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Flying Air France's Premium Voyageur Class

Launching the service with a tagline that it’s “more comfortable than Economy, more affordable than Business,” Air France began outfitting some of its Boeing 777-300’s with its new Premium Voyageur product back in 2009. On a recent trip to France, we weathered the long-haul 11-hour Air France direct flight from LAX to CDG in Premium Voyageur instead of regular economy, and here are les résultats.

· Les Spécifications
Depending on the aircraft, there are between 21-38 seats in this new class. We were on the 28-seat variety since it was a 777 (we think the 38 will be in the airline’s A380’s). It is configured in a 2-4-2 pattern, with the rows slightly staggered, so you’re not quite flush with the people across the aisle.

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We Just Got Off a Ryanair Flight, and This is What We Thought Of It

On Friday, we told you that you'd never believe what we did the day before, and to tell you the truth, we still can't believe it ourselves. Who flies from Brussels-Charleroi in Belgium up to Edinburgh, Scotland for less than 20 Euro for two people? It would be impossible if we weren't talking about notoriously low-cost European carrier Ryanair here.

They're the airline we love to hate, what with their hidden fees and an insane CEO, but although it seems like a mess to the outsider, all's quiet on the western front.

See what we mean, after the jump.

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You Won't Believe What We Did Yesterday

Boarding our plane at Brussels-Charleroi Airport

Tangoing with the enemy?! Yes, it's true—yesterday, after a few years away (since 2006!) from them in which time much has changed—we flew on Ryanair.

Our flight was only two hours long, but that's the mean flight time for this European low cost airline, which is so low cost that they're notorious for two things: selling flights for 1 Euro and brainstorming all sorts of hidden fees. Since we scored this one-way flight for two people for exactly 14 Euro total and then bragged all about it, we were fully expecting to get what we paid for—the worst flight of our life. Instead, we experienced one of the most eye-opening flights of our life, in both good and bad ways.

We're kind of still fully processing our thoughts on the flight, so be prepared for next week when we unleash fully on what went down and what makes us both fearful of and optimistic for the future of air travel. But we will leave you with this: we actually did the flight with no extra fees levied!

Related Stories:
· It Can Be Done! We Booked a Ryanair Flight for Under $25 [Jaunted]
· Ryanair news [Jaunted]

[Photo: Jaunted]

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How to Score an Upgrade on Air New Zealand: A Tale of Woe

The view from our bed. Score!

Isn’t traveling just great these days? All those wonderful rules to abide by, the generous baggage fees to pay—what’s not to love about flying? But in case you’re the fussy type and want to get upgraded, here’s how it worked for us on our London-LA journey from hell on Air New Zealand.

As we said before, the check-in procedure for our flight was a bugger’s muddle—staff were uninformed, unhelpful and made us swear never to fly ANZ again. Luckily we stood our ground even after losing the battle of the carry-on bag, and demanded to have words with the Operations Managerat the gate. Even luckier, she was very nice, heard us out and apologized for how we’d been treated. So we boarded slightly mollified.

After the jump, how we got into Business Class

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A Virgin Atlantic Virgin Flies From New York to London

It's low tourist season in London right now; the Harrod's after-Christmas sale is on, hotel prices are cheaper, the snow has melted and the sun's out. So we figured, why not hop across the pond for a week and why not finally lose our Virgin Atlantic virginity.

We left on Friday night, after a quick visit to the Clubhouse at JFK, and boarded Virgin's Flight 046 direct to London-Heathrow. We had no idea what we were in for, except for the fact that we had been upgraded to premium economy. But once we boarded the 747-400, the surprises began rolling in.

Mood lighting, an in-flight bar and a toupee, after the jump. Tips too!

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Flying London to LA, We Had Issues With Everything But In-Flight Security

Warning: your seat may be wet and check-in staff might ruin your day. Enjoy your flight!

Flying transatlantic any time soon? Here are a few simple tips to help you survive.

1: Bring as little luggage as possible in case they tell you at check-in that the rules have changed from when you spoke to them two days ago.
2: Get there very early, in case said check-in folk decide to aid your departure by wasting an hour arguing with you and making you repack your bags.
3: Make sure you leave room in said modest hand luggage for some prescription meds. You might find it hard to reach the gate without being in an Ambien haze.

Why the negativity? Because last Tuesday, we flew from London to Los Angeles with Air New Zealand. We booked it back in October, and were highly excited because of the good stuff we’d heard about the airline and its nekked flight attendants. We’d even splashed out on a Premium Economy ticket because it was not much more than economy on the dates we’d chosen, but gave us the same baggage allowance as business class. And we thought we were in for a smooth ride. Ha!

Our flight gets very bumpy, after the jump...

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