I’ll be flying to Hong Kong, not FC but BC only. I chose a slightly longer JFK-CDG-HKG route on Air France.
I wanted the 10 hour layover in Paris for a nice break in my flights for a hopefully nice lunch and a wine bar. I could’ve chosen a KLM flight with 9-hour stop in Amsterdam.
Just my $.02 as an option.
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I hear the Air France business class on their new A350s is pretty sweet. Getting ready to test it in December.
That’s the one. I just flew back from CDG but in current (not new) A350, but wife had flown the new version twice and she liked the more spacious feel and the added privacy of the sliding gate closure.
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Have flown AF biz a few times. Last 2 were A350 and B773
Very pleased each time
Both did have doors. Scheduled for A350 again in march
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This has been a fun thread and I learned some things, e.g. airline acronyms, “hard product” and “soft product” etc. Some life you guys live!
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It’s getting harder and harder if you’re doing it on points. So many award seats used to come available on predictable schedules, or very last minute. Now it’s nearly impossible unless you plan way ahead and/or are very lucky.
Still some isolated predictability to Europe if booking a year out on some airlines, but TPAC (transpacific) is a nightmare wanting to go fall 2025, and availability is bleak.
Not to mention new search tools making availability visible to more folks. Like wine searcher pro making great deals harder to find.
A year out is what I meant by planning way ahead. Not something I can ever do.
I can plan a year ahead , and that still has dried up big time, especially to Japan. (business class or first I mean, I see economy and premium economy 355 days out).
If I find something, I’ll likely have to route LAX-ORD-HND or LAX-DFW-HND.
For F with points, LH is still the top dog with pretty predictable last minute availability. Yes, the hard product is getting up there in age, and wine list can be variable (but it’s available online to view), but the FRA FCT is still fantastic as always, as is the MUC satellite.
If you are flying in F, I would choose between JL, NH, or AF. I would probably fly Le Premiere on AF.
Latest reports are that LH just releases F 3- 4 days in advance to partners. Used to be a couple weeks. Maybe you’ve still seen it released reliably earlier, like 7-14 days?
New F exists. Just not on any planes yet. LOL
Have read so much about their inconsistency of when they release now.
Just checked ORD-FRA-ORD over the next 2 weeks. Zero partner F seats either direction
Flying out of Seattle, you could find a round trip first class ticket on BA for under $7000. Lately, everything has been $10000+, just too much money.
LH just added first out of Seattle, but the A340 on that route is very old in the tooth. A recent flight in LH first was pretty ho hum, but the ground service and lounge on arrival is still great.
LH has been hit and miss last few times I flew it LAX-MUC. Old planes, things not working etc. Mind you, this was economy.
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That’s a long flight for back of the bus
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I’ve had to accept back of the bus is the only option most of the time from now on. There are those who say they’d rather not go than fly coach. I’m not one of those. I got spoiled, now have to come back to reality, even with points and status. I want to go, so have to suck it up.
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You won’t find a thing 2 weeks out. 2 days out is better, and they will release them until the last 2 seats. 3 seats available for purchase? You’ll have one seat for partners 2-3 days out, almost 100% of the time. Last 2 seats is random and is based on some complex revenue management, but above 2, it’s almost 100%.
For example, tomorrow 18th ORD-FRA, there is only 1 seat left for sale, so you won’t see award availability on it. But BOS-FRA has 5 seats for sale and is available with miles through partners.
I’ve always been able to book LH F with miles when I needed it, and when it was reasonably available (summertime to Europe, probably not gonna happen as they can sell their inventory). But LH is by far the most predictable on their partner award availability.
I think LH is filling seats by offering a reduced fare to business class customers a few days prior to departure.
I think routes like LAX and SFO are pretty consistently full, SFO has a lot of tech folks up front.
A little hard to book positioning flights , with just 2 days notice