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Home » Air France » My Christmas Gift: Air France First Class
Air France

My Christmas Gift: Air France First Class

Matthew Klint Posted onDecember 24, 2018November 14, 2023 16 Comments

a seat in a plane

Christmas comes early for me this year: I’m finally flying Air France first class!

As you know, my wife and son are already in Europe. Although I was in London last weekend, I flew right home for one more grueling week of work.

But the week is over. In fact, the year is over. I’m taking a break…a real break. It has certainly been a long year.

After my fairly unpleasant flight in British Airways economy class last weekend, I wanted to splurge a bit for my final trip of 2018.

For a couple years now Air France first class has been at the top of my wishlist of products to try. But there is a small problem. Unlike Lufthansa, Korean, and other top-tier first class products, there is no easy way to fly in Air France first class. You’re either going to pay a lot of money or a lot of miles. It’s like SWISS first class.

Typically, I would have waited until the last minute and booked SWISS business to Zurich or Lufthansa first class to Basel via Frankfurt when the space opened. But I’m cutting it close this year in terms of timing and did not want to even risk missing Christmas with my family.

Thus, it became a bit easier to drop 200,000 miles on a one-way Air France ticket to Basel via Paris. The comparatively high business class price for the same flight helped (and was also laughable).

a screenshot of a flight schedule

So now it is time to fly, and my expectations are dangerously high.

Let’s see how it goes!

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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16 Comments

  1. Mo Reply
    December 24, 2018 at 12:46 pm

    Just curious how u booked this. Are u an AF elite?

    • Steve Reply
      January 1, 2019 at 1:26 am

      This is a valid question for a blogger and I see that it remains unanswered. Why is this? (I use this blog, as well as a couple of others, to research flights. Many of the other bloggers post the method of acquisition of the flights reviewed, albeit other bloggers push the credit cards more than Matthew,

      • Matthew Reply
        January 1, 2019 at 3:31 am

        I already answered this in another post. It was booked through a Flying Blue elite account.

  2. Erik J. Reply
    December 24, 2018 at 12:48 pm

    I seem to remember that you had to have elite status with Air France/KLM to fly La Premier with miles, is that still a requirement?

  3. LAXJeff Reply
    December 24, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    I thought these errored out when trying to book?

  4. MeanMeosh Reply
    December 24, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    Awesome! You’re going to love La Premiere, especially the lounge/transit experience at CDG. Enjoy the steak and a fine whiskey on your layover.

  5. JRG Reply
    December 24, 2018 at 1:44 pm

    That’s a lot of miles…!

    • Tom Reply
      December 24, 2018 at 4:47 pm

      Yes it is

  6. Mitch Cumstein Reply
    December 24, 2018 at 2:09 pm

    Ticket won’t be issued if you’re not FB elite IME.

  7. Greg Reply
    December 24, 2018 at 3:52 pm

    6 hour connection is a nice value for the lounge time

  8. YGeorgeW Reply
    December 24, 2018 at 4:37 pm

    I didn’t realize that AF flew their 777s to LAX. For some reason I thought that route was operated by their less exciting A380.

  9. Not Lucky Reply
    December 24, 2018 at 8:59 pm

    So worth it. And well done on the 6 hour connection. Enjoy a great meal in the lounge. Best way to fly bar none (though I haven’t yet tried the new EK suite or the Etihad Residence)

  10. Mick Reply
    December 25, 2018 at 3:18 am

    I just flew etihad apartments which I thought was hands down the BEST first class ive ever been on. I’m all about the hard product (I thought the food was pretty average). Blew jal Lufthansa etc out of the water in my humble opinion.

    Saying that. I looked in the residence and for e life of me couldn’t understand the premium for it. Still part of the same cabin. Has some bells and whistles (one bed) but I would never ever pay up for it. Maybe paid upgrade for $500-700 but nothing more

    • Matthew Reply
      December 25, 2018 at 4:25 am

      I’ve got a review coming up on that. While beautiful, I would not use the word best.

      • Mick Reply
        December 25, 2018 at 4:38 am

        Interesting!! I loved it!! Can’t wait to try again. I know certain things not perfect but I liked the bed and didn’t mind the chair (I know a few people have complaints on this front).

        I haven’t flown the new Singapore first or any Emirates first. But I can’t picture old Emirates first being better (I do love old Singapore suites).

        Looking forward to your review.

        Am flying back to Chicago on Chicago eastern from Sydney with whole fam (3 kids). Will see how it compares to apartments 🙂

        • Steven Reply
          December 26, 2018 at 12:48 am

          Etihad is trash these days. The apartments, while amazing a few years ago when they were first introduced, are now just nice seats on an awful airline that’s more likened to an LCC. And with the further advancements an new F products of EK and SQ, the apartments just aren’t very special anymore.
          I personally do prefer EK’s old F to the apartments,

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