Not only is the Airbus A350 one of my favorite aircraft, but the food and service on my Air France flight was so excellent that this will go down as one of my all-time-best business class flights. Here’s my Air France A350 business class review from Paris to Toronto.
Air France A350 Business Class Review
Transfer In CDG
My ticket originated in Helsinki and I checked in online and was issued a boarding pass for both segments. Thus, my transit in Paris did not require interacting with an agent. As I mentioned yesterday, I spent my layover in the sauna and then headed to Terminal 2E, Hall M for my afternoon flight to Toronto. Hall M is modern and spacious, with high ceilings and plenty of natural light.
I wanted to be first onboard in order to take a few unobstructed pictures of the cabin, so I lined up early at the gate. Unfortunately, that started a stampede of sorts, with many other passengers quickly lining up behind me.
Finally, boarding commenced and business class and SkyTeam elite passengers were invited to board first.
Air France 356
Paris (CDG) – Toronto (YYZ)
Friday, February 28
Depart: 2:15 PM
Arrive: 4:45 PM
Duration: 07hr, 30min
Distance: 3,751 miles
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Seat: 4L (Business Class)
A flight attendant welcomed me onboard, took a look at my boarding pass, and directed me through the galley and to the starboard aisle where my seat was located in 4L.
Cabin + Seats
The Air France A350-900 has 324 seats onboard spread over three cabins:
Air France used the same seats in business class on the A350-900 as United used for its Polaris product. Seats are staggered in a 1-2-1 configuration and are quite comfortable. If you assign a “true” window seat (A and L seats in even-numbered rows) you’ll also enjoy a fair degree of privacy.
I found the business class cabin to be elegant. Put together the mood lighting, automated window shades, brightly-colored seats, and tan leather accents made for a very visually appealing look. A side storage compartment includes headphones and a water bottle, but leaves space for your most important personal belongings.
Seats are controlled by by three simple buttons on the side or on the console adjacent to the cabinet.
The tray table is located in front of you under the screen and pulls out by pushing on it.
Reading light:
A privacy divider slides back and forth, but provides minimal privacy.
Power ports included a full universal plug with USB charger near the side console and another USB plug under the monitor.
The Air France A350 does not have individual air vents in business class.
Cleanliness
Overall, the cabin was lovely. That said, Air France may have chosen the wrong suppliers for certain items. Though brand new, the seat was already showing some wear, with dents scratches, and scuffs. Sadly, the cabin was not carefully cleaned either, as I also found hair on my side table that could have easily been removed had the table been wiped down.
After the meal service I tried to take a nap and found the bedding (plush pillow plus soft dark blue duvet) perfect for sleeping. While it does not bother me because I sleep in the fetal position, some will find the cubby hole for your feet quite restraining, especially because there is a hard plastic bar which houses the tray table that encroaches that space even further (see picture above).
While I tried to sleep, I couldn’t. Maybe it was the espresso, maybe it was the time of day. But I enjoyed beautiful views of Iceland and Greenland outside my window, the tail camera, and functioning wi-fi onboard.
Food + Drink
Flight attendants offered a green fruit juice as a pre-departure beverage with apples, cucumbers, and kiwi. I enjoyed it so much I ended up drinking it the entire flight. Sadly, although it is from an American company (Tropicana), I have not seen it in any of my grocery stores. It’s too full of sugar anyway to indulge in on a regular basis.
Being a daytime flight that turned out to be less than seven hours in the air, the highlight of the flight was the meal service after takeoff.
Lunch
Menus were distributed that even listed the route we were flying. I had not eaten since breakfast and was famished and ready for a nice meal.
I’ve never had a bad culinary experience onboard and Air France and once again this flight did not disappoint.
First came an amuse bouche of shrimp with orange Panna cotta along with a small box of Gavottes, the salty cheese crepes snacks that have been a fixture on Air France flights for years.
The starters included a green salad, salmon with labneh, and eggplant…all nice. And of course a lovely baguette with French butter.
Here’s the drink menu:
With lunch I had a glass of Bordeaux, which paired nicely with my main course.
I ordered lamb confit for my main course, served over couscous with green olives and pistachios…it was lovely.
And more bread…
That was followed by cheese, petit fours, ice cream, fruit, and finally espresso (cappuccino was on the menu, but it’s still powdered, even on the new A350).
Another masterpiece meal on Air France!
Mid-Flight Snack
Midway through the flight flight attendants came around with packaged snacks. I was not hungry at all, but stocked up on a trio of delicious snacks for later.
The mid-cabin galley featured self-serve drinks as well.
Pre-Arrival Meal
90 minutes before landing in Toronto a light meal was served. It included a vegetable cake, quinoa salad, and plain yogurt. I was still stuffed and just dipped the Madeleine in my yogurt. Is that a cultural faux pax?
Service
My flight crew, on the young side for Air France, was very lovely and quite attentive. The meal service was slow…painfully slow if we had been flying the other direction…but worked well for me on this daytime service since I was well-rested.
I’ve heard so many complaints from clients about the pretentious service on Air France, but this has simply never been my experience and certainly wasn’t on this flight. Use the call button if you have to, but it will answered promptly and graciously.
Just plan for a potentially extended meal service.
IFE + Wi-Fi
Since I spent my layover in CDG in the sauna, I had work do to once we took off. Thankfully, Air France’s A350s are equipped with wi-fi onboard. A flight pass cost €18 (or €6/hour) which I found to be an acceptable price. Connecting was quite easy and unlike in first class, there was no free voucher for business class passengers.
Speeds were tepid, which is such a missed opportunity for a new aircraft, but I got done what needed to be done.
Air France has not changed its safety video in years, but it doesn’t need to. It remains one of my favorites due to its elegance.
Air France also offers an extensive IFE library with movies, TV shows, games, and a large audio library.
What I enjoyed most about the IFE was the tail camera, which I had tuned in for most of the flight.
Noise-cancelling headphones were waiting at each seat but collected prior to landing.
It took me some time to get used to the counterintuitive IFE remote, which includes something like a trackpad to move the on-screen cursor.
Amenity Kit
A comfort pack including slippers and socks were waiting at each seat.
Prior to takeoff, amenity kits were distributed that included a soft eyeshade, toothbrush, toothpaste, earplugs, shoehorn, lens wipes, mint, and an Air France-branded pen. The kit also included hand and face cream from Clarins.
The little extras like the nice pen, mints, and screen/glasses wipe made this an above-average amenity kit.
Lavatory
Although there is one lavatory in the very front of the aircraft (indicated clearly by a sign in the front of the cabin and the seat map), the crew decided to reserve it for themselves. Thus, passengers were directed to the two lavatories in the rear of the business class cabin. Premium economy passengers also used them, so there was often a line. It felt like the forward lave should not have been reserved due to the crowding.
It seems so odd that brand new aircraft would still require ashtrays, but that remains an FAA requirement.
Beautiful Greenland
At one point while we were flying over Greenland I happened to look out the window. What stunning views…
CONCLUSION
We landed ahead of schedule on a bright but cold afternoon in Toronto. With the small annoyance of the blocked lavatory, this has been a phenomenal flight. The A350 hard product in business class is very comfortable on Air France and the soft product never disappoints. This one-way ticket remains my best ever use of 32,000 miles.
I enthusiastically recommend Air France for your transatlantic travel. Take the A350 if you can…it’s a great aircraft. Thanks for reading my Air France A350 business class review!
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Have you flown the Air France A350? How did you like it?
Nice review. I’ve never flown AF outside of Europe and it looks pretty good.
I’m curious – it seemed like foie gras was always a traditional (and sometimes the only) choice of starter for biz class menus. This starter looks better, but do you know when they made that change?
@Greg,
I do not, but my 2018 777-300ER flight also did not have foie gras in business class.
https://liveandletsfly.com/air-france-777-300-business-class-review/
Hi Matthew, yes I flew the AF A350 in the opposite direction a couple months earlier. I have some opposing views, primarily based on my flight being overnight. Nice report as usually with awesome photos.
http://www.rewardflying.com/report-blog/2020/5/25/air-france-a350-9-business-class-yyz-cdg
Mark, I just read through your review. Nice job and great photos as well! I think flying westbound on a daytime service made a big difference. I do think that blue blanket was great for sleeping.
How was foot space? Many business class seats have a really small foot cubby.
I know this was a particularly long review, but I did address it. 😉
Solid review and product, Matthew. Not cutting edge as business class goes but the food on Air France really is the highlight. Like you, I have always found the flight attendants to be polished and attentive.
I’m curious, not a criticism, just curiosity, why you waited so long to run this?
When COVID started, I held off on running all new trip reports (which was this Finland trip plus my Africa trip in March) while readership and ad rates were down. Readership has returned (and grown)…sadly ad rates remain greatly depressed…but I figured enough was enough and am now publishing this trip report and will begin my Africa trip directly after, which will be a great one (I think). I realize that with the pandemic this level of in-flight service may never return, but one can hope and I did want to get the full review in before it dragged on too long.
Thanks, Matthew. Appreciate the response. You deserve the best in engagement as you are, yourself, incredibly engaging with your readers. Especially those that swear a lot!
After a couple of minutes of googling it looks like that juice is actually made by a French division of Tropicana, so you may be out of luck until your next trip to Europe. But you shouldn’t hesitate to pick some up when you get that chance on account of the sugar. It says right in your picture “Sans sucres ajoutés” and there are pics online of the back of the bottle – this is 100% juice.
My husband Michael and I took the same Paris – Toronto flight in Business Class on March 22nd. It was the very last flight before Air France temporarily halted their Canada services.
We had originally planned to fly Athens – Paris – Toronto on April 3rd, following a Suez Canal cruise from Dubai to Greece. Sadly, the cruise was cancelled on March 13th – ten hours after we’d boarded the ship in Dubai.
The following day, March 14th, we flew DXB – CDG on Emirates. (The A380 Business Class hard product was fine, and I enjoyed a delicious curry dinner. But the flight was somewhat spoiled by the behavior of several indifferent-to-downright rude flight attendants.)
Arriving in Paris we inquired as to whether we could change the date of our tickets and travel to Toronto the following day. Everything was shutting-down and it seemed prudent to get back to Nova Scotia. Because we were booked in Business, we thought it wouldn’t be a problem. But Air France informed us that our tickets had been purchased using a special Business Class fare (news to us!) which did not allow for date changes. Our tickets could only be used on April 3rd. {{{ sigh }}}
What to do…
Michael suggested we hop on a TGV train right in the airport and head to the South of France, where we have a second home. Then we’d just stay put until April 3rd.
Several days later however, at home in ‘le Midi’, we received an email from Air France advising that due to COVID-19 all services to Canada would end on March 22nd. Did we want to use our April 3rd tickets for that very last flight? (Our special Business fare was apparently no longer an issue!)
Entering Terminal 2 on March 22nd, CDG looked as though it had been evacuated. There was nobody ahead of us at Air France check-in. There was nobody ahead of us at Immigration. When we reached the Air France ‘Salon’ closest to our gate, we found it staffed, but otherwise the normally crowded lounge was completely empty. The buffet was as full of food as always, but it no longer was self-serve. An employee behind a clear plastic shield took orders and plated the food.
Onboard our A350 the cabin crew was welcoming, gracious and fun. They were wearing masks, but other than that it was a perfectly normal Air France flight. By which I mean it was pretty much flawless. (I too got some great Greenland photos, with ‘la crevette’ (the shrimp) on the wingtip.)
There were five other Business passengers besides Michael and me. I chatted with the purser, who admitted she found wearing a mask “étrange” (strange); that she felt like a character in a science-fiction movie. Our cabin crew was made-up entirely of volunteers, who were working the flight to Toronto, then ferrying the empty A350 back to Paris, same duty-time. The purser teased that I shouldn’t spill any crumbs or Champagne on my seat, because she might be sleeping on it in a few hours!
The forward lavatory was blocked on our flight as well. I assumed it was done to protect the health of the flight attendants and pilots. Under the circumstances I was fine with that. But the fact that the lavatory was blocked on your February flight troubles me. When I was a flight attendant for Northwest Airlines – and before that, Flying Tigers – we would sometimes block one of the six lavatories in the tail of the 747. But we would never have dreamed of blocking a lav in Business or First. Air France should not allow that. Particularly since – as you pointed out – Economy passengers also use the two aft Business toilets, as they are located just forward of the Economy cabin.
I’m glad you enjoyed your Air France A350 flight, Matthew. Fifty-one years after my very first flight with the airline, Air France remains my favorite carrier. And the A350 (since my beloved Caravelles are gone and NOT coming back!) is now my favorite plane in the fleet.
Your comments are always a joy to read, Kenneth. Thank you.
Agreed. Thank you Kenneth. I love your insights and wisdom.
Matthew, I’m massively jealous of your tailcam view for most of your flight (per the photos). We’d planned a trip to Paris in June, via Delta, which had an aircraft change to their A350-900. Oh joy, tailcam-palooza! Oh well, maybe next time.
OTOH, I’m thinking, how to manage my stash of AmEx MR and leverage that into a nice opportunity in 2021 or 2022 for a return to Paris via Business Class in AF. What an incredible experience for any gourmet (or gourmand!). Yours looked simply wonderful!
To me the incredible thing about Air France is how wonderful ALL meal choices seem to be. I think I would have been thrilled with all four choices on my flight.
“I was still stuffed and just dipped the Madeleine in my yogurt. Is that a cultural faux pax?”
YES! OMG Matthew
You should have been alarmed by finding hair on your side table!