Air France A220 Business Class: Europe’s Best, By Process Of Elimination

Hello from Vienna, as I’m on the return(ish) portion of my quick trip to Versailles. After flying Air France’s Boeing 777-300ER La Premiere first class and spending a couple of nights in the area, I flew Air France’s Airbus A220-300 business class, on the 90-minute flight from Paris (CDG) to Vienna (VIE).

Admittedly intra-Europe business class is rarely much to get excited about, since it just consists of economy seats with blocked adjacent seats and improved food, drinks, and service. That being said, I think Air France’s A220 business class is as good as it gets, among the major European network carriers.

That’s more by process of elimination than anything about the product being remarkably out of the ordinary. I give Air France credit for getting just about everything right, and being a bit better than the competition, as usual.

Let me of course acknowledge that I’m excluding Turkish Airlines (which has a “proper” business class, but it’s not a European carrier, in the traditional sense) and Aeroflot (because that’s not useful to 99.99% of us nowadays… well, maybe that’ll change soon).

In this post I want to share some initial impressions about the flight, and then soon I’ll have a full trip report.

Air France’s A220 business class nails the basics

The Airbus A220 is one of my favorite planes, and I’d argue it’s the most comfortable aircraft for intra-Europe flights.

The A220 is in a 2-3 configuration, with seats that are marginally wider than on other narrow body seats. In economy this is awesome, since only 20% of seats are middles (compared to 33% on most other jets).

In business class, you can score a pair of seats on the left side (with one of the two seats blocked), while if you’re traveling with someone, you can get the trio of seats on the right side (with the middle seat blocked). That gives you the best of both worlds.

Air France’s A220s have some handy low tech features, like personal entertainment device holders, plus cupholders, in addition to the tray table.

But what I really appreciate is that Air France has 60W power outlets on its A220s, with both USB-A and USB-C plugs. It’s amazing how rare that otherwise is on short haul aircraft within Europe.

On top of that, there’s high speed Wi-Fi. Free messaging is available, or passes can be purchased for surfing or streaming (pricing is steep!). However, the airline will soon be installing Starlink, which will be free.

Above I said how Air France business class on the A220 is probably Europe’s best, by process of elimination. That comes down to the fact that there’s not another major European carrier that flies the A220, and has Wi-Fi, plus power outlets at every seat throughout that fleet. Like, I enjoy flying SWISS’ A220s, but they’re just now getting Wi-Fi, and don’t have power outlets.

Air France has tasty food and friendly service

I enjoy Air France’s regional soft product just as much as I enjoy the carrier’s hard product (well, relative to the competition, that is).

On this mid-afternoon flight, a tasty snack was served. This was comprised of a lentil, fig, chestnut, and kumquat salad, with butternut squash and orange cream. That was accompanied by Cantal PDO cheese, Fourme de Montbrison PDO cheese, and a Paris-Brest.

Admittedly this comes down to personal preference, but I’m delighted when airlines serve vegetarian snacks, that a vast majority of people can consume. I’m so used to being served a plate of mystery meat on a certain airLHine within Europe (or something with herring or elderflower), with no alternative. So this is a nice change of pace. Air France’s drinks are quite good as well, with champagne and other solid wine on offer.

The flight attendant working business class was lovely as well — she was professional, friendly, and constantly checked on passengers. What more could one ask for, especially with the view of the beautiful A220 wing? The plane just has such undeniable BJE (Big Jet Energy). Totally random, but does anyone know why the PAs on the A220 sound like they’re basically in your head? It’s different than on any other aircraft.

Bottom line

Air France’s A220 business class is as pleasant as it gets in regional business class, with the major European network carriers. A 2-3 configuration is superior to a 3-3 configuration, and when you add in Wi-Fi and power ports, Air France beats most of the competition. I also enjoyed the snack onboard, and appreciated the friendly service.

What do you make of Air France’s A220 business class?