Hi there from Frankfurt, as I’m effectively underway on my newest overview journey. After an incredible flight in Air France’s Airbus A350 enterprise class, I related onto a brief 50-minute flight to Frankfurt, operated by an Air France HOP Embraer E190. For these of you not aware of HOP, that is Air France’s regional subsidiary, working a fleet of Embraer plane.
Whereas I’ll have a full journey report quickly, on this publish I needed to share my preliminary impressions. Often I don’t write these sorts of preview posts about brief haul flights, however this flight had each highs and lows.
Air France HOP’s disappointing “enterprise class” cabin
Enterprise class on intra-Europe flights is fairly underwhelming by world requirements, because it usually consists of financial system seats with a blocked adjoining seat, plus higher service. Nicely, whereas Air France blocks adjoining seats in enterprise class all through its mainline fleet, that’s not the case on HOP.
As a substitute, the enterprise class cabin consists of the primary a number of rows, however no seats are blocked. Sure, that’s proper, it means you’ll doubtlessly be sitting subsequent to somebody, as I used to be on this flight, as each seat on the plane was taken.
On the plus facet, the legroom within the first a number of rows is kind of good, so no less than that’s not too limiting. However nonetheless, not having any additional shoulder house is fairly disappointing.
How does this evaluate to the insurance policies of different European airways? Whereas all main European airways block adjoining seats on mainline plane, the insurance policies differ on regional plane. To take a look at the “massive three” airline teams:
- Lufthansa, SWISS, and Austrian, block adjoining seats in enterprise class on regional jets, so you’ve gotten a pair of seats to your self
- Air France and KLM don’t block adjoining seats in enterprise class on regional jets, so you could possibly have a seat mate
- British Airways doesn’t block adjoining seats in enterprise class on regional jets, so you could possibly have a seat mate; nonetheless, British Airways doesn’t fly these plane to its Heathrow hub
So whereas Air France isn’t alone in having this coverage, that is really the primary intra-Europe enterprise class flight I’ve had in years the place I used to be seated subsequent to somebody. I suppose that’s an space the place Lufthansa Group excels (hey, they’ve gotta be good at one thing!)
Whereas this coverage is disappointing and makes for a not-very-premium expertise, I suppose I can also’t blame Air France, as a result of the corporate appears to get away with it? Air France prices extra for enterprise class between Paris and Frankfurt than Lufthansa, all whereas not blocking seats.
On the plus facet, I had a surprisingly nice dialog with my seat mate in the course of the flight. I say “shockingly,” as a result of the dialog began with him asking me if I had cats whereas I used to be utilizing headphones.
Air France HOP’s scrumptious enterprise class catering
Whereas Air France HOP falls in need of Lufthansa Group in relation to private house, the catering is a totally totally different story. I often fly Lufthansa inside Europe, and the catering is… not nice. It’s virtually like Lufthansa tries too arduous to serve one thing that’s overly inventive however not really effectively executed. I actually don’t want my thriller meat with a facet of herring and elderflower, however thanks, Lufthansa.
Air France’s catering, then again, is legitimately wonderful. On this brief 50-minute afternoon flight, the snack consisted of smoked salmon with truffle conchigliette, served with cauliflower cream and truffonade. There was additionally a choice of cheese, plus a pear tartlet. This was one of the best meal I ever recall having on a brief haul flight inside Europe.
Backside line
I hadn’t flown Air France’s HOP subsidiary in over a decade, so I used to be glad to present it one other shot for the brief 50-minute flight from Paris to Frankfurt. Not surprisingly for a French airline, the meals was superb. Nevertheless, there are not any blocked seats in enterprise class on HOP, so there’s much less private house than on different plane. It’s attention-grabbing to see how the insurance policies of various airways range.
What’s your tackle Air France HOP’s enterprise class?
