t personally vouch for this, The Travelers Club claims that first class will not only be available on Boeing 777-300ERs, but also on select Airbus A350s in the future; that could be many years down the road, and maybe on some of the A350-1000s that Air France-KLM recently ordered

Below are a couple of slides from the recent presentation.

Air France-KLM investor day presentation
Air France-KLM investor day presentation

Furthermore, back in mid-2022, the airline had the below slide during an investor day presentation. As you can see, there’s an artistic rendering of a La Premiere seat. My guess is that this was just a possible concept, and not necessarily the product that Air France will go with.

Air France-KLM investor day presentation

Air France first class is currently available on select Boeing 777-300ERs. The current first class product, which was introduced back in 2014, features curtains that offer full privacy. It’s a phenomenal cabin, and personally I rank Air France as having the second best first class experience in the air, and the best first class experience on the ground.

Air France first class on the Boeing 777-300ER

My initial take on Air France’s new first class

Unfortunately we still don’t know exactly what to expect from the new Air France first class, though we do have some more updates, at least.

First of all, we’ll have to be patient — it’ll likely be several months before the new product is revealed, and it’ll be over a year before it enters service.

Second of all, I find the decision to just install three first class seats to be interesting on a couple of levels. In terms of passenger experience, having just three seats per row is awesome, and seems to be the new standard for top products.

This is really a trend that was kicked off with Emirates’ new Boeing 777 first class, and it’s now something we’re seeing with Japan Airlines’ new A350 first class. Yes, Cathay Pacific’s 777s also have three seats per row, but that’s because they’re angled, so it’s partially a space saving technique.

Emirates’ new 777 first class

While Lufthansa’s new A350 first class also has three seats per row, that’s because the airline has (a really poorly thought out) double suite in the center of the cabin, so it really has the capacity for up to four guests.

Lufthansa’s new A350 first class

Three seats sure is a mighty small first class cabin. I understand first class takes up a lot of real estate, but that’s a very small footprint:

  • From a staffing perspective, how exactly do you do that efficiently, because you’re still going to need two flight attendants working in first class, to be able to offer a good service level (you need one in the galley and one in the cabin)?
  • A cabin with just three seats makes the product pretty unreliable in terms of actually being able to snag a seat; how far in advance will this cabin sell out during busy periods on routes like Paris to Los Angeles?

I’d say the most exciting update is that first class is planned not only as a reconfiguration for existing Boeing 777s, but also for some upcoming Airbus A350s. It remains to be seen how many A350s will get first class — will it just be A350-1000s delivered way down the line, or could some of the newer A350-900s also get first class? I suspect it’s the former, but only time will tell…

Bottom line

Air France’s new La Premiere first class is now expected to be unveiled in 2024, with entry into service planned for early 2025. The airline has revealed that first class will feature just three seats, so it’ll be a very exclusive cabin.

Furthermore, while it hasn’t been officially announced by the airline, rumor has is that the new first class isn’t just coming to 777s, but also to some A350s. For now we’ll have to stay tuned…

What do you make of Air France’s first class plans?

Conversations (19)
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  1. BookLvr Diamond

    I love the current Air France La Premiere, which I flew in 2021 with my spouse and daughter. We thought it was such a treat from start to finish! This new version looks insanely great.

    My #1 priority when taking a red-eye is getting some quality sleep, and this set up looks really promising on that front.

    I hope they keep the curtain. I really like it!

    Thanks for this update!

  2. GH Guest

    I’m sure they considered occupancy rates for F as part of this. This post almost implies it was a pure product decision and now there may be unintended consequences of going from 4 to 3 seats. As dysfunctional as big orgs can be, the process was probably the other way round - i.e. they worked out the optimal number of seats based on data and then designed a new product around it.

    BUT having said...

    I’m sure they considered occupancy rates for F as part of this. This post almost implies it was a pure product decision and now there may be unintended consequences of going from 4 to 3 seats. As dysfunctional as big orgs can be, the process was probably the other way round - i.e. they worked out the optimal number of seats based on data and then designed a new product around it.

    BUT having said that - F has big value for its halo effect and for ‘corporate entertaining’ so maybe some trade offs were made in order to keep ahead of industry trends.

    Anyone booking 3+ seats would probably be starting to spend private jet sums anyway

  3. dee Guest

    I sat in the AF La Premiere Cabin recently. It was a nice experience especially the Pre- Lounge and the seamless connections that it offered...The curtain was ok but it made it too warm in the seat so I had to keep it opened all night. Would do it again if I ever get another chance to do so!!!

  4. Robert Guest

    3 seats are not great for people travelling as a couple..obviously availability will be poor and tickets very expensive ( they already are - compared to other airlines )

    1. Leigh Guest

      The seats are meant for the people that can afford them. SIMPLE.

      Fly another product if you can’t afford AF First.

  5. Santos Guest

    I just don't see the hype for La Premiere. Floor to ceiling curtain is great but I gotta say, I have never had a privacy concern in 15 years of flying on the pointy end. Even in herringbone J on VS or NZ. To quote Janet Malcolm, "no one is looking at you." As for soft product, AF does it exceedingly well but it's still airplane food at altitude. Simply a product to tick off on the bucket list.

    1. Leigh Guest

      Well I doubt many airlines would be upgrading premium cabins at huge expense with doors if it wasn’t of value for high yield pax’s.

      Personally I hate the VS/NZ J config.

      The very popular aviation vlogger Noel Phillips once posted an NZ business class review with the lady next to him staring over his shoulder into his camera the entire time. It became hilarious.

      And that’s why we’d like like a semblance of privacy.

  6. eponymous coward Guest

    “A cabin with just three seats makes the product pretty unreliable in terms of actually being able to snag a seat; how far in advance will this cabin sell out during busy periods on routes like Paris to Los Angeles?”

    I think that’s rather the point; it’s not meant to be given away on award and regularly sell out. The airlines are through selling million dollar glasses of lemonade (“but we only have to sell...

    “A cabin with just three seats makes the product pretty unreliable in terms of actually being able to snag a seat; how far in advance will this cabin sell out during busy periods on routes like Paris to Los Angeles?”

    I think that’s rather the point; it’s not meant to be given away on award and regularly sell out. The airlines are through selling million dollar glasses of lemonade (“but we only have to sell one!”) and giving the spoilage away to bloggers and frequent flyers. We’ve consistently seen airline take away space from F cabins and put it in chains that actually sell more reliably (J and Y+) as well as pack more people in Y as incentive to buy up to less dense cabins. This is just a continuation of that process.

    1. DCAWABN Guest

      LOL. That's EXACTLY the point. It's funny to read the commentary from the (beloved, don't get me wrong) bloggers about the new lack of award space as a result of these changes. And right above/underneath the "woe is me/us" article is an add or pitch to sign up for a credit card so you can get free F and J seats. The lack of awareness sometimes is just plain comical.

    2. Ben Schlappig OMAAT

      @ DCAWABN -- I literally didn't mention award space in this post, though? Flying Blue doesn't make first class awards available with four seats, let alone three. By all means call me out if I'm misleading, but I don't think that's a fair attack here.

    3. Ben Schlappig OMAAT

      @ eponymous coward -- I think you're reading into something that I wasn't saying? Nowhere did I mention anything about awards, I was just talking about being able to "snag" a seat with cash (as in, paying the full price). My point is that in order to develop a loyal customer base for a product, you need to actually have availability with some consistency.

      With just three first class seats, on how many flights...

      @ eponymous coward -- I think you're reading into something that I wasn't saying? Nowhere did I mention anything about awards, I was just talking about being able to "snag" a seat with cash (as in, paying the full price). My point is that in order to develop a loyal customer base for a product, you need to actually have availability with some consistency.

      With just three first class seats, on how many flights will there be availability in first class for a couple when booking 30 days in advance? If it's available less than half the time, that could prove tricky for someone trying to book a roundtrip itinerary, when competitors have a lot more availability.

    4. Dominic Kivni Guest

      Came here to comment only to see eponymous coward and DCAWABN make the exact same points I was going to make. While this post may not have mentioned award availability implications of a smaller cabin, previous posts about other new F products (SQ's new suites vs old suites, EK 777 new first class, etc.) frequently lament the reduced award availability that those cabins will have because there will be fewer seats unsold with cash. That,...

      Came here to comment only to see eponymous coward and DCAWABN make the exact same points I was going to make. While this post may not have mentioned award availability implications of a smaller cabin, previous posts about other new F products (SQ's new suites vs old suites, EK 777 new first class, etc.) frequently lament the reduced award availability that those cabins will have because there will be fewer seats unsold with cash. That, plus the fact that points and miles bloggers have never put forth a clear business case for expanding F that can be backed with data (Gary Leff at VFTW and Nonstop Dan are among the most egregious here) or trends in commercial aviation but are always clamoring for larger F cabins makes it transparent to readers what the points and miles bloggers' thinking is, even without outright stating it. How will AF have LP seats available? They will probably increase the price of LP further to support the increased opulence of the new product and let that balance out supply and demand (which probably also means fewer frequencies to LP destinations, as well as fewer LP routes). The price point will probably be simply too high for "a couple" who will instead look at J (which has also moved upmarket with the new seat) and be limited primarily to CAC40 senior executives spending their company's money. Problem solved.

      The fact that multiple commenters immediately had the same thought should make it even more clear that readers know what the bloggers are thinking whenever they're pushing forth larger F and J cabins, more opulent cabins, etc. (or questioning airline decisions in the reverse) as if there was a real business case to be made. Airlines have operated those larger, more opulent cabins, and they're seeing the yields fall short. Bloggers are not. They know they aren't getting the return on investment for those aspects of the product, which is why they're either cutting them entirely or cutting them back in terms of amount offered and increasing the price. Selling more saver award tickets only makes the business case worse, as the yield from that is the lowest it could possibly be before simply going unsold entirely. Nonetheless, the only thing being pushed by the bloggers is "more F routes, larger F cabins, more opulent F seats, more opulent dining / lounge / etc." as if there was a real business case for it, and predictably readers are pointing out how dumb that would be for the airlines.

      It's even more ridiculous when the most critical reviews come from these bloggers that are only paying a saver award fare that doesn't justify the product's existence. I'm based in a United hub, and the level of satisfaction with Polaris from GS status holders (implicitly frequent and big cash fare spenders with arguably the most right to criticize given how much they spend with United) is surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly) higher than the level of satisfaction from saver award fare flying bloggers.

    5. eponymous coward Guest

      Possibly, but presumably AF knows their F sales and how to optimize F/J/Y+/Y space in the cabin to maximize revenue. Having big huge suites chewing up space unsold in a 6 seat F cabin, or given away as awards or flying employees on buddy passes is revenue opportunity lost vs having smaller F and bigger J/Y+.

      The industry trend has been to shrink F's footprint, even EK is doing it in Game Changer from 8F...

      Possibly, but presumably AF knows their F sales and how to optimize F/J/Y+/Y space in the cabin to maximize revenue. Having big huge suites chewing up space unsold in a 6 seat F cabin, or given away as awards or flying employees on buddy passes is revenue opportunity lost vs having smaller F and bigger J/Y+.

      The industry trend has been to shrink F's footprint, even EK is doing it in Game Changer from 8F to 6F. I think that says a lot about how airlines view F vs. J/Y+ in terms of their revenue mix. Airlines do not want empty space and getting more consistently full flights (even if it's with smaller F cabins) is important in their economics.

    6. Dominic Kivni Guest

      @eponymous coward, just to add on to what you're saying, it's not just EK gamechanger going to 6F vs the old seat at 8F (and also adding more planes to the fleet with no F, as Lucky has lamented previously). Here's a list of other airlines going the same way:

      SQ Suites, new suites 6F vs 8F in the old config
      BA F, 14F in the old 777 going to 8F in the new...

      @eponymous coward, just to add on to what you're saying, it's not just EK gamechanger going to 6F vs the old seat at 8F (and also adding more planes to the fleet with no F, as Lucky has lamented previously). Here's a list of other airlines going the same way:

      SQ Suites, new suites 6F vs 8F in the old config
      BA F, 14F in the old 777 going to 8F in the new 777
      LH / LX F, 3F with capacity to seat 4 vs 8F in the old configs
      JL F, A350 has 6F vs 8F on the 777
      KE F, pulled back to just flagship routes
      QF F, A350 Sunrise plans have reduced F cabin from 14F on the A380 to 6F (-57%), while J went from 70J to 52J (-26%)
      RX will have no F cabins despite SV having F cabins

      AA, QR and OZ getting rid of F entirely (plus all the other airlines that have already done so)
      Other airlines with F adding more planes that do not have F, like NH with their 787s and CX with their A350s

      The only airline that has bucked the trend is JX with a 4F cabin, and even that is at the lower end, as currently there is no F cabin being flown with less than 4 seats. The trend is clear, F is going more opulent, more expensive, and thus fewer seats and on fewer routes / frequencies. Nowhere in the world are airlines pushing to expand F, no matter how many bloggers push for it, because they know that big F cabins flying everywhere don't utilize airplane space and capital for the best returns

  7. JK Guest

    I think it will be something similar to JAL and Qantas' new first class suites. 1-1-1 with separate seat, bed and ottoman. They will continue to charge quite a premium, with 2 flight attendants and very very little opportunity for points upgrades. This will be full-fare pricing, to major capitals which I believe will work.

  8. Jim Guest

    I don't interpret the presentation as that there are three total first class placements - rather, that each first class place has three seats (a seat, a bed, and a couch). Or at least three seating configurations.

    1. Ralfinho Member

      The wording "New cabin with 3 modular and totally private suites" does sound like three suites, doesn't it? I don't interpret as the number of seating configurations per suite but as the number of suites.

    2. Clem Diamond

      I think it's both anyway. It's 3 suites with 3 configurations each.

    3. Levi Diamond

      The 2022 presentation can be read that way.

      Slide 61 of the latest presentation is unambiguous that it's 3 suites.

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Levi Diamond

The 2022 presentation can be read that way. Slide 61 of the latest presentation is unambiguous that it's 3 suites.

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Ben Schlappig OMAAT

@ DCAWABN -- I literally didn't mention award space in this post, though? Flying Blue doesn't make first class awards available with four seats, let alone three. By all means call me out if I'm misleading, but I don't think that's a fair attack here.

1
Ben Schlappig OMAAT

@ eponymous coward -- I think you're reading into something that I wasn't saying? Nowhere did I mention anything about awards, I was just talking about being able to "snag" a seat with cash (as in, paying the full price). My point is that in order to develop a loyal customer base for a product, you need to actually have availability with some consistency. With just three first class seats, on how many flights will there be availability in first class for a couple when booking 30 days in advance? If it's available less than half the time, that could prove tricky for someone trying to book a roundtrip itinerary, when competitors have a lot more availability.

1
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