This is actual in 5.3.10 as well. Simple code to reproduce (will log fatal 
errors about undefined class constant 'logging'):

<?php

$session = new XSession();

session_set_save_handler(array($session, 'open'), array($session, 'close'), 
array($session, 'read'), array($session, 'write'), array($session, 'destroy'), 
array($session, 'gc'));
session_start();

class XSession {
const logging = false;
function open() {if (self::logging) echo 'OK';}
function write() {if (self::logging) echo 'OK';}
function read() {if (self::logging) echo 'OK';}
function close() {if (self::logging) echo 'OK';}
function destroy() {if (self::logging) echo 'OK';}
function gc() {if (self::logging) echo 'OK';}
}

You should be able to work around this with register_shutdown_function('session_write_close'), or if using a class like in gedrox's example and PHP >= 5.4 you can make it implement SessionHandlerInterface and just call session_set_save_handler($session) which should also take care of this.

I'm afraid it's a chicken and egg problem and if the above workarounds don't work either then I don't see a practical solution.