Trip Reports - One day in Paris, a Mileage Run

Since graduating college and taking a consulting job back in 1993, I've had elite status each year. Since 1998, that has been at the mid (AA or TW) or top (TW) tier each year.

Occasionally, I've had to take small mileage runs to make mid-level (adding an STL-IND-STL on to each end of a trip to the Bay Area, for example) but have always come close to requalifying each year.

When my mom passed away last year, the monthly trips to Seattle stopped and all of a sudden my annual mileage dropped from 45-55K to 25-30K. Suddenly, I was faced with reverting to my automatic GLD status due to having 1MM on AA.

Wih a final trip to London over Thanksgiving, I was faced with being roughly 15k away from PLT and the thought of mileage runs began to dance in my head. Thanks to Site59 (http://www.site59.com), the option of a European mileage run didn't seem quite so ridiculous and I booked a Friday-Sunday trip to Paris this weekend for $500.

The best deal ever? No. But when factoring in the mileage I'll earn, the status I'll reearn (with another, shorter trip in December), and the upgrade stickers I'll get -- it almost makes sense.

Now I'm sitting in the STL Admirals Club, about to board my flight to DFW and questioning my sanity. We'll see if I lost it completely, or if I actually enjoy this type of guerilla travelling!

Stayed tuned as it unfolds....

Greg

Well, I made it to DFW. One flight down, one to go. That's halfway, right? :D

AA 1483
STL-DFW
05 Nov 2004
Departs 1:30pm
Arrives 3:25pm

I upgraded this segment using an electronic sticker upgrade. Since STL-DFW is 550 miles, the maxmimum value of one sticker upgrade, I figure why not, especially since AA.com shows the flight as a lunch catered flight.

I leave the Admiral's Club about 1:05 and by the time I make it to the gate, boarding is already underway. The F cabin is just about full when I make it on board so finding an overhead space for my half-empty duffel bag is not easy. Luckily, it's half empty so I can place it on it side to fill up the space remaining after someone else's bag.

After boarding is complete (full F cabin, almost full or full Y cabin), Nancy comes around to offer pre-departure drinks. First she stops just before my row to close overheads, making me wonder if I'll just miss out. But she does come around to complete the rounds shortly thereafter. A cup of chardonnay makes the remaining few minutes to the on-time departure pass quickly.

We take off to the west and shortly after takeoff Nancy is around again to offer us our choice of drinks and lunch -- pretzels and/or almonds. Umm.. not quite what I expected. She provides good services, with quick refills and a smile.

Soon enough we are on our approach to DFW. Our ten minute early arrival has morphed into a 25 minute early arrival. No complaints from me, since our gate is available.

After deboarding, I head over to the C terminal Admirals club to update the trip report and send a quick note to AA about the lack of meal on today's flight.

With just under two hours to the flight to Paris, I plan on using my free drink chit (AA PLT status, baby!) here and then heading over to the A terminal Admiral's club to do the same. Then it's 9 1/2 hours to Paris...

Greg

I'm enjoying the read so far. Can't wait to see what happens in Paris.

then this is really odd. 24 hours in terminals and on a plane - and the equivalent amount of time in the City of Lights.

The boy has a screw loose! :D

then this is really odd. 24 hours in terminals and on a plane - and the equivalent amount of time in the City of Lights.

The boy has a screw loose! :D

screw loose? that must mean many FTers are nutters too. I did a SIN-LAX-SIN weekend trip on the non-stop Singapore Airlines service in spring 2004 for the Oscars weekend partying. 18 hours x 2 on plane, under 48 hrs on ground. A couple of ambiens on plane. Very little onground sleep. And no jetlag. And straight to office Tuesday morning. Oh, and my boss did not even know I was away ;)

that must mean many FTers are nutters too.

Yes, that was my point. ^
And I mean that in a good way - FTers are just a little nuts -- not that there is anything wrong with that :D

Greg? Don't leave us hangin', looking forward to reading more ^

Looking forward to hear what you did greg..I was across the way in London... I just got back from an LAX-LHRmileage run 11/5-11/7 . All my friends thought I was crazy, but I want to keep Platinum on AA..and with 100 smackers off last week on travelocity, my trip plus hotel was a cool 405 bucks..not bad for a fast weekend of shopping !!

then this is really odd. 24 hours in terminals and on a plane - and the equivalent amount of time in the City of Lights.

The boy has a screw loose! :D

Well, perhaps. :D

Of course, I was in Paris this spring for five days and in 2001 for another couple of days. So I've done just about all the big touristy sights and, more importantly, I'm out of vacation for the year!

So, if I wanted to requalify for PLT, I'd have to do it with an overnight turn (no stay) or a one day stay like on this trip.

Greg

Looking forward to hear what you did greg..I was across the way in London... I just got back from an LAX-LHRmileage run 11/5-11/7 . All my friends thought I was crazy, but I want to keep Platinum on AA..and with 100 smackers off last week on travelocity, my trip plus hotel was a cool 405 bucks..not bad for a fast weekend of shopping !!

I'm jealous -- you went further for less money, no fair! :mad:

Of course, I found later in the week that I could have done London for $380 (compared to the $500 I paid to CDG) -- although it wouldn't have put me in good position to requalify for PLT.

Greg

Okay... there was no Internet access for me in Paris, the two Internet enabled computers at the CDG Admirals Club weren't working and there was a long wait for computers at the MIA Admirals Club, so I didn't have a chance to say any more about the trip until now.

DFW Admirals Clubs

With my inbound flight arriving at C15 and having more than two hours before leaving for Paris, I decided to visit both the Terminal A and Terminal C Admirals clubs.

I used to have a membership back in 2001/2002, but taking mostly non-stop flights (back in the days of the full-blown STL hub) it didn't seem worth the money to renew. I have been to the ACs in STL, ORD, SEA, LHR, CDG and DFW B before, so the A and C clubs were something new.

Honestly, I wasn't too impressed. They were far too big and crowded for my tastes. It was a nice break from sitting in the terminal, so I won't complain but I do like the smaller clubs better.

Both clubs offered me a drink coupon without asking, so I got myself a little pre-flight buzz (no, no, nothing like the people you see on Airline -- this is AA after all!) since I'd be facing the trip in coach.

AA 43
DFW-CDG
05 November 2004
Departs: 5:30pm
Arrives: 9:55am

From the looks of the seat map on AA, this flight was going to be quite full. Luckily, I had snared an exit row window when I booked this getaway about a week ago.

Business Class was boarding as I arrived at the gate, so I positioned myself near the door to get on in the early part of Group 1. Upon boarding, I found my seat mate had already arrived. My bags were easily stored (thanks to early boarding) and I settled in to my home for the next 9+ hours.

My seatmate, I found out, was a gentleman from Columbia doing research on Public Policy at UC-Davis and heading to a conference in Paris. It was his first trip to the City of Lights so he asked a number of questions about transportation -- mostly about getting from the airport. Since he had a fairly good idea of where he was headed, I suggested taking the RER -- and invited him to join me on the trip as I was taking it myself.

As boarding concluded, he noticed two of the three seats in the bulkhead center section were empty and moved to the seat on the aisle -- giving us both an empty seat next to us for the flight.

Departure was on-time, the taxi was quick and takeoff was without a weight. As we left the DFW area, I once again had to question my sanity for taking this trip :D French landing cards were handed out shortly after departure, followed by drinks, dinner, another round of drinks, coffee service and duty-free.

I actually purchased wine with dinner, although the $5 cost really got on my nerves -- I can understand the reasoning, especially with the way some passengers would overimbibe with an open bar -- but I would think one free drink (at least for elite members) would be a nice touch. Oh well.

The dinner choice was announced as "chicken with rice or beef". I decided to be adventurous and took the beef which came with, what else, rice (Good thing I like rice!) and sugar snap peas. Also on the tray was a small salad, packaged roll and butter, 8oz bottle of water and a small piece of cake for dessert. Meal service on AA international flights has definitely dropped over the past few years -- portions are definitely smaller and the cheese and crackers have disappeared. Overall, the meal was okay, but definitely nothing spectacular.

After the meal service, I tried to sleep, having already seen the movie choices (The Terminal -- an ironic choice on a flight to CDG -- and The Stepford Wives). Having forgotten my eyeshades at home and not being able to sleep well sitting up in any event, I caught a series of half hour naps totaling maybe four hours in all.

About two hours before landing, I gave up on sleep and read some as the sun rose outside. Breakfast was served about 90 minutes before landing -- raisins, yogurt, a croissant with jam and orange juice. Surprisingly another full drinks service was not offered -- just coffee.

Arrival was about 10 minutes behind schedule in a cool and partly cloudy Paris. We passed my Terminal 2E -- the site of the collapse back in May. The structure appears not to have been touched since then, with debris remaining in place. Definitely a sad sight to see. To my surprise, we arrived at a gate -- not a remote stand like my trip earlier this year. The line at immigration was quick and we (my original seatmate and I) passed through customs seconds later without any problems.

Trying to get Euros out of the local ATM was somewhat problematic. I initially requested 70 Euros only to find out that "exceeded my withdrawal limit". However, a request for 50 Euros a minute later went through without a problem. That's something I'll have to check up with my credit union about.

The walk to the RER station at CDG was a bit of a challenge. Upon crossing from Terminal 2A to Terminal 2C, we found that 2C was closed with all sorts of emergency vehicles outside. My first thought was to walk outside past 2C, but that option was shot down by the police. I smelled a bit of smoke, making me wonder if there had been a small fire.

Instead, I detoured us from 2A to 2B to 2D to the RER station. Purchasing a roundtrip ticket to La Defense, we were on the direct train to Paris no more than five minutes later.

To be continued...

Paris
06 November 2004

The same hotel I stayed at during my "real" trip to Paris in March, the Renaissance La Defense, was again available on the Site59 package and I booked it without hesitation. While not the most convenient location -- at the end of the #1 Metro line just west of the city -- it is not inconvenient, I was familiar with the area and hotel, and liked having a shopping center with supermarket nearby.

The trip there required one connection at Chatelet and I was at the hotel before noon. My room was ready immediately and I took a quick shower to refresh myself before heading out.

The first stop was the Auchan supermarket near the hotel. I purchased a few bottles of wine and some chocolate to bring home, as well as orange juice and a pre-packaged sandwich for lunch. After eating back in the hotel room, I planned my journey -- heading out first to Place du Madeline to visit Fauchon (a famous food store).

All I can say about Fauchon is wow! They have two or three different stores around place du Madeline. One is a deli with meats, salads and other prepared foods while another is more of a specialty grocery. In that second store, I bought some blackberry tea for my boyfriend (he's a tea nut), milk and dark chocolate covered hazelnuts and a bottle of raspberry nectar (great with champagne!) I continued wandering around the square, gawking at other food stores with their amazing displays (and equally amazing prices).

I then headed down to Blvd. Hausmann to visit Galleries Lafayette, a large department store (again with a food hall -- notice a trend yet?!? :D) However, on the way I stumbled across the church built where Louis XIV's body was dumped after his execution during the Revolution. A neat little place to tour.

After the stop at Galleries Lafayette, I walked past the Opera and the Louvre to stoll along the banks of the Seine and see all of the vendors hawking their wares. Passing by Ile de la Cite, I headed across the bridge to stop on Ile de Saint Louis for ice cream at Berthilion -- an amazing little place I found during my visit in March. My choice this time was a praline flavored chocolate with orange. Yummm! :D

I continued walking over to the Left Bank (or is it the Right Bank -- the one on the south side!) for a visit to the Pantheon. There was a giant protest outside -- something having to do with wolves, led by the World Wildlife Federation. After touring the Pantheon, it was almost 6pm and my body was crying out for a rest. So I walked to the nearest Metro stop, rode back to my hotel and crashed for an hour and a half.

After my nap, it was time to head back to the shopping center for a quick dinner and stroll around through the stores, although I did not buy anything. Then back to the hotel to watch some TV and relax before falling asleep around 10pm.

The next morning, I was up at 6:30. I was still tired, but the time change had done a good job on screwing up my internal clock so I just rested and watched TV until about 7:30, showered, packed and headed back to the airport.

Thanks for the excellent report, Greg. Paris is such a wonderful city that one cannot get enough of it. A new discovery lies around every corner.

Did you find the prices at the Auchan supermaket a bargain? Someone suggested that it is one of the cheapest places to buy groceries around the city and I intend to check it out. How close is it from the Defense metro stop?

Fauchon is exquisite! It is a pleasure to stop by every time I'm back in Paris. Hediard is pretty nice too along with Laduree for macarons and afternoon tea. Lafayette Gourmet is HUGE! Great selection of almost everything. I especially like the Truffle butter they sell at the cheese stand. Spread that with a warm crusty baguette from a local bakery with some cheese and I'm in heaven.

I concur with you that Berthillon is amazing. Just the range of flavors is out of this world. However, I've heard that there are a couple of amazing gelaterias opened by Italian expats that give Berthillon quite a competition. I intend to try the alternate places since I detest to stand in line for anything.
Personally I tend to shy away from the touristy areas and concentrate on the Left bank or Eastern part of the Right Bank. The areas around Alesia and Belleville are great to mingle with local Parisians. But, regardless of where one stays and the time of the year, Paris will always be enchanting.

The return trip to CDG on the RER was quite painless and I arrived at 9:30, well in advance for my 11:50am flight to Miami.

At checkin, I was asked the usual security questions and advanced to the check-in desk where, to my dismay, I found my requested upgrade had not cleared.

After initially booking this trip a week ago, I immediately called up to request an upgrade on the return portion before AA's $250 "fee" goes into effect on December 1. With 10 seats open on the AA seat map and at least 7 seats still for sale (via ITN), I figured I had a good chance of clearing. Guess not :(

I took a quick walk around the unsecured area before heading through security. The passport check went without a hitch, although for my third trip to France I've still yet to get a stamp on entry or exit. Security was easy -- no sign of the shoe police that accosted me in STL on the way out (see New Shoe Removal Policy effective 01OCT (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=369204)).

After clearing security, I took a brief peek at the duty free shops. Is is just me or does Paris really have a bad collection of duty free shops? Perhaps I'm just spoiled by LHR?

A visit to the Admirals Club gave me a chance for a late breakfast, an early snack and two glasses of wine prior to the flight.

AA 63
CDG-MIA
07 November 2004
Departs 11:50am
Arrives 4:10pm

I knew my good luck wasn't going to last. Arriving at the gate the words "Boarding by BUS" were on the monitor. So after letting Business class board the bus first (and avoiding the hand search of luggage at the gate), I walked downstairs and awaited our short trip over to the aircraft.

The flight was 90%+ full in coach, with just a smattering of middle seats open. I did luck out -- having booked a window seat towards the back initially, an exit row window opened up a few days later.

Although passengers boarded in two "clumps" (each clump equal to a bus arriving planeside at the same time), the boarding process was relatively smooth. I did notice there were more non-U.S. citizens on this flight and on the flight over from DFW. (Seems they also like to stand around chatting in the aisles more as boarding was wrapping up than travellers here in the states.) We departed ontime, followed by a short taxi and short wait for takeoff. With the quick departure, the pilot announced we would be arriving early into MIA.

Service was exactly the same as the way over: customs forms, drinks, lunch, more drinks, coffee and then duty free. Lunch was once again "chicken or beef". I chose "beef", which came with a pastaish/dumplingy sort of thing and spinach (I knew I should have picked chicken!). The requisite roll, butter, salad, dressing, water and cake were also provided.

I took turns reading and attempting to sleep, again mostly a series of half hour naps. A beverage service with pretzels look place about half way through the flight. Movies included Spiderman 2, which I didn't have any interest in as well as hours upon hours of Everybody Loves Raymond. Needless to say, I keep reading and attempting to sleep!

Pre-arrival snack is still pizza, grapes and shortbread -- although I almost missed getting a pizza. The FA handed me the tray sans pizza, then got my seatmate's kosher meal and proceeded back in the cabin without coming back to me. Luckily the FA doing the drinks service was able to snag me one. I've heard mixed reviews on this snack service -- personally I like it, although it would be nice if the grapes were seedless.

We landed in MIA at 3:35pm, just over 30 minutes early. A short taxi to the E gates followed. After hearing horror stories of Customs in MIA, I expected the worst. But the lines were short, the agents asked me no question other than "Where are you coming from?" and asking for clarification after he heard "Caracas" rather than "Paris" as my reply. Since I had no checked bags, I was out of Customs & Immigration less than ten minutes after stepping off the plane!

MIA Admirals Club
I immediately headed over to the Concourse E Admirals Club -- in hopes of finding an alternate route back to STL which would avoid the 4+ hour layover originally scheduled.

The agent at the AC was amazingly helpful. I mentioned two options: a 4:30pm connecting in Ft. Meyers which she originally shot down thinking I wouldn't get to the American Eagle gates early enough but we eventually rules out since the RSW-STL flight was fully booked and a 6pm departure to ATL which was crowded but not full.

She even confirmed me on both segments which was very nice. After asking for a drink coupon, she offered two. I took one saying I'll ask for another if I need it.

I spent about an hour at the AC, watching football, trying to find a computer to check email and just unwinding. I left about 4:45 to visit the Club America/Diners Club lounge -- just to see what it was like (small and crowded) -- before heading over to gate A5 for the flight to Atlanta.

Security at MIA was a zoo. The E concourse line stretched past the ticket counter. The D concourse line snaked through their many ropes and out into the ticketing area. The C concourse line wasn't too long but someone was announcing they had only two lines running and the wait would be 30 minutes. I finally entered at the old B concourse line which took about 10 minutes but was worth the wait as the shoe police weren't in attendance :D

AA 1204
MIA-ATL
07 November 2004
Departs 6:08pm
Arrives 8:15pm

Nothing special about this flight -- typical short haul domestic MD-80 flight.

A quick scare at first for me. The FAs were running late off of a flight from HOU which delayed boarding by about 10 minutes. With only 25 minutes to connect in ATL, I got a bit nervous but the boarding process finished by about 6:10pm after the usual issues with people bringing carryons which are far too big.

Flight was about 90% full. One quick beverage pass. Arrival about 5 minutes early.

AA 5718
ATL-STL
07 November 2004
Departs 8:40pm
Arrives 9:30pm

Boarding started just as I walked over from the gate next door. Relatively light load (20 out of 50 seats). Departure a few minutes ahead of schedule, arrival almost a half hour early.

The Atlanta two-step ended up saving me almost an hour off my original schedule and an extra 100+ miles :)

So... I made it, but it's not something I'll do often. I will probably do weekend trips in the future, but add another day or two on to make them more worthwhile.

Greg

The miles haven't posted yet, but I did get a 5,000 mile "Customer Service Bonus" today. I'm not sure if it's about my note regarding the lack of lunch on the STL-DFW flight or not. If it is, it's FAR, FAR more than I would have expected. I hadn't asked for anything in compensation and the upgrade only required one sticker in the first place.

Greg

Did you find the prices at the Auchan supermaket a bargain? Someone suggested that it is one of the cheapest places to buy groceries around the city and I intend to check it out. How close is it from the Defense metro stop?


Well, it's hard to quote comparative prices because I don't know what things run in other locations in Paris. The sandwich I bought was about 2.5 Euro, a quart of orange juice around 2 Euro. The prices didn't seem high, but I can't tell if they are really, really low or not. They had plenty of wine available with prices starting at 2 Euro per bottle. I'm sure it would be at least as good as Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's :D

The store is less than a minute from the La Defense Metro stop. Exit through Exit # 2 (Dome) and you'll find the shopping mall almost right there... you'd make a left turn at the top of the steps and pretty much walk right in.


Fauchon is exquisite! It is a pleasure to stop by every time I'm back in Paris. Hediard is pretty nice too along with Laduree for macarons and afternoon tea. Lafayette Gourmet is HUGE! Great selection of almost everything. I especially like the Truffle butter they sell at the cheese stand. Spread that with a warm crusty baguette from a local bakery with some cheese and I'm in heaven.

Stop it, you're making me hungry ;)

Greg

The miles haven't posted yet, but I did get a 5,000 mile "Customer Service Bonus" today. I'm not sure if it's about my note regarding the lack of lunch on the STL-DFW flight or not. If it is, it's FAR, FAR more than I would have expected. I hadn't asked for anything in compensation and the upgrade only required one sticker in the first place.


I received an email in response to my email to AA regarding the fact lunch was not served on AA 1483. The 5,000 bonus miles were in response to my email -- a pleasant surprise far greater than anything I asked for (nothing) or expected.

As usual, the email really didn't respond to my comments that AA.com listed a meal to be served while one wasn't, but I guess that's par for the course:


Our decision to serve food is based on the time of day and the length
of a flight. Generally speaking, we serve food only on flights during normal meal periods and when the flying time is longer than two hours. The reason we don't serve food more often is that we believe people would rather have reasonable ticket prices than more to eat. We also think our customers would prefer to have tasty, high quality food whenever they are on an airplane for breakfast, lunch or dinner, rather than be served less
costly products every time they get on board.

Our goal is to reduce overall costs without compromising quality.
Whenever we schedule a meal or snack, we aim to provide our customers with products they will enjoy -- not merely something to help pass the time. We want to spend our resources on those items that are most important to our customers and be able to improve the food service where customers tell us to do so.

Of course, we also try to provide accurate information, and I apologize
that you were not given up-to-date information about the food service. Clearly it is better to know ahead of time whether or not you'll be eating on board. We'll try to do a better job next time.

As a gesture of goodwill, I have added 5,000 bonus miles to your
AAdvantage® account. This adjustment will be reflected in your account very soon.

We believe our meal scheduling practices are reasonable -- and hope you
will agree. Nevertheless, we have sent a copy of your comments to our Managing Director of Food and Beverage Services, who monitors customer reaction to these issues. While I cannot promise we will offer a meal or snack as you would prefer, I can assure you we will thoroughly consider your point of view. Thank you for taking the time to write.


Of course, if I can get AA to exchange each of my 500 mile upgrade stickers for 5,000 miles, I won't complain! :D

Greg