opus17
Oct 6, 02, 7:47 pm
The objective was a quick business trip to Vienna , then Paris, in order to install a new product in two local hospitals. It was Monday, my bags were packed and I was in the office, content that I had confirmed upgrades both ways on the SFO-CDG Air France/Delta codeshare.
Then, an e-mail came from Vienna – the customer was not ready. The trip would have to be postponed! All my packing was for naught! I e-mailed my company travel agent – I pushed the trip from Monday to Saturday; shortened the stays in both Vienna and Paris – and set the return for the following Saturday. I needed to get back, since a few days later, I would be on my way to Maui for a vacation.
My upgrade Karma was good, as I was immediately able to secure an upgrade on the outbound flight. The return flight was going to be a problem. The change in flights meant that the fare the company was paying shot from an expensive (for us) $1500 to an unheard-of $2500. (My company would send me to Europe on Southwest, if they could).
When I arrived at SFO on Saturday, I remembered why I love business class. The entire contents of the 747 coach section was in line to check in. I walked right up to the empty business class counter, showed my passport, passed the security quiz with flying colors (after all, I had packed my own bags TWICE!) and was on my way to the business lounge.
(A few days later, I realized that they never took any miles for the upgrade!)
I was stopped at security for the highly suspicious fact that I was carrying a laptop. Because of this, they needed to see my shoes. I guess the fashion now for shoe bombers is to carry functional laptops as decoys.
The Air France lounge was a pleasant little room. I picked up a free Zagat guide to Paris, to read about restaurants that I will not go to while I am there. There was a dead network port on the computer workdesk, but the phone line was alive, and I was able to get my e-mail (my boss had some budget questions, good thing I checked).
I had a window seat downstairs on the 747-400 – on the original flight, I had an upstairs seat. As many times as I have flown this flight, I have never sat upstairs (I was once upgraded to F when it was upstairs on a 747-200, some years back). About an hour into the flight, I noticed that nothing on my seat -- the audio/video, recline, footrest or overhead lamp – was working. The crew was extremely apologetic. I assured them that I did not in any way accuse them of breaking my seat. They found me a new seat on the aisle in the center section. The middle seat was unoccupied, so this was an improvement.
One thing I’ve always liked about Air France and a lot of the other European carriers is that the flight crew is very professional, without having the sometimes phony-seeming “friendliness” you sometimes see on the American carriers. Well, this crew was extremely friendly, which sort of creeped me out until I got used to it.
The food was superb, as usual – I had the “daily special” of duck breast with a mango salsa. I even had wine – I almost never drink wine while flying, but it seems hostile not to drink it on Air France. Yummy.
The flight was extremely smooth – the seat belt light was off for the entire flight, except takeoff and landing. I slept a bit, was arrived in Paris on time.
The Vienna flight was in “C” class (due to the ticket rebooking), so I got to sit in front of the curtain and eat better food. There was no choice of meal (it was the French version of chicken-a-la-king, I think!), but the food was good and there was plenty of it. (The wine was served in small, individual bottles, and I had some).
I was staying at the Vienna Marriott, a nice business hotel with expensive phone rates. No complaints, since I am a Marriott elite, but next time I will probably stay at a more typically Viennese hotel.
I spent most of my time working, getting around town on the U-Bahn. I had never been to Vienna before (that even amazed me, since I have been to Europe at least 60 times), and I did find a little time to walk around.
First thing on Wednesday morning was the flight back to Paris. It was an Austrian Air flight (AF codeshare). It was a bit late – I was in coach, no big deal. Breakfast was a ham & cheese sandwich (the European analog to an egg Mc Muffin).
Since I was with a co-worker from Sweden, we eschewed taking the REB B line into Paris, and grabbed a cab instead, and white knuckled it into the city. I think a cab driver who was in an underground Al Qaida cell would have been slightly safer.
Things were going well in Paris, so I called Delta to see if I could move my return flight up a day. They said sure, you’re paying so much money, you can change it as much as you want to! The AF flight had no coach seats, but they could take me CDG-JFK-SFO and upgrade me into business the whole way.
I had signed up for the double miles promo, so if I took the JFK routing, I would hit 50K base miles by the end of the trip. If I flew directly on AF, I would be at 49K.
Paris did go well. I ate some good food along the way, but not one place was in Zagat. (All were fairly cheap). I am sure glad a I know at least some “tourist French”, since it certainly makes it easier to be able to eat.
I saw online that a coach seat opened up on the SFO nonstop, so I called Delta, grabbed it and upgraded. I would give up the extra 1000 base miles to save 5 hours. I was also a bit nervous about the weather in the states, due to the hurricane. The agent on the phone
said it would cost $200 for the change in flight – I said sure (but I didn’t believe her).
I got to the airport 3 hours early. The business reticketing line moved extremely slowly. I would have been better off waiting in the coach line. Anyway, we were entertained in line by the song stylings of group of protesting Air France workers.
They didn’t charge me $200. The subject never came up.
Boarding was a free-for-all. It seems that everyone in line was told that only the first 200 on board would actually be able to fly. I hung back and bought some dance CD’s in the music store.
Once again, I has an aisle seat in the middle section downstairs. Unlike the outgoing flight, business class was full.
One thing I always look forward to on the AF longhauls is Jessica. Jessica’s video pops up on the main video screen, and well as in between movies on the individual screens. She is in Bora Bora, but she talks to three rows of passengers seated 4 across on a section of a plane that is surrounded by nothing. Very surreal, very French. The purpose of the video is to show exercises on can do in ones seat to avoid dropping dead from DVT.
Jessica is dressed in white pants and a grey shirt.. She is wearing sandals. She has an impossibly long neck. She speaks in a hypnotic cadence in both French and English (depending on which audio channel you select). She has everyone rub their bellies, and she talks about flexing and contracting buttocks. At first, I didn’t think she was all that attractive, but after seeing her on many flights, I am in love with her and want to send her all my money. She makes me want to go into the nearest aft lavatory and ritually shave off all my body hair.
The daily special was a creamy veal dish; I elected the beef. I also had wine. The second meal featured a choice of lamb or risotto. Both were good.
Again, the flight was bump-free, with 10.5 hours of no seat belt lights. This crew was more typical of AF –very good, efficient and professional.
I will definitely be back on AF, if not for my own sake, for Jessica’s.
(Previous trip reports can be found at:
http://home.pacbell.net/opus17/ )
[This message has been edited by opus17 (edited 10-08-2002).]
Then, an e-mail came from Vienna – the customer was not ready. The trip would have to be postponed! All my packing was for naught! I e-mailed my company travel agent – I pushed the trip from Monday to Saturday; shortened the stays in both Vienna and Paris – and set the return for the following Saturday. I needed to get back, since a few days later, I would be on my way to Maui for a vacation.
My upgrade Karma was good, as I was immediately able to secure an upgrade on the outbound flight. The return flight was going to be a problem. The change in flights meant that the fare the company was paying shot from an expensive (for us) $1500 to an unheard-of $2500. (My company would send me to Europe on Southwest, if they could).
When I arrived at SFO on Saturday, I remembered why I love business class. The entire contents of the 747 coach section was in line to check in. I walked right up to the empty business class counter, showed my passport, passed the security quiz with flying colors (after all, I had packed my own bags TWICE!) and was on my way to the business lounge.
(A few days later, I realized that they never took any miles for the upgrade!)
I was stopped at security for the highly suspicious fact that I was carrying a laptop. Because of this, they needed to see my shoes. I guess the fashion now for shoe bombers is to carry functional laptops as decoys.
The Air France lounge was a pleasant little room. I picked up a free Zagat guide to Paris, to read about restaurants that I will not go to while I am there. There was a dead network port on the computer workdesk, but the phone line was alive, and I was able to get my e-mail (my boss had some budget questions, good thing I checked).
I had a window seat downstairs on the 747-400 – on the original flight, I had an upstairs seat. As many times as I have flown this flight, I have never sat upstairs (I was once upgraded to F when it was upstairs on a 747-200, some years back). About an hour into the flight, I noticed that nothing on my seat -- the audio/video, recline, footrest or overhead lamp – was working. The crew was extremely apologetic. I assured them that I did not in any way accuse them of breaking my seat. They found me a new seat on the aisle in the center section. The middle seat was unoccupied, so this was an improvement.
One thing I’ve always liked about Air France and a lot of the other European carriers is that the flight crew is very professional, without having the sometimes phony-seeming “friendliness” you sometimes see on the American carriers. Well, this crew was extremely friendly, which sort of creeped me out until I got used to it.
The food was superb, as usual – I had the “daily special” of duck breast with a mango salsa. I even had wine – I almost never drink wine while flying, but it seems hostile not to drink it on Air France. Yummy.
The flight was extremely smooth – the seat belt light was off for the entire flight, except takeoff and landing. I slept a bit, was arrived in Paris on time.
The Vienna flight was in “C” class (due to the ticket rebooking), so I got to sit in front of the curtain and eat better food. There was no choice of meal (it was the French version of chicken-a-la-king, I think!), but the food was good and there was plenty of it. (The wine was served in small, individual bottles, and I had some).
I was staying at the Vienna Marriott, a nice business hotel with expensive phone rates. No complaints, since I am a Marriott elite, but next time I will probably stay at a more typically Viennese hotel.
I spent most of my time working, getting around town on the U-Bahn. I had never been to Vienna before (that even amazed me, since I have been to Europe at least 60 times), and I did find a little time to walk around.
First thing on Wednesday morning was the flight back to Paris. It was an Austrian Air flight (AF codeshare). It was a bit late – I was in coach, no big deal. Breakfast was a ham & cheese sandwich (the European analog to an egg Mc Muffin).
Since I was with a co-worker from Sweden, we eschewed taking the REB B line into Paris, and grabbed a cab instead, and white knuckled it into the city. I think a cab driver who was in an underground Al Qaida cell would have been slightly safer.
Things were going well in Paris, so I called Delta to see if I could move my return flight up a day. They said sure, you’re paying so much money, you can change it as much as you want to! The AF flight had no coach seats, but they could take me CDG-JFK-SFO and upgrade me into business the whole way.
I had signed up for the double miles promo, so if I took the JFK routing, I would hit 50K base miles by the end of the trip. If I flew directly on AF, I would be at 49K.
Paris did go well. I ate some good food along the way, but not one place was in Zagat. (All were fairly cheap). I am sure glad a I know at least some “tourist French”, since it certainly makes it easier to be able to eat.
I saw online that a coach seat opened up on the SFO nonstop, so I called Delta, grabbed it and upgraded. I would give up the extra 1000 base miles to save 5 hours. I was also a bit nervous about the weather in the states, due to the hurricane. The agent on the phone
said it would cost $200 for the change in flight – I said sure (but I didn’t believe her).
I got to the airport 3 hours early. The business reticketing line moved extremely slowly. I would have been better off waiting in the coach line. Anyway, we were entertained in line by the song stylings of group of protesting Air France workers.
They didn’t charge me $200. The subject never came up.
Boarding was a free-for-all. It seems that everyone in line was told that only the first 200 on board would actually be able to fly. I hung back and bought some dance CD’s in the music store.
Once again, I has an aisle seat in the middle section downstairs. Unlike the outgoing flight, business class was full.
One thing I always look forward to on the AF longhauls is Jessica. Jessica’s video pops up on the main video screen, and well as in between movies on the individual screens. She is in Bora Bora, but she talks to three rows of passengers seated 4 across on a section of a plane that is surrounded by nothing. Very surreal, very French. The purpose of the video is to show exercises on can do in ones seat to avoid dropping dead from DVT.
Jessica is dressed in white pants and a grey shirt.. She is wearing sandals. She has an impossibly long neck. She speaks in a hypnotic cadence in both French and English (depending on which audio channel you select). She has everyone rub their bellies, and she talks about flexing and contracting buttocks. At first, I didn’t think she was all that attractive, but after seeing her on many flights, I am in love with her and want to send her all my money. She makes me want to go into the nearest aft lavatory and ritually shave off all my body hair.
The daily special was a creamy veal dish; I elected the beef. I also had wine. The second meal featured a choice of lamb or risotto. Both were good.
Again, the flight was bump-free, with 10.5 hours of no seat belt lights. This crew was more typical of AF –very good, efficient and professional.
I will definitely be back on AF, if not for my own sake, for Jessica’s.
(Previous trip reports can be found at:
http://home.pacbell.net/opus17/ )
[This message has been edited by opus17 (edited 10-08-2002).]