Hello Flight-Report Community,
This is the report on the return flight of this short 2 flight series on the new(ish) All-Business class airline, La Compagnie. Click below for the report on the first segment, which includes some background on the reasons for choosing La Compagnie:
Newark Liberty EWR ✈ Paris Roissy CDG : La Compagnie, B757-200, Business Class [CLICK HERE]
The Airport Experience
La Compagnie operates from CDG's historic Terminal 1. It isn't the most modern terminal, but it can be more convenient as it is on a smaller scale than the gigantic Terminal 2. Dropping off the rental car was easy as the rental car drop-off is right in the Terminal garage.
Just like on the way over, the counters weren't yet open when we arrived. La Compagnie's counters only open 2.5 hours before departure, which I find too late.
I headed out to the curb while waiting for the counters to open.
Spotted a Germanwings A319 taxiing by.
Just like in Newark, there were quite a few passengers in the queue by the time the counters open.
It was the day after the Euro Cup quarter-finals France vs. Iceland match and there were quite a few flights to Reykjavik bringing Icelandic supporters home.
The Famous tubes of CDG T1
Immigration was a bit crowded and took about 15 minutes to get through.
The lounge was just on the other side of the immigration checkpoint. Security checkpoints are located at the entrance to the satellites so this lounge is technically outside security.
La Compagnie uses the Icare lounge located up a set of elevators.
The Icare lounge is very small but light filled with big windows to the outside.
The food offering is very basic for a European lounge. Croissants, chocolate croissants, cookies, some pastries and breads were about all there was.
There are large windows to a small garden outside, but no tarmac views.
About 15 minutes before boarding time, we left the lounge. It was getting really crowded by that point.
There are two smoking lounges on the lame level as the lounges.
We headed through the retro tunnels out to the satellite.
Headed to gate 45
Security was quick and we were airside at gate 45 right before boarding was scheduled to begin.
Our aircraft is registered F-HTAG, which sounds like "hashtag" in French if the H is pronounced before "tag"
F-HTAG is a 16 year old former Iberia and Icelandair jet.
Boarding
Boarding began about 15 minutes late as a delayed United flight had just arrived and passengers were deplaning through the same corridor that we needed to use for boarding. This is not a good system as one airline's delay can delay others.
Once boarding began we were among the first onboard.
This cabin looks quite different from the cabin on the F-HCIE that we had flown from EWR to CDG.
Aesthetically, I prefer the look of this cabin. The light blue design with the soft blue moodlighting is soothing.
My seat, right in front of the exit row.
There is a bit more space in the exit row
Legroom is very good in standard rows as well, with a seat pitch of 72"
Amenity kits and La Compagnie branded headsets were placed on the central armrest
A universal power port and USB port are located on the inside of the armrest.
Seat controls
View from my seat
Some planespotting out the window
Air France A330-200
Turkish A330-300
Air Transat A330-300
Pre-departure drinks. As on the last flight, there is a choice of water or this champagne cocktail consisting of Piper Heidsieck Brut, cranberry juice, and a Haribo fraise tagada candy.
Despite the late start to boarding, we pushed back about on time. The security video what played on the overhead screens.
Parts of CDG look like an Air Transat hub in the summer
Taxi was short; we just had to wait for a few aircraft to take off ahead of us.
Air France 777-300ER
Hop E190
Air France A321
The Flight
Soon enough we were in the air.
The In-Flight Entertainment consists of Samsung Galaxy tablets.
These tablets have the particularity, much to an AvGeek's delight, of having an airshow feature.
Drink and food menus can also be found on the tablets. On the EWR-CDG flight, the dinner menu was wrong–let's see if it will be correct on this flight.
One of the good things about tablets over traditional seat-back IFE is that it is portable allowing for easy reading of newspaper and magazine articles.
On the day after France's Euro Cup quarter finals win, it is obviously big news.
There wasn't a huge amount films, only about 20 or so.
The aperitif service began about half an hour after takeoff.
Piper Heidsieck champagne
Unsurprisingly, the menu on the tablet was once again incorrect so the flight attendants described the meal orally.
Appetizer course: Crab and Duck confit sliders
An original mix of American and French cuisine
The main was a delicious lamb stew. It was perfectly seasoned and very tender.
There were only two choices of mains, though that's better than the overnight flight from Newark where there was no choice at all. Aside from the lamb, there was also a fish dish.
After the cheese and dessert, a Poire Williams digestif.
View of the cabin after the meal service.
After the meal I put on a movie and slept most of the way across the Atlantic.
I woke up shortly before the pre-arrival snack.
The portions were small but everything was tasty.
By the end of the meal, we were over Bernie Sanders Land.
The cabin gets ready for arrival
Flying over the Hudson valley
Manhattan in the distance
The other side of the plane got some good close-up views of Manhattan–guess I picked the wrong side of the aircraft on this one.
But I got a great view of beautiful downtown Newark :-P
Arrival
Wamos Air (formerly Pullmantur Air) B747-400 on landing
Nice lineup of international tails
United B757-200
SAS A330
Austrian B767-300
We pulled in to the same exact gate as my arrival into EWR last year with OpenSkies
Great views of our plane on deplaning.
Immigration was surprisingly quick. Less than 20 minutes and we were through.
Some good views as well from the baggage claim area downstairs.
After that quick and easy arrival we were on our way with our bags to the AirTran and on to the Newark Amtrak station to catch a train back to D.C.
Thank you for reading and feel free to leave a comment or question.
Another great report on La Compagnie! It looks like you had a nice flight back to Newark. It's interesting that for two flights, their menu was incorrect ... Seems a bit bizarre? The food looks good, but I'd agree with your comment in the last report, that having a choice is nice.
Thank you for sharing!
HI there, thanks for your comments! The day flight was better than the overnight flight, as is often the case on TATL service. Yes, it is bizarre that the menus were wrong for both flights--from what I hear it's pretty common with La Compagnie. They definitely still have some work to do to have a consistent passenger experience. There was actually a choice of two mains on this flight. I totally forgot to include that in the report, so thanks for pointing that out. I've updated the report. Thanks!
Thanks again Kevin for this nice FR on the well observed La Compagnie.
Your conclusion is fair, this is clearly not the best Business Class product (outdated seat, poor pax/FA ratio, limited catering) but in regards to the price paid, it's very competitive and the loads on your flights seems pretty good as well.
Bye
Thank you for your comments! There are definitely a lot of negatives about the product--overall, it's not even average. But the positives outweigh the negatives IMO, especially for the price. So yes, I agree that it is very competitive. Loads were close to 100% on both of my flights. Of course, that is no indication of yield, and I can't imagine they've got high margins, but I hear they are profitable at least of the EWR-CDG route.
Thanks for this report. It seems a good company for someone who wish a do themselves the pleasure to travel in J, but can't usually afford it.
Thank you for your feedback. Yes, I fully agree, La Compagnie gives many people access to a Business class product for a Premium Economy price. I normally pay anywhere from $1800-2500 for Transatlantic Business class--all sale fares, of course. For this trip, everything was over $3500, which is not reasonable to pay as a leisure traveller, so La Compagnie is a good option.
Thanks for this FR gurrl.
Great that you got to fly on the other 757 with the better known interior.
These seats look indeed better than the ex-LH ones.
The experience seems above the eastbound one, with the choice of main course.
Even if it's an average business class by today's standard, it is indeed great value for money.
Yes, I was glad I got to fly the #Hashtag :-)
Now I can say I've flown the entire La Compagnie fleet, haha. The seat was definitely more comfortable than the ex-LH seats on F-HCIE. It had better padding and was wider, but the seat controls were a bit finicky and would sometimes get stuck. The pax experience is better on the dayflight, for sure. I would even say that it is a below average Business class for the market, but it is great value for the money because it is still a Business class, but at Premium Economy prices.
Thank you for sharing this FR with us :).
CDG's T1 has a very interestic design, both inside and from the outside.
Great shots of your bird! The 757 looks stunning in that livery.
For around the same price as of a Y+ flight, it's years ahead of any Y+ product out there.
Nice with two options for the main this time but they should definitely update that menu on the tablet haha.
Always pleasing to have a great crew.
Have a good one, see you!
Thanks for the comments! It is a beautiful livery. It looks especially great when it's sunny like it was. And 757s are just beautiful aircraft to begin with--too bad there are less and less 757s around. Yeah, I don't know what's up with the menus on the tablets. It seems that they didn't make an effort on either flight to stick to the menu. They may as well just not have the menu on the tablets at all if it's going to me consistently incorrect. Thanks for the feedback!