L'AVION review : 6 October 2008 : by Allison Chatfield

Customer Rating : 2/5

L'Avion has the worst customer service I have encountered in the airline industry. They are also impossible to reach and do not return phone calls. They have cost me over $2,000 because I could not get in touch with them to change my plane ticket. I had to purchase a new ticket and now they won't even return a phone call. Horrible service.

L'AVION review : 1 October 2008 : by Paula Loguda

Customer Rating : 3/5

Just returned Orly-EWR. Lounge poorly maintained & limited offerings of prepackaged sweet/salty snacks. No real food. An insane amount of pre boarding security. Clean, attractive plane and professional FA. No pre departure drink offered. Completely different meal service from outbound. Still the plastic real plates but each course served separately. Pre dinner cocktail and after dinner coffee/digestif offered - far more gracious but not quite up to traditional Business class. Crew behind curtain but quiet. Seats do not recline enough for comfortable sleeping. They will have a contest for pax as traditional carriers convert to lie flat seats but good value for price point.

L'AVION review : 1 October 2008 : by Paula Loguda

Customer Rating : 3/5

The new lounge in Newark is attractive and pleasant. In addition to Laurent Perrier champagne, wines and liquors, tasty small sandwiches, sweets, cheese and fruit were offered. Boarding was orderly. L'Avion advertises gourmet cuisine on real plates. Unfortunately, neither applies. The tray is covered with paper on which a black plastic tray containing your entire meal is set. The cutlery & glasses are real but all plates are plastic. This reminded me of the economy class transatlantic trays of a decade ago - more premium coach than Business class. No pre dinner cocktail offered and no coffee/tea /digestif service! FA remained behind curtain but were quiet. Handheld AVOD can require rebooting.

L'AVION review : 29 September 2008 : by Jacques Dorienles

Customer Rating : 3/5

L'Avion planes are well appointed , comfortable and clean . The service is pretty good , not great , certainly not to the standards of Air France , but enjoyable nonetheless. Food is a bit disappointing , not worthy of french cuisine

L'AVION review : 7 August 2008 : by G Parker

Customer Rating : 4/5

We booked a round trip on L'Avion in May 2008 and were very satisfied despite the fact that there was a problem with the return from Orly. First, the trip over from Newark: the lounge in Newark is adequate at best but once you board the experience is very positive; comfortable seats (even if they don't go all the way down), very good food, and a friendly and efficient flight crew (they also look good!). Our return from Orly was delayed and then cancelled due to a maintenance problem. However, the L'Avion ground staff (and there were plenty of them), came to the lounge where they effectively handled what seemed like all the varied requests of the passengers, including getting us on alternative flights. They took us to the airport hotel for lunch, got our luggage off the flight and, in our case, directed us to get a taxi and head over to CDG for an American flight back to the US. When we arrived at CDG, American had our reservations and we made the flight home (unfortunately the American flight went to JFK and we live in central NJ). Of course, our seats on the American flight were in coach but we were happy to get home that same day (night). If we had wanted to stay over at Orly, we could have returned the next day on L'Avion. After returning I reported the situation to L'Avion customer service and they sent us payment for the taxi to CDG and gave us a substantial refund for the fact that we had paid for a business class seat and had flown coach on American. I thought that was a fair settlement. I would fly L'Avion again without a doubt. I did not rate them "excellent" only because of the return flight problem and the fact that a larger airline probably would have been able to move another plane into service for the return.

L'Avion review by J de Vries

29 July 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Do not book a flight on L'Avion with OpenSkies. We recently booked 2 seats thru the L'Avion web site. We had a choice between flying with OpenSkies or with L'Avion. The price difference was $1000 for 2 tickets. I called L'Avion to ask if I would fly in business class on OpenSkies if I booked those flights. They said yes, you will fly business and that is why the OpenSkies tickets are more expensive. So I booked 2 tickets on OpenSkies and paid $5000. Today I found out that OpenSkies seats you in Premium Economy, not in business. The seats in Premium Economy would have only cost $3900 if I had booked those with OpenSkies directly. So do not book any flights with L'Avion - they are frauds and cannot be trusted as staff are lying to customers.

L'Avion review by J Bourg

3 June 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

ORY to EWR return. Outstanding value for money, with a nice trip that delivers everything you can expect from a business class. FA friendly, nice seat, not 100% flat but this explains partially the price difference with legacy business class. Nice lounge in ORY (if not too crowded) and efficient boarding and rest area in EWR (no need to come hours in advance, no queue for security and limited shopping opportunity around the gate). Food excellent from Paris, good from Newark. Trading-up definitely worth it for those travelling in coach in expensive fare classes, or for those who paid business class tickets themselves and are eager to save on travel expenses

L'Avion review by P McAuley

8 April 2008  Customer Trip Rating : n/a

I just returned from a business trip to Spain and used L'Avion for the transatlantic portion. Transferring from terminal A to B at EWR was easy, terminal B had very short security lines. The check-in process in EWR was fast as there was no line at all. They refer to their lounge as a "quiet area" near the gate and it was crowded and stark but it was nice to have a refreshment prior to boarding. Onboard the seats were comfortable and service very good. Connecting at ORY was simple, just take the train to the west terminal. The only drawback about L'Avion is having to fly out of EWR. There are frequent delays due to traffic or weather, the next time I'll allow more time for the connection.

L'Avion review by M Hecht

19 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

The inflight service is good, but booking and other services extremely poor. They obviously offset the cost of fewer passengers in the planes with zero spending on customer care. I was hospitalized in Paris on the day of my flight. It was impossible to reach the airline to let them know I wouldn't be flying that day (even numerous calls from the Manager of the hotel where I was staying went unanswered). Then they had the gall to charge me for a "no show" despite all my documentation proving that I was hospitalized. In fact, numerous requests to speak to a "customer care" representative to this day have gone unanswered and the booking agents in New York cannot even reach customer care by phone. This is a very bizarre way to run an airline. I think it's worth spending the extra dollars in case something happens.

L'Avion review by David Jones

27 December 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

After reading the comments in this forum, I decided to fly on L'Avion from EWR to ORY. I was impressed by the comfort of the seats. Despite only having 140 degree pitch, I found that the width of the seats and very substantial leg room made it possible for me to sleep on my side comfortably. I also used the sleep mask provided in the amenity kit, and that made a big difference. The food was excellent as was the wine selection. The flight attendants were courteous and professional. The headphones were lousy and the selection of movies was also poor. Nevertheless, for only 1300 dollars, I cannot justify ever flying Air France Business Class again - unless a client is picking up the tab. Even then, not having to hear all the miserable moaning at the baggage claim from economy passengers, not having a delayed flight because of connecting passengers, it makes a big difference.

L'Avion review by B Greenberg

21 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

The seats are reasonably comfortable, and food was OK, but L'Avion does not live up to its billing as a business class product. I have experinced better on other airlines. Flew last week, and plane was at least 90% each way - business must be good. The lounges at both EWR and ORY leave much to be desired - EWR lounge is just a partitioned off area of the concourse and ORY lounge is a cramped, shared facility. The biggest disappointment however, seems to be beyond L'Avions control, and that is the security and emigration control for departure at ORY. Firstly, there is a prescreen at the check in gate, perfectly acceptable. Then you are forced into a lengthy, crowded emigration queue, where at the end, at least in our case, we were not asked a single question by the security officer manning the station who merely stamped our passport. As an American, I noted process is skewed in favor of EU residents, who have faster emigration queues, so if you are EU resident, this is less of a factor. Then through the metal detectors, but then, at the gate itself, another set of detectors, with questions asked by the exact same agent who asked us almost the exact same questions on initial check-in. A comparison with Maxjet is appropriate, despite that they fly to different cities, but do have similar business models. Maxjet seats 160 degree incline, 60 inch pitch versus L'avion pitch of less than 4 feet - on Maxjet you can exit a window seat without overly disturbing aisle seat even if at full incline. Maxjet food is equal to Lavion, but Maxjet cabin service is superior with drink refills offered much more regularly. Maxjets lounges superior (at least at Stansted, the JFK lounge was changed this August so I have no experience with the new terminal 4 lounge). Stanstad departure far superior to what ORY offers; L'avion should observe how Stansted treats its business class travellers with dedicated fast track security. The only way in which Lavion was superior was the physical appearance of the interior of the plane, which was tastefully finished.

L'Avion review by David Guild

28 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Orly to Newark return and was impressed. It's true that there are some things missing, such as offer of champagne etc on boarding and amenity kit is pretty hopeless, but otherwise I found the level of service and comfort very good, given the price. Even basic, but important, things such as the crew switching off the overhead reading lights on the overnight trip back to ORY, thus enabling you to get some sleep, made a difference. Orly Sud is shabby, but an awful lot easier to pass through than CDG and there is all the difference in the world between Newark and JFK. I went through immigration in something like 10 minutes and was out of the airport 20 minutes after landing!

L'Avion review by N Webb

23 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

I think L'Avion would make a good choice IF you don't have to fly to Newark from another port in the US to board it. My husband and I were booked on separate dates to fly in 3.5 hours ahead of scheduled departure from Raleigh-Durham. As it turns out, we both found out the hard way that Newark has the worst on-time record for domestic flights. Both our flights were delayed due to conditions at Newark, we both on separate days had to end up cancelling the l'Avion legs of the flight and re-booking our trips to Europe at the last minute. It was a nightmare. We never got to fly l'Avion in the end, and to add insult to injury, it's 2.5 months later and the refunded portion of the cost has yet to show up, almost $2000. Bear in mind if you do want to connect: you have until 40 minutes before scheduled departure to cancel and hope to recoup any money. The agent confided to me when I cancelled that another passenger was trying to fly in from Phoenix and was sure to lose his whole trip - and be stranded in Newark to boot. He was saying this happens all the time to people coming in from other cities. Buyer beware!!

L'Avion review by Heeten Desai

7 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Paris to Newark. Access to Orly from central Paris using RER is no better or worse than CDG. Orly itself is a rather outdated, old airport but seems less chaotic than CDG. Checkin slow even though I arrived 2 hours prior to flight as there is no "special" line for business class checkin as all passengers are business class. Lounge OK (ICARE), shared by Air Maroc and other carriers, in terms of food and drink. Only complaint was that lounge was very small and not enough seating for the number of passengers. The secondary screening , again, prior to boarding was ridiculous and redundant but again not the airline's fault. Onboard aircraft was clean, nice seats, decor. Although the seats were not lie flat , they were certainly comfortable for a daytime flight. I was lucky enough to book an exit row so I got more space than a regular seat. It seemed a little difficult for passengers seated by the window to get out of their seats when the seats in front were fully reclined. The staff were excellent, attentive and friendly even if you don't speak French (I only mention this because some complaints I have read from English speaking passengers who felt that they received inferior service due to their not speaking French). I found this to be untrue. The food and wines were excellent with more than enough food - the service was a little lengthy as there were only 4 attendants with a full flight which translated into a crew to passenger ratio of approx 1:22 . On this same trip, I flew Air France, business class to Madagascar on an A340 with a full business class. Ratio was 1:15. It would have been nice to have 2 more attendents. Digi player was fine with a good selection of movies etc. I agree that the headphones were of poor quality. Baggage at Newark very quick and efficient. For the price, an excellent product which I would use again.

L'Avion review by G Iyer

2 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

We traveled Newark-Paris and back, recently. I also flew on Air France business class Paris-India and back as well, so have something to compare with. The Air France seats were much more expensive. L'Avion seats are comfortable, but not as comfortable as the Air France ones. The entertainment system is also better in Air France. But the food - I actually preferred L"Avion, it tasted better. A three-course leisurely dinner and lunch. Air France seemed rather stingy with wine, did not offer (but did provide if asked) a pre-dinner or post-dinner drink. The staff in L'Avion were more attentive. The lounges at Paris are OK for both. In Newark, L"Avion only has a screened off waiting area, serving snacks and beer/ soda. On the whole, L'Avion is very good value. I will use their service again.

L'Avion review by Bob Preston

29 July 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Paris Orly to Newark. Quick checkin, use of Icare Lounge in Orly Sud, newly refurbished. At Orly, there were 2 security screens and the second waiting room was cramped and without A/C. However, once onboard, the ambience was great. Tasteful grey/purple/beige decor, comfortable seats, smiling and helpful cabin crew. The food and wines/champagne were top quality. The flight was 80% full, but with only 90 seats and 2x2 seating, it felt spacious and uncramped. Only downside was video unit headsets - without noise cancelling so could barely hear entertainment even with the volume cranked up. Most people I saw either gave up or used their own ipod earphones. Baggage claim was amazingly fast compared to other airlines at Newark - fewer passengers! I'll use them again - good value for money.

L'Avion review by Thierry Baux

12 April 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Orly to Newark return. Nice points : 30 minutes to get to Orly from Paris downtown, seamless boarding process, professional and friendly crew. No flat bed but a 140° reclining sea. Good quality food in reasonable quantity. Details to improve : quality of PA announces, quality of headsets.

L'Avion review by Eduardo Lacson

4 April 2007

I took L Avion to Newwark last week and found it very pleasant. The seats are comfortable enough with plenty of leg room. The only downside was quality of the food - edible enough if you are hungry. The service was impeccable from check-in to landing, very attentive, friendly, and polite. I would take this airline again for the price and service!

L'Avion review by S Marteau

20 March 2007

I flew on L'AVION flight A01 last month. Nice experience. It's an old style business class seats with 140 degree recline with a 1.2 m pitch and correct legrest. This airline From Elysair group is the only Business low cost airline Paris to New York. 90 business class seats in a 757-200 winglets. Service on board and crew are very friendly with LANSON Champagne, good wines, smoked salmon, duck breast - a good experience.

L'Avion review by Serge Gainsbourg

9 March 2007

Recently flew on L'Avion from Newark to Orly. Branding is good. the purple color, separates the airline from the others. Staff are all very attractive and have a great attitude. Video units are handheld and a bit complicated. The biggest problem was the food - my dish was not good and lukewarm. The seat was large enough, with good leg room, but the controls were difficult and could not find a comfortable position. I'm not so sure I would call this "business class", its more like coach plus. Given the price paid, I would use them again.