Air France will refresh a dozen of its Boeing 777-300ER jets with a new business class seat featuring more privacy, including a closing door.
New Business Class Seat On Air France Will Feature Closing Door
Doors have been embraced by airlines around the world as the new standard for privacy in business class. Now Air France is joining the bandwagon with a new seat that focuses on 3 “F”s:
- Fully Flat – the seat transforms into a real bed almost 2 metres (6.5 feet) long
- Full Access – all passengers will have direct aisle access
- Full Privacy – optimal privacy with closing doors and new privacy partitions
Concerning the the new privacy partition, Air France explains:
“To create a greater sense of privacy for passengers travelling together, the seats located in the centre of the cabin are now equipped with a central panel that can be lowered by pressing it down, thus creating a convivial space in which to make the most of the flight together.”
But in all seriousness, doesn’t Air France already have a fully-lie flat bed on its 777 jets? Don’t all passengers already enjoy direct aisle access? Isn’t there already a privacy divider available?
(the answer is yes)
The new seats appear to be Safran Versa seats (currently Air France uses Safran Cirrus seats on its 777-300ERs), which are very similar to the current seat beyond the doors and longer privacy dividers in the center section. Air France plans to progressively roll out the new product on 12 777-300ER jets starting in September 2022. The new seat will first operate on the New York – Paris route.
One notable improvement: the seat will feature “several” electrical outlets, a 17.3-inch 4K High-Definition anti-glare screen with a noise-reducing headset and offer Bluetooth compatibility, allowing passengers to use their own headphones.
This seat may also give us a clue as to what the new KLM business class seat will look like.
CONCLUSION
Air France will install new business class seats on 12 of its Boeing 777-300ER jets, adding doors and bluetooth connectivity. These jets will first appear this autumn and operate between JFK and CDG.
I’m still of the opinion that doors in business class are overrated, but I guess I’m firmly in the minority on that issue.
> Read More: Business Class Doors Are Just An Unnecessary Gimmick
Looks good, I like the doors. Also the bigger change to me is the PE seats, they are moving away from the fixed shell recliners
Hopefully they will do a deep clean and renovation on those La Premiere seats – sounds like some of the hardware (notably the TV) will be better in Business than in LP.
I do hope this doesn’t tempt Air France to put doors in F, I love the curtains on the 77W, so much more tasteful and one of those things that make the cabin truly ‘chic’.
As for doors, they don’t provide privacy as demonstrated by anyone walking up the aisle, it’s a fad and a load of nonsense adding needless weight to the aircraft.
Love the doors and the wider screens! Nice upgrade to the hard product!
I dislike doors in Business and First almost as much as flight attendants do.
Skip the door and have wider seats with bigger footwells. What does it matter if you are stuck in a seat almost the same size as Premium Economy. They should replace them with Apex Business Class Suites like Korean Air and Japan Airline have.
Fully agree with you. Doors are overrated, e.g. Delta One Suite, doors are a p. in the ass and don’t fully close.
I really like Air France current C in staggered config, it gives more privacy at window states than Delta
I’m not in need of a door. But would take bigger footrests! I actually swapped seats on Ana with my son to be closer to the aisle recently. Felt so packed in with the window seats (not the new suite obviously).
Once the lights are out the cocoon is enough.
Regarding jal apex…. No storage whatsoever!!! At least in the middle seats.
I don’t mind doors. It is just that there are other things more important, particularly onboard food and service. (Which AF does well.)
Just a quick clarification. It’s not true that all AF 777s have lie-flat seats with direct aisle access. I just flew CDG-DFW last Monday, and the 787-9 we were supposed to be on was downgraded to a three-class 77W at the last minute. It’s a seriously outdated 2-3-2 config with middle seats. It gives EK a run for its money in terms of disappointing J seat. Food was really good, though. (And doors are still dumb.)
Three class as in Y, PE, and J?
I did not know they still had these ghetto birds flying!
Yup – only Y, PE, and J. I’m not sure how many of the 777s still have that old config, but they still exist, and I “won” the lottery and got one…
Omgggg….ur terrifying me. I have been meaning to get away to Europe away from DFW crazy heat and seeing my buddy’s pic from London he just texted me, I checked and AF had a promo for business for 42k + $200 direct to CDG …and I can just fly wherever from there for cheap anyways. amazing deal with fares so high, it says 787-9 and thinking its their new route and the 1-2-1 layout for seat I picked, 7A….if they downgraded me, id be livid as heck if a diff plane and my seat isnt what its supposed to be. was there any compensation? how do I find out if I was to switch bc im traveling solo and have friends/fam all over so id refuse to fly that plane. thanks!