The La Compagnie Effect: Sub $2K Business Class Fares from New York to Paris

The transatlantic market is extremely competitive.

Legacy airlines like British Airways and Lufthansa have seen their market share of passengers erode over the last few years. This is a result of the aggressive expansion of long-haul low cost carriers like Norwegian and WOW air, who offer extremely cheap tickets across the pond.

These LHLCC’s (long haul low cost carriers) have been so successful in poaching passengers that legacy airlines have started to create their own offshoot low cost brands in an attempt to win over frugal travelers. Here are some of the low cost airlines and their parent companies:

• Eurowings (Lufthansa)
• LEVEL (International Airlines Group: British Airways and Iberia)
• Joon (Air France, operations begin October 2017)

In total, these airlines give passengers a less luxurious, albeit more cost effective way to cross the Atlantic. But what if a traveler wants to get to Europe in a bit more style, without shelling out business class prices?

Well, thats where French airline La Compagnie comes in.

La Compagnie is based out of Paris (CDG) with 2 total aircraft in its fleet, both of which are 757-200’s. With this small fleet, the airline serves a single destination, Newark (EWR) with 13x weekly flights.

The airline outfits its 757-200’s in an all business class layout consisting of 74 angle flat seats in a 2-2 configuration.

Passengers receive a tablet pre-loaded with films and TV shows, noise canceling headphones, and lounge access in both Newark and Paris. La Compagnie also offers premium meals, as one would expect in business class.

Whats great about the airline is that they regularly price their roundtrip business class tickets between EWR and CDG at roughly $2,000 USD or below. It seems like this is working too, as some Oneworld airlines have matched La Compagnie’s attractive business class prices from New York City to Paris. 

Here are some sample dates over the next couple of months:

October 2017:

January 2018:

April 2018:

As you can see, American Airlines and British Airways regularly match (or come close to matching) La Compagnie’s fares between New York and Paris. The prices hover above and below $2,000 depending on the month. Best I can tell, these are available until the end of the schedule, and therefore into the (always highly priced) summer months!

If you are a Oneworld flyer, or are just looking to get to Paris, this is a good deal. I am thinking about taking advantage of this soon, and maybe even booking an additional trip for a vacation early next summer.

My advice would be to book sooner rather than later, as I doubt these prices will stick around for too long.

To the Point!

Even if you don’t plan on flying with La Compagnie, you should be thankful for them. The airline has driven down business class fares between New York and Paris, similar to what Norwegian and WOW air have done with economy class in other markets.

Will you pull the trigger on any of these sub $2,000 business class tickets?

 

*Featured image courtesy of La Compagnie.