My day started off with the 6AM American Eagle departure out of Houston to Chicago O’Hare. But no one cares about an uneventful domestic US flight, let’s pick up in ridiculously cold and snowy Chicago where it was still 10 degrees Fahrenheit under the sun at 10AM. Since I haven’t been in Chicago for awhile, I decided to grab a rental car and head into the city. While the subway would have been far more cost effective, there were some errands I needed to run as well. Thanks to my Executive status with National, I was able to pick any car on the Executive Aisle. I ended up choosing a 4WD Ford Escape, which was actually a pretty nice vehicle.
Yep. I ain’t in Texas anymore.
First stop was Costco, to pick up a few things. Namely a case of Dr. Pepper and Reese’s Pieces for my friend living in London. Ya know, the essentials for an American living abroad. This particular Costco actually had a pretty nice view from the parking lot.
Then it was off into Chicago proper to meet a friend for lunch.
I caught up with my old friend over a nice sushi lunch. Afterwards, I headed to Navy Pier for a walk and to test out my new toy, a Nikon D5300 that I got for Christmas.
Even though I’m a huge beer nerd, I don’t think I could down a cold brew in these conditions.
This was just an iPhone photo I snapped for some reason while leaving Navy Pier.
With a little less than 3 hours to go before departure, I decided to head to O’Hare just in case I hit traffic on the way over. The drive back was pretty smooth for the most part. After arriving back at the terminal, I packed the Dr. Pepper I had bought for my friend into my bag and checked it. Security was quick thanks to Pre Check. Since I knew the food onboard wasn’t going to be great, I am flying coach after all, I stopped off at Frontera’s for a delicious sandwich and mango lime juice.
I dropped byt the H/K Admirals Club to shower and grab a couple of bottles of water, using my drink chits, before heading to the gate. The aircraft operating my flight to Paris, N7375A, is one of the few non-wingleted 767s left in American’s fleet.
American Airlines 42
Chicago O’Hare (ORD) – Paris Charles DeGaulle (CDG)
Depart: 5:00 PM
Arrive: 7:25 AM+1
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300ER
Seat: 13H (Economy Class)
As Business Class award space did open up a few days before departure, I thought about splurging for an upgrade since it was a short red eye flight and sleep was at a premium. But a quick check on ExpertFlyer indicated the flight was still wide open, so I decided to try my luck and hope for an empty seat next to me. When all fare buckets were still showing 7 at T-24, I figured I would get lucky and get an empty seat next to me. And I did. In fact, both Main Cabin Extra and the Main Cabin were both less than half full. So I was pretty pleased I resisted the urge to spend the extra miles.
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I love the old seats on American’s 767-300ER. Despite their age, they are still well padded and comfortable. I was able to select a Main Cabin Extra seat for no charge thanks to my AAdvantage Platinum status, so I had plenty of legroom as well. In fact, I find the MCE seats on the 767 to be far more comfortable than the MCE seats on American’s new 777-300ER.
The setting sun made for some nice views during taxi and take off.
About 30 minutes after take off, the flight attendants made their way down the aisle with the pre-dinner beverage and snack service.
Dinner was served shortly afterwards. The entrée choices were chicken and rice or vegetarian pasta. I’ve had enough crappy dried out chicken dishes in domestic First Class post September 1st, so I decided to go with the pasta. My tray was missing the plasticware set, so the flight attendant ran up to Business Class to get me a set of silverware from there. The pasta turned out to be macaroni and cheese with some vegetables. It was perfectly edible and filling meal, though not great by any stretch of the imagination. Beer and wine are complimentary on American’s long haul flights, so I ordered a Dos Equis with my meal.
What’s dinner at 38,000 feet without a show? The downside of flying the 767 is the lack of built in entertainment options. So I improvised. Bonus points for those of y’all who know what movie or TV show this is.
Trays were cleared quickly, and the flight attendants made one last beverage run prior to dimming the cabin lights for the evening. When I declined an additional beverage, the flight attendant told me if I needed anything at anytime during the flight, just ask. Quite impressive for economy class.
Before long, I was feeling rather tired, so I decided to shut ‘er down for the evening. I fell asleep very quickly, and woke up with just a little over an hour left in flight. The flight attendants started the continental breakfast service not long after I woke up. I am huge fan of hot breakfast, but for a short transatlantic red eye this was absolutely perfect. It was tasty and filling.
The captain came on the PA to announce our initial decent a short while later, and even apologized for the chop experienced over the Atlantic. Not that the airline or captain had control over that, but a nice touch nevertheless. It’s worth noting the captain was actually a “she”, and this was the first female pilot I’ve ever had in my nearly 650,000 miles of flying.
The sun began to rise as we made our decent.
We touched down gently at Charles DeGaulle a few minutes ahead of schedule. We were assigned to remote gate on the other side of the airport, which meant a long taxi. I was somewhat miffed as the US Airways flight that landed right after us was assigned a gate, but what can you do about it.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I had a date with this very Qatar Airways A380-800, A7-APC, a few days later.
We pulled up next to a Delta 767-300ER.
A couple of fellow economy class passengers were talking loudly about how amazing “first class” looked as we walked through the Business Class cabin while deplaning. I couldn’t help chuckling a bit, but its all relative. Anyways, it was kind of kind of cool deplaning by staircase. Busses were already there waiting for us. I don’t’ know if it’s by design or a happy coincidence, but as soon as I got on the bus the doors were shut and we left for the terminal. It was a short ride to the terminal, and luckily the lines were short at immigration. Bags were already coming out on the belt by the time I reached the baggage claim, and I was onboard the Roissy Bus bound for Opera a little over 20 minutes after deplaning. That’s gotta be a record of some kind for Charles DeGualle.