A Quick flyover of La Compagnie, a Business-only airline.
Business Class Seat on A321 (only on the New York/Newark - Paris route).If you've been around FCF long, you know that we only focus on top-tier airlines.
That said, we do get asked about second-tier carriers on occasion, and in particular, French-based La Compagnie, because it boats fares like $999 round-trip.
The airline is Business Class-only and flies from Newark/New York to Paris and Nice.
I’ve flown them–but only on the old Boeing B757-200 aircraft, which currently services Newark to Nice and half of the flights to Paris. It offers an angled recline of just 175 degrees; I have mixed feelings about the product. It was a day flight, Paris-New York, so it was okay because I’m not worried about sleeping on day flights. But, if you're picky, you won't like them on a night flight as its older seats and limited angle recline make naps or longer snoozes much less comfortable.
New Aircraft
The good news is they’ve just introduced the A321neo into their “fleet” which operates on its Newark-Paris route half of the time. Can you call it a fleet when there are only three planes (soon to be four)?
Business Class Seat on A321 (only on the New York/Newark - Paris route).
Here's a quick rundown on the risks and rewards of flying on La Compagnie.
Benefits of Flying La Compagnie
Price: Like we said, at times, La Compagnie is on sale for as low as $999 round-trip. The most recent deal was in June of this year. Normally the Paris fare is $1,300 and the Nice fare $1,400.
To put this in perspective, other non-stop airlines charge charge between $2,700 and $3,000 when booked in advance (and as much as $8,000+ on short notice) on the New York-Paris route.
Seats: Things are looking up with the new A321 on the Paris run. This plane offers a flat-bed seat as well as free wi-fi and a 15.6-inch seat-mounted screen display.
Seats: The old Boeing 757-200 aircraft, which currently services Nice and half of the time the Paris route offers an angle recline of just 175 degrees.
Business Class Seat on B757
Chopper: In recent news, La Compagnie has just announced direct helicopter service between Nice and Monaco, using a local helicopter carrier. Quite a nice way to get to the Grand Prix, although the ride takes just seven minutes.
Risks of Flying La Compagnie
Cancellations Can Be A Problem: Obviously, being a very small airline brings inherent potential problems: If a flight is cancelled for mechanical reasons, they can’t just drag another plane out or put you on a later flight. For the same reason, flight delays can be exponentially worse on a small airline (although the stats aren’t showing that yet), and rebooking flights due to cancellations may not be as easy as it is with a large carrier. These are risks you need to weigh against your own circumstances.
PERFORMANCE STATS
We know that so much of flying is getting where you want to go when you want to get there. So, we consulted Flight Stats, an organization that tracks real-time flight data and delays, to see how La Compagnie’s performed. Turns out, they do pretty well. They were on time 69% of the time over the two-month period we checked (May 15 to July 15, 2019), 18% higher than the average of all airlines in their database. Of the flights that were delayed, the delay time was on average 23 minutes, an 84% better performance than other airlines. Over that two month period, there were also no cancellations or diversions.
MILES & PARTNERSHIPS
La Compagnie doesn’t belong to an alliance, nor is a partner with any other major airline, but it does have its own loyalty program. You’re flying this airline for the price so if you’re not seeing the route you want at the $999 sale price, you might want to look for another deal.