La Compagnie and French Bee review: A study in contrasts
Luxury and economy on two very different French airlines. Plus: Concorde flashback.
On my recent trip to run the Adidas 10K Paris, I flew transatlantically in both directions on interesting French airlines, La Compagnie for the outbound and French Bee for the return. They had little in common besides being French and using Orly, the smaller of Paris’ two airports. La Compagnie is an all-Business-Class airline flying narrow-bodies, while French Bee is a low-cost carrier flying wide-bodies.
I thought both were excellent in their very different ways. I’ll talk first about La Compagnie, and will start with a bit of history.
A brief history of all-premium transatlantic service, and a look at what may be next
Airlines offering all-premium-class service across the Atlantic have come and gone over the years. They have always involved narrow-body aircraft.
The most successful and iconic all-premium transatlantic service was the supersonic Concorde. It, literally, was in a class of its own. It did not even have a branded “class” of service. It was just “Concorde.”
Concorde was operated almost exclusively by British Airways and Air France, and almost entirely between London and Paris, on the one side of the Atlantic, and various cities on the U.S. East Coast, mostly New York and Washington DC, on the other. British Airways briefly operated an extended route in partnership with Braniff — a now-defunct Texas-based U.S. carrier — that added Dallas Fort Worth to the London-Washington crossing with one airline’s name painted on one side of the plane, and the other’s on the other, but that was at subsonic speeds. BA crewed the flight deck for the segment into Dallas, but Braniff flight attendants worked the cabin.
Among the ways in which Concorde was unique was how people referred to it (and still do). With Concorde, the name of the aircraft transcended the name of the airline operating it. People just talked about “flying Concorde” in a way they don’t when talking about flying other iconic equipment such as the Boeing 747 or Airbus 380.
I flew twice on Concorde. Both times on British Airways. It was a remarkable experience. The steep climb, the views of the curvature of the earth as it flew at altitudes of up to 60,000 feet, the thrill of flying faster than the speed of sound while drinking expensive champagne. At JFK, there was a special lounge for Concorde passengers, from which you directly boarded the aircraft.
In terms of the “hard product” inside the cabin — i.e., the seats — Concorde was not much different from International Premium Economy across the Atlantic today. Perhaps less spacious. But it didn’t matter. With an average transatlantic crossing time of 3.5 hours, there was barely time for a siesta after lunch. None of the flights were red-eyes. Moreover, Concorde existed in an era when no one expected to lie flat on an airplane. Concorde began as a luxury experience before the original concept of subsonic “Business Class” was conceived in the 1980s and even longer before lie-flat seats found their way into any type of commercial aircraft as Business Class evolved.
The aircraft did not survive for long after the Paris crash in July 2000. Then, an Air France Concorde on its take-off roll struck debris left by a departing Continental DC-10, rupturing its fuel tank and resulting in a fiery, fatal crash soon after it become airborne.
British Airways replaced it with a single-aisle, all-Business-Class, lie-flat subsonic service between London and New York using an Airbus 318. Unlike Concorde, this used London’s small City Airport, close to the financial center, as opposed to Heathrow. The idea was to attract the banking crowd that used to fill up its supersonic predecessor. The short runway at that airport limited takeoff weight so the westbound flight — which adopted Concorde’s BA 1 flight number — had to make a refueling stop in Ireland before proceeding across the Atlantic. To offset the inconvenience, passengers cleared U.S. customs and immigration there before re-boarding the aircraft, so they arrived in JFK as domestic passengers. That service was paused during the pandemic and never brought back.
Supersonic transatlantic travel is slated to return soon with both United and American among the launch customers for Boom, the supersonic start-up that looks as though it may actually take off in the next few years. Like Concorde, Boom’s Overture aircraft is expected to have an-all-premium-class configuration. It remains to be seen whether airlines operating it will provide a lie-flat cabin or whether — with speed being the emphasis — they will configure their aircraft to hold more passengers with seats more similar to domestic First Class. It’s possible there could be two classes of premium service, although — for reasons discussed shortly — a two-class service would disturb the zen of all-premium transatlantic travel.
There have been some other efforts at developing all-Business Class airlines — some involving start-ups and some by established carriers. But only one has stood the test of time, La Compagnie.
La Compagnie background
La Compagnie — a privately held French company — began operations in 2014 with a Boeing 757 configured with seats that were not quite lie-flat, but offered a near-horizontal recline. It has operated continuously ever since, except for a hiatus during the pandemic. Other than Concorde, no other all-premium transatlantic service has lasted as long. And no other exists today.
Although the airline has tried a number of routes — including one out of London Luton — its core route is between Paris Orly and Newark, but it also has seasonal service connecting Nice and Milan with Newark. Shortly before the pandemic, it replaced its two 757s with A321 Neos, configured with fully lie-flat seats.
A stand-alone airline
The main limitation of La Compagnie is, of course, its route network. It’s a tempting option if you live in the cities it serves. But La Compagnie does not have any interline agreements with other carriers. So if you live somewhere in the USA other than New York, you have to separately arrange to travel to Newark. Coming from California, I was happy to do that as an avgeek. Whether “normal” passengers will be so ready is another matter.
But the New York market is large. If La Compagnie can fill its planes — as it appears to be doing — then its lack of geographical reach deeper into the United States may not matter.
La Compagnie has its own loyalty program. But another aspect of the stand-alone factor is that it does not participate in any frequent flier program along with other airlines.
An oddly egalitarian experience?
La Compagnie operates out of Terminal B at Newark, not my favorite. But its revenue passengers have access to the British Airways lounge, so terminal time should be agreeable enough.
With just one class, there is no “priority” among the passengers in any of the ground operations, such as check-in, boarding, and luggage handling. It makes for an oddly egalitarian experience. While everyone who gets to fly on La Compagnie is necessarily privileged, there is no class divide among the passengers. (And that’s what I had in mind earlier when I referred to two classes of premium service disturbing the zen of this sort of flight.)
With Concorde, the single-class setup and the 100-passenger payload made for something of a “club-like” atmosphere once on board. And there is a bit of that on La Compagnie, which carries 76 passengers. The combination of everyone being in the same very comfortable class, and the relatively small number of people, makes for a calm and quite serene flight experience without the underlying stress and competitiveness that can exist on a crowded, multi-class wide-body.
La Compagnie 2-2 seating
Boarding, I was struck by how the interior of the La Compagnie aircraft seemed super clean and fresh. The seating configuration is 2-2. I was lucky to have the only open seat on the plane next to me. But if you are on the window and the seat next to you is occupied, getting to the aisle would involve climbing over your neighbor. It should be possible to do so if that person is lying flat and asleep, but it is awkward and not ideal.
With state-of-the-art Business Class on conventional airlines, travelers these days can expect every seat to have direct aisle access. That means a 1-2-1 configuration on a wide-body or 1-1 on a narrow-body. Right now, some top-class airlines still operate aircraft with older configurations, such as 2-2-2 (or even 2-3-2). But these are generally slowly being updated. So a question is whether, in time, La Compagnie’s 2-2 configuration will seem dated.
One solution might be to update the configuration. But if that meant reducing the number of seats, it could result in the airline becoming less price-competitive than it is now.
The seating configuration is less of an issue if you are traveling with someone. In fact, if you are with a companion, you may prefer 2-2 over 1-2-1. Those very private modern Business Class window seats keep couples apart.
And given that La Compagnie is, perhaps, appealing more to affluent leisure travelers than to the corporate business travel market, the seating might actually seem ideal. I suspect most of the passengers on my flight were people traveling as a couple or small family group. One couple had two retrievers with them.
The La Compagnie eastbound inflight experience
La Compagnie eastbound flights generally depart Newark in the early evening. The airline provides a lighter dinner than you might expect on a transatlantic Business Class flight and serves all the courses in one go. And, moreover, there is no pre-dinner drinks service (other than a glass of champagne offered while still on the ground). The idea behind this service arrangement is that passengers can get some sleep. The crossing from Newark to Paris is not that long, just 7 hours and 40 minutes, so it is an understandable goal.
However, I’m not convinced the strategy quite works. The reason is that — at least on my flight — it took so long to serve the streamlined dinner that some people did not get any service at all until two hours after take-off. And that slightly defeats the objective of wrapping up the service early on.
The way the meal service goes is that flight attendants working in teams of two begin with their carts at three points in the cabin. I was lucky, as I was near to the start of the mid-section service, and so got served about an hour into the flight (which is still quite a long time). But it was an hour later before people at the back of the front section were given anything to eat or drink. Maybe this was not typical, but there was no turbulence or other obvious reason to explain the timing.
The flight attendants appeared highly professional and hard working. So I am not suggesting there was anything deficient on their part that led to the wait. Rather, I suspect it is more of a systemic issue. It might work better if they did a preliminary drinks service with some sort of appetizer or, at least, nuts or something.
The dinner on the eastbound flights generally consists of soup, a salad, cheese, and some dessert. I had a salad with seared sesame tuna, but there was also a grilled chicken option. La Compagnie calls it a “light dinner,” but I thought the quantity was fine. And the quality was excellent. As you would expect on a French premium airline, there was a good selection of wine and champagne. Oddly, the Scotch selection involved a choice between and Johnny Walker Red and Black Label miniatures. I’m not sure who, given the choice, would go with the Red.
Although the eastbound light dinner idea is to give people a chance to get some sleep on the overnights, there is then a full hot breakfast service before landing. I had a tasty spinach and tomato frittata. If it were up to me, I might make more of the dinner, and less of the breakfast.
However, I understand the service on the westbound daytime flights involves a larger, four-course lunch with the courses — or at least some of them — served separately. So that direction might be better for people who want to fully savor airborne French gastronomy.
Longish-haul?
Fitting in all the service premium-class passengers might expect on a long-haul flight that is not all that long can be a challenge. Personally, I prefer long-haul flights to Europe from the West Coast, rather than the East, if I am seated in the front of the plane. It gives more time to relax, sleep, and, indeed, eat. My wife knows a pilot who used to fly a private B777 for a Saudi prince who would sometimes tell the flight crew before take-off to circle for a couple of hours after entering Saudi airspace so as to allow more time for rest before landing. The ultimate luxury.
Who is La Compagnie for?
La Compagnie aims to offer an exclusive Business Class experience at a price that compares favorably with traditional airlines. Prices can vary considerably depending on the time of year, how far ahead you book, the restrictions on the fare, and even the selection of lounge at Orly. But if you find it does price out significantly below the traditional airlines that fly between New York and the cities it serves, it is a good Business Class choice, especially if you are traveling as a couple and not put off by the 2-2 seating.
However, a potential drawback with all small airlines is that while the experience can be great when everything works, there is less logistical backup and ground support if mechanical, weather, or crew issues lead to delays or cancellation. That is not to say large airlines always handle such issues well. But if you are booked between Newark and Paris and your flight cancels, you are likely to have many more options on, say, United than on La Compagnie with its fleet of just two aircraft.
Overall, although, La Compagnie delivers exactly what it promises. It is a different sort of travel experience and a very civilized one. I highly recommend it. WiFi is free, by the way — something that really should not be unusual these days, but nonetheless is.
French Bee — the other end of the airline spectrum
Returning from Paris, my plan had been to take the westbound La Compagnie service to Newark. I was traveling standby using interline staff travel benefits, and the loads for the Monday morning flight suggested I would very likely get on. But that weekend, air traffic controllers at Orly went on strike. And both the Saturday and Sunday La Compagnie flights cancelled. Predictably, passengers from those flights took the remaining seats on the Monday flight, so I was out of luck, although I rolled the standby dice in case of a no-show.
My backup was the only other airline flying transatlantically out of Orly, French Bee, which had open seats on a flight to Los Angeles — and the consolation prize was that I’d get home to California in one jump, without the domestic transcon connection if I’d got on La Compagnie to Newark.
French Bee is one of relatively few ultra-low-cost airlines plying transatlantic routes. As with short-haul equivalents, the business model is to offer rock-bottom fares that exclude just about everything other than a seat on the plane with a personal item and, in this case, inflight entertainment, and then to charge for all frills and extras either on an à la carte basis or in higher bundled fares. For example, meals are not included on the cheapest fares. (If you are on a fare with a meal included, you’ll find a coupon in a small amenity kit on your seat and you hand that to a flight attendant when the cart comes down the aisle.)
French Bee started operations in 2014 as a sister airline to Air Caraïbes, a long-haul leisure airline based in the French Caribbean. It was originally called “French Blue” but — under regulatory pressure following complaints from Jet Blue — changed its name to French Bee when it started service between France and the U.S. in 2018. Today, the airline has about six Airbus wide-bodies, so it is bigger than La Compagnie, but still a small airline overall. Its U.S. destinations are Los Angeles, Newark, Miami, and San Francisco. It also connects Los Angeles and San Francisco with Tahiti. The airline has a partnership with Alaska Airlines, allowing for seamless booking and connections on the latter’s U.S. route network.
Unlike many ultra-low-cost carriers, French Bee offers legroom similar to what you’d get in a traditional airline, about 31 inches in regular Economy. But the catch is that the seats are narrower. The airline squeezes in one extra seat in each row of its A350 aircraft compared with what you’d typically find. So the configuration is 3-4-3, compared with 3-3-3 on almost all other airlines operating that equipment.
I was initially seated on the aisle on a full row of three. I actually noticed the narrow seat width less than I’d been expecting. And if you are traveling with friends or family and occupying an entire row together, it wouldn’t be a big deal. In fact, if you are family of four, you might actually prefer having four seats together rather than one person having to sit separately. But it wouldn’t be ideal if you were on your own and ended up in a middle seat. That said, I found the seats, reduced width aside, were quite comfortable by Economy standards.
I was lucky, as a flight attendant moved me to an empty row of three right at the back of the aircraft. So I had a great flight. Despite the ultra-low-cost environment, I thought the service compared with what I’d expect on a full-service airline in Economy. And the food was decent.
French Bee also has a Premium Economy cabin, which looks pretty nice. It could cost you a fair bit less than an equivalent product on a traditional airline. Plus with Premium Economy on French Bee, you have the satisfaction of being in the top class of service on the airplane, as opposed to merely being “middle class” as on full-service airlines.
To Bee or Not to Bee?
I may not have had the most typical French Bee experience with the row to myself. Given a choice between a packed flight on French Bee and one on a full-service airline, I could see the case for the latter.
However, the draw of French Bee is the pricing. Like La Compagnie — albeit with a very different product — French Bee delivers what it promises. It can be a good pick for people on a tight budget who aren’t bothered about frills, especially if you are traveling as a group of three or four and can fill up a row by yourselves so the narrower seat width matters less. It is also a tempting pick if you are looking for Premium Economy without breaking the bank. As with all ultra-low-cost carriers, you get the best deal if you are able to resist the upsells. But you are also relying on a pretty lean operation that may not be as geared up as its full-service competitors to handle circumstances involving delays and cancellations.
La Compagnie and French Bee non-rev notes
Lastly, a few notes for staff travelers from other airlines. I travel on my wife’s benefits and her airline has great reciprocal staff travel agreements with other carriers, including both La Compagnie and French Bee. But keep in mind that some airlines don’t do staff travel agreements involving Business Class or ones with ultra-low-cost carriers — so these two interesting French airlines may not be on everyone’s list of available options.
Both airlines use the MyID ticketing/listing platform for staff travel, and listing is automatic with ticketing. Neither, however, allows online check-in. And La Compagnie’s protocol is for non-rev travelers to standby at the check-in counter until one hour before the flight departs. They don’t give gate passes. With French Bee, I was accepted onto the flight when I went to check in three hours ahead of the flight as there were over 40 open seats. I’m not sure whether they do give gate passes when loads are tighter.
I was able to check French Bee loads on Staff Traveler, the crowd-sourced information sharing app. The user name providing the loads was actually “French Bee,” which made me wonder whether someone who works in their staff travel office was providing them.
La Compagnie loads sometimes come through on Staff Traveler, but don’t count on it. However, you can get an idea of loads by seeing how many seats, if any, the airline is able to sell on its website on a single booking — the maximum on any booking is nine. Getting a refund for an unused staff travel ticket on La Compagnie is a bit more complicated than usual, as you have to email the airline. But I found they processed my refund for the return in a couple of weeks with no need for follow-up.
Conclusion
Sticking with one airline, or alliance, can make sense if you are trying to maximize loyalty benefits. But it can also get dull. Air travel should be an adventure, and La Compagnie and French Bee provide a different experience between the U.S. and France. ✈️