Air France auctioning off seats on its first A380 flights

If you’re determined to be the first to fly on Air France’s cool new Airbus A380, the world’s biggest passenger plane, here’s your big chance: You can bid for a seat.

Starting today, the French airline began auctioning off seats on the jet’s two inaugural flights from Paris to New York on Nov. 20 and from New York to Paris on Nov. 21. The auction, on eBay, goes through Oct. 21. Air France said the opening bid “in most cases” will be $380 for Voyageur (economy) class and $1,380 in Affaires (business) class, but that it may change during the auction.  (The auction includes a return ticket on a regular Air France flight.)  Proceeds go to charities in France, India and South Africa.

Is this trip worth it? It’s up to you how much you want to pay, but I can say that riding this super-wide-bodied jet is an amazing experience. On a short demonstration flight out of LAX two years ago, I was impressed by how quiet it is, despite its size and power.

For full details and links to the auction, which will involve 380 seats on each flight, visit the airline’s A380 mini-site. How’s your French? If it’s pretty good, you can track the auction on Twitter, @AFEncheresA380.

Air France A380s will begin regular commercial operation on the Paris-New York route on Nov. 23. Routes to open later include Paris-Dubai and Paris-Tokyo. The airline has ordered 12 of the giant jets, each able to carry up to 538 passengers (449 economy, 80 business, 9 first class) over a maximum distance of 8,078 miles.

Other airlines that have purchased A380s include Singapore, Qantas and Emirates.

— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor

Photo: Airbus A380. Credit: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times

Photo gallery:
The Airbus A380 at LAX

Permalink | E-mail | Print | Add to My Trips

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 10:52 am by Jane Engle and is filed under Airline travel, Business Travel, East Coast, Europe, Fall, France, Frequent Flier, Global, Luxury Travel, New York, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.