Air Fryer Parchment Paper

We have two air fryers. We got the first one a couple of months ago. It was a small basket style. We liked it so much we decided we needed a bigger one that could cook a pizza and a whole potato worth of French fries. That one is more of an oven/air fryer style. Upon the suggestion of a friend, it was recommended that we get parchment paper to collect the oil and whatnot from cooking. That way you don’t need to wash the pans every time. So I ordered two different sizes to see it it really makes a difference. We never really thought it was much of a hardship to wash the pans, but we would give the parchment a try. For the larger air fryer the parchment paper has holes - so it sort of defeats the purpose. So last night we tried the paper with French fries in one and crab cakes in the other. Since we use olive oil there is a certain amount of residue. We were also interested to see how it would affect the overall cooking - it didn’t make sense that things would air dry as well if the bottom was covered. After all, the idea is to have the hot air circulate on all sides. In the end the paper does absorb a lot of the oil and debris, and seems to work fairly well. You can’t preheat with the paper in place and when you do use it, it needs to be covered by enough food so as to avoid it flying around and hitting a heating element. We still ended up cleaning the pan - especially using the paper with holes. Perhaps it’s better to use the paper for certain foods. I guess it all gets down to personal preference.