Recently, we made a round trip from Paris to Washington DC on Air France. Being of a certain age, and needing a bit more comfort than is provided in Economy class, we paid the substantially increased fare ( roughly double), to travel in the Premium Economy section of the plane. The Air France website talks of a seat that reclines more than in Economy class, and shows a photo of a chap resting in a nicely reclined seat.
Do not be fooled as we were. This is blatant false advertising. The truth of the matter is that the Premium Economy seats DO NOT RECLINE AT ALL. The angle between the backrest of the seat and the part that you sit on simply cannot be varied in any way. Fellow passengers were resorting to placing their pillow on the tray table mounted on the seat in front of them, and then sleeping in a crouched forward position with their heads resting on their arms folded across the table.
So just to be ultra clear, if you are contemplating transatlantic travel on Air France, be aware that the Premium Economy seats do NOT recline.
good griefā¦ sounds ghastly and I would not have been able to do any gymnastics to get comfortable.
have you made an official complaint???
Yes, indeed we have complained and have received the anticipated placatory and āstone wallā response. I shall be pursuing the matter with the relevant authorities that deal with blatant false advertising.
Excellent please let us know how that goes.
I am not sure Air France is not a bit of a sacred cow thoughā¦
Letās hope they havenāt got any small print anywheew that says aircraft types and therefore seat configurations can vary. French consumer protection seems hard to apply in some areasā¦ In UK if itās significant theyād be challengeable on not having placed information about variances sufficiently prominently. But Iām getting the impression in France such niceties are not really implemented.
I have flown Air France Premium economy, and the seats were āshellā type, so the seat unit itself doesnāt move at all; there is no impingement of the space in front of you by the passenger in front of you (nor in the space of the passenger behind you). To recline, you slide the seat forward and the backrest follows and the more you slide forward, the more the backrest reclines. Was this the same as yours? We flew from Tokyo to Paris (upstairs on a now sadly retired A380) and it was a very long but comfortable flight. I cannot imagine the seat would not have reclined at all.
Yes that is the sort of seat that we had - we recently (last month) flew to/from CDG to Thailand. I think it depends on the type of aircraft maybe - we were in a 787.
Our problem was the quality of food and service by the cabin crew - I have complained but have found myself to be stonewalled. Iām looking for someone senior that I can email directly - such as customer services director of the CEO herself.
itās clear that the seating was not āuser friendlyā if no-one managed to get their āpremiumā seats to recline at allā¦
and no Staff came along to point out what one should be doing to make 'em reclineā¦ 
Iād have been furious and fractiousā¦ no member of Staff could have missed thatā¦
Two excellent ways to ensure you are ignored by the cabin crewā¦
The more I read the OP, more sceptical I have become. Air France would have been shot down in flames by now if its economy long haul seats didnāt recline, let alone premium economy. In fact Air France premium economy seats are well-regarded. So I am left with these thoughts:
Was assistance sought? This isnāt made clear.
Was this simply a case of a faulty seat - probably not as the journey was return.
Was this a case of the user not knowing how to operate the seat?
I know which thought rises to the top in my mind.
ha haā¦ nopeā¦ Iād have been crippled by those seats and the cabin crew wouldnāt want to be responsible for that
We had a great flight to Canada from UKā¦ many years agoā¦took hours and hoursā¦ wonderful seats, wonderful staffā¦
Back in the day I did a lot of business class travel, as Iām sure many others here did. I always found Air France service mediocre at best, including one Concord flight I took. Poor service when your employer is picking up the tab is annoying, but now that Iām paying itās outrageous 
So I wouldnāt use AF for long haul again. Emirates are consistently good, though Dubai airport is a dump and I donāt like being routed through it. Weāre going to try Quantas London Perth direct later this month, 787 not A380 unfortunately but we see how it goes.
Iāve not flown Air France much but when I have it has been a good experience. Emirates and Singapore Airlines are my favourites. I remember the old Dubai airport which had no jet ways -you had to take a bus or you walked across the apron to the terminal building; that was in 1996. They are building a massive new airport there at the moment. Shame you arenāt flying the A380 - have you been on one?
I remember the old Dubai airport, we lived there from 1997 to 2000. The Emirates IT Director was a good pal of mine. Emirates have always been good. Somewhere weāve Polaroid photos that the cabin crew used to take of my daughter who was 7,8,9ish when she flew with us. She grew up not knowing economy class existed 
I was even propositioned by one of the female cabin crew once, I was flattered but I made my excuses and left, as I believe News of the World reporters used to say.
Iāve not been on an A380 and was miffed when I discovered Quantas were using a 787. I like being upstairs. I was very fond of the 747s, built like tanks. When we lived in Joāburg I used to fly on SAA 747SPs, the shortened extra range 747. I flew Joāburg (or maybe it was Cape Town) to Atlanta once, which was one of if not the longest scheduled routes at the time. The meeting I was going to was actually in New York but I fancied taking the long way round. Those were the days 
This trip to Oz was a bit rushed. Next time Iāll find an A380, if they are still flying.
I used to have a friend at Heathrow who arranged for me (it was a surprise) to ride in the spare cockpit seat on a Qantas 747 for takeoff and landing! Naturally, that was before 9/11. I reckon Emirates will keep its A380s flying for at least another 15-20 years. Theyāre largely still young aircraft.
just checking on YouTube and it seems dependent on which/what aircraft one is flying onā¦ so many variations of the Premium Economy seatā¦ some good some ghastlyā¦
(think Iāll stay homeā¦ )
Agree Dubai airport was/is a dump.
Flying to Perth - only one way to go imho, Singapore Airlinesā¦
We flew to Singapore via Dubai with Emirates a few years ago in A380s. It was great. Even the food tasted good!
Just to be clear, the seats on the Boeing 777 were of the āhard shellā non reclining type. The rather thin and firm seat squab could slide forward about two and a half inches into what I can only describe as an uncomfortable āslouchā position which is no good for an 8 hour flight. The seats were certainly not of the reclining type shown on the Air France website. Please see https://wwws.airfrance.us/information/prepare/voyager-en-premium-economy and scroll down a little to the photo of the man reclining in the seat. Note the difference in position of the seat back compared to the upright seat next to him by the window. The accompanying text also states āā¦ the Premium Economy seat allows you to recline further ā¦ā. The seat shown in the photo is clearly a reclining seat as the angle between the seat back and the seat squab is clearly variable.
The seats on the aircraft on which we traveled were not of this type, and simply did not recline at all !
The website advertising is simply false as the seats provided are certainly not of the type described and pictured.
Additionally, and to allay any doubts in anyoneās mind, my wife and I have made the transatlantic journey numerous times with three different airlines over the years. We are competent and able to operate a reclining seat. This particular journey was the first time that we have experienced the seating type being substantially different from that advertised.
Our view is that the word ārecliningā comes from the verb To Recline, meaning to assume or be in recumbent position, sit or lie with back or side supported on a slope. Source: OED.
The seats provided did not allow a person to recline, and so should not be described as a reclining seat.
What the seats did do was to allow a position change between sitting and slouching, which is certainly not a good thing to encourage, and should not be engaged in by anyone with hip or lumbar problems.
The seats were in no way as advertised, and we were duped into paying twice the economy fare for a facility that was simply not provided, and which Air France had no intention to provide from the get go.
The discomfort in my back has subsided, but my anger at the continuing false advertising certainly has not.
I donāt like Changi either Adam 
I want to try just getting on at LHR and off in Perth. If Iām disappointed by Qantas then next time Iāll try stopping over again for a few days on the way. While Emirates and Singapore Airlines very good, I wouldnāt want to spend any more time in Singapore or the Gulf. I donāt like Singapore and the only country Iāve any time for in the Gulf is Oman, and itās too far for a three or four day stopover. Iāll have to give it some thought.
In the previous times of Air France using the Airbus A380 I would have agreed with you. In fact we have previously recommended those particular premium economy seats to others. However, Air France are now using the Boeing 777 in which the premium economy seats simply do not recline at all. The new seating type just moves to a āslouchā position which is not the same thing at all.
We shall either be reverting to Iceland Air, or trying Iberia in future as I understand that they still use the A380.