OpenSkies FT Do: JFK-ORY-JFK

I had the good luck to be selected amongst the 20 FTers to give OpenSkies a fly on their opening weekend. I’m doing my best to get out a trip report as quickly as possible before jet lag hits and the work week begins, and will do my best to edit, update, and add on to it as my time allows. I’ve already posted pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/27886280@N07/?donelayout=1. I’m sure others will have more comprehensive photo collections and better insights into the flights, but hope this report will give you a sense of the new airline. Lastly, though I’ve tried to include a handful of criticisms along with the heaps of compliments, I can’t say enough about how grateful I am to FlyerTalk and OpenSkies to have had the opportunity to be part of this event.

June 19, 2008
EC002 JFK-ORY
Prem+ Seat 8A
G-BPEK


Arrived at JFK about 3:45p and followed the signs to the OpenSkies check-in area to the left of the main Terminal 7 check-in desks, near the area generally used by BA premium class passengers. There were two agents working the OpenSkies flight, I was greeted with a pleasant “Welcome to OpenSkies,” promptly received my Prem+ boarding pass and was directed back to the normal Terminal 7 check-in line (I think there was a separate security area for BA First and maybe Club World too, I’m not sure).

After making my way through the somewhat slow check-point, I began looking around for the bright-yellow FT bag tags. As my luck would have it, the first person I encountered was Randy! (Thanks Randy for organizing this great trip!) With his help, I was able to gain entrance to the BA Terraces lounge, generally available only to those in Business Class on OpenSkies. I met the FTers who had business class tickets on the outbound, and partook of the ample range of fresh tea sandwiches, packaged cookies, crackers. The Terraces lounge was quite impressive to someone who has only seen a small handful of domestic airline lounges and I hope to visit again soon.

As the flight time approaches, we made our way down to the gate area where I met many of the FTers who would be in Prem+ with me and soon the inaugural JFK-ORY flight was boarding. (Surprisingly, there was little fanfare celebrating the eastbound inaugural other than the departure board noting that this was the “inaugural”).

Once on board, I set my stuff at my seat and looked around to see what the plane looked like. Others will no doubt go into more detail but, in short, the plane is in three classes Biz, which has British Airways lie-flat business seats, Prem+, which has old-style business class-like seats, and Economy which has standard economy seats. As memory serves, there are three rows of Biz (six seats) between doors 1L/R and 2L/R and three rows of six seats behind 2L/R. After a hard bulkhead there are four rows (sixteen seats) of Prem+, then 3L/R followed by three more rows (12 seats) of Prem+, another hard bulkhead, then five rows of 3x3 economy seating.

Thus:
Biz: Rows 1-6
Prem+: Rows 7-14
Economy: Rows 15-20

My Prem+ seat 8A was quite similar to the seat I had in business class on an AA 767-200 and the old style UA business class seats, except that it was leather and had an arm to hold a PTV unit, but no PTV unit installed. Seat controls allowed for recline, lumbar control, leg rest extension and footrest extension. According to the OpenSkies website, the seats recline to 140 degrees and have 58 inches of pitch and that sounds accurate. The seats bore no resemblance to anything which could be considered “coach” or “economy” despite being marketed as a “Premium Economy” product. As we were seated, we were offered a choice of wine, orange juice, and water. There were also bottles of Evian at our seats. I had the oj and there was a sense among the group that it was top-notch. Tasted very fresh squeezed and was as good as any non-fresh squeezed oj I’ve ever had. Indeed, if they’d said it was fresh squeezed I would have believed them without any hesitation.

As passengers settled in, menus were distributed. (I’ll leave it to others to post images and transcripts) and we pushed back more or less on time at 5:30pm. As the safety briefing was done twice (possibly for passengers facing both forward and backward) we began out taxi-out. Alas, JFK at rush-hour never fails to disappoint and we spent at least an hour (probably closer to an hour and half…but time flies in big comfy seats) waiting for takeoff. During this time, dinner and drink orders were taken for post-takeoff. Fortunately, due to decent winds (and a generously padded schedule) we were expected into Orly more or less on time.

As soon as practical, the flight attendants were in the cabin offering IFE units and noise cancelling headsets. The IFE units were similar to those offered in on AA transcons and had a good selection of movies, tv shows, music and some basic games. The noise cancelling headsets were the on-ear type, not as nice as the good Bose ones but pretty good.

The drinks we ordered pre-takeoff were served and soon thereafter the dinner service began. Dinner was served from a cart, all on one nicely presented tray, and beverage refills were offered along with the meal service. I had ordered the Chicken Chasseur and my tray was packed full with: the nice started salad with mozzarella, tomatoes and fennel and the cutest little bottle of oil and vinegar salad dressing; the chicken entrée which was served with mashed potatoes and vegetables; cheesecake with berry compote; cheese, crackers, and grapes; and a piece of chocolate. A variety of bread was offered from a bread basket including a nice foccacia. The meal was quite good all around, the salad was especially nice for an airplane salad (especially in a non-business/first cabin) the chicken was quite moist for an airplane, and the cheesecake was highly enjoyable. My only minor complaint was the mashed potatoes which had that slightly-reheated feeling to them as often happens with mashed potatoes on airplanes. All in all a great meal!

The flight attendants on this flight were all very excited that their airline was finally getting off the ground and did their best to keep all of the passengers happy. There was clearly a bit of a learning curve, especially with the IFE units, and as the flight attendants scrambled to try to fix the problems that emerged and keep everyone happy the service was a bit slower than would be ideal, especially for those who want to eat and then get to sleep.

Once meal trays were cleared, amenity kits were distributed and the cabin lights were dimmed so we could get some rest. The amenity kits contained socks, an eye mask, and toothbrush/toothpaste. Throughout the flight, the crew did their best to keep everyone well-watered offering both glasses and additional bottles of Evian.

Although it was exciting to meet the other FTers on the flight, I didn’t want to be able to get in a full day in Paris upon arrival so I soon put on my eye mask to try and get some sleep. As someone used to sleeping in coach, my found the Prem+ seat quite comfortable and was able to lean on my side using the pillow and the headrest and managed to sleep for almost two hours. Our flight time across the Atlantic was under seven hours and soon the light was starting to poke through the shut window shades and the cabin began to awake.

About an hour out of ORY we were offered a breakfast box which contained a bottle of the same delicious oj served pre-flight as well as a croissant/bear claw-type breakfast treat. Although I can’t say I was that hungry after having eaten a great meal less than three hours before, the breakfast snack was a little underwhelming and less than I’ve received on U.S. carriers in economy in recent years. Even adding in a yogurt or something (or just a nice baguette and jam) would make it seem a little less like an afterthought.

Soon after the pre-arrival snack, the cabin was readied for landing and before I knew it we’d dropped beneath the clouds and the French countryside was in view as we landed in Orly just about on-time at 7:30 in the morning. After a short taxi, we were able to deplane quickly and make our way through a short line at immigration and customs and divided into groups destined for various hotels around the city.