Looking for a happy medium between coach’s sardine-can accommodations and first class’s hefty price on lengthy flights? Premium economy cabins, featuring cushier seats and more space to stretch your legs (and wallet), are emerging as a less extravagant, more comfortable option on a number of airlines (including jetBlue, Virgin Atlantic, and British Airways, to name a few). Still, said seats on many overseas flights can run upwards of five times the cost of a coach ticket, and transatlantic jaunts in particular see higher fares versus the standard economy class than do their Pacific counterparts. Read the rest of this post »

Nearly three months have passed since the ill-fated Air France flight AF447 crashed into the Atlantic, killing all 228 people on board, and now one flight attendant’s family is taking legal action. The family of Air France crew member Clara Amado has hired an attorney, with hopes of finding answers to their lingering questions. “We want to know the exact causes of the accident and we want people to assume their responsibilities,” said Jean-Claude Guidicelli, the lawyer representing Amado’s father and brother. Read the rest of this post »

The French must think Americans are really overweight. So much so that Air France is introducing a “very wide-bodied” Airbus A380 to its transatlantic fleet, with routes on the jumbo jet set to operate between Paris (CDG) and New York (JFK) as of November 2009. As the first European airline to incorporate the massive A380s into its fleet, Air France is planning to auction off seats on the inaugural November 20th (Paris to New York) and November 21st (New York to Paris) flights, with proceeds set to fund three humanitarian projects supported by the Air France Foundation for children in need.

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For those of you who begrudgingly missed out on a hop across the pond in ’08, chin up – the new year is looking refreshingly encouraging for travelers in search of an Old World fix. A perfect mix of stabilized jet fuel prices and a European economy hungry for tourism dollars has cropped up a tempting batch of airfare sales, with rates now starting from as little as $110 each way. What’s more, the dollar will actually get you somewhere once you touch down, as it’s finally back up to respectable levels against the euro and pound.
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