Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
Oh I go along with all of that. Indeed if I had this sort of option, I would see my final night in Paris as "lost" - early night, no breakfast, expensive taxi - so I'd throw in the towel, move the flight to the night before and stay over in Heathrow. The usual complaint in this field, incidentally, is that people want to arrive early so they can have more time in the lounge, but at that hour it's not a priority for me.
Unfortunately we're flying on award flights and I chose the non-refundable option. Our original flight departed at 9:15 but BA cancelled it. The best alternative was this 7:05 departure, albeit at an ungodly hour.
I actually did something similar coming over from the US (flying the first leg on one day and the balance the next day). To avoid jetlag a bit, I wanted to fly from the US during the daytime so we arrived in London in the early evening (8 pm arrival). To do that, we had to fly the first leg of our journey to JFK and then stay over there, departing the next day at 8 am. (We're staying the night at the kitchy, '60s retro TWA hotel, so it will be fun).
I probably should have extended our Europe trip one extra day. But what's done is done. I'm going to rely on Airline Lounges to offer some respite in between flights. We have a (nearly) 4 hour layover at LHR, so we'll catch our breath there (and get some breakfast too).