Air France Updates Menus

Air France is bringing a breath of fresh air with new dishes on its a la carte menus, available as an alternative to the menu of the day (free of charge) offered in Premium Economy and Economy cabins on most long-haul flights departing Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly.
Since 1 April, customers have been able to enjoy brand new ‘Ocean’, ‘Tradition’, ‘Bio’ (organic) and ‘Une Sélection LENÔTRE’ menus.
With the ‘Tradition’ and ‘Une Sélection LENÔTRE’ menus, specially created for Air France by the renowned Maison Lenôtre, customers can enjoy a genuine French fine-dining experience.
 Among the new dishes proposed, the Tradition menu features a foie gras terrine, gingerbread, dried fig chutney and baby spinach, followed by veal with blanquette cream sauce, glazed pearl onions with thyme, mushrooms and Basmati rice, and the Une Sélection LENÔTRE menu features marinated sautéed shrimp, pan-seared scallops with Dugléré orange sauce, vegetable risotto, carrots, sugar snap peas, celeriac, and a strawberry entremets.
 The Ocean and Bio menus offer delicate flavours and fresh produce with salmon dumplings, blini and cabbage with horseradish, baby spinach, Alaskan hake fish with lemon and butter, mashed potatoes with tomato and ratatouille or sautéed shrimp, sautéed radishes and mango with olive oil, Julienned carrots and zucchini with honey and soy sauce.
 The Air France a la carte menus, available at a price varying between €12 and €28, can be ordered online on the airfrance.com website at the time of booking, or in the View/Modify my bookings section, and at Air France call centres and ticket offices up to 24 hours before departure. On departure from the French Overseas Departments; Fort-de-France, Pointe-à-Pitre, Cayenne and Réunion, three menus are available; Italia, Ocean and Tradition, which will be renewed for winter 2013.

Lufthansa Plans Premium Economy

 Lufthansa is expanding its product portfolio and will equip the entire Lufthansa long-haul fleet with a Premium Economy. The supervisory board has approved the investment capital for the introductory project to achieve this.
 At the beginning of next year, a project group will be formed to manage the introduction and define the precise features of the product, as well as a detailed timetable. Premium Economy will be installed on the entire intercontinental fleet.
This substantially upgraded Economy product will fill the gap between the superior Business Class segment, which features a seat that can be converted into a fully-flat bed on one side, and the classic Economy Class on the other. This will appeal to both leisure travellers seeking additional comfort and business travellers.

New Offering from Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific Airways has taken delivery of a new Boeing 777-300ER – the airline’s 25^th. It’s the first aircraft to feature its Premium Economy Class product and new long-haul Economy Class seats.

The new Premium Economy experience features a quieter, more spacious cabin than the traditional Economy Class, with between 26 and 34 seats per aircraft. 

The seat pitch is 38 inches – six inches more than Economy Class – and the seat itself is wider and has a bigger recline. It has a large meal table, cocktail table, footrest, a 10.6-inch personal TV, an in-seat power outlet, a multi-port connector for personal devices and extra personal stowage space. 

Passengers will also benefit from priority check-in at dedicated counters and priority boarding before Economy Class passengers, and an increase in baggage allowance from 20kg to 25kg, or two pieces of baggage from 23kg to 25kg each. The new long-haul Economy Class seat features a cradle mechanism to enhance the level of comfort in the recline position, the latest in high-resolution touch-screen personal TVs, a USB outlet and an iPod/iPhone outlet that allows passengers to connect their own mobile devices to view content through the personal TV.