Background and Booking
I found a pretty solid deal flying from Stockholm to Los Angeles, with a connection in Paris onboard Air France Business Class for 55,000 miles + taxes and fees. At first, I booked it with just a layover in Paris, but then I decided to stop by Paris for 2 nights. I paid the 70 EUR change fee and found the same amount of miles needed at 55,000 miles + $404 in taxes and fees per passenger in business class. Along with the fact that Flying Blue had a transfer bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards, I thought it was a solid deal. And I was able to book this for me and my parents. This review will focus on the first leg, from Stockholm (ARN) to Paris (CDG) onboard the Air France A220 Business Class product. I flew on the A220 for the first time back in February, and it was also on Air France but in Economy.
Flight Details
Air France Flight 1063
Stockholm (ARN) to Paris (CDG)
Scheduled Duration: 2 hours and 40 minutes
Cabin: Business
Aircraft: Airbus A220
Seat: 3A (Window)
At the Airport & Lounge Access at Stockholm (ARN)
Air France operates out of Terminal 2 at Stockholm (ARN). The terminal past security was quite small, and the only lounge available was the Pearl Lounge. Flying Air France Business Class does grant you access to this lounge. Alternatively, you can also access this lounge with Priority Pass. The lounge was better than I expected given that it was the only option, and still a decent spot to relax in as there isn’t much in the gate area.
Air France A220 Business Class
As with most intra-Europe flying, business class seating is simply just economy class with an empty middle seat. The cool thing about the A220 is that it is in a 2-3 configuration for Economy, but in Business the aisle seat on the “2” side is blocked off, so you essentially have your own row which is awesome when traveling alone. The “3” side has an empty middle seat, so the window and aisle seats are free to choose from.
The number of rows allocated to business class is dynamic based on demand for the flight, and they will just adjust the cabin curtain accordingly to separate the business class cabin from the economy. On this specific flight, I saw 4 rows of business class offered.
Since I was traveling with my parents, I took that window seat on the “2” side of the row and my parents had the aisle and window on the “3” side of the row. So we had the entire row 3 to ourselves which was nice.
Boarding
Boarding commenced 30 minutes before our scheduled departure. We finished boarding quite quickly and the boarding door closed 10 minutes before our scheduled departure and we shortly pushed back from the gate. We left the gate 2 minutes before our scheduled departure and took off about 10 minutes later. The captain let us know that the flight time in the air would be 2 hours and 8 minutes.
A refreshing wet towel was provided as well as a small bottle of water. The plane felt fresh and new which I appreciated. It made sense as the plane was only 2.5 years old.
The Flight
Shortly after takeoff, we were also handed a nice pillow.
The seatback was modern and offered both USB A and USB C charging. Legroom was standard economy legroom, but having the extra seat allowed for even more space. According to aeroLOPA, all of the seats have a seat width of 18”, pitch of 30” (38” at row 14 exit row), and a seat recline of 3” (but no recline at row 12).
I like the A220’s large windows, and we got some nice views leaving Stockholm.
Then, commenced the meal service. There weren’t any options to choose from, but rather it was just a meal that featured a cold dish of:
Smoked trout, conchigliette pasta salad, and basil cream plus Cantal PDO cheese, Crottin de Chavignol PDO cheese.
Bread was provided as well as a little dessert item.
The meal actually tasted quite decent, and the cheese was so much better than the cheese plates I’m used to on the US Carriers. Not bad for a 2.5 hour flight.
After the meal service, they offered snacks from a basket as well as hot tea or coffee. I liked having the hot tea with chocolate!
The flight attendants serving the business class cabin were quite attentive and friendly which was appreciated.
I used the lavatory once during the flight, and it was pretty clean. I liked that it had automatic sinks.
Wi-Fi
The Wi-Fi was decent and allowed me to surf the web and send emails. I bought the “Surf Option” for 12 EUR for the entire flight. There was also a “Stream Option” which was 22 EUR for the flight. Also, they have a free messaging package available. The service cut out about 30 min before landing.
Landing
It was a very interesting landing, as it was looking as if we were going to land about a half hour early. We already started our descent into CDG, then very abruptly we accelerated and gained a lot of altitude very quickly. We then had to redo the landing. I’m not 100% sure what the captain said over the PA system, but I believe he said that we got too close to some sort of presidential aircraft, and had to abort our landing.
Thankfully, we still landed 10 minutes before our scheduled arrival and got to the gate right on time.
The Verdict
Overall, I enjoyed the short flight from Stockholm to Paris on the Air France A220 Business Class product. The service was friendly, the meal service was decent, and having the row to myself since the “2” side of the aircraft has a blocked aisle seat is a nice touch.
Have you flown on the Air France A220 Business Class product? How was your experience? Comment below!
Cheers,
Ty
Have any questions? I’ve also started working with a travel agency, Fora Travel, and can assist in booking hotel stays or planning trips. Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!
