In May 2015 Air France announced they would be offering new à la carte dishes in the Business cabin and La Première (first class). This is similar to services offered by other carriers like Singapore Airlines with “Book the Cook.” It is a very nice option to be able to pre-order a meal, though with Air France you will only be specifying a cuisine type not an exact meal.

According to Air France :

ASIAN FLAVORS AND FRESH SEAFOOD:
DISCOVER OUR “A LA CARTE” MEALS
Service à la française (French style) means allowing you to personalize your dining experience by choosing your meal in advance. From Asian inspirations to fresh seafood, we have crafted a variety of “A la Carte” meals that will make each of your trips a unique culinary experience. To complete your meal, you also receive the appetizer, cheese selection and dessert from the daily menu.

These meals can be booked online 90 days to 24 hours prior to departure, in the “Manage your bookings” section online at Air France. The only limitations seem to be flights that have a main hot dish and an exclusion for Air France 022 CDG-JFK, presumably due to the early morning departure time.

There are six options in La Première

as well as six options for the Business cabin.

Per the Air France press release, the categories are the same for La Première and Business cabin :

Six dishes in the La Première cabin and six others in the Business cabin are available, in various different culinary categories:
• Thai cuisine;
• Traditional Chinese;
• Flavours of India;
• Japanese delights;
• A taste of Korea;
• There is also a “seafood basket” to complement these tasty and varied à la carte options.

I reached out to Air France via twitter and confirmed that special meals are only available from Paris. (Paris CDG and Paris ORY)

Once you have selected a special meal, you can confirm the meal online along with your seat assignment and other flight preferences. Tweeting @AirFranceFR is my preferred way to place special requests for my upcoming Air France reservations. Just be sure to only reveal confirmation numbers and private details via (private) direct message. Air France “twitter support” is very responsive, and almost always impresses me. More details on the Air France Business cabin and à la carte dishes can be found HERE.

New special order (for a fee) meals are also available for the Premium Economy and Economy cabins. Details can be found HERE. Special order Economy cabin meals range from €12 to €28. There is also an option to use Flying Blue miles instead of cash for the purchase of Economy cabin meals. You need to request and pay for your special meal 48 hours prior to departure.

For those who purchase their tickets from Delta (on 006 Delta ticket stock), there are sometimes issues with Air France special services being added to your reservation. This would only impact Economy cabin reservations, since those require a payment for the à la carte meal. Might be best to book with Air France or through a travel agent who tickets with Air France if you are interested in ordering one of the meals in Economy.

It is awesome to see Air France making a number of attempts to improve their long-haul “soft-product” in all classes of service.



Be sure to also check out our other articles on Air France :

TravelZork Air France Page
Lounge Review | Air France Lounge | JFK Terminal 1
La nouvelle cabine La Première and La Première Lounge, the holy grail of SkyTeam Lounges.
Trip Report : AF009 JFK-CDG NEW Air France Business Class [Nouvelle Cabine Business]

Have you ordered, or do you plan to order an Air France à la carte meal?