PresRDC
Jun 25, 01, 12:56 pm
This is a trip report I wrote on Airliners.net last September. I don't know how many people on this site refer to A.net as well, but I thought I would cross post it. I have several more that I can post, including a trip in Alitalia Magnifica Class and Virgin Upper Class/Premium Economy. Let me know if their is interest.
Tuesday, September 19, 2000:
The car service driver arrived ten minutes early, which was great considering the heavy rain courtesy of Hurricane Gordon. We made good time for about the first 45 minutes and then the rain hit big time and everything came to a stop. It took two hours to get to JFK, which is about 45 minutes longer than usual. nevertheless, I was there by 6:00 to check in for Air France flight 007 to Paris, CDG.
Flight 007: Boeing 747-400 F-GITD
There was no one on line at the L'Espace 180 desk, so I quickly paid the skycap and presented my ticket. After a few minutes of discussion as to whether my bags could be checked through to London with two separate itinerairies (as a result of the JFK-CDG leg being a freebee), I was given boarding passes and proceeded through security to the L'Espace Salon. The lounge is broken up into two levels, with business class on the bottom and first on top. I went upstairs and saw that the earlier flight, AF 011, had not yet left and that my flight had not yet arrived. I figured this was due to the heavy rain, although it did appear to be clearing. I poured myself some champaigne and read my book. After about 30 mins, the aircraft that would be my flight arrived. We were intially told that there would be an announcement to board at 7:35, but we did not get the call until 7:50, our scheduled departure time. I proceeded down the stairs and onto the jetway, which still crowded with people trying to get to the Tempo (Economy) cabin. Once on board, I settled into seat 1A and was given a demo on how to use the seat by the flight attendent. All the L'Espace 180 seats were full and my seatmate spoke no English. Since my French is pretty rusty, we didn't have much of a conversation. We pushed from the gate at 8:30 and immediately sat on the Terminal One apron for twenty minutes. For the next hour, we snaked our way around the JFK complex until we reached the threshold to runway 22R. Interestingly, several people who ordered express meals were served before the left the gound! I had never seen that before. Takeoff was relatively quick and we soon were flying along the southern coast of Long Island. Dinner service began promptly and was served from the trolley. It started with caviar, a cold seafood plate of smoked salmon, snow crab claws and shrimp salad. For my main course, I chose the beef over the swordfish and was pleasantly surprised to see that the meat was not overcooked. The beef came with mashed potatos and a medely of vegetables, which were quite good. After this, I had the cheese plate, which had a good Brie, a bluecheese and a another mild cheese, which I quite enjoyed. Finally, I had cheesecake in raspberry colis. all this was served with plenty of great frnech bread. After the meal, I reclined the seat to the full 180 degrees and, with my full size pillow and duvet, promptly fell asleep. My seatmate was snoring quite heavily, but the noise reducing headsets almost entirely cut it out. I awoke to have breakfast which consisted of a small but good orange and grapefruit salad, fresh baked bread, pastries and yogurt. We landed about the time my connecting flight was supposed to leave, so I knew I was going to need to be rebooked.
This was truly a great flight and the cabin crew was fantastic with helping me find my way around CDG 2. The seats were a little worn-in and the menu could have been more detailed, but beyond that (and the fact the captain was not taking visitors), it was a truly great flight.
My Wait at CDG 2:
Our flight actually arrived at Hall F, which was a pleasant surprise as it negated the need to take a shuttle bus. I was one of the first off the plane and went straight to the transfer desk were I was rebooked on flight 1570 to LHR, which was scheduled to leave at noon. After going back through security (an interesting thing since I never entered an unsecured area), I went to the Salon lounge to kill the next ninety minutes. After an hour, I felt I needed to walk, so I left the lounge and wnet upstairs to see airplanes. The terminal itself was quite nice, but it was difficult to see many planes because of all the glass walkways leading to planes. I did notice that the aircraft from my previous flight was schedueld to operate as the afternoon flight to NRT.
Flight 1570: Airbus A320
The flight was delayed for 20 minutes due what seemed to be the lack of a crew. After what seemed to be a very long takeoff roll, we were served lunch. This consisted of a cold tray of smoked salmon on bread, cheese on bread, pate, a nice pear cake and chocolates. As the flight was only 35 minutes long, this was quite impressive and much nicer than the service on the similar lengthed USAir Shuttle flight to DCA. After about twenty minutes of holding, we landed in LHR and taxied to Terminal Two.
All in all, this was a great way to fly and I hope to do it again sometime.
Tuesday, September 19, 2000:
The car service driver arrived ten minutes early, which was great considering the heavy rain courtesy of Hurricane Gordon. We made good time for about the first 45 minutes and then the rain hit big time and everything came to a stop. It took two hours to get to JFK, which is about 45 minutes longer than usual. nevertheless, I was there by 6:00 to check in for Air France flight 007 to Paris, CDG.
Flight 007: Boeing 747-400 F-GITD
There was no one on line at the L'Espace 180 desk, so I quickly paid the skycap and presented my ticket. After a few minutes of discussion as to whether my bags could be checked through to London with two separate itinerairies (as a result of the JFK-CDG leg being a freebee), I was given boarding passes and proceeded through security to the L'Espace Salon. The lounge is broken up into two levels, with business class on the bottom and first on top. I went upstairs and saw that the earlier flight, AF 011, had not yet left and that my flight had not yet arrived. I figured this was due to the heavy rain, although it did appear to be clearing. I poured myself some champaigne and read my book. After about 30 mins, the aircraft that would be my flight arrived. We were intially told that there would be an announcement to board at 7:35, but we did not get the call until 7:50, our scheduled departure time. I proceeded down the stairs and onto the jetway, which still crowded with people trying to get to the Tempo (Economy) cabin. Once on board, I settled into seat 1A and was given a demo on how to use the seat by the flight attendent. All the L'Espace 180 seats were full and my seatmate spoke no English. Since my French is pretty rusty, we didn't have much of a conversation. We pushed from the gate at 8:30 and immediately sat on the Terminal One apron for twenty minutes. For the next hour, we snaked our way around the JFK complex until we reached the threshold to runway 22R. Interestingly, several people who ordered express meals were served before the left the gound! I had never seen that before. Takeoff was relatively quick and we soon were flying along the southern coast of Long Island. Dinner service began promptly and was served from the trolley. It started with caviar, a cold seafood plate of smoked salmon, snow crab claws and shrimp salad. For my main course, I chose the beef over the swordfish and was pleasantly surprised to see that the meat was not overcooked. The beef came with mashed potatos and a medely of vegetables, which were quite good. After this, I had the cheese plate, which had a good Brie, a bluecheese and a another mild cheese, which I quite enjoyed. Finally, I had cheesecake in raspberry colis. all this was served with plenty of great frnech bread. After the meal, I reclined the seat to the full 180 degrees and, with my full size pillow and duvet, promptly fell asleep. My seatmate was snoring quite heavily, but the noise reducing headsets almost entirely cut it out. I awoke to have breakfast which consisted of a small but good orange and grapefruit salad, fresh baked bread, pastries and yogurt. We landed about the time my connecting flight was supposed to leave, so I knew I was going to need to be rebooked.
This was truly a great flight and the cabin crew was fantastic with helping me find my way around CDG 2. The seats were a little worn-in and the menu could have been more detailed, but beyond that (and the fact the captain was not taking visitors), it was a truly great flight.
My Wait at CDG 2:
Our flight actually arrived at Hall F, which was a pleasant surprise as it negated the need to take a shuttle bus. I was one of the first off the plane and went straight to the transfer desk were I was rebooked on flight 1570 to LHR, which was scheduled to leave at noon. After going back through security (an interesting thing since I never entered an unsecured area), I went to the Salon lounge to kill the next ninety minutes. After an hour, I felt I needed to walk, so I left the lounge and wnet upstairs to see airplanes. The terminal itself was quite nice, but it was difficult to see many planes because of all the glass walkways leading to planes. I did notice that the aircraft from my previous flight was schedueld to operate as the afternoon flight to NRT.
Flight 1570: Airbus A320
The flight was delayed for 20 minutes due what seemed to be the lack of a crew. After what seemed to be a very long takeoff roll, we were served lunch. This consisted of a cold tray of smoked salmon on bread, cheese on bread, pate, a nice pear cake and chocolates. As the flight was only 35 minutes long, this was quite impressive and much nicer than the service on the similar lengthed USAir Shuttle flight to DCA. After about twenty minutes of holding, we landed in LHR and taxied to Terminal Two.
All in all, this was a great way to fly and I hope to do it again sometime.