French Bee A350 Premium Economic system (San Francisco to Tahiti)

November 16, 2022

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Wednesday newsletters at all times function a resort or flight overview.

In the present day: Evaluate of French Bee A350’s Premium Economic system Class (San Francisco to Tahiti)

Final September, I flew in Premium Economic system with French Bee from San Francisco to Tahiti. French Bee is a French low-cost, long-haul airline primarily based at Paris Orly Airport (though the service refers to itself as “smart-cost” as a substitute of “low-cost”). It operates flights between France and worldwide leisure locations (e.g. New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Tahiti, La Reunion, and the Dominican Republic). French bee is the primary airline on the planet to have a 100% Airbus A350 fleet. The A350 combines subsequent technology engines, superior aerodynamics, and light-weight supplies, which end in a 25% discount of gas consumption and working prices in comparison with competing aircrafts of the earlier technology, making low-cost long-haul flying viable. The A350 additionally reduces CO2 emissions by 30% making French Bee the airline that emits the least quantity of CO2 per seat and per mile on the planet.

French Bee presents two cabin courses of service onboard its A350 planes: Premium Economic system Class (referred to as “Premium Blue”) and Economic system Class (referred to as “Eco Blue”). There isn’t any Enterprise Class. As a low-cost airline, French Bee prices extra charges for providers and facilities supplied, corresponding to for seat choice, onboard catering, and airport providers like lounge entry and expedited safety queues. Premium Economic system Class tickets although embody a number of complimentary providers and facilities, corresponding to meals, juices, gentle drinks, alcoholic drinks, an amenity package and checked/maintain baggage (much like the Premium Economic system Class cabins of legacy carriers).

My total expertise with French Bee was nice and I used to be pleased with the onboard service. The seat wasn’t lie flat after all, however it was fairly comfy and I might advocate this product should you’re attempting to get to any of French Bee’s locations on the lowest fare attainable. One specific factor that stood out throughout my expertise with French Bee was the superb customer support. The day earlier than my flight, whereas attempting to check-in on-line, I seen that there was a mistake with my date of delivery on the ticket. I used to be making ready myself for a prolonged wait with the airline’s name middle (as is the case with most airways), however that turned out to not be the case: I used to be assisted inside minutes by way of the chat possibility on French Bee’s official web site by a really pleasant journey agent (and I even obtained a follow-up telephone name).

Have you ever ever flown with French Bee? If that’s the case, what was your expertise? Depart a remark.

French Bee options in my high 10 record of the finest low-cost, long-haul airways on the planet.

Journey: San Francisco (SFO) to Pepeete (PPT)
Airline: French Bee
Plane sort: Airbus A350-900
Plane registration quantity: F-HREV (inbuilt 2018)
On time departure: Sure (12 am)
On time arrival: Sure (5 am; + 1 day)
Miles: 4200
Flight time: 8 hours
Seat: 8G
Class: Premium Economic system (Premium Blue)

On this overview (extra data & images under my YouTube video):

About French Bee
Cabin format
Premium Economic system Class seat
Facilities
Meals
Leisure
Onboard web
My verdict (rating)

1. ABOUT FRENCH BEE

Listed here are some attention-grabbing & enjoyable information about French Bee:

Based in 2016, French Bee is a sister airline of Air Caraïbes. Each airways are owned by Groupe Dubreuil, a family-owned group with a variety of actions within the distribution and air transportation sectors.
French Bee was initially named French Blue. Nonetheless, In November 2017, whereas the airline as “French Blue” was making use of with the USA Division of Transportation for a overseas air service allow to start service to the nation, US-based JetBlue raised objections to a different airline serving the nation bearing the phrase “Blue” in its identify. In response, the airline was briefly renamed to easily “French”, earlier than the airline introduced on 30 January 2018 that it was rebranding as “French Bee”.
The corporate is a companion of the Airbus Fello’ Fly mission. This mission entails flying long-haul planes V-shaped very shut, like migratory birds. These formation flights make it attainable to reap the benefits of the wake phenomenon: the planes positioned on the rear, fairly shut , will reap the benefits of the groove created by the plane in entrance to propel themselves utilizing much less vitality. This flight apply may scale back total gas consumption by round 5-10% per journey.
French bee and its sister firm Air Caraïbes have been the primary airline firms worldwide to be Inexperienced Pilot® licensed. Inexperienced Pilot is a brand new label rewarding airline firms which have developed a stable program to scale back carbon emissions of their operations and have actively concerned all their workers of their inexperienced coverage.

2. CABIN LAYOUT

French Bee’s Airbus A350-900 options 411 seats:

376 Eco Blue (Economic system) seats organized in a 3-4-3 format. Some rows towards the rear of the plane configured in a 3-3-3 format.
35 Premium Blue (Premium Economic system) seats, unfold over 5 rows in a 2-3-2 format. Premium Blue is positioned in a personal cabin on the entrance of the plane

French Bee additionally operates the A350-1000 variant which includes a whole of 480 (!) seats: 40 Premium Blue seats in a 2-4-2 format and 440 Eco Blue seats in a 3-4-3 format. This makes it one of many highest density plane layouts on the planet. To be clear, this format isn’t disproportionately dense in comparison with French Bee’s A350-900 planes. The A350-1000 is only a bigger airplane, so it is sensible that there are extra seats. As compared, British Airways makes use of A350-1000s with a most seating capability of 331 passengers, whereas Cathay Pacific makes use of A350-100s with a most capability of 334 passengers.

For a seat map of French Bee’s A350-900 click on right here.

FRENCH BEE PREMIUM ECONOMY — FRENCH BEE A350 PREMIUM ECONOMY CLASS CABIN

3. PREMIUM ECONOMY CLASS SEAT

French Bee’s Premium Blue (Premium Economic system) seats supply 36 inches (91 cm) of pitch and measure 18 inches (46 cm) large. Every seat is provided with an adjustable leg, foot, and head relaxation in addition to an influence outlet. The recline on French Bee’s Premium Blue seats are comfy, however can encroach on the area of the passenger within the row behind.

For comparability; the Eco Blue (Economic system Class) seats supply 32 inches (81 cm) of pitch and measure 16 inches (41 cm) large, with two energy shops included with every set of three or 4 seats.

4. AMENITIES

French Bee’s Premium Economic system Class passengers obtain a fleece blanket and a fluffy pillow. A consolation package is supplied as nicely; it contains an eye fixed masks, socks, headphones, toothbrush and ear plugs.

5. MEALS

Meals are included when flying in Premium Blue. Throughout this flight from San Francisco to Tahiti, a supper and breakfast have been served (the menus have been displayed on the leisure display):

Supper was served on one tray shortly after takeoff. It comprised 4 plates: hummus with pita bread, candy & bitter hen with fried rice, camembert with strawbery, and chocolate cake.
A light-weight breakfast was served 90 minutes previous to arrival in Tahiti. It consisted of yoghurt and a few bread rolls.

Economic system Class passengers can purchase onboard meals objects & drinks. They will additionally reserve pre-paid chef-prepared meals (together with kosher, halal and vegan menus).

6. ENTERTAINMENT

Every Premium Economic system Class seat is provided with a 12- inch HD touchscreen. The inflight program contains 20 motion pictures, TV reveals, video video games, and music. The leisure’s spotlight is the airplane’s tail digicam, which permits for excellent views of the A350’s fuselage, particularly throughout takeoff and touchdown. One other enjoyable function is With Sudoku in solo or multi-player modes, which permits passengers to strike up in-flight friendships.