wahooflyer

I always enjoy your TRs, especially when they involve Montréal... also a frequent destination of mine.

Your pics of the empty CBSA lines at YUL are par for the course... I don't recall ever seeing a big backup there, no matter the hour of the day. My last trip to YUL, it had to be only about 12 minutes from the time I left my F seat on Delta to the time I boarded the 747 bus at the curbside (and that's without NEXUS... the walk from the US gates is the longest part, as you know).

That dinner at Liverpool House looks amazing. I ate at their sister restaurant Vin Papillon last month which was decent, but the menu consisted mostly of vegetarian options (not really my thing).

I am surprised you stayed by the airport rather than in more of a "centre-ville" location. I did so once before finding out how there is absolutely nothing worthwhile to see (or eat) near YUL. Tim Hortons on Côte de Liesse was just about the only lunch option near where I stayed... Since then, I've learned to stay downtown when on business, even though the clients I visit are all on the West Island.

As far as the duty free, I usually don't give it a second look... but with the favorable CAD to USD exchange rate it is an excellent deal for booze right now. Jameson in 1L bottles was 2 for $42 on my last visit, which is less than half the price it is here at our state liquor stores in Virginia.

FlightNurse

Funny looking E-145

SFO777

Thank you grandgourmand. The CX flight was 40,000 AsiaMiles. Mrs. SFO777 and both love Jason Statham. The movie was great, especially with Jessica Alba in it. ^

Thanks very much Jaenks. OMG, what a memory. I believe that it was Emirates. And no, not the same person.

Thanks darthlemsip. Just missed it by a few days.

Thank you very much wahooflyer. I've found that YUL is all about luck and timing. Fortunately, it doesn't much matter with NEXUS which is very cool.
Since my office is on the West Island, it is easier and cheaper just to stay out there. I love the in terminal Marriott which is adjacent to the US departures terminate. I've never had a problem with West Island restaurants, especially url=http://www.40westt.com]40 Westt[/url].

Also funny looking gate for an E-145 since Eagle uses Gate 42.

Hoyaheel

.....checking flights to Canada.....c'mon, I know you all have made trips to another country for less, right??

Great report -my husband thinks I'm odd when I mention routings like that to get a specific plane or a specific lounge or....anything other than cheapest & quickest. Too much time spent on FT, I guess^

RogueViator

Oh SFO777 you're just giving me waay too many ideas!!!

I have to be in Los Angeles in May and found myself contemplating trying out PR's J-class YYZ to YVR (the only drawback being I'll have to do pre-clearance at YVR when I much prefer to do it in YYZ). My other option was reversing your routing and doing YYZ-JFK on AA and JFK-YVR on CX then back on AA for YVR-SNA (SNA-DFW-YYZ on AA on the way back).

Heck at one point I was even considering going YYZ-FRA-LAX and YYZ-DXB-SFO and hopping on UA for the quick SFO-SNA portion.

SFO777

Montréal to Philadelphia and New Orleans


By 6am on Saturday, temps had dropped even further. I dropped off my rental car and ran to the elevator to escape the cold. The walkway to the US Departure terminal.













I headed for the NEXUS priority lane which moved at a snails pace.



Another emotional support dog, no doubt.



After clearing customs, the usual walk to the concourse thru the duty free store nonsense.

















Montréal-Philadelphia
AA 4102
CRJ-200
7:20a-9:16a (sked)
7:15a-8:45a (actual)
January 15, 2017
Seat 1C

Welcome to one of the least comfortable airplanes ever made. Ordinarily I wouldn't go near that plane, but this was the fastest way to get to New Orleans today.



Apparently I was to only passenger with elite status as I had the entire first 3 rows to myself... including 1C which is the least worst seat on the plane.









No idea what this Delta 757 was doing here today as the biggest plane DL schedules to YUL is a CRJ-900. Although the NY Rangers were in town to play the Canadiens tonight, so this could be their charter.











Excellent service today from our FA Martha, who had fun barking at kettles that insisted on standing during push back and taxi.











PHL's bus terminal which is much nicer than LAX.

















Yeah, let's encourage even more phony emotional support dogs. Oy.



With 45 minutes to spare, I headed for the A/B Admirals Club using my status matched Air Berlin Gold card for entry, although the sour lounge dragon had no idea what it was and gave me plenty of grief for bothering her this morning. Yeah, welcome to Philadelphia.



Spacious and quite attractive, at least when no one is there like this morning.







​



















At around T-40, I headed downtairs for the quick walk to near by Gate B3.



Philadelphia-New Orleans
AA 1744
ERJ-190
10:30a-12:45p (sked)
10:30a-12:25p (actual)
January 15, 2017
Seat 1F then 2F



I was originally in 1F but moved back to 2F to get two seats to myself.







Lunch today was a choice of turkey sandwich or chicken salad. When you have low expectations, you won't be disappointed. And as expected, AA delivered. Yeah, that looks good.





Yikes.





Great views of NOLA on descent.











Yikes, what a dump this place is. A new terminal is under construction but this relic will still be used.





I ordered UBER as soon as I approached the concourse exit and my UBER Black driver pull up just as I arrived at the Transportation Center.



Real subtle. LOL.









I arrived at our hotel at 1:00p and headed upstairs see Mrs. SFO777 and then out to lunch.

SFO777

Thanks very much Hoyaheel. I think your hubbie is the odd one, at least by FT standards.

Thank you RogueViator. I vote for YYZ-DXB-SFO!

offerendum

I guess the CRJ-200 was the punishment for your mockery about emotional support animals

SFO777

With a couple of recommendations from the Omni concierge, we headed out for a late lunch.













Lucnch at iconic Galatoire's with a bachelorette party turning the place into a raucous scene.













My shrimp creole was excellent.



OMG, give it a rest already.



After lunch, we headed up a tacky Bourbon Street back to our hotel.

















With a stop at Leah's for pralines.





With a couple hours to spare, we decided to try the Hop On Hop Off bus.























Yawn.







Bigger yawn.





Argh, get us out of here.





Seriously? OK, after a half an hour we'd had enough of what was unquestionably the worst Hop On bus we've ever experienced... anywhere.



We hopped off at the WW2 Museum which is where we should have gone first. Unfortunately, we were running our of time and grabbed a taxi back to the hotel.































Mercifully, tonight was the polar opposite of this afternoon. An amazing dinner and great party at Brennan's.





Our gorgeous private wine cellar dining room.









What an amazing dinner.











Birthday boy SFO777Jr and the future Mrs. SFO777Jr.









After our amazing dinner at Brennan's, we headed up the street to The Carousel Bar at The Monteleone.







Back at the hotel, the party continued on our balcony until security knocked on our door to tell us that guests were complaining about the noise. Oops. Our bad.
And the 1am parade down Chartres just below our balcony.



After a 2nd noise complaint, we shut the party down just after 2am. And after a short night's sleep headed over for brunch at Antoine's, home of the grumpiest host on the planet.























After brunch, a quick tour of this classic almost 175 year old restaurant.














For an HD version of this report please visit SFO777.com

Also, just posted the last segment on SFO777.com.
• Pathetic American Airlines back to LAX

Will post to FT as soon as possible.

SFO777

No doubt.

HawaiiTrvlr

What's up with the lady and the dog in the restaurant? People are taking this ESA thing way too far.

Great report as always. Is there going to be a NOLA or California wedding?

theshaun

Seeing those pics of NOLA reminds me of how much I dislike that city. Sadly I have to go every Christmas to visit the inlaws. Being I was just there, I was not ready to see it again so soon

Would it be acceptable to fly in on Christmas eve and fly out on boxing day?

SFO777

Thank you HawaiiTrvlr. Denver wedding. Totally agree on the ESA thing. This woman had two dogs on my VX flight last week.



Thanks theshaun. Funny you should say that. Yeah, it had been 20 years since I'd been to NOLA and I'd have to agree. I don't need to go back anytime soon.

offerendum

2 nearly half dogs So 2 needed for emotional support

P.S. Expected at least in Austin or so they allow emotional support guns

pWei

Looks just like when I used my *G card to enter. I feel like I remember the water dispenser at the end of the bar as well.