London and Paris - Part 2 - Getting to Paris
Aug 26, 2001, 11:37 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: lapsed UA 1K (now a lowly 2P), HGP Platinum
Posts: 9,607
London and Paris - Part 2 - Getting to Paris
Previous, The Background
LAX - ORD UA842 8/15 (757)
Being centrally located, I almost always get the lowest levels of service since my flights are all pretty short. My main trip is AUS-ORD or IAH-ORD, and we've certainly given up on ever seeing linens, menus, hot towels, or any kind of service at all return to these flights.
So, it was really nice to have a nice level of service again on a domestic flight. There were menus, linens, hot towels, glass salt and pepper shakers, and the meal was actually served in courses like I wasn't at McDonald's picking up an Extra Value meal!
The food was good and properly cooked (a rarity on the short hauls), but I'm not much of a fodd critic, so I'll skip this detail.
August was a sad month for United Entertainment. Channel 9 was the only interesting thing they had, and it was pretty uneventful. I think I had Shrek or Crocodile Dundee in LA as the movie, and didn't watch it. Partially because it looked kind of stupid, but mainly because I knew it would also be a choice on my transatlantic leg and I wanted to make sure that I had as many options as possbile.
I think it's the ADD again, but how many of you are terrified at the thought of being on a flight with nothing to read, watch, or do? It scares me to death and I always WAY overpack on reading material just to make sure that I don't end up magazineless in the air.
I went to Australia in May and actually packed a complete suitcase with nothing but magazines and books. I need help!
At any rate, I had plenty to read and we landed in Chicago on-time. I set off to meet Bill's flight which was delayed, but fortunately directly across the hall from our London flight, so he got off just in time to board...
ORD - LHR UA938 8/15 (747-400)
We had seats 8G and 8H, which I've mentioned before on the United board are my favorite setas on the newly reconfigured 744's. Since I'm 6'5", I always hate it when the person in front of me reclines on domestic flights (particularly in coach, but even in First). Come on, does it really make anyone that much more comfortable to fully recline their seat when they aren't going to sleep? Well, it certainly makes it a lot worse for the person behind you, so I never recline more than a few degrees to make sure I don't do that to others.
Now, on an International 744, this is different, and no one's recline is going to bother anyone, but I still feel more comfortable knowing that there's nobody behind me. I also like that I get to keep underseat and seat pocket storage (reams of reading material, remember?), so I choose this by far over the bulkhead. Plus the reconfigured row 6 is one of the worst seats in business now, since it has smaller legroom, and the aisles jut out in the traffic flow, so that you're kicked every time someone walks through the curtains. I admit to not having ridden upstairs, but I rule out the much touted row 15 for the reasons stated above.
938 leaves ORD at 9:25pm (and we did leave on-time), so it's a dinner flight with breakfast snack. My only comment about the food was about the asparagus, which was found in an appetizer choice and in a main course choice. Does anyone really like this stuff? I always thought it was thrown in as filler like cole slaw, but to see it twice was a little disconcerting.
United 744's do have in-seat 9 channel personal video in Business Class, and we had a pretty pathetic selection.
Program 1 was Shrek; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The Luzhin Defense; or The Black Stallion.
Program 2 offered Crocodile Dundee in LA, Heartbreakers, Vatel, or Benny & Joon.
The only movie of the above I had any interest in was Benny & Joon, and of course, I was asleep long before it came on. We also didn't have Channel 9 on this flight. I asked the purser about it, and she kind of looked at me with this terrified look like she had just committed a thought-crime by hearing my question and said "Oh no, he never turns it on!" I don't think she fully trusted me again the whole flight.
There were also a lot of headset problems on this trip. When we first sat down, my headset's noice-cancelling didn't work, and Bill's only got sound out of one side. We asked the flight attendant and she gave us new ones, but they had different problems. When we mentioned it again, she suggested that we wait until we were in the air to see if it still wasn't working. I wasn't quite sure how being in the air would help their electronics, but it turns out that there was something about being in the air that helped our headset problem. That was that she was in another area, and our regular flight attendant was there to get us new headsets. The new ones did work.
It was a smooth crossing, and we touched down in London 30 minutes ahead of schedule, but burned up 20 of those, by having to wait for a gate.
Since our travel agent booked us on BA to get to Paris, we had to change terminals, so we still had to clear customs and passport control in the UK. The officer seemed very suspicious of this transiting business, but after grilling us for a minute on when our flight was leaving, let us through. I expected a full-cavity search in customs, what with hoof-and-mouth and all, but we sailed right through.
Heathrow is one of those airports that was not designed for the feint of foot. After walking a mile to get to immigration, we had to trek our overpacked selves through cart and cartless areas back to the train to terminal 1, and then on to the BA gate.
LHR - CDG BA314 8/16 (757)
Since we landed early, we were hoping to standby for an earlier flight to Paris since ours wasn't for 2 and a half hours, but the guy at the check-in said that the earlier flight was closing and that we couldn't possibly make it. So, he booked us on our regular flight, and we meandered our way back to the gate (18 at the far end of the first concourse).
Imagine our chagrin then, when after we had strolled to the gate at a comfortable pace, stopping to shop a little and had been at the gate for 5 minutes to hear paging that the earlier flight was still waiting for some of its passengers. We almost went to that gate to board before we realized that our bags would be on the other flight (or probably on no flight, given IRA terrorism problems.
I don't mean to complain all the time, since it was a great trip, but the BA flights were probably the low point. They don't have anything like Economy Plus and certainly not MRTC, so we were in the tiniest seats I've been in in years. The guy in front of me tried to recline (of course), and I simply had to put my hand up and stop him from doing so, while apologizing. There were other seats open that he or I could move to, but thankfully, he understood.
They offered some horrible sounding sack lunch, which we didn't take, and the lack of ice and cold drinks began in earnest.
We are pretty sure that British Airways won't be on any of our itineraries in the future. I still don't understand why the travel agent picked a non-Star Alliance carrier, but it was the office travel agent, since my personal agent was out of town. They're not known for any type of skill whatsoever.
Next, Paris, London, and Back Home.
[This message has been edited by robb (edited 08-26-2001).]
LAX - ORD UA842 8/15 (757)
Being centrally located, I almost always get the lowest levels of service since my flights are all pretty short. My main trip is AUS-ORD or IAH-ORD, and we've certainly given up on ever seeing linens, menus, hot towels, or any kind of service at all return to these flights.
So, it was really nice to have a nice level of service again on a domestic flight. There were menus, linens, hot towels, glass salt and pepper shakers, and the meal was actually served in courses like I wasn't at McDonald's picking up an Extra Value meal!
The food was good and properly cooked (a rarity on the short hauls), but I'm not much of a fodd critic, so I'll skip this detail.
August was a sad month for United Entertainment. Channel 9 was the only interesting thing they had, and it was pretty uneventful. I think I had Shrek or Crocodile Dundee in LA as the movie, and didn't watch it. Partially because it looked kind of stupid, but mainly because I knew it would also be a choice on my transatlantic leg and I wanted to make sure that I had as many options as possbile.
I think it's the ADD again, but how many of you are terrified at the thought of being on a flight with nothing to read, watch, or do? It scares me to death and I always WAY overpack on reading material just to make sure that I don't end up magazineless in the air.
I went to Australia in May and actually packed a complete suitcase with nothing but magazines and books. I need help!
At any rate, I had plenty to read and we landed in Chicago on-time. I set off to meet Bill's flight which was delayed, but fortunately directly across the hall from our London flight, so he got off just in time to board...
ORD - LHR UA938 8/15 (747-400)
We had seats 8G and 8H, which I've mentioned before on the United board are my favorite setas on the newly reconfigured 744's. Since I'm 6'5", I always hate it when the person in front of me reclines on domestic flights (particularly in coach, but even in First). Come on, does it really make anyone that much more comfortable to fully recline their seat when they aren't going to sleep? Well, it certainly makes it a lot worse for the person behind you, so I never recline more than a few degrees to make sure I don't do that to others.
Now, on an International 744, this is different, and no one's recline is going to bother anyone, but I still feel more comfortable knowing that there's nobody behind me. I also like that I get to keep underseat and seat pocket storage (reams of reading material, remember?), so I choose this by far over the bulkhead. Plus the reconfigured row 6 is one of the worst seats in business now, since it has smaller legroom, and the aisles jut out in the traffic flow, so that you're kicked every time someone walks through the curtains. I admit to not having ridden upstairs, but I rule out the much touted row 15 for the reasons stated above.
938 leaves ORD at 9:25pm (and we did leave on-time), so it's a dinner flight with breakfast snack. My only comment about the food was about the asparagus, which was found in an appetizer choice and in a main course choice. Does anyone really like this stuff? I always thought it was thrown in as filler like cole slaw, but to see it twice was a little disconcerting.
United 744's do have in-seat 9 channel personal video in Business Class, and we had a pretty pathetic selection.
Program 1 was Shrek; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The Luzhin Defense; or The Black Stallion.
Program 2 offered Crocodile Dundee in LA, Heartbreakers, Vatel, or Benny & Joon.
The only movie of the above I had any interest in was Benny & Joon, and of course, I was asleep long before it came on. We also didn't have Channel 9 on this flight. I asked the purser about it, and she kind of looked at me with this terrified look like she had just committed a thought-crime by hearing my question and said "Oh no, he never turns it on!" I don't think she fully trusted me again the whole flight.
There were also a lot of headset problems on this trip. When we first sat down, my headset's noice-cancelling didn't work, and Bill's only got sound out of one side. We asked the flight attendant and she gave us new ones, but they had different problems. When we mentioned it again, she suggested that we wait until we were in the air to see if it still wasn't working. I wasn't quite sure how being in the air would help their electronics, but it turns out that there was something about being in the air that helped our headset problem. That was that she was in another area, and our regular flight attendant was there to get us new headsets. The new ones did work.
It was a smooth crossing, and we touched down in London 30 minutes ahead of schedule, but burned up 20 of those, by having to wait for a gate.
Since our travel agent booked us on BA to get to Paris, we had to change terminals, so we still had to clear customs and passport control in the UK. The officer seemed very suspicious of this transiting business, but after grilling us for a minute on when our flight was leaving, let us through. I expected a full-cavity search in customs, what with hoof-and-mouth and all, but we sailed right through.
Heathrow is one of those airports that was not designed for the feint of foot. After walking a mile to get to immigration, we had to trek our overpacked selves through cart and cartless areas back to the train to terminal 1, and then on to the BA gate.
LHR - CDG BA314 8/16 (757)
Since we landed early, we were hoping to standby for an earlier flight to Paris since ours wasn't for 2 and a half hours, but the guy at the check-in said that the earlier flight was closing and that we couldn't possibly make it. So, he booked us on our regular flight, and we meandered our way back to the gate (18 at the far end of the first concourse).
Imagine our chagrin then, when after we had strolled to the gate at a comfortable pace, stopping to shop a little and had been at the gate for 5 minutes to hear paging that the earlier flight was still waiting for some of its passengers. We almost went to that gate to board before we realized that our bags would be on the other flight (or probably on no flight, given IRA terrorism problems.
I don't mean to complain all the time, since it was a great trip, but the BA flights were probably the low point. They don't have anything like Economy Plus and certainly not MRTC, so we were in the tiniest seats I've been in in years. The guy in front of me tried to recline (of course), and I simply had to put my hand up and stop him from doing so, while apologizing. There were other seats open that he or I could move to, but thankfully, he understood.
They offered some horrible sounding sack lunch, which we didn't take, and the lack of ice and cold drinks began in earnest.
We are pretty sure that British Airways won't be on any of our itineraries in the future. I still don't understand why the travel agent picked a non-Star Alliance carrier, but it was the office travel agent, since my personal agent was out of town. They're not known for any type of skill whatsoever.
Next, Paris, London, and Back Home.
[This message has been edited by robb (edited 08-26-2001).]
Aug 27, 2001, 1:09 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Miami Beach, FL
Programs: AA EXP 3MM, BA Gold
Posts: 876
robb, it's too bad we both have boyfriends because we'd make great travel companions! 
I second your thoughts on: 1) in-flight videos are getting worse and worse, aren't they? They've moved beyond 2nd run and found straight-to-video titles for our viewing pleasure. 2) I have that run-out-of-reading phobia, too! Jeez, I carry more magazines and books than I do clothes sometimes (but still not as much as shoes...) 3) There's almost nothing that drives me crazier than the full recliners - if the seat goes back, they're going back all the way no matter what! That's why I always take the bulkhead, even if there's a bit less legroom. 4) Have you *ever* seen less legroom than on a regular BA flight? I'm only 5'7" and I can barely fit in those seats, and those sack lunches can be really nasty. But I do admit to getting some really stellar BA service at times, most notably one of the best in-flight meals I've had on a 70-minute RJ flight - 4 courses served to J pax on china, no less.
We'd probably not get along so well once we arrived at a destination, though. Wow, you managed to get a lot done in a short time! I try to keep my itinerary a bit more leisurely, but that's just me. BTW, the food scene in London has improved drastically in the past few years and there's some really great places to eat besides Burger King...
One last thing - if you ever decide to do it again, try the EuroStar between London and Paris rather than BA. By the time you add airport transportation to each end, you can do city-center to city-center in less time and it's a lot more fun.
I second your thoughts on: 1) in-flight videos are getting worse and worse, aren't they? They've moved beyond 2nd run and found straight-to-video titles for our viewing pleasure. 2) I have that run-out-of-reading phobia, too! Jeez, I carry more magazines and books than I do clothes sometimes (but still not as much as shoes...) 3) There's almost nothing that drives me crazier than the full recliners - if the seat goes back, they're going back all the way no matter what! That's why I always take the bulkhead, even if there's a bit less legroom. 4) Have you *ever* seen less legroom than on a regular BA flight? I'm only 5'7" and I can barely fit in those seats, and those sack lunches can be really nasty. But I do admit to getting some really stellar BA service at times, most notably one of the best in-flight meals I've had on a 70-minute RJ flight - 4 courses served to J pax on china, no less.
We'd probably not get along so well once we arrived at a destination, though. Wow, you managed to get a lot done in a short time! I try to keep my itinerary a bit more leisurely, but that's just me. BTW, the food scene in London has improved drastically in the past few years and there's some really great places to eat besides Burger King...
One last thing - if you ever decide to do it again, try the EuroStar between London and Paris rather than BA. By the time you add airport transportation to each end, you can do city-center to city-center in less time and it's a lot more fun.
Aug 27, 2001, 1:40 pm
#3
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Farmington, CT USA
Programs: AA PLT; DL Gold MDL
Posts: 238
robb,
I usually go through LHR (AA to BA) to other destinations in Europe and I never have to go through customs and passport control. You just follow the yellow and black signs for connecting flight/other terminals and go directly to the bus, which is airside. When you get to the other terminal (I went from T3 to T1 for BA to Berlin), you go through security and that is it. I only had to show my passport to the agent at the gate for my connecting flight's boarding pass.
That is probably why the customs agent looked at you strangely. I am surprised UA doesn't show the LHR connecting flight video prior to landing. It sounds like you had a great trip to Paris. It has been a few years for me and I miss it, especially the bars! . . . Mike
I usually go through LHR (AA to BA) to other destinations in Europe and I never have to go through customs and passport control. You just follow the yellow and black signs for connecting flight/other terminals and go directly to the bus, which is airside. When you get to the other terminal (I went from T3 to T1 for BA to Berlin), you go through security and that is it. I only had to show my passport to the agent at the gate for my connecting flight's boarding pass.
That is probably why the customs agent looked at you strangely. I am surprised UA doesn't show the LHR connecting flight video prior to landing. It sounds like you had a great trip to Paris. It has been a few years for me and I miss it, especially the bars! . . . Mike
Aug 27, 2001, 8:40 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: lapsed UA 1K (now a lowly 2P), HGP Platinum
Posts: 9,607
jAAck, if nothing else, we could share a reading suitcase Unfortunately, we're twice star-crossed by being devoted to differnt boys and different airlines 
At any rate: I know, I know, I really have that territory-conquering travel style. I feel like I should carry around little Rob flags to claim the Louvre in my name before moving on to the next conquest.
Like I said, though, we did have too short a time that we would have spent all in Paris if not for the regret I was sure Bill would have for missing London after flyihg through it.
He'll have plenty of chances to go back and be leisurely, he needs some survey trips to jumpstart his travels.
It's working, too, I'm already finding Venice brouchures on the printer.
As for the EuroStar, I had planned to take that, but couldn't get the travel times I wanted for the return trip. It would have cost me a big chunk of our 2 London days.
ctmike, Because I had planned to EuroStar it, the intraEurope air travel was not through-ticketed and our bags weren't through-checked, so we had to pick up our bags in Terminal 4, go through customs and then ride the train around to Terminal 1.
Unfortunately, we're twice star-crossed by being devoted to differnt boys and different airlines At any rate: I know, I know, I really have that territory-conquering travel style. I feel like I should carry around little Rob flags to claim the Louvre in my name before moving on to the next conquest.
Like I said, though, we did have too short a time that we would have spent all in Paris if not for the regret I was sure Bill would have for missing London after flyihg through it.
He'll have plenty of chances to go back and be leisurely, he needs some survey trips to jumpstart his travels.
It's working, too, I'm already finding Venice brouchures on the printer.
As for the EuroStar, I had planned to take that, but couldn't get the travel times I wanted for the return trip. It would have cost me a big chunk of our 2 London days.
ctmike, Because I had planned to EuroStar it, the intraEurope air travel was not through-ticketed and our bags weren't through-checked, so we had to pick up our bags in Terminal 4, go through customs and then ride the train around to Terminal 1.