French leisure carrier Corsair has launched flights between Paris Orly and Miami. The carrier’s three-cabin aircraft offers a cheaper alternative to Air France and American and is therefore worthy of consideration.
While certainly not a traditional full-service carrier, Coarsair offers three cabins of service aboard the A330-200 that will service Miami:
- Business (12 seats)
- Premium Economy (12 seats)
- Economy (280 seats)
Business class does not offer true lie-flat beds, but sloping lie-flat seats that are not parallel to the floor. While I don’t have a problem sleeping in these seats, many complain they slide down when trying to sleep in them.
Flights from Paris depart four times weekly (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday). Daily service begins in December 2019.
- SS918 Paris Orly (ORY) – Miami (MIA) dep 11:40AM arr 3:50PM
- SS919 Miami (MIA) – Paris Orly (ORY) dep 6:00PM arr 9:00AM+1
Business class passengers have lounge access in Paris, noise-cancelling headphones, iPads loaded with in-flight entertainment, and multi-course meals.
The premium economy seat looks comfortable but seems to be only slightly cheaper than business class.
Meanwhile, economy class seat pitch is a respectable 32 inches, but Corsair squeezes nine across on the A330-200, a tight configuration. Baggage is not included, but free meals, drinks (non-alcoholic plus wine), and IFE are provided.
While hardly an incredible bargain, you can book short-term round-trip travel for under $700 in economy class and under $2500 in business class. That’s still difficult to justify considering the product, but may be of interest to Miami residents looking for a last-minute getaway.
Compare that to Air France or American:
Certainly cheaper and frankly the differences (and even the points) in economy class may not be enough to justify the premium on American or Air France.
CONCLUSION
This is a niche airline without a decent frequent flyer program or relationships with other carriers. Still, if the price is right it surely an option worth considering.
Will you fly Corsair?
When I first saw the headline, I thought it was about am F4U or A-7.
I can’t understand why you would choose AA or AF at those prices over Corsair. At least in Business.
Worth looking at the prices though for a time of year that isn’t already fully booked. AA and AF will be pretty full already by now for July/August. AA definitely has sub business class prices closer to that of Corsair’s depending on the time of year.
Back in the 90’s, Air France sold discount tickets from Miami to Paris in the same price range through consolidators.