L’Avion, the French all-premium class airline that was bought by British Airways last year, is being merged into BA’s existing premium class sub-airline, OpenSkies. But while the L’Avion name is disappearing, there won’t be a single airline just yet.

Here’s part of the e-mail that went out last week:

In light of recent international developments, and following our acquisition by the prestigious British Airways, beginning April 4th, L’AVION will fully merge with and formally change its name to OpenSkies.

The premium service you received on board L’AVION is not only being preserved, but further enhanced, all while maintaining very attractive prices. OpenSkies will be a unique, all business class airline featuring 2 cabins of service. You will recognize the normal L’AVION Business Class, which will be called “Biz Seat”, as well as enjoy an entirely new product, “Biz Bed” featuring a 180° fully reclining flat bed available at prices that are still unbeatable! You can combine the rates for the two classes, too. This way, you could, for example, book an outgoing flight in “Biz Seat” and a return flight in “Biz Bed”.

You will also benefit from the “British Airways Executive Club” customer-loyalty frequent flyer program, allowing you to accumulate BA Miles that can be converted to complimentary flights or upgrades.

What’s odd here is the branding of the cabins. OpenSkies has already been operating a two-cabin aircraft (down from three cabins, when they ditched economy), which this will align. But OpenSkies labels their cradle seats “Prem+,” while the L’Avion planes will use the “biz” title, implying business class.

From various reports from the field, L’Avion’s product has been widely described as a better premium economy product. Which is fine. And which would align with OpenSkies’ terminology. So the fact that they’re becoming OpenSkies, while at the same time still calling themselves “biz,” is odd.

(There is no sign that OpenSkies is (yet) adopting the “biz” nomenclature, so somehow, the merged airline will still maintain two distinct cabin identities.)

This is what L’Avion’s seats – the “Biz Seats” – look like now:

In any case, for aficionados of the discounted premium class travel, it seems that BA is sticking with their OpenSkies sub-brand, and that L’Avion really is the sole survivor of the all-premium independent airlines (though admittedly it’s not independent anymore…).

Related:
- Booking flights on L’Avion just got less risky
- Inside L’Avion, part un: a good seat but a shortage of fluids and information
- Inside L’Avion, part deux: the airline that is betwixt and between

A couple weeks ago, Rick Seaney wrote about bargain rates for holiday travel to Europe in business class. Slower seasonal demand for business class seats, plus the financial crisis and recession, have left a number of seats open, especially between business centers in the US and Europe.

Many of those seats are still available. Economy class fares are creeping up for those folks who waited until the last minute to book their tickets, but business class (and premium economy) are still comparatively low.

If you’re doing a search for fares, run a separate search for business class fares. The economy search that is the default on most booking sites won’t necessarily capture business or first class fares, even if they’re lower than coach.

The best deal I’ve seen for last-minute 2008 holiday travel has to be on L’Avion, the all-business class carrier flying between Newark and Paris. $1479 plus taxes ($1,581.79 all-in) pays for the round-trip. The coach fare on Air France is $1623 for the same holiday dates. L’Avion isn’t the top-of-the-line business class seat — it’s a cradle, not a flat bed — but it’s $50 less than the cramped coach seat. No contest. (Plus, you can earn miles in British Airways’ Executive Club, as of December 2, 2008.)

Some of those flights may be operated by OpenSkies, the British Airways subsidiary that sells premium-economy (cradle) and business class (flat-bed) seats. A L’Avion seat in business is considered equivalent to an Open Skies Prem+. Check both sites, but I found the fares lower on the L’Avion side — even for the OpenSkies operated flights.

Related:
- Booking flights on L’Avion just got less risky
- Inside L’Avion, part un: a good seat but a shortage of fluids and information
- Inside L’Avion, part deux: the airline that is betwixt and between
- L’Avion (aff)

Downgraded: Air Marshals
In a series of sting operations, several air marshals who were supposed to be protecting passengers inflight were using their free pass in American airports to smuggle cocaine, drug money, and child pornography. Lovely. My favorite part of this story: One marshal called himself “the Man with the Golden Badge.” Racy! Paging Roger Moore to take this guy out! Heck, paging Hervé Villechaize!

Upgraded: L’Avion lounge
When Tyler Colman reviewed the all-business class airline L’Avion for us last year, he commented on their lack of a real lounge at Newark Liberty Airport. That deficiency has been addressed, with the opening of a real lounge in Terminal B, shared by L’Avion and Jet Airways of India.

Upgraded: Thanksgiving Status Quo
Downgraded: Math
Just like last year, 39% of Americans are expected to travel for Thanksgiving, according to a recent poll. But the conclusion that travel will “mirror” last year as a result of comparable traveler numbers? That smells of bad math. Airline capacity is down from a year ago, with fewer planes in the air. Yet the same number of travelers? Look out. As we get closer to Thanksgiving, consider revisiting these holiday travel tips and these five ways to get an edge on fellow travelers.

Downgraded: Toilet paper supplies on Qantas
Here’s a horror story: Trapped on a plane for 24 hours, passengers on board a Qantas flight (from Singapore, diverted to Canberra) had their toilet paper rationed. Four squares per person. Not a square to spare. It’s a tale of absurdity: People on the ground, but unable to deplane, at government orders. But couldn’t they restock the plane’s supplies while on the ground? Bonus points to The Age for their punny headline, “Loo paper rationed on bummer of a diversion.” (rimshot) (Thanks, Rob!)

Upgraded: Concierges on television
“A concierge is the Winnipeg equivalent of a geisha.” So says Michael Scott on last week’s episode of The Office, whose plot centered on business travel. See the full episode here, where it’s available for online viewing until January 15, 2009.

British Airways is buying the last surviving standalone all-business class airline to cross the Atlantic. L’Avion, which flies from Newark to Paris-Orly, is being bought by BA and incorporated into their OpenSkies subisidiary.

The move comes as a bit of a surprise to me, since L’Avion and OpenSkies just started codesharing a few weeks ago. I would have expected that relationship to progress for at least few quarters before moving to full-on merger. But here we are.

The deal comes with a £54M pricetag, but about half of that covers the cash L’Avion has on hand.

British Airways plans to merge L’Avion into its new OpenSkies subsidiary, but that can only be a good thing, if recent reviews hold up.

But most importantly, the fact that L’Avion now has a major backer (with a meaningful frequent flyer program connected to a major alliance, I might add), it takes an element of risk off the table for those afraid to take the plunge with a standalone carrier. Especially after the spectacular failures of Maxjet, Eos, and Silverjet, it’s good to know that L’Avion tickets are highly likely to be backed by alternative itineraries, should a flight be cancelled or a route eliminated.

And, as we’ve seen, L’Avion’s service is a decent product in its own right. Flights in business class for $1499? Book away.

Related:
- Survival strategies of the all-business class airlines
- Inside L’Avion, part un: a good seat but a shortage of fluids and information
- Inside L’Avion, part deux: the airline that is betwixt and between
- L’Avion customer service: Meet your pilot and purser!

Eos and Maxjet have kicked the proverbial bucket, but the all-business carrier concept isn’t quite dead yet. Silverjet found new life by getting a cash infusion, a promise of more cash, and possibly even a bidding war/buyout offer. Huzzah for them!

But the other remaining trans-Atlantic airline, L’Avion, has figured that it can survive by partnering with others. And it’s linking up with another new airline — the British Airlines subsidiary OpenSkies, which launches flights from Paris (Orly) to New York (JFK) on June 19.

L’Avion will codeshare the OpenSkies flight, but not the other way around, at least for now. L’Avion flies all-business class from Newark to Paris, while OpenSkies flies a plane with business, premium economy, and economy from JFK to Paris. L’Avion’s seats are all forward-facing cradle seats (not lie-flat) while OpenSkies has alternating front-and-rear facing 180-degree lie flat business seats.

For L’Avion’s survival, getting a codeshare with a British Airways subsidiary seems like a smart move. I’m still not sure how they can afford to sell tickets for under $1500 round trip in business class and survive long-term, but the new codeshare may have thrown them a lifeline for the short term.

Next thing to worry about in flight: Ozone
Like “sick building syndrome,” you can now start worrying about the plane’s air. But not because of the germs. It’s the ozone. Not holes in the ozone layer, either, but ozone levels in the cabin. Most interestingly, narrow-body flights are more prone than wide-body planes to higher ozone levels. Yet another reason to love the jumbos.

Korean Air shows off its Airbus A380 interiors
Singapore Airlines may be the first airline to fly the A380 mega-uber-hyper-super-jumbo-jet (and tickets are finally on sale for Sydney-Singapore flights, which start October 25, by the way), but you can get a photo tour of Korean Air’s A380. Lavender??! Who’s their interior designer? Yuck! (Thanks, Jeff!)

First class fare sale… if you’re traveling tomorrow
I know that airlines like to put out the e-fares and net-savers for weekend travel, but this offer from United struck me as odd. First class fares are on sale for travel on Saturday, September 15 only. Fly there in first, fly back in coach, savor the difference? Fares are less than regular paid first, but the bulk of fares are for really short flights where paying cash money for first class is bonkers.

Business class fare sales to Europe
All-business class L’Avion is flying Newark to Paris for $1398 roundtrip, pre-tax. Maxjet is doing London to New York or DC for $998, also roundtrip, also pre-tax. Both are through the end of 2007, but not every date may be available. (Thanks, Michelle!)

More dangerous shirts
I don’t know what to make of this. “Your liver is evil. It must be punished.” Har har har. But Continental Airlines wasn’t laughing when they kept Edna and Frank Taylor from getting onboard, because of that shirt. What’s with this “What Not to Wear” airline trend?

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There are two ways to make lines. The first, common at supermarkets, is the one lane per cashier model. The second, found at Whole Foods in Manhattan and Customs & Border Protection in the US, is to form a long, serpentine line feeding several cashiers/agents. In the first, your chances of getting stuck are high while in the second, if there’s a delay on one agent, the line keeps on moving to the other available agents.

You wouldn’t think that my posting about the new all-business class airline, L’Avion, would start with my thoughts on queues. But sadly they use the first one passenger/one agent model for check in and with two problematic passengers in front of me checking in at Orly, I had over thirty minutes to contemplate efficiency in queueing.
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I recently flew on the new all-business class airline, L’Avion, from New York to Paris. Or make that actually from Newark (EWR) to Paris Orly (ORY) since that is their route. The airline sells seats on a reconfigured Boeing 757-200 for often much less what business class seats sell for on the major airlines. And they are filling those seats since the company is ahead of its business plan and may add more flights. Thus Mark asked me to provide my first-hand perspective to you.

Since I had never been to Newark International Airport before (gasp!) I was particularly delighted to receive the email telling me where to check in. I proceeded to the appropriate terminal, door, and counter number only to be greeted with a queue for a LOT flight to Poland. Aha. I must admit to a slight panic when I had a flashback to trying to book my ticket on the phone and only getting voicemail! Was this airline for real, I wondered?

Indeed it is. A few queries later and I found the two check-in desks where I was thrilled to find absolutely nobody in line. Passport read, bag checked and I was on my way. Very easy check in. (Longish line at the TSA, however.)

If you are expecting a lounge, this is where the discount part kicks in. L’Avion has arranged for gate 51 to be partitioned off and serves as a waiting area for their Paris passengers. There you will find the finest bottled water, Budweiser, mixed nuts, and cheddar cubes that good money will buy at Food Emporium. I found it overly full and awkwardly silent so wandered back to the main gate area where boarding started on time and proceeded swiftly.

Once on board, I thought a charming member of their staff would greet me with a glass of Champagne. A wine writer can but dream. No drink offer ever came before take off. Interesting drinks are not expensive, L’Avion: provide them liberally.

We pushed back from the gate and sat on the tarmac without a word from the cockpit. And sat. Finally, the usual patter came on about backups, delays yadda yadda and now we’re ninth in line for take off. Information is free, L’Avion: provide it freely. In this day and age of nine-hour groundstops, inquiring minds of fliers want to know what’s going on.

The seat is good, I’m pleased to report, although it is a “cradle” not a flatbed in case that’s what you’re after. The bag of goodies offered, however, is the exact same bag of goodies I remember getting in coach, way back when coach had amenities. The same plastic eyeshade that sticks to your face. A hard-bristled toothbrush. And a pair of those sock things that go over your socks.

The media was the first to arrive. They distributed some little hand-held monitors that had the entertainment in them. In the spirit of adventure I took one even though my only goal was to sleep on the flight. There’s a basic array of movies and games on the system. Oddly, it plugs in to a power socket in your seat. So not only do you have this hand-held monitor (with a pull-out stand to rest on the tray table if it is not in use with, say, your dinner) but your hip is being gouged by the plug adapter.

I just wanted to eat and go to sleep. But, alas, after our delay of almost an hour on the ground, the food did not appear for another hour and with it more exciting beverages than the bottle of Crystal Geyser that greeted me on my seat. The food was solid. And the wine? I’ll save that–and my final conclusions–for the future posting on my return journey.

Tyler Colman, Ph.D. writes about wine in print and on DrVino.com

“Je m’appelle Michel.” L’Avion, the all-business class, all-Boeing 757 airline on the Paris (Orly) to Newark route, has a cute feature for passengers who give the airline their e-mail address. You get a reminder message featuring photos and customer-service pronouncements from the captain and purser.

It’s a nice, personal touch, even if the statements are on the cheesy side. The true value added of the mugshots? Not much, really, since the service provided will be the same whether you’ve seen their face before or not, but I imagine it’s funny, and oddly endearing, to walk down the jetway and actually recognize a staff member’s face.

Let’s just hope that passengers don’t start making their booking decisions on staff photos.

Upgrade: Travel Better reader Marie gave her L’Avion experience two thumbs up recently, which is certainly encouraging. For a full account of the L’Avion experience, stay tuned: Friend of the blog (or ami du blog?) Dr. Vino was our classe affaires guinea pig on the startup carrier last night, and we anxiously await his complete review/guest-post in a few weeks…

Reader Steven writes in:

I know that so called y-up fares can be a good way to sit in first class for cheap, but I can’t find them for flights to Europe or Asia. Can you help?

The reason you can’t find them, Steven, is because there are none by that name. International long-haul discount first (and business) class fares go by different names than their domestic equivalents.

Y-UP fares and their ilk are limited to North American flights, and generally refer to an upgrade from coach to first on two-class planes. See here for background on Y-UP fares, and see FareCompare’s Y-UP search tool to find these fares on routes you travel.

For Europe or Asia, you’re generally going to be looking for Z-fares. But there’s no handy-dandy search tool (yet) for Z-fares like there is for Y-UPs. (Neil and Rick, consider this a challenge!…)

Z-fares crop up from time to time, but aren’t available on every route. Traveling in summer or the December holiday season maximizes your chances of finding such a fare.

For international premium class travel, be sure to also consider the startup airlines like Maxjet, Silverjet, Eos Airlines, MiMa, and L’Avion. These offer all-business class flights to London, Milan, or Paris.

Related:
- First class for less than coach?
- More tips on finding discounted first class fares (Y-UP, Q-UP, etc.)
- Update/Correction re: discounted first class fares (Y-UP, Q-UP, etc.)
- Y-UP and Q-UP first class fares apparently not enough: Welcome M-UP and B-UP fares
- More trans-Atlantic flights, but lower prices?