Air France Airbus A350-900 financial system assessment

Fast take: A snug expertise that you would be able to usually get at an ideal value with factors and miles.

Execs:

• You may usually discover transatlantic flights beginning at 15,000 miles every means.
• The airplane was clear and comfy with trendy options.
• The service was pleasant.

Cons:

• The boarding course of is inefficient and considerably chaotic.
• Inflight Wi-Fi was spotty at greatest, and the USB retailers did not work for giant gadgets.
• One in all our baggage bought delayed.

I took benefit of one among Flying Blue’s Promo Rewards to fly to and from Europe for less than 15,000 miles every means, plus taxes and charges. My return journey was a direct flight from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to Denver Worldwide Airport (DEN) on Air France’s Airbus A350-900.

It was an ideal deal — however do you get what you pay for? Seated in financial system class for roughly 9 hours, this is how my expertise went.

How you can ebook financial system on Air France

Flying Blue miles are a good way to ebook Air France tickets. You will usually discover the most effective and most frequent offers in financial system class, particularly when you regulate Air France’s month-to-month Promo Rewards.

You may switch Flying Blue miles at a 1:1 ratio from all the most important bank card applications: American Categorical Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One miles, Chase Final Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards. Plus, you may stretch your factors even additional when you benefit from a switch bonus.

My flight from CDG to DEN value 15,000 Flying Blue miles plus $169. I opted to pay further to decide on seats for myself and my husband; our customary seats value roughly $30 per particular person.

Seeing because the money value of this flight was $841 on the time of reserving, I bought a stellar worth of 4.5 cents per mile ($841 minus $169, then divided by 15,000 miles). That is greater than thrice TPG’s February 2025 valuation of 1.3 cents every for Flying Blue miles.

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Checking in to and boarding financial system on Air France

Since my husband and I left from Brussels on one among Air France’s Air & Rail tickets, we checked in on-line and headed to the Air France desk within the Brussels South/Midi Prepare Station (ZYR) to verify our baggage and print our boarding passes. Then, we took a prepare to CDG.

A 1 1/2-hour connection in CDG barely gave us sufficient time to get by means of airport safety and discover our gate. I caught a glimpse of Air France’s financial system check-in line as I power-walked previous. It appeared affordable, however I am glad we did not want to face in it earlier than heading to our gate.

Nevertheless, we did have to attend in line for a couple of minutes at immigration and passport management, then take an airport prepare to the L and M gates in Terminal E2.

In CDG, there are a number of safety checkpoints for various gates. Fortunately, the road for M gates was comparatively quick, and the screening course of solely took about 10 minutes. We had simply sufficient time to snag a to-go breakfast from one of many outlets earlier than heading to our gate, the place boarding had simply began.

We needed to present our passports or boarding passes at a number of levels all through the airport, together with on the store the place we purchased breakfast.

Our financial system tickets put us within the Zone 4 boarding group. I had hoped to get within the entrance of the Zone 4 line (and thus get higher, much less crowded photographs as I boarded the airplane), however I rapidly gave up that dream. The road was lengthy and winding, and it appeared to be an amalgam of a number of boarding teams. The road stretched effectively previous the gate space, and we stood within the concourse for a stable 10 minutes earlier than the road even began transferring.

Whereas we waited in line, an Air France worker got here round to verify everybody’s passports and boarding passes (by now, we had realized to maintain them useful). We needed to present these once more a couple of minutes later once we crossed the brink to enter the jetway.

It was an inefficient and considerably chaotic course of to get on the airplane.

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How snug is Air France financial system?

Our flight was on the Airbus A350-900, a comparatively new addition to Air France’s fleet. The service principally flies this plane on long-haul routes between Paris and varied worldwide hubs like New York Metropolis, Boston, Los Angeles, Cape City and Sao Paulo.

The financial system seats are organized in a 3-3-3 configuration, with 266 seats throughout two cabins. We had been seated in 42J and 42K, a center and aisle seat close to the again of the airplane.

The seats appeared and felt clear and trendy. Every was ready with a blanket, pillow and over-ear headphones, all individually wrapped in plastic.

Our flight wasn’t very full, so we (and a number of other of our neighbors) had a row of three seats to ourselves. This positively made the journey extra snug.

These seats have a pitch of 31 inches — akin to a Boeing 777 or 787. I am 5 ft, 2 inches tall, and I discovered the legroom fairly snug; however my husband, who’s 5 ft, 10 inches tall, was a little bit extra cramped. Fortunately, there was loads of overhead bin area to go round, so we stashed our backpacks overhead to make full use of the legroom. It additionally helped that we might regulate the headrests to cradle our heads and transfer the armrests up and out of the way in which.

One space the place this airplane bought it proper was storage. The seatback pocket opened far sufficient to suit my cumbersome water bottle after which some. There have been two small mesh pockets on the entrance, useful for storing lip balm and different small objects that would get misplaced within the larger pocket. There was additionally a fold-down cupholder ring at the back of the tray desk in addition to a small hook for cords and cables over the seatback display screen.

The USB outlet and headphone jack proper under the display screen had been simple to search out and use. Charging labored effectively for my telephone, however my laptop computer required an ordinary outlet, so I wasn’t capable of cost it. Should you’re bringing a big digital machine, it is a good suggestion to cost it earlier than you board or convey an influence financial institution.

Like on most planes, there have been three overhead studying lights — one for every seat. Nevertheless, there have been no adjustable air vents like I’ve seen on different flights. I discovered I did not miss them, as a result of the temperature was fairly gentle and constant all through the flight. Even my husband, who naturally runs scorching, was snug the entire time.

If I might been chilly, the abundance of blankets would’ve helped, but when I might felt scorching, I might not have been capable of regulate the temperature.

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Facilities in Air France financial system

Leisure

The seatback screens appeared near new, with none of the scuffs and scratches I normally see on older planes. The touchscreen labored fairly effectively; the 3D map function was extraordinarily responsive and let me zoom in to appreciable element.

The vast choice of leisure choices included films, exhibits, video games, sports activities and comedy options. There was additionally an audio part with music and podcasts, in addition to a wellness part with seated yoga, meditation and background noise.

You could possibly scroll by means of all movies or search by class. This airplane supplied practically 300 movies in complete, together with current releases like “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” “Blink Twice” and “My Penguin Good friend.” It was good that you may filter by style, audio language and subtitle language; you may even save films in your personal favorites checklist.

Wi-Fi

After a number of tries (and error messages), I lastly reached the inflight Wi-Fi menu on my Android telephone. Nevertheless, I used to be by no means capable of get it to work on my Mac laptop computer, and my husband could not get it to work on his iPhone, both.

From the Wi-Fi menu, you may activate the free Message Go to ship texts solely; I used this to efficiently ship a textual content to my mother. In any other case, you should purchase a Surf Go for primary web shopping. It prices 10 euros (about $10) or 2,000 miles for one hour, and 22 euros (about $23) or 4,400 miles for the total flight. A Stream Go for streaming content material or sending and receiving massive attachments prices 38 euros ($40) or 7,600 miles for the flight.

I opted for the one-hour Surf Go, which required my reserving affirmation quantity (which I discovered on my boarding go) and Flying Blue quantity. Fortunately, I had the latter saved. In any other case, I won’t have been capable of finding it (because it wasn’t on my boarding go and I did not have Wi-Fi to drag up the Air France app). As soon as the go has been bought, you may select when to activate it and return to the app to see how a lot time you may have left — a useful function.

I ran a fast pace check with disappointing outcomes: 1.37 Mbps obtain, 0.11 Mbps add. I attempted scrolling by means of my information feed and located photos not loading; once I opened an article, it might take a minute or so for the phrases to look.

One other free function: You may pair your telephone to your seatback display screen by way of the Wi-Fi, permitting you to manage the display screen along with your telephone. My husband finally bought this arrange as soon as we had been within the air, but it surely by no means labored for my telephone. With the touchscreen working so effectively, I did not actually miss it.

Bathrooms

This airplane had six toilets: 4 in between the 2 financial system cabins and two within the rear of the airplane (close to our seats). I by no means seen a line to make use of the amenities, but it surely might get extra crowded on full flights.

I by no means thought I might say this, however I used to be truly impressed by the rest room, which felt downright spacious by economy-cabin requirements. Maybe it was simply the oblong structure that made it really feel larger, but it surely appeared roughly twice the dimensions of the postage-stamp loos I am accustomed to.

It was additionally extraordinarily clear once I went in about an hour after the primary meal. It was nonetheless clear once I returned a couple of hours later, aside from a few bits of paper on the ground (which disappeared earlier than my third go to). This will need to have been no small feat for the crew, contemplating the lavatory I used to be utilizing was within the far again of the airplane, the place not less than 5 infants had been seated in shut proximity.

My solely grievance was the nonintuitive faucet. The movement sensor’s location below the tap made it unimaginable to see, and your arms should be very near activate it. I spent a couple of minutes waving my arms round and urgent the temperature buttons on high — and overlaying the tap in cleaning soap within the course of — earlier than I figured it out.

In such a contemporary airplane, I used to be additionally stunned to see what seemed to be an ashtray unfold from the lavatory door, proper beneath the no smoking signal.

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How is the meals in Air France financial system?

Our flight, which departed round 10 a.m., supplied two meal companies. The primary was served about 1 1/2 hours after takeoff.

I requested a vegan meal on-line forward of time. Word that it may be onerous to search out the meal button in your Flying Blue account, and it’s important to order your meal after reserving however earlier than checking in. Having realized this the onerous means up to now, I made certain to submit my request throughout the right window of time.

My vegan meal consisted of vegetable risotto, tabouleh, a ciabatta roll with vegan margarine, applesauce, and pineapple chunks.

The usual meals supplied a alternative of hen and rice or tacky pasta. My husband opted for the pasta, which got here with the identical tabouleh aspect dish, bread and butter, a cheese wedge, and a few type of brownie pudding dessert.

Each meals included salt, pepper and a small bottle of water, plus our alternative of nonalcoholic drinks. (We opted for orange and apple juice.) Additionally they got here with picket cutlery and paper containers for the recent dishes — maybe Air France is making an attempt to chop down on its plastic waste.

After all, the bar is about pretty low for inflight meals, particularly in financial system class; in my expertise, vegan meals are usually much more disappointing than customary airplane fare. However on this flight, each my husband and I rated our meals above common.

The flight attendants walked up and down the aisles incessantly after the meal, giving us loads of alternatives to toss out trash and providing leftover meals to anybody who was nonetheless hungry.

They got here round once more with breakfast baggage a few hours earlier than we landed at 12:35 p.m. Mine included a pack of nuts and dried fruit, vegan yogurt, and a surprisingly tasty vegan muffin. My husband’s contained a yogurt drink, a muffin and a disappointing cheese-and-mustard sandwich that was principally bread.

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General impression of Air France financial system

After flying throughout the pond in enterprise class a couple of occasions, I’ve grown to dread long-haul financial system flights. Nevertheless, this one exceeded my expectations with its consolation, cleanliness and cupboard space. Plus, at 15,000 Flying Blue miles every means plus taxes and charges, you may’t beat the worth of my ticket.

The largest draw back was the technical concern with charging and Wi-Fi, because it might pose an issue for vacationers making an attempt to work in flight. Additionally, a number of passengers on our flight (together with my husband) skilled baggage delays. Their baggage had been left behind at CDG and did not arrive till the subsequent day.

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