Earlier today, Air France officially unveiled its new La Première first class cabin and my assessment is that it looks stunning…I would have expected nothing less from the French carrier.
First Look At Chic New Air France La Première First Class
The new first class sets a new standard in terms of luxury and space, with each seat measuring over three meters long (118 inches) and spanning five aircraft windows—an upgrade from the previous first class, which covered four windows. At 3.5 square meters per seat, that’s a 25% increase in personal space compared to the current cabin.
The modular design marks a new approach for Air France. You’ll find a seat facing one direction and a chaise longue positioned in the opposite direction, allowing you to seamlessly adapt to every stage of the flight. Whether you’re sitting upright for a meal, stretching out on the chaise longue to relax, or reclining into a fully flat bed, the experience is designed for maximum comfort. The chaise longue converts into a bed that stretches two meters long (79 inches) and is a generous 75 centimeters (30 inches) wide—plenty of room to get a good night’s sleep above the clouds.
While curtains will offer some separation from the aisle, the two center seats will feature a full-height electric sliding partition for maximum privacy. For those traveling together, the partition can be lowered, allowing you to enjoy the flight side by side.
The new seat marks an evolution rather than a revolution and will continue to appear on a sub-fleet of Air France’s Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and be arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration (which makes so much more sense to me than the 1-1-1 configuration of Lufthansa’s new Allegris first class).
Which Routes Can You Fly On The New Air France First Class?
It does appear that Air France will rollout the fleet to more 777 jets, though precise numbers have not been announced. The first plane with the new seats, F-GZNQ, will begin service to New York this spring, with the first four “new first class” destinations including:
- New York (JFK)
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- Singapore (SIN)
- Tokyo (HND)
(in this order)
Is it just me or does the new seat for takeoff and landing look narrower than before and perhaps will not be as comfortable? Other than that, the new suite looks stunning and chic…I far prefer the curtains to the doors.
A Tour From Air France CEO Ben Smith
One Mile At A Time shares a very cool video from Ben Smith which includes an in-depth tour of the seat and commentary on why particular elements of the new suite were chosen. It’s worth 7-minutes of your time:
The Ground Product Separates Air France From All Other First Class Products
The beauty of Air France first class is that no carrier comes close to matching the entire experience. Air France will pick you up from your home and you’ll be met by a personal concierge at the airport who will escort you through the entire check-in and security process. In Paris, you’ll be driven from the lounge to the aircraft in a car and the lounge itself is one of the best first class lounges in the world, with sumptuous dining and spa treatments. Even when you land, you’ll be met by an attendant to take you through passport control and gather your luggage.
It’s a truly first class service.
The promotional video released with the new first class product highlights this ground service:
CONCLUSION
Air France’s new first class suite is a beauty. Rather than a drastic change, the new La Premiere simply makes an excellent product even better. Clearly, a lot of thought went into the design of this product and it seems that it will roll out efficiently across the 777 fleet. I do hope to try it sooner rather than later!
What are your thoughts on the new Air France first class?
images: Air France
The best part is that it won’t be kept together with duct tape!
Jokes aside, looks like they wanted to have a leg up on LH/LX’s new Allegris/Swiss Senses F product and I’d have to place the air product to be right being SQ F on their A380s or EY’s residences. I think they made the chair narrower so that people would be encouraged to use the lounging chair on the other side. The only questions I have are will they bring back routes in F (would be nice but then again, they probably want to make this product even more exclusive by limiting the number of routes) and how comfortable the lounging chair is as that elongated portion looks a little awkward.
It does genuinely look extremely comfortable.
Maybe it is because of the scarcity, but I have clients who fly in La Premiere and often the LAX and JFK routes are SOLD out on the dates/times they want…I think AF can safely increase supply without having to lower the price.
One unrelated question – is the email you use to comment valid? I want to send you a note about another matter.
Those are fair points and make sense based on their initial comments when announcing it two (?) years ago.
Will say for LAX/JFK and occasionally DXB, word has gone around with celebrities and many of them occasionally fly in LP. Met a couple of NBA players like Iman Shumpert, Kevin Love, and others either in the lounge or on the plane as it could accommodate their size.
Yes, that is my personal email and it’s always open for you.
Very nice article. Worth a review in the future, maybe on LAX-CDG. The JFK flight seems rather short for a good night’s rest.
Now for the silliness….
Why use a white woman model? What’s wrong with using Black people, like a man?
What if you’re too wide and fat to fit? With economy class, lifting up the armrest yields a double wide seat. This seat is just minimally wider and no adjacent seat.
This shows too much wealth. Anyone flying in these seats, unless they used a credit card scheme or similar, should be taxed so much that they cry. Punish those people. If you can afford the fare, you must have done something criminal or at least aggressive but legal.
I think that’s part of the marketing campaign…remember when Abercrombie & Fitch used to only use white models? I don’t think it was A&F saying white is better or white is ideal, but this odd idea of exclusivity seems to sell seats (or clothes)…even if wholly a figment of the imagination.
They should use Malik in their La Premiere ads!
Maybe a white woman is typical of the passenger demographic purchasing the seats? Must progressive American sensibilities to inform every decision that any company makes in its advertising? In Ethiopian Airlines and Air India advertisements there are no white or East Asian faces, so is that discriminatory too?
I remember my first time in LP right after covid restrictions were being scaled back during the summer of 2022. I’m very young compared to most readers on here, but despite having sold my startup, I was/still am stingy with money spending money on myself so I always flew W before my car accident and discount J after that. But during that instance, I needed to get to LHR for a last minute meeting and J wasn’t available, so I just ended up coughing up for LP. Needless to say, even in the older product with a piece of duct tape holding the overhead storage bin, it was the best flight in my life. I still avoid flying in F but give myself a treat once in a while in LP and feel that the product is worth it, assuming that the seat isn’t broken as others suggest, and the newer product will only be better.
Without a doubt – the classiest looking seat in the sky. With the changes at Lufthansa and Swiss, European carriers are catching up with Asia and the Gulf States. Wondering if we ever will see a US carrier introduce a comparable 1st class product on international routes
Thank you for your comment, please direct your inquiry to AA & their plans for the 777-300. !
I think true Intl. First Class is dead among the big three.
AA had a chance to differentiate itself by keeping Intl. First Class, but they are getting rid of it and weren’t doing anything before that to make it special.
The light-colored seats seem like they will be disaster to clean and remove stains. Red wine spills!
The French do it better!
Within the realms of First Class and coffee (which America comes in dead last).
The French certainly do first class better (in fact, one might say they do it best), but not coffee. The French have a lot to learn about coffee.
In fact, Air France still serves powdered cappuccino in first class!
Thanks for this comprehensive post.
The new hard product looks quite elegant.
And I’m sure the soft product remains great (though I cannot say I’m really into French gastronomy myself–oui, oui, I know, my loss).
Looks quite nice although you’re right that the seat looks narrow for long haul first class. I wonder how many Flying Blue miles it’ll set me back to fly the new product to Europe.