Air France Business Class Review: Paris to Dubai

We flew Air France Business Class from Paris to Dubai using miles for our last family vacation before the pandemic. Our Air France Business Class Review covers all the details including the pre-flight lounge experience, menu, service, inflight entertainment, cabin and seat design. We had a positive experience flying Air France Business Class on the Boeing 777 from Charles de Gaulle to Dubai International.

Air France Business Class Review from IAD to CDG: WTA Score

**Our WTA score represents our own views based on our personal experience with the entity being reviewed.

How we booked our Air France Business Class tickets for $418 each

The Air France frequent flyer program, Flying Blue, is incredibly easy to accumulate miles. Flying Blue is a transfer partner of 5 major transferable currencies- American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, CapitalOne and Citi ThankYou points. So you can transfer points from any of those 5 programs and combine them in the Air France miles program for award flights. Be aware that point transfers from AMEX, Chase and Citi are almost instant, but Marriott Bonvoy rewards can take several days to transfer. Thankfully Air France will hold tickets for 3 days while points transfer.

Flying Blue does not have an award chart but instead has dynamic pricing. We found 4 Business Class tickets from Washington D.C. to Dubai for 85,000 Air France Flying Blue miles each plus $418.39 in taxes and fees. This flight was the second leg of the journey. Read our review of Air France IAD to CDG here.

This is not the cheapest we’ve seen but over the winter holidays it was a good deal. The Business Class tickets for our family of 4 would have set us back $19,400.08 one way but we paid $1,673.56 in taxes and fees and 340,000 Flying Blue miles, saving $17,726.52 in the process.

Air France Business Class Lounge at CDG

We had a 5 hour layover in Paris, which we spent at the Air France business class lounge. There are several business class lounges at CDG, and this one was not as luxurious as the newly renovated one. The food included bread, pastries, fruit, yogurt, soup, and a few hot dishes. There was a generous selection of wine, champagne, and liquor available for self-serve.

When we arrived to the lounge, it was so crowded that there was nowhere for our family of 4 to sit together. After walking around for awhile looking for a place to sit, we asked about some empty seats that were blocked off. A kind staff member removed the barrier and allowed us to sit there. The couches were comfortable but would have been better without the armrest in between the seats. We all wanted to sleep but that made it difficult. The kids were able to get some rest at least.

The highlight of the lounge was the complimentary mini Clarins facial. We signed up as soon as we arrived to guarantee a spot. It was a quick 20 minute facial but it was very relaxing. They provided a small sample of moisturizer based on your skin, which was really helpful since our skin was feeling dehydrated after the long flight.

Boarding our Air France flight

Boarding was delayed for our flight due to a problem with the airplane. We thought about going back to the lounge while we waited but it was far from our gate. Since they didn’t know how long it would be before we could board, we decided to just wait at the gate since we wanted to be among the first to board.

We asked for early boarding since we were traveling with young kids, but they said it was only for toddlers. Strangely the flight crew in Washington D.C. had sought us out for the early boarding line, but in Paris we were denied. So apparently this policy varies depending on the flight crew.

The boarding process, like in D.C., felt chaotic. The lines were very long and people were getting antsy not knowing how long we’d be waiting. However, once we got on the plane, we began to relax and the service was very good. We were offered welcome drinks of champagne, orange juice, or water and warm towels to clean our hands. We both opted for a glass of bubbly while the kids had juice.

Air France Business Class Cabin

The Air France Business Class cabin has 40 seats divided into 2 cabins- a small mini cabin at the front and a larger cabin at the rear. Our plane also had a small first class cabin, called La Premiere, which is ultra luxurious with only 4 seats.

The business class cabin has a 1-2-1 seat configuration with Zodiac Cirrus reverse herringbone seats for added privacy. We took the entire front row and put the kids in the window seats so we could sit together in the middle. They loved being able to look out the window since we had the window seats on the first leg of the journey.

Air France Business Class Seats

Air France B777 Business class seats were spacious and comfortable. Bertaut is very tall and broad and even he had plenty of space. When reclined to the lie-flat position, he didn’t even have to contort his body into an awkward position like on some business class seats. We all slept soundly in our beds and arrived to Dubai refreshed.

The seats have a footwell for kicking your feet up or for when you use the seat in the lie flat position. The IFE monitor extends out at the push of a button for a better viewing angle.

Each seat has a storage compartment with noise-cancelling headphones inside, a mirror on the inside of the door,  and space for small personal items. The control for the inflight entertainment is right next to the storage area. Each seat also has a USB and power station for charging devices, which is a necessity for us with all our cameras and phones.

Air France Business Class Amenities

Business class Air France amenities included noise-cancelling headphones, a pillow, and a blanket to use during the flight. The Air France noise-cancelling headphones didn’t compare to our Bose Headphones that we always bring, but they got the job done. We also received slippers, socks, and an amenity kit to keep.

The Air France amenity kit included Clarins hand and nail treatment cream, Clarins moisturizing gel, toothbrush, toothpaste, eye mask, pen, mints, eye glass cleaner cloth, and a shoe horn. Our kids received a tin with a small coloring book, colored pencils, and a stencil.

Air France Inflight Entertainment

Air France onboard entertainment included a nice selection of movies, TV shows, games, music, and a children’s section. Our kids loved the games and cartoons. The Air France movies included French films, Cannes Festival films, world movies, short films, new releases and older hits. We had no problem finding some movies to keep us entertained.

Air France Business Class Bathroom

The business class cabin has 2 bathrooms, which were typical airplane lavatories and nothing fancy. They did offer Clarins cleanser and refreshing water, which was probably not offered in the economy cabin. The bathrooms were kept clean.

Air France Business Class Menu- Lunch

The Air France business class menu from CDG to DBX featured the recipes of Andree Rosier. She’s a Michelin-starred chef and the first woman to be awarded Meilleur Ouvrier de France. The menu incorporated her Basque-country cuisine for lunch. In the galley there was a small assortment of snacks available to grab whenever you wanted, such as chocolates. The menu also included light snacks- chicken tortilla, a cookie and a pastry. There was an Express Lunch option, which was just the starter, cheese and dessert for those who wanted to eat quickly and relax. I wasn’t a fan of the salmon but enjoyed the rest of the starter course.

We ordered the full lunch menu since we wanted a hot dish for our meal. Bertaut ordered the paella and I decided on the pollock. We both enjoyed our main dishes and noted that the food was considerably better than on our previous Air France flight from DC to Paris.

Dessert was chocolate and caramel shortbread cookie, opera cake, and a coconut macaroon. It was all so delicious I would have asked for seconds if I wasn’t watching my waistline. The kids received ice cream for dessert.

The children received a different meal. They brought out the starter and dessert first which included mozzarella and tomatoes, bread, a pastry puff, juice, and a candy bar. Then for the main dish they received mashed potatoes, chicken breast, and gravy. I tasted it since they didn’t finish it. Although the presentation was not very appealing, it tasted really good. The chicken was moist and flavorful. Our kids are really picky eaters and they gave it a thumbs up.

Air France Business Class Drink Menu

The Air France Drink Menu included a signature cocktail, wine, champagne, digestives, non-alcoholic drinks, and hot beverages. Paolo Basso, who won best sommelier in the world in 2013, selected the wines. Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve also took part in choosing the drink selection.

The Air France Business Class champagne was Cuvée Royal Brut by Joseph Perrier. The drink menu included 2 white wines and 2 red wines, all of which were French. The drink menu included a selection of liquor and Heineken beer for aperitifs. There was also a selection of fine and aged liquor for digestifs.

I tried the signature cocktail for my aperitif, which was an exclusive creation for Air France by the bar at Hotel Lancaster Paris. It included dark rum, champagne, peach juice, and rosemary liquor. It was decent but not good enough to order a second. We switched to white wine for our meal to accompany our seafood, which complimented it well.

The non-alcoholic drink menu included bottled water, fruit juices, coke and Coke Zero, Fuze Tea, Finley tonic, and ginger ale. Hot drinks included coffee, cappuccino, Illy espresso and decaf espresso, herbal teas by Palais des Thes, and gourmet hot chocolate.

Air France Service

Service by the flight crew was very friendly, professional, and accommodating. Compared to our earlier flight from DC to Paris, service was much better. I remarked that my wine glass was refilled before it was even empty without me even asking for more. They were quick to anticipate our needs and get us what we needed before we had to ask, which really made us feel pampered.

Last thoughts on our Air France Business Class Review CDG to DBX

We were very pleased with our Air France business class flight from Paris to Dubai. Our seats were comfortable and spacious with plenty of privacy. The menu included meals and drinks we thoroughly enjoyed. Service was polished and personable, leaving us wanting for nothing. Except for them preparing our beds which they do on Singapore Airlines business class and Etihad Business Class. We would certainly fly Air France Business Class Paris to Dubai again if we found a good mile redemption.

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