Thanksgiving in Paris with Northwest World Business Class
Nov 27, 2007, 8:06 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Arizona, USA
Posts: 2,403
Thanksgiving in Paris with Northwest World Business Class
My sister and her family live in Paris, so I thought that it would be nice to visit her for Thanksgiving. Northwest Airlines was offering round trip business class tickets for about $1,600. I’d never flown Northwest on a long trip, I’d never flown on an A330, and I’d earn a whole lot of OnePass miles.
I happened to mention the trip to my father. He did not reply, instead he just sent me his flight itinerary. My father and stepmother decided to buy tickets for the same flight. They would fly from Cleveland, I would fly from Columbus, and we would meet in Detroit. I would be on my own for the return, for work reasons.
CMH
There was no line to check-in; in fact, the NWA check-in area was deserted. After a swipe of my passport, I obtained boarding cards and headed for security. My bag was equipped with SkyTeam priority tags. Demonstrating my characteristic level-headedness and forethought, I attempted to go to the wrong concourse. The TSA agent was friendly about it and wished me a pleasant flight nonetheless.
Unlike Continental, my boarding card was not marked with any sort of status despite travelling on an international business class ticket. So I waited in the regular security line—about ten minutes. There was a lot of barking and arguing among the TSA staff, but I managed to choose the least angry of the queues, making it through unscathed.
21 November 2007
Northwest (Pinnacle Airlines) 5811 CMH-DTW
CRJ-200 Seat 2C
If one has to fly on a CRJ, this is the way to do it. Northwest offers Jetways for boarding CRJ, the interiors are cramped, but tidy and new. A scowling flight attendant welcomed nobody aboard. She clearly had more pressing activities, such as balancing her checkbook and checking her voice mail.
Due to lousy weather, we were faced with a 40-minute hold at CMH. This didn’t seem to affect anyone’s connections, and we arrived only 15-minutes behind schedule.
The flight attendant conducted no safety demo at all. I’m sure that the airline can be fined for that. But—I mean really—she did have voice mail messages to worry about. I figured she’d be no use in an emergency anyway, so it’s probably best that she didn’t make any efforts to protect our safety.
DTW
What a beautiful airport. It’s absolutely immaculate, gleaming, and soon to be obsolete. Now that America has a dying auto industry, it seems unlikely that the hub will thrive. That said, I was impressed by the shiny, freshly-painted 747-400s, parked close to the gate.
I headed to the WorldClub, which featured meager food offerings. Delta is the clear winner in this category, largely because they have dedicated BusinessElite lounges in Atlanta and New York. Last I heard, Continental is planning to introduce BusinessFirst lounges, so perhaps NWA will follow-suit.
Frantic phone calls
My parents called about every five minutes. I’m not exaggerating. Turns out that their flight was stuck in Cleveland, and their odds of misconnecting were high. Imagining, perhaps, that the airport would be deserted, the begged me to lobby the gate agent to hold the flight.
I decided to withhold the urge to say, “You do know that Northwest Airlines and the Detroit Airport do not revolve around you. Right?”
That said, it was a shame to hear that the Paris flight was boarding and they hadn’t actually pushed back from Cleveland yet.
I spoke with a helpful gate agent, Alain, who was sympathetic, and ensured that they had been protected on other flights.
21 November 2007
NW 50 DTW-CDG
A330-300 Seat 2J
I went ahead on board the A330 flight. It’s quite an attractive airplane, particularly in World Business Class. The crew were nothing short of bubbly. Judy, Peggy, Karen, Travis, and Peter were all aware of the situation involving my folks, and kept their fingers crossed.
My phone rang again. My parents had landed in Detroit, but were waiting for a gate.
As luck would have it, an irate passenger created a ruckus. He had an exit row seat that had been assigned to multiple passengers. He refused to take another seat and became belligerent with a flight attendant (it was the flight attendant’s first overseas flight.) The captain rightfully decided to deny boarding to the unruly passenger, thereby delaying the flight.
At the last moment, with the door shut, there was a knock at 2L. My folks—huffing and puffing—ran aboard. The Business Class cabin met them with a round of applause.
And we were off for a quick seven-hour flight to France.
Northwest certainly offers comfortable accommodations and remarkably friendly flight attendants. But their “soft product” is not as good. The amenity kit was pathetic at best: toothbrush, socks, eye mask, and Chapstick. No glitzy brand-name cosmetics. There was, however, Aveda lotion in the bathroom. Why not put some in the amenity kits too?
The food looked and tasted like economy class. The menu—from memory—was as follows:
The apple crisp, however, was amazing. Judy said, “It will be like going to grandma’s.” My grandmothers were both horrible cooks, but that’s beside the point.
After watching multiple episodes of Weeds on my laptop, I slept for a few hours.
Breakfast was an improvement:
There was almost no line at immigration, and my bag was the first one off the belt. Touchdown to curb: 20 minutes! My parents’ bags, however, did not fly with us, so there was a delay while they dealt with baggage service.
Due to the transit strike, we arranged for a minivan to pick us up. The trip was a quick one in to town.
Paris
This was the nicest weather I’ve ever experienced in Paris. It was sunny, crisp, and pleasant. The City of Light was as much fun as always. Even with the decline of the dollar, it was still fun. There was good food, friendly locals, etc. And I enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with my family… even those who are not American and had pretty much never had Thanksgiving dinner.
24 November 2007
NW50 CDG-DTW
A330-300 Seat 1H
Despite the recent strike, I had little difficulty taking the RER to Charles de Gaulle. There was once again no line at all at Check-in. A security agent from “I-SEC” asked me only three or four questions, and a cheerful Air France agent had me on my way in no time.
Maybe I’m just lucky, but I have had very good experiences with Air France at CDG. This agent was cheerful, helpful, and organized.
Thanks to ADP’s version of Fast Track, I did not wait at all for passport control or security. Security was incredibly quick and friendly. Everyone was cheerful; no lines, no hassle. Shoes stay on.
Boarding was equally expeditious. Another sparkling (and very attractive) security woman asked me a couple of questions and I boarded the bus. Although there was secondary screening both at the gate and at the aircraft entrance, this did not seem to be as lengthy or as involved as in the past. I was pleased to be exempt from this.
Once aboard, I was met by the same crew from the inbound flight. They remembered me and wanted to know all about our Thanksgiving dinner.
Again, a very quick departure with a completely full A330.
Food was substantially better on the return flight:
The in-seat power supply was broken on this flight. The purser tried resetting everything, but no dice. So I graded papers, watched a couple of movies, and chatted with my neighbor and the cabin crew.
Before long, it was time for the arrival service. This consisted of warm ciabatta, cold tandoori chicken, cheddar cheese, red meat of some kind, and a syrup cake. I made my own sandwich out of the chicken and ciabatta, which was really very good.
In no time, we made a quick approach into Detroit. I was dispatched with hugs from two of the flight attendants and proceeded to the terminal.
DTW
Uh-oh. What a mess! Bags took at least 30 minutes, with no attention to priority tags. The immigration and customs staff were surly at best. In fact, I’d say that they were passive-aggressive, both beneath a sign that said “We are the face of a nation.”
Security made me ashamed to be American. There was the typical long line, multiple agents chatting and not doing anything, and a cacophony of angry, barking agents. They were snapping at people who hadn’t even reached the checkpoint. “You! Get that sweater off!” (I’m not exaggerating.) The woman in front of me became very upset. A French woman in line was scolded for having a water bottle. “You know you can’t have that.”
Don’t these people realize that courtesy and friendliness can be patriotic?
In any case, I proceeded up to the WorldClub for about 90 minutes.
24 November 2007
NW 730 DTW-CMH
DC-9-50 Seat 1B
I had a twinge of guilt about circumventing the long line for boarding and stepping up to the red carpet. But—hey—I did pay for a first class ticket. Once on board, a remarkably cheerful cabin crew offered drinks and small talk. There was perhaps a 30-minute ground delay while waiting for connecting bags, but this resulted in only a 10-15 minute overall delay.
I enjoyed the short flight on a plane older than I am. I enjoyed some red wine with the couple sitting next to me. Halfway through the flight, they asked if they could come see me as their doctor, which I found flattering.
Closing thoughts
I think Northwest did well on this trip. The flight attendants were particularly good on the NWA-operated segments. The food was a mixed bag. The outbound was pretty lousy, but the return made up for it. And I like the A330 seats. They’re more cramped than some others, but are still close to lie-flat.
Detroit did very well as an outbound connection point, but was pretty awful for the inbound international flight. I’m pretty convinced that Atlanta and Houston are easier.
The WorldClub in Detroit is a nice facility. Not much in the way of food, but I like the free Wi-Fi and self-service draft beer.
I’m taking the A330 again in a few weeks to Honolulu, so we’ll see how Northwest does on a long domestic trip.
For my next trip to Europe, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly Northwest. I think that Air France and Delta have better food, Continental has better seats and entertainment on 757 and 777 flights. But Northwest certainly won in terms of its cabin crew. And the fare was particularly good too.
I happened to mention the trip to my father. He did not reply, instead he just sent me his flight itinerary. My father and stepmother decided to buy tickets for the same flight. They would fly from Cleveland, I would fly from Columbus, and we would meet in Detroit. I would be on my own for the return, for work reasons.
CMH
There was no line to check-in; in fact, the NWA check-in area was deserted. After a swipe of my passport, I obtained boarding cards and headed for security. My bag was equipped with SkyTeam priority tags. Demonstrating my characteristic level-headedness and forethought, I attempted to go to the wrong concourse. The TSA agent was friendly about it and wished me a pleasant flight nonetheless.
Unlike Continental, my boarding card was not marked with any sort of status despite travelling on an international business class ticket. So I waited in the regular security line—about ten minutes. There was a lot of barking and arguing among the TSA staff, but I managed to choose the least angry of the queues, making it through unscathed.
21 November 2007
Northwest (Pinnacle Airlines) 5811 CMH-DTW
CRJ-200 Seat 2C
If one has to fly on a CRJ, this is the way to do it. Northwest offers Jetways for boarding CRJ, the interiors are cramped, but tidy and new. A scowling flight attendant welcomed nobody aboard. She clearly had more pressing activities, such as balancing her checkbook and checking her voice mail.
Due to lousy weather, we were faced with a 40-minute hold at CMH. This didn’t seem to affect anyone’s connections, and we arrived only 15-minutes behind schedule.
The flight attendant conducted no safety demo at all. I’m sure that the airline can be fined for that. But—I mean really—she did have voice mail messages to worry about. I figured she’d be no use in an emergency anyway, so it’s probably best that she didn’t make any efforts to protect our safety.
DTW
What a beautiful airport. It’s absolutely immaculate, gleaming, and soon to be obsolete. Now that America has a dying auto industry, it seems unlikely that the hub will thrive. That said, I was impressed by the shiny, freshly-painted 747-400s, parked close to the gate.
I headed to the WorldClub, which featured meager food offerings. Delta is the clear winner in this category, largely because they have dedicated BusinessElite lounges in Atlanta and New York. Last I heard, Continental is planning to introduce BusinessFirst lounges, so perhaps NWA will follow-suit.
Frantic phone calls
My parents called about every five minutes. I’m not exaggerating. Turns out that their flight was stuck in Cleveland, and their odds of misconnecting were high. Imagining, perhaps, that the airport would be deserted, the begged me to lobby the gate agent to hold the flight.
I decided to withhold the urge to say, “You do know that Northwest Airlines and the Detroit Airport do not revolve around you. Right?”
That said, it was a shame to hear that the Paris flight was boarding and they hadn’t actually pushed back from Cleveland yet.
I spoke with a helpful gate agent, Alain, who was sympathetic, and ensured that they had been protected on other flights.
21 November 2007
NW 50 DTW-CDG
A330-300 Seat 2J
I went ahead on board the A330 flight. It’s quite an attractive airplane, particularly in World Business Class. The crew were nothing short of bubbly. Judy, Peggy, Karen, Travis, and Peter were all aware of the situation involving my folks, and kept their fingers crossed.
My phone rang again. My parents had landed in Detroit, but were waiting for a gate.
As luck would have it, an irate passenger created a ruckus. He had an exit row seat that had been assigned to multiple passengers. He refused to take another seat and became belligerent with a flight attendant (it was the flight attendant’s first overseas flight.) The captain rightfully decided to deny boarding to the unruly passenger, thereby delaying the flight.
At the last moment, with the door shut, there was a knock at 2L. My folks—huffing and puffing—ran aboard. The Business Class cabin met them with a round of applause.
And we were off for a quick seven-hour flight to France.
Northwest certainly offers comfortable accommodations and remarkably friendly flight attendants. But their “soft product” is not as good. The amenity kit was pathetic at best: toothbrush, socks, eye mask, and Chapstick. No glitzy brand-name cosmetics. There was, however, Aveda lotion in the bathroom. Why not put some in the amenity kits too?
The food looked and tasted like economy class. The menu—from memory—was as follows:
Cold nuts
Breadsticks with salmon mousse and spinach dip
Lettuce and cherry tomatoes
Caesar or Balsamic Vinaigrette
Cold rolls
Beef Filet
Sea bass with dried fruit
Chicken stuffed with brie and apples, wild rice, green beens
Cold entrée (the “champagne” service.)
Warm apple crisp with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream
I had a couple of gin and tonics and the chicken. The chicken itself was quite good, but it came on a plastic tray with miniscule utensils in a tiny dish. Breadsticks with salmon mousse and spinach dip
Lettuce and cherry tomatoes
Caesar or Balsamic Vinaigrette
Cold rolls
Beef Filet
Sea bass with dried fruit
Chicken stuffed with brie and apples, wild rice, green beens
Cold entrée (the “champagne” service.)
Warm apple crisp with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream
The apple crisp, however, was amazing. Judy said, “It will be like going to grandma’s.” My grandmothers were both horrible cooks, but that’s beside the point.
After watching multiple episodes of Weeds on my laptop, I slept for a few hours.
Breakfast was an improvement:
Cold, but edible croissants or “muesli bread”
Raspberry Yogurt
A very good fruit plait (very sweet pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries)
Disgusting coffee
In no time at all, we landed at Charles de Gaulle 2E. Judy snuck me an unopened bottle of Champagne, and we boarded the first bus.Raspberry Yogurt
A very good fruit plait (very sweet pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries)
Disgusting coffee
There was almost no line at immigration, and my bag was the first one off the belt. Touchdown to curb: 20 minutes! My parents’ bags, however, did not fly with us, so there was a delay while they dealt with baggage service.
Due to the transit strike, we arranged for a minivan to pick us up. The trip was a quick one in to town.
Paris
This was the nicest weather I’ve ever experienced in Paris. It was sunny, crisp, and pleasant. The City of Light was as much fun as always. Even with the decline of the dollar, it was still fun. There was good food, friendly locals, etc. And I enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with my family… even those who are not American and had pretty much never had Thanksgiving dinner.
24 November 2007
NW50 CDG-DTW
A330-300 Seat 1H
Despite the recent strike, I had little difficulty taking the RER to Charles de Gaulle. There was once again no line at all at Check-in. A security agent from “I-SEC” asked me only three or four questions, and a cheerful Air France agent had me on my way in no time.
Maybe I’m just lucky, but I have had very good experiences with Air France at CDG. This agent was cheerful, helpful, and organized.
Thanks to ADP’s version of Fast Track, I did not wait at all for passport control or security. Security was incredibly quick and friendly. Everyone was cheerful; no lines, no hassle. Shoes stay on.
Boarding was equally expeditious. Another sparkling (and very attractive) security woman asked me a couple of questions and I boarded the bus. Although there was secondary screening both at the gate and at the aircraft entrance, this did not seem to be as lengthy or as involved as in the past. I was pleased to be exempt from this.
Once aboard, I was met by the same crew from the inbound flight. They remembered me and wanted to know all about our Thanksgiving dinner.
Again, a very quick departure with a completely full A330.
Food was substantially better on the return flight:
Cold nuts
Salad with mixed vegetables
Mango curry dressing or Balsamic vinaigrette (the former was very, very good.)
Mixed seafood with curry appetizer (scallop, shrimp, mystery gazpacho-type stuff)
Lukewarm, mostly stale bread
Chicken with truffle sauce, sweet potato gratin.
Asian beef with rice
Salmon
Truffle ice cream
I had the chicken, which was edible. The ice cream, however, was exceptional. Northwest seems to be doing very well in the dessert category.Salad with mixed vegetables
Mango curry dressing or Balsamic vinaigrette (the former was very, very good.)
Mixed seafood with curry appetizer (scallop, shrimp, mystery gazpacho-type stuff)
Lukewarm, mostly stale bread
Chicken with truffle sauce, sweet potato gratin.
Asian beef with rice
Salmon
Truffle ice cream
The in-seat power supply was broken on this flight. The purser tried resetting everything, but no dice. So I graded papers, watched a couple of movies, and chatted with my neighbor and the cabin crew.
Before long, it was time for the arrival service. This consisted of warm ciabatta, cold tandoori chicken, cheddar cheese, red meat of some kind, and a syrup cake. I made my own sandwich out of the chicken and ciabatta, which was really very good.
In no time, we made a quick approach into Detroit. I was dispatched with hugs from two of the flight attendants and proceeded to the terminal.
DTW
Uh-oh. What a mess! Bags took at least 30 minutes, with no attention to priority tags. The immigration and customs staff were surly at best. In fact, I’d say that they were passive-aggressive, both beneath a sign that said “We are the face of a nation.”
Security made me ashamed to be American. There was the typical long line, multiple agents chatting and not doing anything, and a cacophony of angry, barking agents. They were snapping at people who hadn’t even reached the checkpoint. “You! Get that sweater off!” (I’m not exaggerating.) The woman in front of me became very upset. A French woman in line was scolded for having a water bottle. “You know you can’t have that.”
Don’t these people realize that courtesy and friendliness can be patriotic?
In any case, I proceeded up to the WorldClub for about 90 minutes.
24 November 2007
NW 730 DTW-CMH
DC-9-50 Seat 1B
I had a twinge of guilt about circumventing the long line for boarding and stepping up to the red carpet. But—hey—I did pay for a first class ticket. Once on board, a remarkably cheerful cabin crew offered drinks and small talk. There was perhaps a 30-minute ground delay while waiting for connecting bags, but this resulted in only a 10-15 minute overall delay.
I enjoyed the short flight on a plane older than I am. I enjoyed some red wine with the couple sitting next to me. Halfway through the flight, they asked if they could come see me as their doctor, which I found flattering.
Closing thoughts
I think Northwest did well on this trip. The flight attendants were particularly good on the NWA-operated segments. The food was a mixed bag. The outbound was pretty lousy, but the return made up for it. And I like the A330 seats. They’re more cramped than some others, but are still close to lie-flat.
Detroit did very well as an outbound connection point, but was pretty awful for the inbound international flight. I’m pretty convinced that Atlanta and Houston are easier.
The WorldClub in Detroit is a nice facility. Not much in the way of food, but I like the free Wi-Fi and self-service draft beer.
I’m taking the A330 again in a few weeks to Honolulu, so we’ll see how Northwest does on a long domestic trip.
For my next trip to Europe, I wouldn’t hesitate to fly Northwest. I think that Air France and Delta have better food, Continental has better seats and entertainment on 757 and 777 flights. But Northwest certainly won in terms of its cabin crew. And the fare was particularly good too.
Nov 27, 2007, 8:18 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: DCA
Posts: 3,395
Thanks for the report!
I think you will like the 330 to HNL, it is basically WBC service except the food is a little less "fancy" and there is no port or sparkling wine available. You should send a "Talk to Us" email to NW about the lack of inseat power, they will probably give you a (not insignificant) number of bonus miles.
I think you will like the 330 to HNL, it is basically WBC service except the food is a little less "fancy" and there is no port or sparkling wine available. You should send a "Talk to Us" email to NW about the lack of inseat power, they will probably give you a (not insignificant) number of bonus miles.