When you are traveling as a pair in economy, you are often in luck. To begin with, many Airbus 330 configurations offer a 2-4-2 layout which is a boon. But even with other widebody planes such as the Boeing 777 and the Airbus 350, where the layout is 3-3-3 or the dreaded 3-4-3, there are a handful of two seats scattered throughout the plane.
More and more, these couple seats are being sold as a “duo seat,” which often comes with a cost attached unless you are a high-ranking medallion member with the airlines.
Scoring the best economy seat for couples on Air France’s Boeing 777-300ER
The seats that you will want to select when flying as a couple on an Air France Boeing 777-300ER are 28 A and 28 B or 28 K and 28 L. There are four Air France Boeing 777-300ER configurations, and these seats are for the configuration with La Premiere first class. If you are flying the economy-heavy Air France Boeing 777-300ER with just four rows of business class, you will want to take 10 A and 10 B or 10 K and 10 L. These duo seats have tons of leg room due to no row ahead of it and although they are marketed as not having a window, the window is just slightly behind the seat and it’s not terribly uncomfortable to peek out of it, especially if you recline. The two other configurations of the Air France Boeing 777-300ER don’t have duo seats bulkhead seats. When in doubt, check Air France’s extremely helpful seatmap and configuration page.
If you are a Skymiles medallion member, you will be able to select these seats for couples for free at any point after booking your ticket. While it is charged as a preferred seat if you are not a medallion member, for many travelers it might be worth it to shell out a couple of twenties each especially if it is a long ride, like the seven hours from Dubai to Paris. If the seats are not taken 24 hours before takeoff, when check-in opens, they should become available to anyone, regardless of status.
Flight Review of AF 659 from Dubai to Paris
We took an Uber to the Dubai Airport and were quickly through security. Because I’m a Delta Gold Skymiles Member, I have access to lounges before international flights, as well as the ability to bring in a guest with me. The Skyteam lounge in Dubai was quite nice with plenty of space and a good selection of food as well as an even better selection of drinks. While there is no champagne like in the Air France lounges at Charles de Gaulle, there were at least a half-dozen wine options including bubbles, though it was prosecco, not champagne.
There was a full self-serve bar as well, which was quite impressive for a lounge in a Middle Eastern airport. We had a couple of cappuccinos, played around for a few minutes in duty free and then went to board the Boeing 777-300ER which was set to take us to Paris.
Lunch on the plane was not very good and was in fact so unremarkable that I forgot to take a picture of it! As with all of Air France’s flights, the outstation catering doesn’t come close to living up what the airline provides from Charles de Gaulle, especially the bread!
I’ve taken a lot of flights on a lot of airlines and a lot of aircraft, but I have never seen such a cool screen controller as I had on this Air France Boeing 777. It was made out of metal, was nice and rounded and had a hefty feel in the hand almost like one of the early-generation Apple products which were made of aluminum. The track pad, controlled by your thumb makes it so that you don’t have to lean forward to tap the screen. The clarity and definition of the in-flight entertainment system was great. I played Monopoly and watched Oppenheimer for a decent chunk of the flight and was just a bit disappointed that the tail camera system wasn’t working so I was unable to watch takeoff and landing.
The strangest thing about the flight was the temperature. Even as someone who believes that air vents on planes should be required and frequently rails against how hot planes are, I was absolutely frigid for the entirety of the flight. I put on all the clothes I had with me and wrapped myself in two blankets and it still was not enough. What’s worse was that I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where the cold was coming from either. While we were indeed sitting near a window and wall, I kept feeling for some sort of draft but there was nothing. When I got up to go to the bathroom, the back of the plane was positively balmy. It was very odd that the weather was so varied between the different economy cabins.
Otherwise, it was a fairly uneventful flight. There were some great views out the window including some beautiful islands in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Bahrain which almost resembled a Maldivian isle. As we navigated up the Gulf toward Kuwait, there were some beautiful views of the desert of Iran as well.
Perhaps I am being overly cautious but it freaks me out a bit to fly over Iraq and Syria when I fly. There’s a reason that airlines no longer fly over Ukraine and especially with the newfound turbulence in the region, it would make sense to me that airlines to avoid these two hotspots. Does anyone else out there get a bit nervous until entering into Turkish airspace when flying around the Middle East?
The bottom line
When you couple this with the fact that there is plenty of legroom due to no seat in front of you, it makes for a very easy experience. On top of that, I was lucky enough to not have anyone sitting behind me so I was able to lean back comfortably.
The food was forgettable, but with a good (three-hour) movie and no one else in our row, this flight flew by in a jiffy. If you are flying as a couple on Air France long-haul, I would strongly suggest looking into these duo seats on the Air France Boeing 777-300ER.