It was hard to resist, but I turned down a 1079EUR upgrade offer from Air France Business Class to La Premier (First Class) on my recent flight from Paris to Dubai.
That is probably the cheapest price I’ll ever see for a flight in Air France First Class. The cabin was also only booked 1/4, so I would have had two seats to myself. I also could have used the first class lounge, even as an upgrader. But three things held me back.
First, I booked this flight to review Air France Business Class. A business class review is generally so much more relevant to so many more people than a first class review. Second, when I fly Air France First Class, I want a long enough flight to enjoy it. Paris to Dubai flight time is only about six hours. I want at least 10 hours in first class. Lastly, I want the full first class experience, which means flying into Paris from another European city and being picked up by car and driven to the lounge.
So for those reasons, I skipped the upgrade. I still checked out the first class cabin onboard, though. Wow: it is even more beautiful in-person. This product remains at the very top of my flight bucket list.
We experienced a delay of one hour on the flight, which made me second-guess my decision for a moment, but I’m glad I stuck to business class. I’ll have more on that flight soon.
Air France makes upgrading easy in its Paris CDG lounges. Simply scan your boarding pass in one of the upgrade kiosks near lounge reception and you’ll receive your offer. If an offer does not appear, a staff member can quickly provide you a quote.
@ Matthew — Which AF A/C have F upgrades worth paying for? I guess A380 would be worth it since J seat sucks so bad. Would a car transfer be provided at CDG for intra-Europe KL J to long-haul AF F?
I’d say both the A380 and 777 are worthwhile.
@ Matthew — Thanks, very helpful blog post. As you know, the FCQ doesn’t love not being in the forward-most cabin. I’ll be on the lookout for those kiosks!
Does anyone know how much they charge for JFK-CDG upgrade? Do they have these same kiosks at JFK?
Thanks.
I just received an upgrade offer for IAD-CDG for $1900 USD. I’m assuming the JFK offer would be consistent. As a side note, I used Flying Blue miles for my business class ticket, so they clearly also make offers on both rev and non rev reservations.
Good data point. Thanks.
“Surclassement” is a cool word for “upgrade!”
How are you going to get a “10 hour flight” when flying in from another European city???
North America – Paris or Asia – Paris.
North America and Asia are not “another European city”.
He means other European city to connect at CDG to US or Asia.
As much as I loved La Premiere, I wouldn’t have paid EUR 1,079 for CDG-DXB, either. Maybe you can try booking LAX-CDG-XXX in J and take your chances with upgrade roulette. 1,000 euros or so for LAX-CDG would be a steal!
The title is clickbait – it makes you sound like you turned down a free upgrade.
sure does… “clickbait” is apparently what all journalist do these days… mislead purposefully for more clicks and readers or to only tell their side of the story… I assume this article was named for more clicks and readers 😛
Sucked me in, too! Free with purchase Vs purchase with purchase!!!!
I agree with TY. In all fairness you should re title the post.
Too much. I ever upgraded for about $700 from BC to FC on SIN-CDG.
That made sense to me.
It then turned out to be old instead of new FC, I got an applogy email and 20000 miles.
I”m oldfashioned. I preferred the old first class and business class where when you traveled as a couple, you sat right next to the person you love. When our daughter was small we would fold up the center armrest and she would sit and sleep between us.
“A business class review is generally so much more relevant to so many more people”– Gee, it’s hard to imagine anything that would be less relevant to more people than this self-indulgent and ultimately pointless article.
“Why I Turned Down A Paid Upgrade To First Class On Air France”
Fixed it.
Paid ticket or award… So the question: Are award tickets upgradeable with cash?
This was an award ticket.
Thank you!
any ideas on how i can get upgrade from US to CDG?? Do US gates have a way to do so??
Ask at check-in counter–that will be easier than at the gate.
The agents at the check-in counters are happy to do it for you. In my experience they always have to do it by phone, though. Doesn’t take super long…maybe 5 minutes. They’ll give you a price and you can ask what seats are available.
By the way, these machines are not used for securing upgrades, but rather as a means to check into the lounge itself. Larger AF non-schengen lounges such as this one will only usually have two or three staff working the door, but customers can also check into the lounge using these machines. You simply scan your boarding pass and the machine and light on the top will turn green (access) or red (see agent). Why would a lounge need four kiosks for people to check for an upgrade?
I don’t doubt they are used for the purpose you describe, but they also present upgrade offers.
Matthew, just wondering if you did accept the upgrade and you were on a paid ticket would you get the miles for an F ticket?
Good question. I don’t know the answer.