While I would avoid the Air France A330-200 in business class if traveling on a longhaul flight if you have a choice, it was perfect for my short flight to Tunis and even on a longer flight represents a substantial improvement over the previous-generation A330 business class seat.
Air France A330-200 Business Class Review
I booked a Flying Blue award ticket from Amsterdam to Paris for 38,500 miles and $91 in taxes. A one-way paid ticket was $443 for economy class and $1,153 for business class.
I left the Hyatt Place CDG before 5:00AM so that I could have a bit of time in the beautiful Air France Lounge 2F prior to my flight. That lounge opens at 5:30am, but was in a different terminal than 2E Hall L, where my flight to Tunis was departing from.
There is a walkway connecting the two terminals, but a word of warning: immigration does not open until 7:00AM if you are entering 2E Hall L via 2F. That’s at least what I was told by an agent, who took pity on me and stamped me through at 6:20AM.
Had that not been an option, I would have had to exit 2F, walk outside to 2E Hall L, then re-clear security and passport control from the other side.
By the time I reached my gate at 6:30AM, boarding was well underway (even though the boarding pass indicated a boarding time of 6:40AM).
Air France 1084
Paris (CDG) – Tunis (TUN)
Thursday, February 3
Depart: 7:10AM
Arrive: 9:40AM
Duration: 02hr, 30min
Distance: 924 miles
Aircraft: Airbus A330-200
Seat: 4A (Business Class)
Onboard, a flight attendant verified I was wearing a surgical mask and welcomed me onboard in French.
Seat
Here, Air France suffers not from a bad seat, but having a better seat on other aircraft.
Air France recently finished retrofitting its A330 fleet, with each aircraft now featuring a total of 36 business class seats, spread over six rows in 2-2-2 configuration. These seats are made by Stelia Aerospace and feature fully lie-flat beds, though lack the privacy (even with a sliding partition between seats) of Air France’s Cirrus reverse herringbone 1-2-1 configuration on its Boeing 777 and 787 jets (or even its Zodiac Optima seats on its Airbus A350 fleet).
But the logic for the less-private seat made sense. First, this allowed Air France to preserve premium cabin density (the old configuration had 40 seats in a 2-2-2 configuration and were not true lie-flat beds). Second, this aircraft is more often deployed to leisure destinations in which couples traveling together generally prefer to sit next to one another.
I was traveling alone, but thankfully the seat next to me remained open. The cabin went about about half full. The cabin looks so fresh and with mood lighting and natural lights, is very sleek.
The pictures above were actually taken after landing…due to the passport control snafu, I only was able to snap a few pictures prior to departure:
The seat itself is well-padded and very comfortable in an upright, partially-reclined, and in a lie-flat position. That said, it is very close company, particularly in the footwell, if you have a neighbor.
No pillows were available on this short service and small, intra-Europe blankets were available upon request.
The storage cabinet below the monitor is helpful and the power plug and passenger service unit (remote control for IFE) were easily within reach.
The privacy divider actually provided very little privacy between seats.
Each seat had a coat hook.
Inflight Entertainment + Wi-Fi
Air France’s full library of films, TV shows, games, and music was available on this short flight, with gate-to-gate IFE available.
Headphones were noise-cancelling, though of a lower quality than the Bose headphones you receive in Lufthansa Business Class.
IFE could be controlled via touchscreen or a remote control in the center console.
The screen was highly-reflective, making it difficult to watch anything without the cabin dark.
Internet was also available for purchase, with free messaging and a “surf” or “stream” option for purchased wi-fi.
However (perhaps due to the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea?) internet did not work for much of the flight:
The far-superior in-flight entertainment was the beautiful views outside, including a stunning sunrise and sunny day as our flight path crossed over Corsica and Sardinia.
Food + Drink
Breakfast was served after takeoff and I must admit I was let down once again, just like on my flight from Amsterdam to Paris. At least a meal was offered, but there was no choice: just salmon on a spiral croissant-style roll with a creamy chive spread and a side of plain yogurt.
The salmon was delicious – but the roll was hard and cold. Furthermore, the orange juice was nasty (I was not expecting fresh-squeezed juice, but at least 100% juice…not sugar water) and the coffee weak and served only in a paper cup. These aircraft have espresso machines, but no pods were provisioned.
Some fruit would have been nice. What saved the meal was a delicious hot croissant.
That said, I was hungry and ate what was put before me, except for the cold top of the roll.
Air France was always the best when it came to in-flight catering in business class. It is a shame the carrier seems to still be operating under the COVID-19 cost-cutting mindset.
Service
I think the flight crew was a bit suspicious at all the pictures I was taking, but warmed up to me when I said how excited I was to fly the Air France A330 for the first time. Frequent refills were offered on coffee and orange juice during the meal service, but flight attendants disappeared after. Before landing, I used my call button to summon a flight attendant and request a bottle of water, which was cheerfully delivered.
Lavatory
The lavatory, located near door 2L (as the front lavatory was reserved for the crew), was clean.
CONCLUSION
Pulling into Tunis, it was cool to see exotic aircraft like a Libyan Airlines A320 and the Tunisair A330 which would take me to Montreal the following day.
I don’t dislike the Air France A330, though the business class seats on the 787, A350, and 777 are much better. The Paris – Tunis flight is often operated by an A319 or A320, so I was happy to have a widebody jet with a real business class seat for my trip to TUN.
“100% juice…not sugar water”
For ages Servair has provided AF with this horrible juice. Servair must be paid to deliver that juice! It is truly not good. Of course this is AF who should require a better one.
At least for the straberry preserve, the “La Roumanière” products are very good, I think they are made near Avignon.
With fruits (I hope) locally grown under the sun of the Provence area.
I believe also people with handicap made them: I guess this is why you can read “économie sociale”.
They are definitively better than the “Bonne Maman” french agro-worlwide food company.
Thanks for the review.
Was the sweater choice matching the seat intentional?
LOL. Totally unintentional.
Air France can be excused much, but bad bread?
You might say that the poorest business class product on Air France is the same as Lufthansa’s best!
Nice review. The terminal photos are also nice because it lets one imagine walking through the airport.
Are the selfies taken by someone else?
By FA.
Liked the review. Will say that I think your arrival time was 9:40 am not pm?
Correct. Thank you.
A beautiful review of Air France in business class.
Amsterdam to Paris ?
What about it?
https://liveandletsfly.com/air-france-a319-business-class-review/
Last summer we flew Air France business class from Paris to New York. And overall I would agree that’s it’s far from my carry of choice, esp for a long-haul flight. A minor point above was something I was unpleasantly surprised by: “the front lavatory was reserved for the crew.”
In my view part of the premium price paid for upper class service are convenient and relatively clean lavatories. By reserving the front lavs for the crew, that perk is effectively removed as we had to trek backwards in plane to find the over used lavs. It’s a bit like devaluing frequent flier points, this is another way that airlines are eroding the value of the service they provide. And I for one will avoid flying airlines that continue to do that.
Agree that it is poor from. My understanding is that this is not a pandemic measure, but has gone on for years.
The window seat is akin to a posh holding cell. What does the occupant of the window seat do if they need to get to the aisle? Maybe a handle sprouting from the overhead bin to hang on to and then sprint over the legs of the passenger in the aisle, with an hour of free wi fi if you don’t dislocate their knee caps? Mon Dieu! Jamais de la vie, mon p’ti gars!
I just flew SFO – CDG – SFO on their 777-300 business. Air France has a poor business class check-in experience at Paris CDG. I wanted to check a small bag containing food that I could not take through security. Air France’s agents refused to check my bag because it was “too small”. It seems like they make-up convenient rules in the moment. Of course, my bag of food that was well protected in multiple bags was taken by security due to its liquids (mustards). This is the sort of service I expect a leading airline to tend to – finding a solution to delight the customer?
After the indifference of business check-in, there was no priority security service offered. You walk back out and into the mass line early in the morning. I later watched as they loaded my 2 checked bag weight allotment with pallets of DHL cargo that I am sure they can increase if fewer passenger check bags. I did not want to risk the hassle of using their new 2F lounge. The Air France Business lounge in 2E is very old and gets crowded. Many roped-off seats reserved for their important repeat passengers. No Clarins free facial service available because of an “exceptional” closure. Food rather limited for breakfast. Very poor showers with no ventilation that leaves you sweating.
The boarding process was poorly managed and a complete mess as they collect their Covid “attestation” forms that MUST be submitted in paper. They combine economy plus with business class in one line in an area that does not have enough room for all these passengers. Of course, people were cutting the line from all directions. We then had to wait standing on the bridge another 20 minutes after entering until they allowed use to actually enter the plane.
Food was disappointing. They like to serve various “mushes” that plate nicely (they stick to the plates and travel well). They taste good, but there were no steaks with sauces – just a couple veal cubes in mush. They are much less generous on the snacks in the galley. The FA kept the curtain tightly snapped closed throughout, and I had to crawl under it throughout the flight to get to the lavatory. She was working in a little office area and I guess did not want to be disturbed. I flew this same heavily worn 777-300 from SFO to CDG and it was delayed 3 hours due to electrical problems. On the flight over, we backed out at SFO and eventually had to return to the stand. There were some brief “electrical problems” on this return flight at CDG on the same aircraft. Both flights were completely full – including first class. On this flight from CDG to SFO, business class on this airline is just not worth the significant extra cost.