I didn’t think I’d ever find the airplane boarding process achingly cool, but here we are.

 

The dulcet tones of Air’s seminal French Touch hit “Le Femme d’Argent” waft through the Air France business class cabin. The pod style seats are fresh and new as the Airbus A350 they’re occupying. The flight attendants greet you in perhaps the most perfect French you can hear, and you stumble to try and match it with your own bonjour.

You receive a politely friendly smile when your French isn’t quite as perfect. And the first glass of Champagne of the flight is poured.

You almost forget about the large family with 2 noisy toddlers looming a few rows back.

Settling into your seat, you ready yourself for perhaps the finest business class experience in the sky.

 

We were lucky enough to experience the new Air France business class on a flight from Charles de Gaulle to Boston

Air France rolled out its all new business class product in the last couple of years aboard its brand new Airbus A350 long haul flights. To say it’s set a high bar for other airlines to match is a definite understatement.

The seats are spacious and fully lay flat, with plenty of leg room as is to be expected in a modern business class cabin. The service is outstanding, polite and patient. 

But where Air France business class really sets itself apart is in the little details. Like plenty of little storage areas and a subtle light up logo on the small cabinet door in each pod. Compared to older seating arrangements like Lufthansa, Air France business class feels closer to first class. 

“The French Touch” doesn’t just apply to music after all.

This all combines to an outstanding experience in the air, and I haven’t even touched on dinner.

Want to book Air France business class for yourself? Here’s how I made it happen.

I made the mistake of taking my wife on one business class flight….and that was that. We’re business class all the way if we can swing it. And through some savvy points wrangling, we can make it happen more often than not.

I’m by no means a hyper-points expert but I’ve worked out a pretty accessible system that works for me, and it helped me book two one way tickets in Air France business class.

Long story short, I used my Capital One Venture X card to accrue points by booking the hotels for the trip. Since it’s 10x points when you book through the Capital One portal, we had the needed amount quickly. Then, I used the online travel search engine Points Yeah to find available flights.

Luckily enough, there was a CDG-BOS flight in Air France business class with availability ready to be booked through Air Canada. From there I simply transferred the Capital One points and booked the seats for my wife and me that would mark the end of our trip.

Voila! 

Arrival at Charles de Gaulle

Now before I go further I must admit: my wife and I were recovering from picking up some pretty nasty colds towards the end of our time in Europe. Look, it was December, we stayed out late, drank too much and went to some incredible yet very public places. It was bound to happen.

Nevertheless, we put on brave faces, took our one thousand different remedies from the French pharmacy and stifled our sneezes. Then walked through the doors at CDG.

CDG is, in a word, something. But I’ve never found it too difficult to get through. We took care of our VAT refunds, rolled through the priority lines to check our shared bag then breezed through security.

And then we crossed our fingers to see which terminal we’d be heading to, hoping for one of the newer Air France business class lounges.

Lounge Access and Amenities

And…no such luck. We were in Terminal 2E as most international flights out of CDG are, but consigned to the hall K lounge.

It’s the oldest of the Air France business class lounges here, and definitely the least impressive. In a word, it’s “fine”.

With about an hour and a half  before boarding, my wife and I took the elevators down to the reception desk and made our way to open seats. If you too find yourself in the hall K Air France longe, the best seats are definitely found to the left from the entrance.

Here you’ll get large windows that don’t have much of a view, but it tends to be a bit quieter than the other side and the natural light is pleasant. Plus the seating is comfy and the buffet is close at hand.

Food offerings were just ok, with a lot of cold cuts, a few pastries and yogurt available. None of the hot dishes really did it for me, so I avoided those. I had a yogurt and a croissant and found myself longing for one of the much newer and nicer Air France business class lounges in the other halls that make up Terminal 2E. Luckily, they’re pouring Champagne Pommery regardless of your location, so you can always grab a glass and settle in.

Boarding Process

Wrapping up our time in the Air France lounge, we headed to our gate. This is where things got interesting. 

Given the sheer number of planes heading in and out of Charles de Gaulle, they often use remote gates to board planes. This means you hop on a bus and get shuttled out to your flight to hop on board.

Such was the case here. We headed through the massive hall K, and downstairs to the “gate” except instead of getting on the plane, we boarded said bus.

I won’t lie, this was inconvenient but I found it kind of fun, especially as I drew on my snowboarding experience from a past life to balance myself in the crowded bus and ride through the bumps and turns.

After about a 10 minute ride, we made it to our aircraft where we disembarked and finally made our way to our seats.

 

Aircraft and Cabin Configuration

Here’s where the day started to really take a turn for the better. We approached the gorgeous, shining new Air Bus A350. I instantly liked the look of the Air France livery on this awesome aircraft, and it rivalled the Dreamliner for me in terms of looks. And it only got more impressive as we went on.

We breezed through the hatch and were greeted with a friendly “bonjour”. French touch classics from Air and Daft Punk played overhead, and I was instantly impressed with just how much attention has been paid to making the boarding process smooth and breezy regardless of the class.

The interior of these new planes has the classic dark blue of Air France throughout with excellent lighting touches. Details like the Air France pegasus logo and subtle hits of red from the more modern Air France look are incorporated throughout the cabin. It’s as French, tasteful and classic as a Mariniére shirt.

We found our seats, row 4 seats E and F and lifted our bags into the overhead bin. Since the pods are laid out in a reverse herringbone format like a lot of modern business class products, this meant my wife and I would be facing forward and close to each other. The rows immediately ahead and behind us face more towards the aisle, ideal if you’re traveling solo.

Shortly after being seated, we were presented with hot towels and a welcome aboard glass of Champagne. Settling in, I started to stow my various “things” that make up my travel set up and really dig into exploring the pod I’d be calling home for the next 8 hours.

Air France Business Class In-Flight Experience

In spite of the sub-par lounge and roller coaster ride we took to get to the plane, our Air France business class experience was top notch. The service is overall excellent and the seats, amenities and food and beverage are damn near perfect. Let’s get to it

Seating Comfort and Amenities

The new Air France business class seats are what every other airline will be chasing for the near future. Full stop.

The pod design features the lay flat seat, a spacious shelf and tray area, a huge pivoting entertainment system and plenty of little stowage areas for your gear. You’re able to raise a partition between you and your neighbor, and you can completely close yourself off from the aisle with a sliding door. However, my door button seemed to be jammed on this flight, but I wasn’t bothered by it overall.

I really loved the small cabinet with the light up Pegasus logo on it and used that to store my book and hat after I snatched up the bottle of water within. This is also where the provided noise cancelling headphones are stored, but I opted to use my own.

The seat controls are easy to use and positioned nicely. The incorporated reading light is subtle, and flips easily out of the way when not needed.

Perhaps the biggest touch here is the tablet which you can use to control the entertainment system. This was novel, but I still found myself simply pressing the main screen instead of fumbling with the tablet.
The amenity kit comes in a stylish pouch that is served in a few different colors. My wife and I were careful to coordinate of course, even though we were leaving Paris you’ve gotta think about such things still.

Inside was a selection of Clarins cosmetic products (I was a fan of the hand cream especially, since I dry out like a raisin in the winter). The kit also included earplugs, socks, a toothbrush, and an Air France pen made from rolled up paper. Who knows how quickly it will last, but I dug that little pen and made sure it didn’t get lost!

In-Flight Entertainment

The entertainment system in Air France Business class is awesome. It’s huge, first of all, but it doesn’t feel in the way or overbearing.

When you sit down, the screen will be facing away from you at an angle. With a quick push of the silver aluminum button built into the seat, the screen smoothly pivots out to face you head on.

I found myself messing with this a lot, mainly because the tactile feel of the button and then the smooth action of the screen scratched an itch in my brain. Some of you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.

Entertainment options were plentiful. I’m not a massive movie buff, but my wife LOVES locking into a new release when flying. According to her, she had a hard time deciding what to watch in the first place! But she eventually settled on a romantic drama and was happy as could be.

Myself, I opted for a few French documentaries as I wanted to keep training my ear to understand French better. Plus, the relaxing imagery helped me get nice and cozy despite the aforementioned cold I was fighting.

 

Wi-Fi Connectivity

Wi-fi was definitely available. I don’t normally purchase Wi-fi when flying unless I need it for work. But I CAN confirm it was working and available.

 

Dining Experience

The Air France business class dining experience is very good, and it’s got plenty of courses to keep things interesting and the cabin crew moving.

Very French. Very tasty. But at times it was very much not to my tastes.

We’ll get the important bit out of the way first: Air France was pouring De Saint-Gall “Le Tradition” Premier Cru Brut. I love this Champagne, and was really excited to see it placed prominently on top of the wines list.

With the first pour of Champagne in the books, we were presented with our Amuse-Bouche: a small dish of Pumpkin cream and goat cheese with citrus and chestnuts. I loved this and happily ate it up along with the small box of Crêpes Fourée cheese crisps that were provided alongside it. Washed down with Champagne, this was a perfect start.

The salads were presented next, and I’ll admit I did more pushing around of the ingredients than actually eating them. A mushroom fan, I am not, but I appreciated the seasonal ingredients on display. I did enjoy the foie gras that accompanied this course, it was an easy highlight.

Onto the main course, I went with the Guinea fowl in mustard sauce which was perfectly cooked, warm and comforting. It was served with some simple lentils and spinach as well, which worked perfectly in the sauce. My wife enjoyed her chuck steak and although it’s been said Air France will occasionally serve steak a bit TOO rare, hers was cooked to a perfect, warm medium rare.

After the main courses finished up, I topped off my Champagne and had a nibble of each cheese provided. Even though I’m an admitted Francophile, French cheeses continue to elude me. Soft and fragrant aren’t my preference, but I did like a taste of each of the three here.

Now as far as crunchy chocolatey desserts go, that’s DEFINITELY to my taste, and the simple but elegant crunchy, chocolatey mousse dessert that capped our meal was delightful.

I have really tried to be more open minded with what I eat, but one thing that I just can’t ring myself to like is Salmon and most seafood. So the meal we were served a couple of hours from landing in Boston was not really my thing.

The Salmon looked fresh enough and it was well-presented but that’s just not my thing so I passed it up. I did however nibble on a croissant. It was my last taste of France before the next trip, and as far as airplane croissants go it was pretty damn good!

Service and Crew Interaction

The Air France service is polished and polite. It’s as if you were watching a well-oiled café staff 30,000 feet above the ground in a flying piece of Parisian soil.

To start, the greeting is warm and you’ll undoubtedly be met with a hot towel and a welcome aboard drink followed by the amenity kit. Throughout the flight the timing was impeccable, and not just during meal service. The entire trip felt like a coursed meal, and it seemed like those courses arrived at exactly the right time.

I tend to not be demanding of flight crew and just let them do their thing. I asked for one more pour of champagne on this flight, and was served quickly and kindly.

Extra special kudos goes to this particular flight staff for managing the aforementioned nightmare toddlers a few rows back. It sounded like they were given a plastic bag full of seat belt buckles to play with throughout the flight. When we landed, my wife and I were stunned at the state of the previously pristine Air France business class seats that this family left them in.

And while all this was going on, never once did the flight crew blink. They served the family as best they could, and presented an air of unbothered confidence with the other passengers. Thank god for noise cancelling headphones, and awesome flight crews!

Arrival in Boston

The worst part of a trip to Paris is when it has to come to an end. But luckily Air France Business class saw to it that our last taste of La vie Français was memorable, comfortable, delicious and refined.

As we made our descent into Boston Logan AIrport, I switched over to the tail cam (always a favorite when flying Airbus). Seeing the frigid waters of Boston Harbor and an icy runway, I was a bit nervous with the approach. However, our pilot landed smoothly and had I not been watching, I’d have never known the runway had so much ice on it!

Deplaning we were bid “au revoir” and I’ll be counting down the days until my next chance to hop on Air France Business class.

 

Bidding adieu to Air France business class

If you can swing Air France business class, do it. No questions asked. Air France is an easy transfer partner for most credit cards, and they run a fair amount of solid deals on points travel.

The in flight experience is something you won’t forget. From the curated champagne and bites, to the precise service, and finished by the incredible seating. Top to bottom, Air France is m favorite business class I’ve flown.

And every other airline will be playing catch up for a while.