A French airline that launched a few months ago, La Compagnie, is promising a new transatlantic flight experience that is so seductive, you’ll want to fly again. This business-class-only airline has a cabin with just 74 seats, each of which reclines 180 degrees and provides ample room for stretching your legs and getting some shuteye.
That is, unless you’d rather read or watch a movie, thanks to the free Wi-Fi and a Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro tablet available to every passenger. There’s also catering from Michelin-starred chef Christophe Langrée – and you can check in golf bags, surf boards and skis at no extra cost.
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This experience can be yours starting at about $1,500 for round trip fare between Paris and New York. That’s a savings of $3,000 for the same business class flight by Air France and not much more than a transatlantic flight in economy class in the height of summer or during major holidays.
A quick search for an economy seat on a non-stop flight from New York to Paris for the first week of October, for example, yielded a roundtrip ticket on American Airlines for $1,251. But that doesn’t include any extra fees or charges.
La Compagnie has offered four to five flights a week since the summer, but the number of flights will increase within the next few months.
Several airlines, including Silverjet and L’Avion, have previously tried all-business or all-first class offerings, but they failed.
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Now than flying has become so much more expensive, La Compagnie’s boutique offerings certainly sound appealing. Most airlines are charging separate fees to check in and to carry on luggage and to select preferred seats. The company is operating a fleet of redesigned Boeing 757-200 aircraft.
La Compagnie isn’t the only one chasing the lucrative market with a budget mindset. A British startup, Odyssey Airlines, will start flying from London to New York in 2016, also focusing on the business travel market, although it’s not clear yet how much it will charge for a ticket.
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