Air France ups first class game with new La Première cabins

Air France inaugurated its new La Première cabin on board flight AF254 to Singapore and Jakarta, on departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle on 12 January. The airline said it intends to offer its best products and services to its customers in Southeast Asia. As from February 2015 and throughout the winter season, the new Air France cabins will be available on board all daily flights to Singapore and Jakarta. 

Source: Air France website.

Frédéric Gagey, Chairman and CEO of Air France said at the time: “With our new La Première suites, we intend to offer the best on the market and this is what we are highlighting today. By choosing to fly to Southeast Asia, we also intend to reaffirm just how important this part of the world is to us, especially to attract and retain our Premium customers."

La Première cabins offer total privacy, with thick curtains held back with leather tiebacks. Each cabin contains four suites, with ample storage areas and enough space to entertain a guest. A La Première passenger has a personal 24" HD touch screen, one of the largest ever seen on board, offering a totally new intuitive navigation experience inspired by the iPad and available in 12 languages. Close to 1,000 hours of programmes on demand will soon be available.

The La Première seat unfolds into a fully-flat bed over two metres long. The armrests are fully retractable. When the passenger is ready to go to sleep, the crew members install a mattress on the seat, add a pillow and a Sofitel MyBed duvet.

Guests have already been enjoying these new cabins on certain flights to Jakarta and Singapore since September 2014. In 2015, the new La Première suites will be available on flights to New York, Dubai, Libreville and Yaoundé. In addition to these “designer” suites, Air France customers can also enjoy the new Business cabin, and the new Premium Economy cabins, with 40% more space than Economy.

Air France unveiled the La Première suite in a capsule on the Singapore Flyer, Asia's largest ferris wheel. View the associated video here.

The new suites are gradually being installed on the Boeing 777-300s of the long-haul fleet. See how the suites are installed in a video here.

Air France offers free newspaper and magazine content for tablets

Air France has introduced the Air France Press app for tablets to allow Air France Flying Blue members to read digital media for free offline.

According to the airline, Flying Blue members can download the content at no charge and consult them before, during and after their flights. One or more newspapers and magazines from a selection of French and international media is available for download with a ticket for an Air France flight, beginning 24 hours before the flight and up to the departure time. 

The service is available through logging in to the app with a Flying Blue username or reservation number. Those without tickets for an Air France flight can still download the Air France Magazine and Air France Madame publications at no extra charge and at any time. 

The Air France Press app is available in French and English, and can be downloaded for the iPad here, for Windows 8 and Windows RT here, and for Android here.