Air France 351
Toronto (CDG) – Paris (CDG)
October 14, 2019
Depart: 06:25 PM
Arrive: 07:55 AM +1
Duration: 7hr 30min
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Seat: 10A (Premium Economy Class)
My rating – 5 out of 10
Quick Pros: Good IFE, amazing service, delicious food, cheap (comparative) upgrades to business class.
Quick Cons: No free wifi, uncomfortable seat, no lounge access.
Booking – I wanted to try a premium class on this trip to India. Since there’s two long-haul flights when traveling from the Canadian west-coast to India, I figured it would be worth doing premium class. I paid C$2000 for a premium economy ticket Victoria (YYJ) – Mumbai (BOM)and return.
My flight segments:
Victoria-Toronto WestJet Econo flex
Toronto-Paris Air France Premium Economy
Paris-Mumbai Air France Premium Economy
Mumbai-Paris Air France Premium Economy (upgraded to Business class)
Paris-Vancouver Air France Premium Economy (upgraded to Business class)
Vancouver-Victoria Air Canada Economy
Although when the ticket is booked in Premium economy, the YYJ-YYZ segment is on WestJet economy, which was a disappointment. This segment is 4.5 hours and not being able to travel in premium for that long of a flight wasn’t fun.
At the airport – I had about 4hr 15min in Toronto before my Paris flight, so I decided to go to the Air France-KLM lounge. There is no lounge access with a premium economy ticket.
The lounge – The Air France-KLM lounge is in Terminal C, near C Gates. There’s an elevator that takes you a level up to the lounge. The Premium Plaza lounge is also here.
I was greeted by a hostess at check in and I scanned my Aiport Experiences by Mastercard app to get access to the lounge. The lounge allows a maximum 3 hour stay but the hostess told me I can stay for longer. The lunge has a few sitting areas including a plane spotting sitting area. I generally love plane spotting and you can always find me sitting by the windows, but this time, I chose to sit in an enclosed sitting area as I needed to check emails. There were wooden partitions for this area which did a good job in terms of offering privacy. There were charging ports near every seat, and the seats were fairly comfortable.
There is a dining area near the buffet. The dining area had dining tables as well as high top seating. The lounge wasn’t bustling with people, which was nice.
The bathrooms are at the very end of the lounge and was very well kept. The lounge doesn’t have showers though.
Food at the lounge – There were fruit, some pastries, muffins, bread, and a couple of types of soup. For hot dishes, they offered pasta, rice, chicken and veggies. They also had a fair selection of alcoholic drinks. Coffee, tea, juice and water was also available.
Boarding – 45 minutes before my flight, I left the lounge. The lounge is right near the gate, so it’s a quick elevator ride a level down to the gate. Premium economy on Air France comes with SkyPriority, so I boarded through Zone 2. Only business class passengers boarded before me, and economy class passengers boarded through Zone 3-5. I was very happy to have SkyPriority, because the economy boarding looked like a place I definitely didn’t want to be.
The Cabin – I was seated in 10A (window). On this aircraft (B777), there are only 3 rows in 2-4-2 configuration in the premium economy section. A week after I flew this segment, Air France introduced their new A350 on this route! The premium economy cabin is separated by economy class with a closed curtain which gives a sense of privacy. There were only 4 people in the entire section.
The Seat – The premium economy product on this aircraft is the fixed shell design. The seat reclines within the fixed area of the shell. This is amazing when you have someone sitting in front of you because their seat doesn’t recline into your space. The headrest, foot-rest and leg-rest can be adjusted. Each seat had a reading lamp, high end headphones and bigger (than economy) IFE screens. I was in the first row so my IFE was fit into the arm rest. A bottle of water, pillow and blanket comes with each seat. The legroom was spacious and being a 6-foot person, I appreciated that leg space. Overall, the seat looked better than it felt in terms of comfort.
Meal service – The meal service on this flight was amazing. I had ordered special meal, which might have been a mistake since I didn’t get to taste their premium economy menu. Each passenger was given a premium economy menu when we boarded. The food was great overall, and the service was amazing. The cabin host asked each one of us if we would like to have anything else after the meal, which was a nice touch.
The Flight – The flight was a pleasant experience. It was an overnight flight, so I tried sleeping. But the design of the seat didn’t allow me a comfortable sleep. The fixed shell design didn’t work for me. The cabin host came to me and asked me about my flight just before landing, which was nice.
Overall Thoughts – The flight was an average experience. The seat design made it a little uncomfortable for a long flight. But the service, meal service and the IFE were the highlights of the flight. Given that it cost me almost $900 more to go from economy to premium economy, it was not worth it. I would rather pay a bit more to fly business class instead. And I upgraded myself to business class on the return journey. Another benefit of premium economy is the cheap (comparative) upgrades to business class. But if you have already paid a fairly big amount for premium economy, then you might want to calculate the total costs and decide if you want to go from economy to business or premium economy to business.
I also did the Paris-Mumbai segment on Air France premium economy which was on their A340. This flight was a much better experience than the Toronto-Paris flight. A few pictures posted for your reference.
A brown dude on the blue planet 
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