Best & Beyond - Air France reveals new economy and premium economy class upgrades

by Devesh Agarwal

Flag carrier Air France, revealed its new upgraded economy class and premium economy class service offering which includes new seats, new meal services, in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems, ice-cream and second hot meal service on longer flights. The carrier will equip 44 of its long-haul Boeing 777s starting from summer 2014 with the new product.

These upgrades are part of the new Best & Beyond initiative the airline is undertaking under the umbrella of its Transform 2015 strategic plan.

The airline will also upgrade its business class and La Première first class which will be unveiled in January and April 2014.

In economy class, there is a new fully-revised seat, with more legroom, a new seat cushion, more comfortable headrests and a wider tray table. The seat has been ergonomically-redesigned to guarantee optimum comfort. The seat also features new functionalities including an electric socket, headphones holder, etc.

CGI of the new economy class seat. Photo courtesy Air France.

Children have received a lot of attention from the carrier in their meal upgrade. The airline uses organic produce adapted to the tastes of infants and young children, new tableware and a selection of new games (plane-shaped cutlery, pilot’s badge, colourings) to make the flight fun for children.

Economy class children's meal featuring "plane" cutlery shaped for children and toys pouch. Photo © Devesh Agarwal.

Economy class meal featuring new lightweight plastic containers. Photo © Devesh Agarwal.

In premium economy, Air France retains its leadership with its exclusive shell seat, which will be made more comfortable with improved seat cushions and a multi-position footrest. The meal service too is upgraded along with amenities and has been implemented since September this year. Candies, and chocolates are also added. On flights longer than 8.5 hours a second hot meal will also be served.

Premium economy class meal with Champagne service, candies and chocolates in a conical tube. Photo © Devesh Agarwal.

CGI composite of the new service offerings in the premium economy cabin. Image courtesy Air France.

For an actual cabin photo of the current premium economy cabin, please read our trip report.

The IFE is being upgrades with wide touch screens loaded with High Definition images offering over 1,000 hours of music, movies, TV series and many other programmes on an AVOD (audio video on-demand) system.

CGI of the new touch screen HD AVOD IFE system.

At present Air France operates only Airbus A330s to India and has no plans, at present, to re-introduce any Boeing 777 service.

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Japan Airlines to serve Miyazaki beef on international First Class

Japan Airlines (JAL) will be introducing the award-winning Miyazaki beef in its in-flight meals for First Class on international routes from Tokyo (Narita) to Europe and North America between January 9 and March 31, 2013, to commemorate the launch of JAL Sky Suite 777 - the airline's latest cabin product on its 777-300ERs.

Produced in Miyazaki Prefecture situated in the southern islands of Kyushu, Japan, Miyazaki beef is rated over level A-4 by the Japan Meat Grading Association for its outstanding quality of meat. It won the top-most accolades in five of nine categories in a nationwide wagyu (Japanese beef) quality contest that is held every five years, for two consecutive contests (2007 and 2012), and is recognized as the most superior beef in Japan and a well-known prime label overseas.

For the period between January 9 and February 28, 2013, JAL will serve the high grade beef in First Class as a main western meal selection. Customers can enjoy the luxuriously juicy and tender Miyazaki beef fillet "alla Rossini", matched with fragrantly seared foie gras and apple - a menu specially crafted by Seiji Yamamoto, Michelin 3-star chef and owner of distinguished Japanese restaurant Ryugin.

There will be a change of menu from March 1, 2013 and the airline will continue to utilize Miyazaki beef in the new line-up until March 31, 2013.

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Video: Emirates aims to improve in-flight customer service using Windows 8 HP ElitePad 900 tablets

Dubai based Emirates airline, is deploying a line-of-business application for improving in-flight communication and customer relationship management. Called Knowledge-driven Inflight Service (KIS), the airline is equipping its in-flight Pursers with over 1,000 HP ElitePad 900 tablets running the KIS application on Windows 8.

As the video below shows, the KIS application will download passenger data at the start of each flight, which the Pursers, who are the cabin-crew lead on flights, will use, to brief the cabin crew and help them devise service delivery that best meets the personal preferences and needs of the passengers. The crew can also use KIS to easily conduct in-flight upgrades to business class or first class for Emirates Skywards members, as well as record critical customer feedback that is immediately routed to Emirates headquarters on landing.



Emirates is the first global customer of the HP ElitePad 900. The device, announced by HP in October and will be available to customers in January 2013, is built on a Windows 8 operating system with a touch-optimized user interface, with its unique Live Tiles information clustering.

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VIDEOS: How airlines select Wines, Cheeses and Teas for in-flight menus

British Airways has a series called Height Cuisine. In this post, view two videos showing how the airline selects wines, cheeses, and teas for service on-board their flights.

It is quite amazing to learn that seemingly un-connected thing like sound and pressure affect the taste in one's mouth.



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