Air France Boeing 787 Premium Economy Class Review [CDG to ZNZ]

Airline: Air France (AF)
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Flight Number: AF857
Route: Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (ZNZ)
Date: October 2, 2024
Duration: 8 hours and 33 minutes
Cabin and Layout: 2-3-2
Seat: 11A
Cost: $1,329 (London Heathrow (LHR) to Zanzibar (ZNZ) via Paris (CDG), and Dar Es Salaam (DAR) to London Heathrow via Amsterdam (AMS))

Like many of my adventures, I wound up heading to Tanzania because I found a good deal when playing around with Google Flights.

I knew I wanted to be somewhere warm and far away for my birthday in October, so in May, I started the search. It wasn’t long before I stumbled across a return fare from London (LHR) to Dar Es Salaam (DAR), the capital city of Tanzania, with a mixture of partner airlines: Air France and KLM.

After an equipment and schedule change worked in my favor, my routing changed so that I could disembark in Zanzibar (ZNZ) rather than continue the 20 minutes or so onward to Dar.

Since pledging allegiance to SkyTeam through a status match when I was a British Airways Executive Club Gold member, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the Air France-KLM alliance with my Flying Blue Platinum status. I was happy to try them again, this time in Premium class (Air France’s rebranded premium economy class).

Booking Air France-KLM Premium Economy Flights

Booking a cash ticket like this is a great example of when it’s sometimes better value to pay in cash and earn loyalty points than redeem miles for an award.

This round-trip fare of $1,329 earned me 50 XP points — the status-earning metric of Air France’s loyalty program Flying Blue. This is 16% of the 300 XP points I’d need to requalify for Platinum status. That, plus the 16,000 Flying Blue miles I’d earn on top, made this a lot more appealing than spending my miles and earning no XP points.

I used the U.K. version of The Platinum Card^® from American Express to make the booking. The U.S. version of the card earns 5x Membership Rewards points for flights booked directly with airlines or with AmexTravel.com (up to $500,000, then 1x).

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The Platinum Card^® from American Express

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The Amex Platinum reigns supreme for luxury travel, offering the best airport lounge access plus generous statement credits, and complimentary elite status.

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The Platinum Card^® from American Express

The Amex Platinum reigns supreme for luxury travel, offering the best airport lounge access plus generous statement credits, and complimentary elite status.

Welcome Offer

Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards^® Points after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases on the Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

80,000 points

UP's Offer Valuation*:

Up to $1,760

Annual Fee

$695

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Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.

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Why We Like This Card

When it comes to cards that offer top-notch benefits, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better card out there than The Platinum Card^® from American Express.

Make no mistake — the Amex Platinum card is a premium card with a premium price tag. With amazing benefits like best-in-class airport lounge access, hotel elite status, and tremendous value in annual statement credits, it can easily prove to be one of the most lucrative cards in your wallet year after year.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• The best airport lounge access out of any card (by far) — enjoy access to over 1,400 worldwide lounges, including the luxurious Amex Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass lounges (enrollment required), Plaza Premium Lounges, and many more!
• 5x points per dollar spent on flights purchased directly with the airline or with AmexTravel.com (up to $500,000 per year)
• 5x points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels booked with AmexTravel.com

Cons

• $695 annual fee (rates and fees)
• Airline credit does not cover airfare (only incidentals like checked bags)

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Card Highlights

• Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards^® Points after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
• Earn 5X Membership Rewards^® Points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year and earn 5X Membership Rewards^® Points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel.
• $200 Hotel Credit: Get up to $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts^® or The Hotel Collection bookings through American Express Travel using your Platinum Card^®. The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay.
• $240 Digital Entertainment Credit: Get up to $20 back in statement credits each month on eligible purchases made with your Platinum Card^® on one or more of the following: Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, and The Wall Street Journal. Enrollment required.
• With American Express Global Lounge Collection^® you can enjoy access to over 1,400 airport lounges globally, including The Centurion^® Lounge, Unlimited Delta Sky Club^® Access when flying an eligible Delta flight, Escape Lounges, Lufthansa Lounges when flying Lufthansa Group, Plaza Premium, Priority Pass™ Select Lounges, & Additional Global Lounge Collection Partner Lounges subject to visit limitations. Lounges may have their own rules, like additional access rules and guest fees, and for Priority Pass Select, you need to enroll and there are unlimited airport lounge visits for Card Members. With Delta Sky Club Access, Card Members will receive 10 Visits to the Delta Sky Club to be used from February 1 until January 31 of the next calendar year and can unlock Unlimited Delta Sky Club Access by spending $75,000 in eligible purchases on their Card in a calendar year. To find a lounge, visit the membership section in the American Express^® App or visit http://www.americanexpress.com/findalounge#/loungefinder.
• $155 Walmart+ Credit: Save on eligible delivery fees, shipping, and more with a Walmart+ membership. Use your Platinum Card^® to pay for a monthly Walmart+ membership and get up to $12.95 plus applicable taxes back on one membership (excluding Plus Ups) each month.
• $200 Airline Fee Credit: Select one qualifying airline and then receive up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year when incidental fees are charged by the airline to your Platinum Card^®.
• $200 Uber Cash: Platinum Card^® Members can ride or dine in style with $15 in Uber Cash each month, plus a bonus $20 in December after adding their Card to their Uber account. Use your Uber Cash on rides and orders in the U.S. when you select an Amex Card for your transaction.
• $199 CLEAR^® Plus Credit: CLEAR^® Plus helps to get you to your gate faster at 50+ airports nationwide and get up to $199 back per calendar year on your Membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you use your Card. CLEARLanes are available at 100+ airports, stadiums, and entertainment venues.
• Receive either a $120 statement credit every 4 years for a Global Entry application fee or a statement credit up to $85 every 4.5 years for a TSA PreCheck^® (through a TSA official enrollment provider) application fee, when charged to your Platinum Card^®. Card Members approved for Global Entry will also receive access to TSA PreCheck at no additional cost.
• Shop Saks with Platinum: Get up to $100 in statement credits annually for purchases in Saks Fifth Avenue stores or at saks.com on your Platinum Card^®. That's up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually. Enrollment required.
• Unlock access to exclusive reservations and special dining experiences with Global Dining Access by Resy when you add your Platinum Card^® to your Resy profile.
• $695 annual fee.
• Apply with confidence. Know if you're approved for a Card with no impact to your credit score. If you're approved and you choose to accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
• Terms Apply.

Financial Snapshot

• APR: See Pay Over Time APR
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Rewards Center

American Express Membership Rewards

If you did want to use points rather than cash to book a flight with Air France or KLM, their joint loyalty program, Flying Blue, is a transfer partner of many of our favorite points-earning credit cards. Points from Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Wells Fargo Rewards transfer to Flying Blue at a rate of 1:1. Marriott Bonvoy points transfer at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points transferred.

Hot Tip:

Flying Blue has opened up its status match program to U.S. citizens. Match your airline status now and reap the rewards of the Flying Blue program on your next hop across the pond.

Air France Airbus A220 Economy Class From London (LHR) to Paris (CDG)

As my journey started in London, here’s a brief look at what it’s like to fly Air France on a short-haul hop, as you might well have a connection yourself.

Boarding at London Heathrow’s Terminal 4 started on time with those requiring extra time, followed by zones 1 and 2.

My Flying Blue Platinum status affords me zone 1 boarding at all times, so I was one of the first on board the Airbus A220, which I’d probably say is my favorite short-haul jet.

What makes the A220 special is its 3-2 layout, which I’m a huge fan of.

Despite holding a Premium ticket to Zanzibar, the first part of my journey was in economy. Again, because of my status, I was able to select a window seat in the first row behind business class for free.

Featuring both USB-A and USB-C ports, a drink holder, and dedicated space to watch a phone or small tablet, Air France’s A220 seatbacks are probably the best you’ll find on European short-haul jets.

My 3 a.m. alarm suddenly didn’t seem so bad with this view I woke up to after briefly nodding off.

Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG)

Owing to often short connection times and a confusing layout with long walking distances, Paris Charles de Gaulle is notorious for rubbing transferring passengers the wrong way. However, this was the third or fourth time that I connected through CDG with a rather short transfer time and I haven’t missed a flight yet.

What does get me a little flustered is the layout of the terminals and gates which consists of a seemingly illogical sequence of numbers and letters. For example, I arrived at Terminal 2E at the K gates. Surely it could be more simple?

That said, the terminal was well-signposted, which helped a lot.

I still managed to take a wrong turn somewhere, but it didn’t take long to get back on track toward the K gates, where I’d just landed, but also where I’d just come from ….

Thanks to flying Premium, I was able to use the SkyPriority lane. On this occasion, the line seemed just as long and moved around the same speed as the regular line.

Boarding

There was no time to hit up a lounge, so I headed straight to the gate, where boarding was minutes away from starting.

In fact, zones 1 and 2 had already started boarding.

As is often the case at Charles de Gaulle, we were held for several minutes in the jet bridge while the crew finished their cabin preparations.

On Board Air France’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

All passengers boarded through the frontmost door, so we all got teased by what could have been as we walked through business class.

No matter: The version of Air France’s business class on the Dreamliner isn’t its best.

Hot Tip:

If you want to sit up front, consider our guides to flying Air France in La Première first class or business class with points and miles.

Further in the rear of the plane, the 225-seater economy cabin looked surprisingly spacious.

Premium Cabin

I was traveling in the cozy Premium cabin, which had just 21 seats in 3 rows in a 2-3-2 configuration.

My favorite thing about this cabin was that the seats were in hard shells. This meant that when the person in front reclined, they didn’t encroach into your space.

For the most legroom, sit in the bulkhead row, 10.

Premium Seat

Though the bulkhead’s extra legroom was tempting, I didn’t like that the IFE and tray table of these seats were either in the armrest or underneath the seat.

For that reason, I picked 11K, a window seat in the middle row.

Even though there were no individual air vents, it didn’t feel hot and stuffy waiting to take off.

I was very happy with the space between me and the seat in front.

With the seat reclined into its shell and the leg support raised, the comfort level was significantly more than in economy.

There was also a footrest underneath the seat in front.

While this initially seemed like a nice-to-have, it got in the way a little when the leg support was raised, knocking on my shins.

And if you had any belongings in the small storage pouch, you could forget having space for your legs. I had to turn on my side to fit in, and I’m not tall!

While we’re on negatives, the crumbs left by the previous passengers hadn’t been cleaned out of the water bottle storage area.

The headrest moved easily up and down, and the sturdy adjustable wings provided great head and neck support.

It was so adjustable that it popped off in my hand. It was a little fiddly to reattach.

An adjustable reading light was at head height just above where the headphones were stored.

The bifold tray table folded down with ease.

When fully extended, it was very sizable for a premium economy tray table. I didn’t test it, but both my laptop and meal tray could have probably fit at the same time.

I shared a small armrest table for drinks with my seatmate, who slept the entire flight without moving so much as a muscle.

My seat had 2 windows that could be controlled individually. As is standard with Dreamliners, the windows darkened instead of using regular window shades.

Cabin crew also had the power to set all the windows to dark mode. Thankfully, I was able to override this and brighten my window.

Dreamliners don’t feature in my top 5 aircraft, but this view of its Rolls Royce engine with the signature Air France hippocampus was pretty awesome.

Lavatories

There were no dedicated lavatories for Premium passengers. Instead, a set of 4 lavs between the 2 economy cabins was shared between both economy and Premium passengers.

At first glance, I thought it looked dirty, but on closer inspection, I decided the discoloration was due to stains and wear and tear.

Inflight Entertainment

The 12-inch screen was of high quality and responded very well to the touch.

I always find Air France’s IFE to be well-stocked, and this occasion was no different. Filtering the movies by language, I found a ton of English-language content.

The moving map was a little pixelated and wasn’t really all that interactive. Still, I enjoyed watching us zigzag our way from Paris down the east coast of Africa.

The remote to control the IFE, turn on the reading light, and call a flight attendant was rather awkwardly placed at almost foot level between the 2 seats.

Not pictured is the international power outlet lower still underneath the remote.

Amenities

Pillow and Blanket

I found the pillow to be nice and plump and made of decent-quality material.

Although thin, the blanket, which was waiting at my seat along with the pillow on boarding, felt soft to the touch.

Amenity Kit

The crew handed me a small, navy blue amenity kit after take-off. The double Air France logo was a chic design feature.

The pouch contained basic essentials that you might actually make use of. Well, apart from the socks. The useful items included an eye mask, earplugs, a small, wooden toothbrush, and toothpaste.

Headphones

Proper over-the-ear headphones aren’t always on offer in premium economy, so I was pleased to see these noise-canceling headphones.

The noise-canceling element of these headphones wasn’t the most effective I’d experienced, but the sound quality was decent — until they broke.

A similar thing happened to another passenger before takeoff, so I guess this might be a common issue with these headphones. It was fiddly to fix, but I did manage to put the ear cover back on.

Wi-Fi

Despite showing as active, the Wi-Fi connection was pretty bad — even over mainland Europe, where it is normally at its most reliable.

I was able to send a receive WhatsApp messages for most of the flight, even when the main connection on my laptop cut out.

Once we were over Africa, surfing the internet became impossible altogether. Another passenger mentioned this to a flight attendant, who said he should be able to claim his money back. At $18 for a full flight pass (not including streaming), I should have done this.

If only the teenager (who was left with a nanny in premium while his parents sat in business class) had the same internet issues scrolling TikTok with the sound at full volume for all of us to hear.

Food and Beverages

I’d read that Air France had started offering welcome drinks in Premium, including Champagne. Not on this flight.

However, around an hour after takeoff, I received this “refreshing wet towel.”

This was followed swiftly by a Champagne offering.

I guess the bottled water at my seat on boarding was the real welcome drink.

Next to arrive was my 1-tray meal, complete with plastic lids and tray film.

Air France’s Premium menu comes in the form of this cute slip of paper, with items listed on one side in French and English on the other.

In addition to the plated 3 courses, I was served ciabatta-style piece of bread (with cheese) and a snack of miniature feuilletés — great for a snack later in the flight.

The blue ribbon wrapping the cutlery and napkin was a lovely premium element and a classic Air France touch that did not go unnoticed by me.

The artichoke starter was completely tasteless aside from the hazelnuts on top. Luckily, this wasn’t a harbinger of how the rest of the meal would go.

I went for the chicken (shock) with prune sauce, peas, red onion compote, and asparagus tips. I could have eaten it at least twice, it was so good. Thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed by a main meal flying Air France.

Oh me, oh my. I just cannot pass up an Air France dessert. My initial disappointment that it wasn’t something chocolatey dissipated the second I bit into this Paris-Brest pastry. I’m usually not into cream, but this was something else.

And it wouldn’t be Air France without a cheese course.

After the meal trays were cleared, a member of the crew offered us tea or coffee. Even though I know espresso is only served in the business class cabin, I thought I’d try my luck and ask for one.

Guess what? My cheekiness paid off, and I was soon sipping on a sneaky espresso from business class.

Then around an hour before the prelanding snack was served, the crew handed me my first proper hot towel of the flight.

Remember what I said about never being disappointed by an Air France meal? That all changed when this prearrival snack — which was the same as the one served in economy — landed on my tray table.

Inside the box were a vegetable sandwich, a lemon-flavored madeleine-type cake, and a mango yogurt drink.

Suffice it to say, I was glad I’d kept myself filled up by attacking this snack bin in the galley throughout the flight.

I strongly advise keeping your fingers far away from these truffe fantaisie (fantasy truffles). They really are what fantasies are made of, and I dread to think how many I devoured on this flight.

Service

Usually, I like to take the opportunity to stretch my legs by popping to the galley and asking for a drink rather than using the call bell. However, as I didn’t want to disturb my seat neighbor, who slept the entire flight, I pressed the call bell to ask for a drink.

Two members of staff walked past without acknowledging me. I was surprised at this after seeing how responsive a flight attendant was when someone in the row in front called a few minutes earlier. I’ve always found Air France service to be excellent, too. It was only after about 15 minutes, when someone else pressing the call bell alerted an FA, that I was able to order a Coke Zero.

Aside from that small glitch, all other service aspects were impeccable.

I had a great chat in the galley with Nathalie. When she saw me after a break, she remembered she’d forgotten my espresso and was very apologetic.

A final note on service would be to say thank you for this cute bookmark. As the crew were preparing the cabin for arrival, Nathalie presented me with this cute little flight souvenir bookmark. For some_, it’s about the quality of Champagne and caviar. For me, it’s simple gestures like this that make an experience stand out from the rest.

Arrival at Zanzibar

We touched down in darkness a little later than planned because of our slightly tardy departure.

In my experience, the immigration procedure in unfamiliar territories can often feel unnecessarily overcomplicated and stressful. It’s not really relevant to this review for me to go into lots of detail, but the mixture of being charged for mandatory tourist insurance (brought in as of October 1, 2024) to land in Zanzibar, having to pay for a visa on arrival, fill out several forms, all accompanied by the staff’s unwillingness to accept card payments without a fight, meant my arrival in Tanzania was a prime example of the reasons for my antipathy.

The less-than-ideal arrival peaked when I got to the baggage claim and realized my luggage hadn’t made it. Air France eventually got my bag back to me a few days later, but they made me go to the airport to pick it up. That’s a story for another day, though.

Hot Tip:

American tourists to Tanzania must obtain a 1-year multiple-entry visa for $100 (even if they only plan on single entry). Applicants can apply and pay for an e-visa online or apply on arrival. 

Final Thoughts

Air France’s Premium class was a perfectly comfortable way to travel to Tanzania on a day flight. I’m not sure it would have been such a comfortable journey had it been a night flight, thanks to the unforgiving feet situation.

The main meal was excellent (aside from the artichoke), and the Air France crew was great overall.

In 2025, I’ll continue to fly Air France over competitors where it makes sense for my travel plans. The value for money for cash fares in premium cabins makes Air France an easy choice.

With the launch of the airline’s new La Première set for later in 2025, I have lofty goals to achieve.