I flew across Europe in business class with Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic. These were the 6 biggest surprises.
Of the airlines we flew business class with, Air France and Virgin Atlantic had the best service.
Overall, we were impressed by the airport lounges and airplane food throughout our trips.
As my wife's 52nd birthday approached, I knew I wanted to do something special to celebrate her.
My plan was to book a two-week trip for me, my wife, our daughter, and our niece that would take us from Florida to Dublin, Amsterdam, Valencia, Paris, and London.
I wanted to book only first and business-class flights, as my wife loves to travel in style. In the end, I used 1 million credit-card points and spent $12,000 to make it happen.
We had a great time, and our trip's several business-class flights with Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic came with a few surprises.
Each airline impressed us with its lounges.
When my wife and I started traveling, we signed up for travel rewards cards, such as the American Express Platinum and Venture X by Capital One. Our goal was to accumulate reward points and give us lounge access as we traveled.
During this trip, we were able to access lounges from Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic, and they all exceeded our expectations.
In each, we were able to enjoy hot meals and spread out on comfy seats. Some lounges even had showers, which were a nice amenity after a long flight.
The complimentary WiFi in each lounge also allowed me to easily stay connected to family and my team at work.
We were a little underwhelmed by the seats on our regional business-class flights in Europe.
Our flights within Europe were on KLM's Cityhopper airplanes.
Although we had lie-flat seats on our longer flights with Air France and Virgin Atlantic, the ones on these smaller regional KLM flights only reclined a little.
Although our seats had a few inches more legroom than typical economy, they weren't particularly spacious.
I'm a larger traveler, so these business-class offerings were not my favorite. Since the flights were shorter, there was no meal service or entertainment screens, either.
Overall, I don't feel upgrading to European business class on these short-haul flights was worth it. The perks didn't justify the extra costs, especially since we spent so little time on the plane.
It was surprisingly easy to rest on the lie-flat seats.
The European business-class seats on KLM's Cityhopper flights left much to be desired, but we had lie-flat, pod-style seats for our longer flights with Air France and Virgin Atlantic.
The seats reclined into beds so we could nap, and we slept easily on the long flights because of them. We arrived in Europe and back in the US feeling well-rested.
Long plane rides can be tiring, but these seats — combined with the in-flight service and food — were so good made us wish the flights were longer.
I'd say Air France and Virgin Atlantic provided the best service of all our flights.
We were especially impressed by the level of service we received throughout our flights with Air France and Virgin Atlantic.
The service on the Air France flight felt elevated— we were especially impressed by how attentive the flight attendants were. They ensured we had extra blankets, constantly brought water, and repeatedly returned during meal services to see if we needed anything else.
On the Virgin Atlantic flight, the crew also regularly checked that we were comfortable.
In Virgin Atlantic's business class, we even got to enjoy a lounge area in the middle of the plane that was filled with snacks like cookies and chips, plus juice, water, and soda.
Our meals on each flight were delicious — nothing we ate felt like "airplane food."
I'm surprised by how much thought every airline that served meals seemed to put into its business-class offerings.
On the Air France flight from Atlanta to Paris, I had the best duck salad I've ever had — it was moist and flavorful. The truffle butter-breaded chicken on the Virgin Atlantic flight from London to New York was so tasty that I asked for seconds.
During several flights, flight attendants also offered wine pairings with meals, and their suggestions seemed on point.
I'm still surprised by how easy it was to stay entertained throughout the flights.
I've been on thousands of flights, so I know they can get pretty boring. Fortunately, most of these flights' entertainment options left me impressed.
In particular, our Air France and Virgin Atlantic flights had a great selection of classic and new movies, music, TV shows, and games.
All told, we spent about 28 hours on the flights, and the airlines' entertainment options were so good that I didn't read any books I brought for the trip.
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