Gah: Should I Spend An Absolute Fortune To Fly Air Côte d’Ivoire For A Day?

In a separate post, I shared the details of an upcoming review trip that I’ve planned, where I’ll be flying Porter, Air France, Aircalin, Thai Airways, and SWISS. There’s one thing I’m trying to decide on, and I’d very much appreciate some feedback…

What should I do with a couple of days in Paris?

Due to award availability, my upcoming review trip has me in Paris for a couple of days. Now, Paris is of course an incredible city, but I’ve spent a lot of time there, and I’m alone, and I always try to maximize the “content” I can get out of my review trips.

Normal people would think “well I’ll just spend a couple of days enjoying Paris.” But I’m not a normal person. Something is wrong with me. My thought process instead goes “hmmm, I wonder if I could squeeze in some other interesting flight during that time?” Paris has a lot of interesting service to Africa, which got me thinking…

For example, I could fly Air Mauritius on the A350 to Mauritius (MRU), but I’m kind of struggling to come up with a fun itinerary from there. I don’t just want to fly there and back on the same plane in the same cabin (even though there’s award availability). I could fly in the other direction on Kenya Airways, but it’s just not a very pleasant schedule, and would give me zero nights in a hotel room.

But that did get me thinking… Air Côte d’Ivoire recently took delivery of its first Airbus A330-900neo, and the airline is flying the plane between Paris (CDG) and Abidjan (ABJ). I’m absolutely fascinated by the airline, especially since there’s a first class cabin on the A330neo, and I’m someone who tries to review every single first class in the world (no matter how random).

The flight is even timed so that you can depart Paris in the morning and return the same day, without even having to take a redeye. Is this finally my chance to fly Air Côte d’Ivoire, especially given the recent drama? 😉 In terms of timing, this seems ideal, since I have the time built into my schedule. However…

It pains me to pay Air Côte d’Ivoire prices, though!

Obviously whenever possible, I try to redeem miles for flights. I’m also happy to pay cash for premium tickets, but only if I can get a good deal. After all, I have flexibility in my schedule, and I’m always happy to position to Cairo to get a good deal (okay, maybe not Cairo, but you know what I mean). 😉

Here’s the thing — Air Côte d’Ivoire ticket pricing is very high, and shockingly straightforward. Like, there are just no deals to be had, unless I’m missing something. With most airlines, adding a connection lowers the fare, since people are willing to pay a premium to fly nonstop. Like, I’m usually pretty good at this, and can almost always find a way to get a deal on a ticket.

However, based on every city pair I’ve looked up, adding a connecting flight is more expensive, rather than less expensive. Furthermore, regardless of where you originate, a one-way is way more expensive than half of a roundtrip.

So basically, the lowest premium cabin fare I can find is what you’ll see below — we’re talking around €1,300 one-way in business class, and around €3,400 one-way in first class. The only good thing is that you can mix the two, so you can fly business class in one direction, and first class in the other direction.

So if I were to fly from Paris to Abidjan roundtrip, one direction in business class and one direction in first class, it would cost me over $5,000. Look, money doesn’t grow on trees, and that’s an absolutely massive amount of money to spend on a day of flying. The only time I ever spent that much on a ticket was when I flew Etihad’s A380 The Residence, back when it was a fully separate, dedicated product (and that’s because I basically got it for 75% off the standard price, by starting in Cairo).

It absolutely pains me to potentially pay that, especially since I can’t imagine there’s any way that first class is worth it… I feel like I’m setting myself up for disappointment. So I’m really conflicted:

• On the one hand, this seems like a stupid amount of money to spend on an experience where you can’t even get a deal, so it’s not like this will actually be useful to many
• On the other hand, I pride myself in reviewing every single first class product there is, and that should include Air Côte d’Ivoire as well, right?

So, I leave it up to the OMAAT community, because I value y’all, and it’s ultimately thanks to you guys that I can do this for a career.

Do you really, really, really want me to review this experience, even if I’m going to be ridiculously sad when the charge hits my credit card? Or should I save my money here, and instead put that toward like six Turkmenistan Airlines business class tickets? 😉 Like, I’ll happily do this for you guys if the response is “OMG, yes, this would be the most interesting thing ever,” rather than “meh, sure I’ll read it.”

I think the only reason I’m even entertaining this idea is because I’ve spent the past two decades trying to review just about every premium product possible. So at this point, I’m almost viewing it incrementally in terms of “well, it’s a few thousand extra bucks in order to truly review every first class product in the world.” But what value does that really add, if the product isn’t actually useful to many people? I suppose there’s the entertainment factor…

By the way, does anyone see any sort of a deal for any premium cabin Air Côte d’Ivoire A330-900neo flight? Like, anything, even one-way? It’s funny that Air Côte d’Ivoire and Starlux Airlines (the two airlines I haven’t flown in first class) are literally the two airlines where it’s seemingly possible to get a deal. But I would love to be proven wrong!

Lastly, does anyone know about the logistics of a direct turn in Abidjan, with two hours? I should probably apply for a visa in advance, since it sounds like that’s required? Does anyone know how long that actually takes to get approved, as I’m on a bit of a tight timeline? I know it says it can take days, but I’m not sure if that’s the case in practice, or just a worst case scenario situation.

One thing that intrigues me is that these Air Côte d’Ivoire flights look absolutely empty. Of course seat maps are never a fully accurate indicator of how many people are booked, but if they are to be believed, there are maybe a few people in the massive business class cabin, and there’s no one in first class.

Bottom line

I have an extra couple of days in Paris on my upcoming trip, and while I could spend that time in Paris (like a normal person), I’m wondering if there’s any other adventure I can add to this trip. That brings me to Air Côte d’Ivoire, an airline I’ve desperately been wanting to fly since it recently launched, but I just can’t come to terms with the pricing.

This is no small sum of money to me, so I’m conflicted. Do I spend a fortune to fly Air Côte d’Ivoire first and business class on the new A330-900neo, given that I have the time and this is as good of an opportunity as any? Or do I just avoid this given the lack of a deal, and instead try something less offensively priced?

OMAAT readers, please help me decide — to Air Côte d’Ivoire, or not to Air Côte d’Ivoire?