Air France Premium Economy - Review

[red-beard]

We just went to Europe and there were no deals in business class. Cheapest would have been around $3500, each person. Air France advertises a "fourth" class of service. On the international flights, PE has different seats, different food etc. It is also a separate cabin, like business class.

Cheapest regular economy was $1200. The PE was $1600. Business class was $3600. PE has 20% wider seats, 20% more legroom over regular economy. 2 checked bags included. And PE allows you to use all of the business class perks for the short lines, including immigration in Europe. And that last part is huge.

Food: Meh. Still airplane class food. It wasn't bad, just nothing special. It was better than what was served in regular economy. Business class is definitely better.

Wine: No selection, except red/white. Nothing special, not bad. Again business class is better.

Seat: Definitely wider and definitely more leg room. Could use a little bit more cushioning. Bad: The seat does not recline. It sort of "slips" forward. Not very good for sleeping. You will want to be on the side if you can, as the setup is 2-4-2 on a 777. Regular economy is 3-4-3. My last time flying AF in Business class, they had just adopted the micro-lie flat seats.

Work area: Good sized for laptop and plenty of space. Again, not as much as business class, but allowed me to work on the plane.

Line Perk: Air France loads you at the same time as First/Business. And you use all of the premium lines including security. In Europe, they also have premium immigration lines. That saved our butts on the return through Paris CDG. The flight from Munich to Paris was late and we had to change terminal sections.

Overall: Good value, especially for those on company travel where you are restricted to economy for crossing the Atlantic. For our purpose, seeing old friends, etc., it was worth it. If I needed to get off the plane in "perfect" condition for business meetings, I think I'd spring for the Business class. But for our purpose, BC was not worth an extra $2000 per person.

[biosurfer1]

Business class on AF is not worth the extra cost over Premium Econ. if you ask me. The "lie flat" beds are nice but with the damn angle, I kept sliding down when I was trying to sleep!

I think PE is a nice compromise...the amount of extra legroom/seat width doesn't sound like much until you have been smashed into a regular economy seat!

[Z-man]

The AirFrance PE section sounds a lot like Delta's Economy Plus, which is what I've been using on my flights to Germany. More legroom and more recline on the seats. Separate section sandwhiched between Business and regular economy. Same 2-4-2 seating. With my Delta AMEX card, I get priority boarding, but not at EU's immigration stations.

Best part: Delta's upgrade is $80 each way - significantly less than AirFrance.

-Z-man.

[J P Stein]

AF also lets you put a ton & a half of blow in your checked luggage.

[biosurfer1]

PE and Economy Comfort both have more recline and a wider seat but that is about all that is the same. The PE seat is a hard back shell with light, bigger screen, power ports, leg rest, etc. Economy Comfort seats just look like old economy seats before they crammed as many as they could into a plane.

Economy Comfort:


Premium Economy: