opus17
May 14, 00, 8:55 pm
Manchester England England, Across the Atlantic sea
Somehow, I managed to get myself into a bind where I had to fly to England for a one-day event, and I couldn't either leave early and stay late.
Now, I know some people on this board do mileage runs that make this look like no big deal. But, I don't do mileage runs, and this trip doesn't make me inclined to start doing them.
Wednesday Evening:
AF SFO-CDG, business class on a DL systemwide upgrade.
I recently covered an AF business class trip in depth on another trip report. Once again, the airline reviled on this board gave me another A+ trip. The entire meal, appitizer through desert, was outstanding. It was excelant by restaurant standards, not just airline standards. The airline is using the money swindled from Quiet Lion well. http://216.167.74.240/forum/smile.gif
Service was superb. At this point, I prefer AF to DL for transoceanic, and I'm a real fan of Business Elite.
There were a few empty seats in business; I had a cute French young lady as a seatmate.
The flight was quite smooth, but somewhere over the English Channel we hit an air pocket or something that pushed the 747-400 straight up. Lots of G-forces. My ears popped, and I might have blacked out for a moment. The plane quickly recovered for a normal landing. Thank goodness the seat belt light was on. The FA's seem OK.
We landed at the new terminal 2F. I used the L'Espace 127 lounge there (very nice, drinks & food provided gratis) waiting for the Manchester flight. To use the phone line, one needs to run a credit card; the dial-up to my company's toll-free number cost me 5Fr ($.83) for any length call.
The Manchester flight was late (weather was bad). I was in coach on a 737-500. Both the business & coach sections had identical 3-3 seating; both sections were fairly empty.
They passed out baguettes with either tuna or meat&cheese. The tuna one was tasty.
I caught a Manchester cab to Sheffield for 69 pounds, fixed rate. The driver got lost getting to the Sheffield Swallow Hotel.
I spent Friday in Manchester, and somehow wound up doing 2 TV interview for local stations.
Saturday, three of us too a Sheffield cab back to Manchester Airport (39 pounds). Our woman driver talked like Bubble in "Absolutely Fabulous".
BE customer were given a CD at checkin; the CD had "Adiamus" on it. United customers, demand "Rhapsody in Blue"!
We were given passes to the Cathay Pacific Lounge. Small & crowded, with smoking allowed -- pass on it.
I had 1C on MAN-JFK. I had an empty seat next to me. Service was a bit confused -- being in the middle, I was often served by both aisles. Sometimes I was asked questions, and then asked again (occasionally by the same person).
As usual on DL, the appitizer was dreadful. The main course (turbot) was OK, but a big letdown from AF.
Strange for a westbound transatlatic, we had a tail wind the whole trip.
Close to landing, the coffee machine in the front of machine sprung a leak on the non=exit side. A sea of coffee (looked like with cream, can't speak for the sugar) poured out on the floor. Desperate FA's used towels, tablecloths, pillows and items from the lavratories to try to soak up the mess.
I was the first off the plane, which was the first international DL flight to land for the day. Immigration & customs took mere moments.
The JFK-SFO flight is now a "Business Elite" flight. I flew the same flight in February before it had BE status. I detected no difference.
The menu was actually better on this flight than the international one. Awful appitizer. I chose Chicken Jambalaya for the entree, it was OK. The normal vanilla sundae for dessert (boring!).
A 120 MPH headwind slowed the trip down to 6 hours total -- very close to the Manchester-JFK trip.
Final Grades:
Air France A+
Delta B+
Delta coffee Machine F
Manchester taxi D
Sheffield taxi A
And I am glad to not be flying for a few weeks...
[This message has been edited by opus17 (edited 05-14-2000).]
Somehow, I managed to get myself into a bind where I had to fly to England for a one-day event, and I couldn't either leave early and stay late.
Now, I know some people on this board do mileage runs that make this look like no big deal. But, I don't do mileage runs, and this trip doesn't make me inclined to start doing them.
Wednesday Evening:
AF SFO-CDG, business class on a DL systemwide upgrade.
I recently covered an AF business class trip in depth on another trip report. Once again, the airline reviled on this board gave me another A+ trip. The entire meal, appitizer through desert, was outstanding. It was excelant by restaurant standards, not just airline standards. The airline is using the money swindled from Quiet Lion well. http://216.167.74.240/forum/smile.gif
Service was superb. At this point, I prefer AF to DL for transoceanic, and I'm a real fan of Business Elite.
There were a few empty seats in business; I had a cute French young lady as a seatmate.
The flight was quite smooth, but somewhere over the English Channel we hit an air pocket or something that pushed the 747-400 straight up. Lots of G-forces. My ears popped, and I might have blacked out for a moment. The plane quickly recovered for a normal landing. Thank goodness the seat belt light was on. The FA's seem OK.
We landed at the new terminal 2F. I used the L'Espace 127 lounge there (very nice, drinks & food provided gratis) waiting for the Manchester flight. To use the phone line, one needs to run a credit card; the dial-up to my company's toll-free number cost me 5Fr ($.83) for any length call.
The Manchester flight was late (weather was bad). I was in coach on a 737-500. Both the business & coach sections had identical 3-3 seating; both sections were fairly empty.
They passed out baguettes with either tuna or meat&cheese. The tuna one was tasty.
I caught a Manchester cab to Sheffield for 69 pounds, fixed rate. The driver got lost getting to the Sheffield Swallow Hotel.
I spent Friday in Manchester, and somehow wound up doing 2 TV interview for local stations.
Saturday, three of us too a Sheffield cab back to Manchester Airport (39 pounds). Our woman driver talked like Bubble in "Absolutely Fabulous".
BE customer were given a CD at checkin; the CD had "Adiamus" on it. United customers, demand "Rhapsody in Blue"!
We were given passes to the Cathay Pacific Lounge. Small & crowded, with smoking allowed -- pass on it.
I had 1C on MAN-JFK. I had an empty seat next to me. Service was a bit confused -- being in the middle, I was often served by both aisles. Sometimes I was asked questions, and then asked again (occasionally by the same person).
As usual on DL, the appitizer was dreadful. The main course (turbot) was OK, but a big letdown from AF.
Strange for a westbound transatlatic, we had a tail wind the whole trip.
Close to landing, the coffee machine in the front of machine sprung a leak on the non=exit side. A sea of coffee (looked like with cream, can't speak for the sugar) poured out on the floor. Desperate FA's used towels, tablecloths, pillows and items from the lavratories to try to soak up the mess.
I was the first off the plane, which was the first international DL flight to land for the day. Immigration & customs took mere moments.
The JFK-SFO flight is now a "Business Elite" flight. I flew the same flight in February before it had BE status. I detected no difference.
The menu was actually better on this flight than the international one. Awful appitizer. I chose Chicken Jambalaya for the entree, it was OK. The normal vanilla sundae for dessert (boring!).
A 120 MPH headwind slowed the trip down to 6 hours total -- very close to the Manchester-JFK trip.
Final Grades:
Air France A+
Delta B+
Delta coffee Machine F
Manchester taxi D
Sheffield taxi A
And I am glad to not be flying for a few weeks...
[This message has been edited by opus17 (edited 05-14-2000).]