New French Airline Gets OK for Newark Flights

And they are offering a $999 RT fare special until March 31! Looks like flights operate in either direction on Sun, Mon, Wed, Thu and Fri. EWR to Orly leaves at 1930, arrives 0850; Orly to EWR leaves at 1400 and arrives at 1645.
Full fares are refundable, discounted fares carry a 100 euro change and 300 euro cancellation penalty, both become worthless if change/cancellation not made before departure. www.lavion.com/us/index.php

I tried booking us in March, and after I got past the fact that it won't accept your flight dates in the specified M/d/yyyy order (d/m/y is accepted), I got Erreur de page and not much guidance on what I may have input incorrectly.

ttt----Anyone had any success with L'Avion?

TTT
Any feedback yet on L'Avion? They still have $999 RT Business class - Newark - Paris...

Did you try booking? I still get Erreur de page.

Since the website says "Bookings by phone is possible via 1 - 866 - NYC - ORLY" why not call them???

Hi Robespierre - It appears that you have to make up a login and password before you can do much of anything. After I did that (and switched to English at the bottom) I had no trouble selecting a flight etc to the point of accepting and entering my credit card. I was able to choose a March 14 - 28 RT flight for $999 incl all taxes etc.

Anyone heard anything about L'Avion?

It sounds great, but I'd love some more information- like what happens in the event of a weather or any other kind of delay.

Weadles - having never traveled with a one-plane-charter company I don't know. That is a good question.
Robespierre (and others) - the trick to getting flights seems to be choosing "Special offers" from the top menu.
Then "Book a Flight" option appears or a box "Benefit from our launch..." Remember to choose the departure city.
This seems to let you get the $999 RT incl.
The last day seems to be Mar 30 for the return, choosing Mar 14 and Mar 28 works.

Thanks, all. But when I saw the EWR-CGN for $278 r/t during the same period, I decided to pass on the Avion deal. The $721 for a wider seat didn't seem like such a good deal. If it were $200 more, maybe.

bad expereince with this airlines. First the web site doesnt work for booking tickets. Then when you call they tell you its $50 more per ticket becasue you called. On the web site they advertise $1600+ flight to Paris. But then when you call this price is not available, even for a departure date two months out
and the price now is about about $600 higher. Anyone else have this epxereince.

What do you mean by the website doesn't work? It shows me the calendar around the day I specify, so I can see which date has the lowest fare.

And it priced out the total.

I didn't go forward to register, but I wondered how far did you get before "it didn't work" for you.

I booked l'Avion on their website, and it worked just fine.

You might try using a different browser (Firefox instead of Explorer, or whatever) when you have those kinds of problems.

yes it was the browser, and the agent. The web site does not support Safari. Now all worked out well and we are flying on LAvion.

My Safari 3.0.3 seems to work okay too. At least I also got as far as the page when they gave you the final price and ask you to login or register.

Has anyone flown L'Avion lately? How was the experience?

ttt

Hi all,

How "lately" is lately? I flew it from Newark to Paris in August and was really underwhelmed.

There is nowhere to wait if you get to Newark early, before the desk opens. Then, once it does open and you are processed, the "lounge" area is only a set apart area of typically uncomfortable airport seats. The refreshement is crackers & square cheese.

The seats onboard are ok. The entertainment is ok. The food was ok.

I've been flying Delta's Business Elite for a few years, and that experience is far superior to L'Avion. I think I would check out another carrier (maybe Silverjet) or just pay more for Delta.

s

Thanks for the first-hand report. The big attraction with L'Avion was a promotion that made business-class affordable for leisure travel. Sounds like it might not be worth the additional $$.
J

My trip report is a little old, but Mr frogoutofwater, our cat and I flew l'Avion in late July. The flight was fine - very comfortable, with good service (although not as over the top as business class). The main concern I had was with check-in at Orly. The process was painstakingly slow (this has probably improved as the airline employees have acquired more experience). Security clearance was even worse, although I think we were travelling at a busy time of year. The l'avion flight used the same security clearance area as a number of very large planes going to North Africa, the Middle East (and possibly one or two for Asia). We were travelling at the moment (a Friday afternoon in late July) when a lot of French residents must have been leaving for summer holidays, and I think those French residents with family ties elsewhere were heading away (e.g. to North Africa and the Middle East) for a long vacation. The queues (for non-EU residents like us) were huge and unruly. We barely caught our flight (and we had arrived at the airport more than 2 hours early). If we had made it through security, there would have been a lounge to use, though.

Frogoutofwater, what comprises French Business Class service for a cat? : - )