I Flew Business Class Without Spending a Fortune

A Unique Business Class Experience on La Compagnie

NICE, France—I was browsing the in-flight movie lineup for my eight-and-a-half-hour flight to Newark when the safety video started playing on the large screen at my seat. “We’re about to show you the most relaxing safety briefing ever,” the narrator said in a soothing voice as yogis stretched themselves into pose after pose. “Get yourself comfy, breathe deeply and listen carefully to the information that follows.” It wasn’t a tall order. There’s little to stress about when you’re ensconced in a roomy business-class pod, Champagne with a capital C already in hand before takeoff.

Everyone on the packed La Compagnie flight was living the luxe lie-flat life. The tiny French airline has just one class: business. It outfits its Airbus A321neo with 76 pods. JetBlue Airways, in contrast, puts 160 seats on the same narrow-body plane, 16 of them in business, for its flights across the Atlantic.

The 11-year-old airline pitches itself as smart business class, offering round-trip tickets between Newark and three European cities for as low as $2,500. That’s a fraction of the cost on other airlines, though it has less-frequent flights should things go awry. I tried it out in late August, the second leg of a test of the suite life at 35,000 feet for this business-class newbie. (The first was my $4,800 ticket to fly American Airlines’ new Flagship Suite from Philadelphia to London.) The one-way flight from Nice to Newark, purchased a few weeks out, was $2,600. United wanted $4,600 one way for a nonstop flight in its Polaris business class and $1,600 in economy.

First Impressions

As with my American Airlines business-class check-in experience at Philadelphia International Airport, there wasn’t anything swank about the La Compagnie check-in at Nice Côte d’Azur. Nothing screamed, “Wow, you’re flying high today.” You do get two free checked bags, though. Tickets also come with a security fast pass, which was nice, and lounge access. Don’t expect an Emirates-caliber lounge: La Compagnie uses shared lounges. In Nice, it’s The Levity Lounge.

I’ll never turn down croissants, cheese or Champagne in France. And I enjoyed them all in the lounge ahead of my 1 p.m. flight. You have to request the Champagne; the only sparkling wine they put out on the self-service beverage cart is Martini & Rossi prosecco. The lounge was a nice preflight retreat save for an inconsolable toddler. The gate scene was chaotic and then we all had to board one of those dreaded buses to the plane. Or should I say bus singular.

We waited in the heat for everyone to squeeze on with carry-ons. There were at least a dozen young kids on my flight—recall there are only 76 seats—and they were getting cranky.

Stretching Out

La Compagnie’s seats are laid out in a 2 x 2 configuration with no privacy doors. That’s great if you’re traveling in pairs but I was flying solo. The stranger in the window seat next to me had one path to the restroom: through me. It didn’t turn out to be a problem because she took a sleep aid and zonked out for most of the daytime flight. (She was flying to Burning Man the next morning.)

My lie-flat seat, 12D, was well equipped: pillow and quilt, large video monitor with a remote control that even showed how many hours left in the flight, noise canceling headphones, a bottle of Evian, a bare-bones amenity kit, plenty of storage and charging ports and free Wi-Fi. (American Airlines charged me $25 in business class.)

The service started out spectacularly. During boarding, a flight attendant walked around with a tray of glasses of Piper-Heidsieck cuvée brut. The first couple of courses of a four-course lunch arrived within an hour of takeoff: fresh goat cheese with artichokes, more cheese, olives and bread. They even delivered the cheesecake dessert on the same tray. No argument here.

Where’d They Go?

There was no food or service again until just before landing unless you rang the call button. I was expecting more on a long daytime flight in business class. A lot of airlines have more frequent service and snacks aplenty in a pantry on international flights, even in economy occasionally. I saw more kids walking (and running) up and down the aisle on my flight than the flight attendants. Perhaps this is why some online reviews call La Compagnie “business class light” or the “premium economy of business class.”

Four hours into the flight, I went to the back galley in search of a snack. The first flight attendant I asked pointed to another flight attendant behind the curtain for help. That flight attendant simply pointed to a basket with two choices: dried apricots and a snack mix.

The lie-flat seat was dreamy for watching movies (loved “The Penguin Lessons”), reading and dozing on and off. But unlike my seatmate, I didn’t sleep much because it was daytime. So I can’t vouch for its comfort on an overnight flight to Europe. But I can say bargain-basement business class is a deal if you’re OK with slightly fewer frills.

Sadly, my return to the cheap(er) seats was swift. Four hours after my La Compagnie flight landed, I boarded a five-hour United flight to Phoenix—in economy. The airline gods must have known the lie-flat experiment spoiled me because the United flight was so empty I had a row to myself. I asked for a blanket, sprawled out across all three seats and slept most of the way. Call it the lumpy—and more affordable—lie-flat life.