dat4life

Author's note: Folks, I apologize for the lack of updates. Work has been hellacious the last few days. I promise to have at least the London section of this report done in a few days. And of course, thanks to all of you for reading@

Thanks, happymom2009. London really a fantastic city with tons to do. Enjoy your trip! A pub and a hotel room...two of the three essential of my life.


Thank you, LDNConsultant. I'm always down for a good pub. I will definitely check it out my next visit. Though, if the pub is frequented by bankers... Well, I spend too much time with those types already. And I doubt they'd like to spend extra time with a regulator.

Alba

Loved the TR and photographs of London and I felt like I could smell the ale in that last pub through my computer! Thanks for posting.

dat4life

Glad you're enjoying it, Alba. More to come!

dat4life

Back in 1776, “Taxation Without Representation” was a rallying point for the then Americans colonist during the Revolutionary War, in reference to the British government levying taxes on the then Colonists despite the fact the Colonists did not have representatives in Parliament. My fellow FlyerTalkers, I’m afraid that history has repeated itself and the British are once again levying taxes without representation, this time on unsuspecting travelers in the form of APD. For me, it really and truly is not a money issue. It’s a matter of principal. I absolutely hate paying taxes. Really, you do not want to be near me during the month of April. I am as crotchety of person you will ever meet during that month. Perhaps the fact that I am an accountant by training explains my aversion to taxes. At any rate, I’m willing to do a good bit to avoid any taxes (legally of course).

APD is already substantial while traveling in long haul Economy, but becomes even heftier when traveling in a premium cabin. If you buy an economy ticket, and apply an upgrade instrument for a seat in the premium cabin, you will be charged the difference in the tax as well. The most important thing to know about APD is that it is charged when you are departing from the UK on a long haul flight. In other words, I won’t be charged APD on my outbound from the U.S. to London, but it will charged on the return if my flight originates from London. So if my out bound is from the U.S. to London, and my return is from somewhere in the E.U. to the U.S., I won’t be hit with APD. So I started looking at the usual suspects, such as ex-AMS, ex-CDG, which I see often from our UK based FTers. As I noted in the introduction, I finally found a decent fare returning from Lisbon.

After a long day of sightseeing, I woke up much later than planned the next morning so I hurriedly packed and checked out. My original plan to get to Heathrow was to take a cab to Paddington Station, and catch the HEX from there. However the night before, my friend advised me against that plan as it would be very costly. Taking the Underground back to Heathrow was a fraction of the cost, and took just a little more time. Man, was she right. Although two transfers were needed, the journey was painless and cost just 10 pounds. Since it was Sunday morning, the trains were relatively empty. I was rather amused to see “Christian Mingle” had made it across the pond from late night cable television.







It took just 90 minutes after leaving my hotel for me to reach the Heathrow station. The walk from the station to the attractive entrance of Terminal 3 felt far shorter than when I left the airport a couple days prior.



Once inside, I headed to Zone F, where the British Airways check in counters, and made my way to the Club Europe counter. A very friendly agent took my passport and processed my check in. My bags quickly were tagged and boarding passes printed. The agent then gave me directions to Fast Track security and the lounge, wished me a pleasant flight, and I was off to security.

I’ve heard plenty of stories about security at Heathrow, and hardly any of them are positive. So naturally, I was expecting the worse. When I arrived at the checkpoint, I was pleasantly surprised to find a short queue. The attitude of the security staff was even more surprising, as the general themes of the stories I’ve heard are surly and rude. My experience couldn’t have been more different. Every single staffer I encountered was pleasant, save for lady (wo)manning the explosives checkpoint who got my attention by forcibly yanking my laptop bag strap. Well you could have just asked nicely, but whatever floats your boat, ma’am. After a few minutes of serious swabbing action, I was deemed to be non-threat and was sent on my way.

As typical at airports in Europe, I had to navigate the labyrinth of duty free shops before I made it to the lounges. I was flying on an el cheapo economy ticket, but I still had access to three different lounges thanks to my oneworld Emerald status. To satisfy my av/airline geek nature, I made sure to leave plenty of time to visit all three of those lounges, which are American Airlines’ Admirals Club/Flagship Lounge, British Airways Galleries Lounge, and Cathay Pacific’s Lounge.

First, I headed to American’s Flagship Lounge, reserved for First Class passengers and oneworld Emeralds, which is located inside the Admirals Club. My boarding pass and elite card was checked by an attendant at door, and I was then directed to the counter where another attendant handed me a key to the Flagship Lounge. My first order of business was a shower, which I didn’t do at the hotel due to my rushed departure. The shower complex is shared with the Admirals Club, so in order to keep those pesky Business Class passengers out, another set of keys, with a huge metal key chain, is available inside the Flagship Lounge. The key would be used for the entrance from the showers into Flagship. A simple, yet effective system.

One thing I really appreciate about American’s lounges is the availability of nice shower facilities in most of them. The Heathrow location is no exception.


After a refreshing shower, I checked out the lounge. It is very spacious and airy, with plenty of seating and nice views of the tarmac. Only a few desktops were available, but the wifi connection was reliable and fast. The only real knock against the lounge is the dated/uninspired decor, though it was in good repair for the most part.











As far the drinks selection goes, there were a nice selection of soft drinks as well as a coffee machine and a selection of tea. But the alcohol selection, though passible, is a bit lacking compared to what was available in the British Airways lounge next door.






“Flagship Lunch” was being served when I arrived. While the spread was varied and pretty tasty, it was nothing to write home about. For what it’s worth, a couple of attendants walking around remarked to me this was the first day a new menu was being served.






The Flagship Lounge is overall quite nice, but it’s nothing special compared to the other First Class lounges I’ve been to, which are Cathay Pacific’s lounges in Hong Kong and Singapore Airlines’ The Private Room. Regardless, it’s not a bad place kill a few hours.

After an hour at the Flagship Lounge, I packed up and headed next door to the British Airways Galleries Lounge. My boarding pass was scanned by the lounge attendant, which produced a triple beep. If I were flying American, that more than likely meant I was upgraded, but that wasn’t the case today. Apparently, they needed my original seat, 5F, for Club Europe. So I was moved back to 9F. No big deal at all.



I was then directed to the First Class side of the lounge, where I immediately went to the champagne bar which I have heard so much about. There was indeed a nice selection of bubbly available. I poured myself a nice glass of the champagne and enjoyed while reading a copy of the Financial Times.



I really enjoyed the ambiance and the décor of the Galleries Lounge, which was a nice mix of modern and classic touches. There was a large bank of computers available for use, and plenty of comfortable seating.
The drinks selection was extensive, especially compared to the Flagship Lounge.









There was a food menu, but no attendant roaming to take orders. In fact, I didn’t see a single attendant in the lounge itself during my time there. While the Galleries Lounge blows the Flagship Lounge out of the water with respect to the drinks selection, I’ll give the nod the Flagship Lounge for a more interesting menu as well as the availability of food.


The biggest shortcoming of the Galleries Lounge is the lack of electrical outlets. Of course, I’m known to be dumb, deaf, and blind at times, so it could be just me not being able to find it. At any rate, with my laptop battery just about dead, I headed for greener pastures at Cathay Pacific’s lounge a few doors down.



The lounge is actually located one level above the terminal, and is accessible by elevator to the left of the entrance area. Once upstairs, I was greeted by the lounge attendant, who was absolutely stunning. Though a bit surprised and tongue tied, I managed to handed her my boarding pass, elite card, and passport without making myself looking like a complete idiot (I hope). Apparently, they had just transitioned to a new computer system so it took a bit of time to check me in. I was welcomed into the First Class section of the lounge after all of the formalities were completed. The lounge reminded me a lot of the Cathay lounge in San Francisco, just a lot bigger and with nice views of the active runways. And best of all, I was able to find an outlet to charge up my laptop.







Many here on FlyerTalk have raved about Cathay’s wonton noodle soup, but unfortunately it wasn’t on the menu of my flight a few years back. So I was quite excited to see it on offer in the lounge. The noodle bar is actually in the Business Class side of the lounge, but the attendant urged to take a seat while she fetched an order for me. A few minutes later, she returned with a steaming bowl of it, nicely presented on a tray.



The soup and wontons were rather bland, and to be honest, it was very below average dish. Hopefully, other catering stations do a better job with it. While I didn’t partake or apparently photograph, there is a nice self serve buffet set up, with a few hot dishes, salad, and sweets. The drinks selection was nice as well. I left the lounge about 30 minutes before departures to stretch my legs, but soon got bored. So naturally I headed back to the American lounge complex. Since I went to Flagship Lounge already, I decided to check out the Admirals Club instead, leaving a flummoxed lounge attendant behind.

This ain’t no domestic Admirals Club. In addition to being large, airy, and spacious, there was a decent selection of complimentary alcohol and hot food.












As I thought there would not be any food on BA flight, I grabbed a bit of the beef stroganoff on offer. It was actually quite good. My hunger sated for the time being, I left the lounge and headed toward my gate. Bus station would have been a more appropriate term, as I found out when I reached the
“gate”. Having not experienced a remote gate situation before, I had no idea how unpleasant it would be.

Not long after I got to the gate, priority boarding was called for Club Europe, followed by Executive Club and oneworld elites. Instead of sending the bus off with just the priority boarders, the general boarding call was made shortly afterwards and the bus was subsequently truly packed to the gills. Fortunately, everyone near me remembered to wear deodorant making it a little more bearable. #firstworldproblems



While the ride was unpleasant, it was pretty cool driving on the tarmac, passing just a few feet away from a number of jetliners. Boarding was conducted via air stairs, which was another first for me. It’s certainly more fun than boarding by plain old jet bridge, and is reminiscent of many a scene in vintage movies.



British Airways 502
London Heathrow (LHR) – Lisbon (LIS)
Depart: 3:25 PM
Arrive: 6:05 PM
Aircraft: Airbus A320 (G-MIDS)
Seat: 9F (Economy)

Although I was just flying Coach, I was excited for this flight because it would be my first on British Airways. My first impression was good, as I was immediately greeted by a smiling flight attendant in a very looking sharp uniform. The cabin was clean and appeared to be in very good condition. Though I liked the leather seating surfaces, the cabin colour scheme was a bit too dark in my humble opinion. Seats were comfortable and decently well padded. Pitch was more than acceptable, and might even be considered generous in this day and age of packing as many seats as possible on an airplane.





As soon as I sat down, a mother and college age daughter took up residence in the aisle and middle seats. They were holiday makers headed to Lisbon for a few days of fun in the sun.

Interestingly, boarding was completed in about 20 minutes after it was announced despite a full flight, and having to be bussed to aircraft. It’s amazing what can happen if a decent baggage allowance is included in the price of a ticket. The captain came on the horn announcing a delayed departure due to a much later than anticipated ATC release time. We would be arriving in Lisbon about 40 minutes behind shed-jewel, despite pushing back nearly an hour late.

As with taxiing in any major international airport, there was plenty of interesting traffic on the way to keep me entertained. The coolest was the Air New Zealand’s 777-300ER painted in a special The Hobbit movie livery. There was this strange looking airframe near the Virgin Atlantic maintenance hangar. It looked like the ....... child of a 747 and DC-10/MD-11. Bonus points to anyone who knows what it is and being used for.











Soon enough we were climbing over the beautiful English country side, reaching our cruise altitude just after we went feet wet over the English Channel.





The cabin crew went to work shortly after, rolling the bar trolley down the aisle. To my surprise, there was snack service as well with a choice of a chicken pesto sandwich or something else. I saved the sandwich for later that night. It actually good, and didn’t taste at all like cardboard. I passed the remainder of the flight watching Iron Man 3 on my iPad. Landing was smooth, and I soon found myself in the attractive terminal of Lisbon’s Portela Airport.

A very nice immigration officer stamped me into the country, and after retrieving my bags at baggage reclaim, I went looking for the shuttle for the Holiday Inn Express Lisbon Airport. But I couldn’t find any trace of a shuttle stop after 15 minutes, and most of the attendants around the pick-up area didn’t speak much English. So I headed back to the information desk in the terminal. The attendant told me that the shuttle was on demand and was not free, something the website failed to mention. Tired and cranky, I decided just to take a cab. While the driver was friendly, I was ripped off as I paid 14 Euros for what was a 2 mile ride at most.

I was checked in by a very cute but equally as disinterested front desk clerk. After my room keys were literally tossed at me, I was off to my comfortable but basic room on the 4th floor. Dining options in the hotel’s immediate area were lacking to say the least, so it was quite fortunate I saved the sandwich from my flight.





Overall, I was quite pleased with the hotel. Though basic, my room was clean and comfortable enough. And it was quite a bargain, given the price I paid: 75 Euros for the night, which includes 5,000 bonus IHG points. Since I had an early start the next morning, I went to bed quite early and fell asleep watching a poor quality feed of the NFC Championship Game. Yeah…don’t get me started on that.

dat4life

After a couple hours of fitful sleep, I was jolted awake by my iPhone at the ungodly hour of 4 frigging 30 AM. Oh the crazy things I do for points and miles… It took a lot of will power to drag myself out of bed, but soon enough I was ready to go.

The clerk at the front desk was as disinterested as his colleague the evening before, answering my “good morning” with a grunt. I thought his demeanor might have been due to a language barrier, but he spoke near flawless English when he told me their credit card machine was broken. Whiskey tango foxtrot. Fortunately, I had gotten ripped off by Travelex in exchange for some Euros before I left Heathrow the day before. I had just enough to settle my hotel bill and pay for the airport shuttle. The clerk then tossed my receipt and shuttle voucher across the counter, and wordlessly disappeared in the back room. Service with a smile this certainly is not.

The term “airport shuttle” is generally associated with a fourth hand rickety van or mini bus with a few hundred thousand miles on it. Imagine my surprise when the shuttle driver led me to a beautiful newish black Mercedes S class. Not too shabby for €5, and it was, with a doubt, a much better deal than my € 14 taxi ride the night before.



We reached the terminal less than 10 minutes after I left the hotel. I have to admit, I felt like a big shot when I stepped out of the car. Hey, not all of us are First Class Terminal regulars. Once inside, I had a bit of trouble finding the Iberia check in counters as signage was lacking to say the least. So I asked the Alitalia agent standing in front of their counters, who gave me directions with a smile. That was the first smile I saw since I landed in Lisbon. Grazie.

Unfortunately, it was more of the same when I reached the Iberia check in counter. The economy class line had a few people in it, but the Business Class/elite line was wide open. I strolled up to the counter and handed my passport to the indifferent agent. She printed both of my boarding passes and tagged my bags. Just as she was about to send my bags down the conveyor belt, I noticed that she didn’t put priority tags on them. I pointed that out to the agent, who responded I was flying economy so I couldn’t have the priority tags. I was connecting to a oneworld Business Class flight, and it is a published benefit for Emeralds so either way I should get them. The agent shook her again once more and said, “No, Iberia is different.” That response foreshadowed what I was going to experience onboard, as Iberia is very different from every oneworld carrier I’ve flown on. At any rate, I figured this really wasn’t a battle worth fighting, so I just left. It really isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but on the off chance that the priority tags do work I appreciate the time saved.

Security was quick and painless. It’s amazing how much more efficient security is when passengers are allowed to keep their shoes, belts, and light coats on. Lisbon’s airport does have the standard duty free shop maze right after security, but there is also a pretty cool sculpture at the entrance.



From researching online, I knew there was a third party lounge, the Blue Lounge, that British Airways and Iberia Business Class passengers could make use of. But since there wasn’t a oneworld carrier operated lounge at Lisbon, I figured I was SOL with respect to lounge access that morning. I was surprised to find the Blue Lounge with oneworld Emerald and Sapphire logos in front. So I decided give it the old college try.



I presented my boarding pass and elite card to the surprisingly cheery agent, who wrote down my information and welcomed me into the lounge. The lounge wasn’t much but at least it had free wifi, restrooms, and a small food spread, which consisted of pastries and bacon rolls. There was also a nice selection of juices and an espresso machine, which was much appreciated. Seating was naturally limited, and the lounge filled up not long after I arrived. It is certainly not the best lounge I’ve been to, but it’s not a bad spot to spend an hour.



About 10 minutes before departure, I packed up and made the trek to the gate. The gate agents were setting up the boarding lane when I arrived. There was already quite a crowd in the gate house. Boarding began soon after, beginning with Business Class and what sounded like oneworld elites. Interestingly, all announcements at the gate were made in Spanish only. Obviously, Spanish is expected, after all Iberia is flagged in Spain. But lack of Portuguese announcements was a bit surprising as Iberia is a major international airline, operating a flight from Portugal.

Not entirely sure what group was boarding, I made my way into the boarding line. The gate agent scanned my boarding pass and said, “Gracias, Senor dat4life.” I grinned because I could use one of the five words of Spanish I know. “De nade.”




Iberia 3107
Lisbon (LIS) – Madrid (MAD)
Depart: 6:55 AM
Arrive: 9:25 AM
Aircraft: Airbus A319-100 (EC-KBX)
Seat: 9F (Economy)

This was the flight on my itinerary I was most curious about. While trip reports on British Airways economy are easily found available, there isn’t a heck of lot of trips reports on Iberia’s economy class available on the net. As soon as I stepped on the plane, I could see why. The cabin was bright, and the gray leather seats looked to be modern. Seat pitch looked tight in Business Class, and then when I crossed the barrier into the coach cabin… Holy crap. “Tight” didn’t even begin to describe how bad the seat pitch is. Seat Guru lists seat pitch at 30 inches. I call some serious bovine feces on that. I’m not tall, but my knees were firmly pressed up against the seat in front of me. The seat itself was very thinly padded, and not very comfortable. Recline was non-existent.





Contents of the seatback pocket were fairly typical, consisting of the airline magazine, duty free catalog, and a beverage menu. The menu, at least to me, was fairly atypical as I do my best to avoid all of the likes of Spirit and Allegiant Air in the U.S. Nothing was complimentary. €2,50 for a can of Coke? That’s the stuff of Doug Parker’s dreams.


Pushback was performed on time. After a quick taxi, our 7 year old Airbus A319 raced down the active runway and climbed quickly into the pre-dawn sky. I fell asleep shortly after takeoff, and woke up just as we began to descend. The sun was rising at this time, making for a picturesque end of the flight.



Overall, I can’t say I won’t fly Iberia again, though I definitely won’t go out of my way to do so. We left and arrived on time, and service wasn’t hostile. It was perfectly adequate for a short hop, but I’m not sure I’d like try Iberia long haul unless I absolutely have no other oneworld option.

The cabin door was opened a couple of minutes after the engines were shut down. An American college student seated in front of me was struggling to get her massive, i.e. American sized, carry on out of the overhead bin. So I lent her a hand as I stepped out of my row. A clumsily spoken “Gracias” was offered in exchange for my help, to which I responded “no problem”, causing both of us to laugh.

We chatted as we walked toward transit passport control. It was decent walk, made even longer by yours truly who got us a bit lost but eventually found our way. I blame it on the poor signage… Anyways, she’s a grad student at a major university in the U.S. and did a study abroad program in Portugal the year before. She loved it so much she returned to visit over the last week of winter break. As she was on the American 10AM departure to Miami, I offered to guest her into the lounge after we made it through passport control, which she accepted. But when we got to the lounge, both of us were turned away by a pleasant agent, who explained because we were on U.S. bound flights, we had to go to the American transit desk first for a very important security check before she could let us into the lounge. Ugh.

We made the trek over to the transit desk, which is located pretty close to the gate American uses.

The very important security check went like this:

Agent: I have three very important security questions to ask you. Please answer them truthfully.
Me: Ok. I packed my bags myself. They have not been out of my possession. No one has asked me to take anything on the plane for them.

And then he proceeds to ask me the questions that I had just given the answers too. Alex, I’ll take pointless security questions for $1,000, please.

Satisfied he was able to ask his important questions, the agent then reprinted my boarding pass. I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw it. You see, I’ve been having trouble getting the Pre Check logo on my mobile and printed boarding pass despite having both Global Entry and eligible airline status. Over the last few months, it’s been about 50-50. The Pre-Check logo on your boarding pass when there is no Pre-Check lane? I’m sure even Alanis Morsette would find that just a little bit ironic.



My new companion wrapped up with her agent just a couple of minutes after I did, and we headed back to Iberia’s Velazquez VIP Lounge. This particular location was interestingly located smack dab in the middle of the duty free shop. I suppose even premium passengers need a place to blowoff a few more Euros.



The agent who had turned us away a little while earlier, recognized us and waved us through after scanning both our boarding passes. As we walked away from the reception desk, my companion remarked, “You must fly a lot.” Yeah… Something like that. Anyways, we just had enough time for a quick bite to eat, over which we chatted about her field of study, which I find pretty interesting. We parted ways soon after, but not before exchanging Facebook info and email addresses. Since my flight wasn’t until 1PM, I had a few more hours to kill before I had to board.

The lounge itself was awesome. It was large, bright, and airy. I really liked the color scheme of the lounge, which consisted of a variety of earthy brown tones which worked with the large windows and the sunlight streaming in from those windows. The lounge did get crowded as I visited during the peak morning bank of flights, but there was plenty of seating available though it took some time to find it. Attendants were constantly clearing tables, so there were never too many dirty dishes sitting around.









There was large variety of both soft and alcoholic beverages available, including several flavors of Fanta. Drink stations are found in both sides of the lounge. An espresso machine was available as well.



Food spread was also very good as well with a selection of hot and cold items. I arrived during breakfast, so omelets, grilled tomatoes, sautéed mushroom, beans, and bacon were available. Cold items were fairly typical of European continental breakfasts, consisting of cold cuts, smoked salmon, cheese, and fruit. A variety of pastries and breads were also available. Another impressive part of the offerings was a large cooler stocked with packaged foods, such as sandwiches and other munchies, which appear to be intended for passengers in a hurry.





After a very pleasant couple of hours in Iberia’s lounge, I packed up and headed to the gate. Aeroport Internacional Madrid Barajas is a large and aesthetically pleasing facility, with high ceilings and lots of wood, metal, and glass that is typical of modern design. Improvements appear to be still ongoing with large areas of the terminal under renovation.





I arrived at gate 60 about 10 minutes after I left the lounge. Boarding hadn’t begun yet, but a good size crowd had already formed around the boarding lanes. A gate agent was walking around checking boarding passes. When he saw mine, he directed me into the roped off Priority Access lane where a couple of other Business Class passengers were already waiting. A couple minutes later, Business Class was invited to board. As I made my way down the jetbridge, I caught a glimpse of our aircraft, the almost 20 year old N386AA, who was wearing the attractive livery of the new American.





American Airlines 37
Madrid (MAD) - Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
Depart: 1:00 PM
Arrive: 5:25 PM
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300ER (N386AA)
Seat: 3B (Business Class)

A FA enthusiastically greeted me as I entered the aircraft and directed me to my seat, 3B. After flying over the pond in the new Business Class, the old ”Next Generation Business Class” seats looked far less inviting. The seats were angled lie flat arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration on the Boeing 767-300ER, a far cry from the 1-2-1 configuration on the 777-300ER. But for a daytime flight, the seat was perfectly comfortable and there was plenty of legroom. An amenity kit, pillow and blanket, and a set of slippers were already at my seat, which is great but the lack of storage space in the seat itself made it difficult to logically place everything where I can easily access them in flight. I ended taking my laptop out of my bag, which I put in the overhead compartment. My laptop was placed in the tiny storage slot underneath the tray table. Then I tossed the pillow and blanket underneath the seat in front of me, and stuffed the amenity kit in the tray table extension area.





It was nothing fancy, but the contents of the amenity kit were useful. And the bag was perfect for storing small electronic equipment and various chargers.



I could already this was going to be a very good crew. In addition to the enthusiastic FA who greeted me at the door, the rest of the crew in Business Class was very friendly and active hanging coats and greeting all passengers who walked by. The FA working my aisle was trying to reshuffle some of the smaller items from the outboard bins, which are larger, to the center bins, which are substantially smaller, to make room for a couple of passengers’ rollaboards. She was of a shorter stature and was struggling to reach the center bins as they are also a few inches higher than the outboard bins as well. So I volunteered to help her do some of the reshuffling, for which she was very grateful. I don’t know if my actions earned me some extra brownie points with the crew, but I received near flawless service for the duration of the flight.

Just after the cabin door was closed, El Capitan gave his welcome aboard announcement over the PA. Our flight time was announced as a shade over 11 hours due to strong head winds. The safety video began playing as we started taxiing to the runway. While not particularly interesting or exciting, I find American’s safety video to be nicely paced and to the point. Unlike some other U.S. airlines who have their smug CEOs do an introduction to their safety video, American has a couple of smiling pilots/FAs/agents/rampers telling me they’re glad I’m there and thank you for choosing American Airlines, which in my opinion is a much nicer touch.

We took off to the east, and made a climbing turn to west northwest, setting course for our assigned trans-Atlantic track. FAs were dinged out of their seats not long after we climbed through 10,000 feet. Service began with the distribution of Samsung Galaxy tablets and Bose Quiet Comfort headsets. They’re a bit of a pain with the power cable plugged into the power port, located in the seat in front of me. So whenever the gent in the window seat needed out, it took a minute or two to untangle the cable, unplug the tablet ,and find a place to stow it, only to repeat the process when he returned. That said, the tablets are much appreciated given the lack of built in IFE on American’s Boeing 767-300s. And since the 767s weren’t configured for in seat IFE when they were manufactured, the tablets are likely here to stay even after the upcoming refurbishment of the cabin as it is too costly to add the necessary wiring.



The purser then came around greeting each passenger by name while passing out menus for the flight. I was actually addressed as Mr. dat4life at every interaction during the flight, probably because I was the only one in Business Class who looked remotely Asian and had an Asian last name. So it really wasn’t hard to pick out who I was.

The lunch menu read as follows.

Lunch

STARTER

Smoked Salmon
With spring pea blinis and cream cheese

SALAD
Seasonal greens with fresh vegetables, asparagus and pesto boccocini
With your choice of honey Dijon dressing or premium extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Assorted gourmet breads will be served with your meal

ENTREES

Grilled Fillet of Beef
In shallot sauce served with truffled potato gnocchi and vegetable medley

Chicken Provencal
With wild mushroom reduction, wild rice, and green beans

Seared Scallops
Enhanced by line Champagne Sauce, leek rice pilaf, and mushroom and asparagus sauce

Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagna
With feta béchamel, capers, and olives

DINE UPON REQUEST
You may choose one of the featured entrees to be served with an appetizer and dessert, presented all at once, at any time you wish.

DESSERT

Traditional Ice Cream Sundae
Vanilla ice cream with you choice of hot fudge, butterscotch or seasonal berry toppings, whipped cream and pecans

Gourmet Cheese Plate
An assortment of fine cheeses with garnishes

Drink orders were taken shortly after. I ordered a Cuba Libre and a glass of water, which was delivered with the wonderful tradition of ramekins of warm nuts. The purser came by again a few minutes afterwards to take lunch orders. For some reason my pre-order didn’t come through, but seatmate’s did. Weird, but a non-issue since I got my choice of the filet anyways. I also requested the sauce to be on the side, if possible, to which the purser happily agreed to.



The appetizer cart rolled down the aisle just I finished my nuts, followed by the purser with the bread basket. I enjoyed the smoked salmon, which is hard to screw up. But I can’t say I cared too much for the blinis. The salad was crisp and fresh, though the asparagus was a bit chewy and I wish there was something else besides iceberg lettuce in it. There was a variety of breads in the basket, but I can’t remember what I chose, just that it was warm, soft, and perfectly edible. I stuck with water throughout the meal service.



The FAs cleared the appetizer plates and salad bowls by hand, at each individual passenger’s pace. Entrees were delivered individually soon afterwards. I’ve had plenty of steaks on planes, including quite a few on American. Personally, I like my steaks on the rare side, but airline steaks are generally overcooked, chewy, though edible. There are a few gems here in there, most recently on my JFK-LAX flight in November 2013. But for the most part, a good airline steak is quite rare, pun intended.

The dish delivered to me that day was well presented, with a good size helping of gnocchi. The vegetable medley turned out to be a colorful assortment of sautéed peppers. I was very pleasantly surprised to cut into the steak and find it cooked to a beautiful medium rare. Seat 2A has mentioned once or twice in his legendary trip reports that nicely done airline steaks start with a good cut of meat. This was certainly the case here. The meat was very lean and tender, with just a hint of fat around the edges. It was also perfectly seasoned and delicious as well. The gnocchi was tasty and not at all gummy as it often is reheated in an aircraft oven. The peppers were also very good, and even still a slight crunch to them.

My only (very minor and picky) complaint about the meal service was the tin foil ramekin used to put the sauce on the size, which looked very United-esque. In the not so distant past (i.e. my flight last November), small ceramic ramekins were loaded for such purpose. Here’s to hoping this isn’t a harbinger of things to come with the AA/US merger.

Now enough with the complaining. The meal was excellent, and was the best overall meal I’ve had on a plane since my Singapore Airlines First Class flights nearly two years ago. My seatmate had the scallops entree, and it looked very good as well.





Completely stuffed from the onboard meal and breakfast in the lounge, I turned down dessert. My aisle FA unsuccessfully tried coax me to order dessert several times, and seemed quite disappointed when I turned her down. After lunch, I unwrapped the pillow and blanket and napped for a few hours. The seat was comfortable for a short nap, but the sensation of sliding down can sure be bothersome on a long redeye.

When I woke up, I found a bottle of water next to me on my drink tray and the plastic wrapper from my blanket already cleared. While something like removing a plastic wrapper without asking may seem like small potatoes, it’s attention to little things like that separates a good crew from a great crew. The FAs remained very attentive throughout the flight, constantly roaming the aisles refilling water bottles and offering other drinks. While the menu indicated snacks were available in the galley, I didn’t check out the spread. But the FAs did offer a selection of packaged snacks along with fruit and cheese plates about halfway through the flight. I did take them up on a fruit and cheese plate, minus the cheese, and a Coke with lime.

Not feeling like working on anything, I fired up my tablet to find something to watch. The user interface is intuitive and is the same interface found on the 77W built in IFE. The touchscreen was very responsive, and the resolution of the screen more than acceptable. While the content selection is more limited what I found on the 77W, there was more than enough available to satisfy most tastes. Feeling fairly nostalgic at the moment, I settled on a classic, An Officer and a Gentleman, starring Richard Gere. I can’t say it was a great movie, but it was entertaining and interesting for a military buff, such as myself. I followed that up with The Avengers, which I’ve seen far too many times thanks to my little sister. But it’s still a very entertaining movie, nevertheless. Throughout all of this, my Coke never stayed empty for every long.

Time flies when you’re having fun, and before I knew it we were feet dry over the northern coast of Canada and crossing into U.S. border just as finished up the excellent Los Angeles episode of No Reservations. One of the downsides of not having built in IFE is the lack of a moving map. I only knew our position as the featured film on the main screens had wrapped up, so the moving map was displayed momentarily. Not long after, the familiar sounds of dishes rattling in the galley signaled the eminence of the second meal service.

Light Meal
Offered prior to arrival

ENTREES

Uno’s Four Cheese and Pesto Pasta
Served with a green salad

Tandoori Chicken Cold Plate
Accompanied by potato salad

DESSERT

Chocolate Caramel Mousse

While I was watching a very entertaining episode of Elementary, the FAs began coming down the aisles taking orders for the second meal service. When she got to me, my aisle FA immediately said, “Mr. dat4life, I think you’ll really enjoy the Tandoori Chicken.” “Many passengers have said that they really enjoyed it.” Normally, I would think that the FA was either saving the other entree for themselves or trying to play off a catering mistake. But this cabin crew had been so all around great that I thought she was genuinely trying to make a good recommendation. Either way, I was going to order the Tandoori Chicken anyways for two reasons: 1. I’ve never had a horrible chicken dish on American. 2. The cheese on the pizza wouldn’t do me any favors. So I told her I’d take what she recommended.

And I wasn’t disappointed. When my tray was delivered, I found a generous portion of chicken breast which was tender and very flavorful. It was served cold, but I think it would work well as a hot dish as well. The potato salad ok, but had a little too much mustard for my taste. The chocolate caramel mousse was delicious, as expected. I continued with more Coke during the meal, as I was trying to stay awake because I had some driving to do after the flight. I enjoyed an episode of The Big Bang Theory during the second meal service.



After the meal service, the U.S. arrivals video was played, once in English and once more in Spanish. Tablets and Bose headsets were collected soon after that. Another downside to the tablet system is the lack of gate to gate IFE. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if I had a window seat to enjoy the views during approach. But unfortunately, I picked an aisle seat so I could come and go without disturbing my seatmate during the long flight. Therefore, I missed out on excellent views of the downtown Dallas in the fading sunlight.

We approached from the north and circled back and landed smoothly on Runway 35R. After a moderately lengthy taxi to Terminal D, we parked at gate D23. I was one of the first ones off of the plane, thanking the stellar crew on the way out and handing each of them an AAplause certificate. Service throughout the flight was excellent, and it was by far the best international flight I’ve ever experienced on American Airlines.

Thanks to Global Entry, I was through immigration and at baggage claim in no time. I got there just as the baggage from my flight hit the belt, beginning with PRIORITY TAGGED bags. Apparently today was that off chance. I waited there for a solid 20 minutes, as batch after batch of bags were claimed but still no sign of my bags. Finally, the last batch of bags arrived and my bags were the very last two to hit the belt. Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?

It was back to grind for a couple of weeks before I head back across the pond for another adventure. I’ll have those sections up very soon. Thanks for reading so far!

dat4life

As I mentioned in my introduction, I’ve already fouled off a couple of curve balls while planning this trip to Paris with my mom. But they just kept coming. I moved the trip from November 2013 to February 2014 because of a last minute change in my work schedule. Once again, three weeks before departure, another last minute change in assignment came up which interfered with the trip. I don’t like taking time off during an assignment, but faced with the prospect with more change fees, I put my foot down this time. They either worked with my pre-requested vacation time, or I wasn’t going to take the new assignment. My scheduler agreed, so I managed to foul that one off as well.

Since they haven’t caused me enough grief yet, the travel gods threw me one more nasty pitch the day before departure. That afternoon, I happened to check my personal email and saw an email from Delta Messenger. Well, that can’t be good. As it turned out, it wasn’t. Our original outbound itinerary was IAH-DTW-CDG. I had chosen that because the DTW-CDG leg was operated by a reconfigured 767-300ER featuring Delta’s new Business Class product, which I was looking forward to trying. Unfortunately, our IAH-DTW was delayed by a several hours, causing us to misconnect in DTW. The email stated that Delta was in the process of rebooking us, but I didn’t want to risk losing out on options waiting for Delta to rebook us. So I called Delta, using the emergency rebooking number provided in the email.

To my surprise, my call was immediately answered by a real person. No automated hoops to jump through, which was much appreciated. I explained the situation to the friendly agent, who immediately got to work looking for options. The earlier IAH-DTW flight was sold out in both cabins, and there weren’t many options to get to DTW that didn’t require us to get up at the crack of dawn. So getting on the DTW-CDG flight was out of the question. While the agent put me on hold looking for other routing options, I logged on Expert Flyer to see what I could find on my end. Unfortunately, it looked like all Delta metal flights to Paris were sold out in Business Class, which was later confirmed by the agent. I then looked for space on the non-stop IAH-CDG flight. There were exactly 2 seats available in Business. When the agent came back on the line, he gave me several fairly reasonable options on Air France or KLM, but they all required multiple connections. If I’m just going fly around in domestic First Class, I might as well spend some extra time at home. So I asked the agent very politely if he could see Business Class space available on the Air France 639, the IAH-CDG non-stop. He tapped away for a few moments, and said he had 2 seats on that flight if I wanted them. I told him to book it. IRROPS are usually not pleasant situation, so kudos to that agent and Delta for making it as painless as possible.

While I was bummed out to be missing out on Delta’s new Business Class and their totally rad 1980s themed safety video, I was glad to be able to spend a leisurely morning lounging around my parents’ place before heading out to the airport. We headed out a little after 1PM for our 4PM flight. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t get to the airport that early, especially given the absence of a good lounge. But we weren’t able to get seat assignments given our last minute switch, so I figured that getting to the airport a little early wouldn’t be a bad thing.

During the lead up to the trip, my mom was almost nonchalant about the trip. Now that the day was upon, she finally showed a little excitement. I’m sure it must have been a new experience for her. As long as I can remember, my mom was the one who planned all of our family vacations, while my sisters and I just enjoyed the fruits of her work. Now it’s finally her turn to sit back, relax, and just enjoy a trip for once.

The parking shuttle dropped us off in front of Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport’s Terminal D. We headed straight to the Air France check in counters upon entering the terminal. Despite the early hour, there was a moderate crowd in the Economy Class lane. In contrast, there were only a few passengers in the Business Class/Sky Priority line.




An agent beckoned us to come forward after a short wait. After exchanging a few pleasantries, the agent took our passports and began tapping away. I inquired if it were possible for us to be seated together, but Business Class was completely sold out. So we were each relegated to a middle seat, which is still better than being in coach. After tagging our checked bags and weighing out carry ons, the agent informed us the flight was delayed by 30 minutes due to the late arrival of the aircraft and handed us our boarding passes. And then it was off to security.

Terminal D is my least favorite terminal at IAH for several reasons. First off, security is the least efficient out of all of the terminals at the airport. I don’t remember ever taking less than 30 minutes even when the lines are relatively short. Even in the supposedly faster priority lane, it took more than 20 minutes to clear security even though there just 11 people ahead of us. The problem is that both the priority and general lanes fed into the same checkpoint with just one ID checker working.

The second reason I hate Terminal D, is that it just plain sucks. With the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX revamped, I’d venture to say this is the worst international terminal at any major airport in the U.S. Between the dark green carpeted walls and the decrepit condition of most of the common areas, it is just not a pleasant place to be. The lounge situation isn’t much better, though the KLM lounge isn’t too bad. However, the rest of the lounges in Terminal D aren’t very good. Case in point, the Air France lounge we had access that day, which was located at the very end of the terminal across from gate D10.


I’m sure a few y’all were wondering why the heck Air France and KLM have separate lounges at an outstation where they have 2-3 daily flights combined. Heck if I know. Despite their common corporate ownership and SkyTeam alliance affiliation, they like keeping this separate at IAH. i.e. Air France passengers aren’t allowed to access the KLM lounge, and KLM passengers aren’t allowed to access the Air France lounge. Though it is probably a good thing because no one would want to use the Air France lounge. The KLM Lounge is fairly spacious, well appointed, with a decent selection of food and beverages. In contrast, the Air France Lounge is… well see for yourself.







The lounge wasn’t busy when we arrived, but it got significantly more crowded as it got closer to departure. With limited seating, it soon became standing room only as the lounge got more crowded. Food offerings consisted of ham and cheese sandwiches, smoked salmon wraps, cheese, crisps, and some dirty looking crudités. There was also some potato leek soup available. Drink selection was ok for the most part. For those lucky four First Class or La Premiere passengers, there was a group of 4 seats roped off for their use. The saving grace of the lounge was fast wifi, which I used to fire off some last minute emails. We left about 30 minutes prior to boarding to stretch our legs before the long flight, which gave me the opportunity to do some plane spotting.

First up was Lufthansa’s A380 taxiing in after arriving from a long flight from Frankfurt. An United Express ERJ-145 scurried by in what looked like an attempt to get past the much larger A380 before it completely turned off the taxiway onto the tarmac. The Lufthansa A380 continued on, without skipping a beat, but I could just imagine the pilots quoting Ludacris. ”MOVE…GET OUT THE WAY.” With a thick German accent, of course.





At the far end of the terminal, a Singapore Airlines’ 777-300ER, wearing the rather bland Star Alliance livery, was being readied for the trip back to Moscow. As we got closer to the gate Singapore was using, we noticed a platoon of TSA agents and Houston Police Officers surrounding the gate area, which was cordoned off. One TSA agent was leading a very playful German Shepherd, who couldn’t have been more than a year old, sniffing around carry-on bags. I know German Shepherds are very smart, but I thought it took a couple of years of training for a dog to be fully trained in that capacity, but who am I to question security measures. After all, the TSA knows best. After listening to an announcement from the gate agent, it became clear why all this hoopla was taking place. Because of the “toothpaste bomb” tip the week before, no liquids were allowed on all flights bound for Russia. Your tax dollars at work, folks.



Other interesting traffic spotted on our way back to the gate was a Dreamliner in United’s colors, a TACA ERJ-190, and Air China’s 777-300ER being pushed back.





We got back to our gate a few minutes before boarding was scheduled to begin, only to find a near empty gate area. The slight delay gave me some face to face time with the sleek Boeing 777-200ER that was bringing us across the Atlantic.




A couple of minutes later, the gate agents arrived and passengers began trickling in. Boarding was actually fairly organized beginning with Business Class passengers, as La Premiere passengers get escorted I suppose. Our boarding passes were scanned, and we were making our way down the jet bridge.

Air France 639
Houston (IAH) – Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG)
Depart: 4:40 PM
Arrive: 7:55 AM
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200ER (F-GSPC)
Seat: 7F (Business Class)

The boarding experience was a bit of a throwback to the golden age of flying. There were two smiling female FAs dressed in crisp dark blue uniforms, complete with a smart hat and long red gloves. They greeted us with a friendly “bonjour”. After a quick glance our boarding passes, they directed us to our seats with a grace of their index fingers. As soon we reached out seats, another set of FAs descended upon us immediately to take our coats, and hung them using the hanger that was already placed on our seats. This process was repeated for each passenger who took up residence in the Business Class.

A special 80th anniversary amenity kit, a thick pillow and blanket wait for us on our seats.



I really liked the color scheme of the cabin with the dark blue upholstery and carpet with light tan trim. Although similar to American’s Next Generation Business Class seat in design and function, the seat seemed to be better padded and was in better repair. The trim pieces also seemed to be of higher quality as well, compared to NGBC seats. There was a water bottle holder just below the IFE controller that was already stocked. The IFE screen was a bit on the small side, but there were several good sized storage compartments to either side of the IFE screen.









The pillow was nice and thick with a good quality cover, but I really didn’t care for the blanket which was just a thicker version of what is available on most domestic First Class flights.





The Business Class cabin ended up being completely full, so that ended my hopes of having an empty seat next to me which my mom could move to. One of my seatmates, who was a serious looking businessman, flagged down a FA because his reading light was not working. As it turned out, none of the reading lights were working in my row. The FA refused to inform the captain to have a mechanic look at it as the flight was delayed a good bit already, which did not make him a very happy camper. But he seemed to get over it very quickly.

PDBs consisted of orange juice, water, and champagne served in real glasses. I went with a glass of champagne. Just before the cabin door was closed, a FA offered came around the cabin offering newspaper and magazines from a cart, although there was a well-stocked newspaper and magazine rack in the jet bridge.

We pushed back about 20 minutes late. The safety video, which could probably give Singapore Airlines a run for the most boring safety video, played while we taxied toward the runway. There was no need to hold short or in position, so our flight crew spooled up the massive GE 90-40B engines while turning on to the runway and applied take off take-off thrust as soon as the aircraft was lined up with the center line of Runway 26L. We were airborne after a 49 second roll, and flew the runway heading for less than a minute before turning toward the east and finally to the north. FAs were released from their seats as we climbed through 10,000 feet, and the IFE system was activated soon after.

My favorite feature of any on demand IFE system is the moving map display. I’m one of those oddballs who likes to know exactly where I am at all times as well as how fast I’m moving. So the first thing I do on any flight equipped with individual IFE systems is fire up the moving map display. It’s quite amusing to see what random towns/places show up on the map on some of these long haul flights. I’m sure most international passengers would be interested to know where they relative to such well-known places such as Beesville, Texas, the Sam Rayburn Reservoir, and Jonesboro, Arkansas.



The purser came around with an iPad greeting individual passengers, who I assume were Flying Blue elites based on the snippets of conversations I overheard. About 15 minutes later, menus were distributed. The menu had a special 80th anniversary cover, and was printed on nice thick paper.

Tonight’s offerings were the inspired by Chef Joel Robuchon, who has garnered over 25 Michelin Stars all over the world.

[b]Dinner

L’amuse bouche
Balik Salmon and Granny Smith Apple

Gourmet appetizer and seasonal salad
Champagne foie gras terrine, poached shrimp with mayonnaise cream sauce, coconut fig chutney on cranberry raisin bread

Choice of main course
Pan-seared tournedos of beef with Burgundy style butter, buttered flat beans, mushroom risotto

Shrimp with Cajun sauce, saffron rise
Ravioli with cepe mushrooms

Please refer to the suggestion card for today’s special dish, created by Joel Robuchon, President of the Servair Culinary Studio.

From the selection card:
Chicken potato and carrot tajine with cumin butter
Morsels of chicken thigh, potatoes and carrots are braised tajine-style in an aromatic broth with cumin butter. Slowly simmered in a covered pot and enhanced by aromatic cumin for meltingly fragrant dish that is meant to be savored.

Our special selection of cheese

Desserts
Our dessert trio:
Caramel, fruit and nut tartlet, chocolate-orange cake, pistachio macaroon

Sorbet and choice of fresh fruit

And for those of y’all interested in liquid nutrition:

Aperitifs

The Glenlivet – aged 12 years
Anise liqueur
Bourbon
Gin
Vodka
Bitter
Vermouth Martini Rosso

Port
Graham’s Tawny – aged 10 years

Beer

Heineken

Soft Drinks

Fruit juices: orange, tomato, apple

Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola Light
Sprite
Schweppes Indian Tonic
Schweppes Agrum

Mineral Water

Evian
Badoit
Perrier

Coffee, tea, and hot chocolate

Nescafe coffee and cappuccino offered with a chocolate

Espresso illy and decaffeinated espresso illy

Herbal and tea selection:
La Collection des Thes Fauchon

Digestifs
Cognac Tesseron Lot No. 90 “XO Selection”
Calvados hors d’age
Armagnac hors d’age
Pear aus de vie
Chartreuse Verte herbal liqueur

Champagne
Jacquart Millesime 2008

White Wine
Macon-Lugny 2011 Joseph Drouhin

Red Wine
Vinsobres Les Cornuds 2010 Perrin et Fils

Medoc Chateau Haut Condissas 2006 (Bordeaux)

The drink cart was rolled down the aisle soon after the menus were delivered. I just went with water, which was served with the l’amuse bouche of Balik salmon with granny smith apple. The small bite of salmon was topped with what looked like caviar, though my taste buds couldn’t really differentiate. However, my taste buds could tell it was a tasty little bite. The light tang of the apple went well with the saltiness of the salmon.



The service began with crisp white table cloths laid on each passenger’s tray table, soon followed by appetizer trays which were delivered from the cart. This was my first experience with foie gras, and I came away quite impressed. The saltiness of the fois gras and the light sweet flavor of the bread made for a delicious combination. I also enjoyed the creamy texture of the fois gras; however, it was bit difficult to eat cleanly as the foie gras fell apart easily. The shrimp were a bit bland, though it was perfectly cooked and not at all dried out. The salad, composed of spinach and bits of cherry tomatoes, was fresh. A selection of bread was offered with the appetizer course. I chose a multigrain roll, which was nicely warmed and was still soft with a slightly crunchy exterior. Mmm… An additional round of drinks was offered as well. I went with the Bordeaux on offer, Medoc Chateau Haut Condissas 2006, which tasted quite good to my unrefined palate.



As I finished up my salad, the delicious smell of the main courses being heated up wafted into the cabin. Appetizers and salad plates were cleared about 15 minutes later, and the cart carrying the main courses followed not long after. The FAs on the right aisle had served me my appetizer and salad tray, so naturally I expected them serve my main course. However, the FA on that aisle indicated that the FAs in the left aisle should be serving me. That’s all fine and dandy, but the FAs on the left aisle served my seatmate to my left and then served the two rows in front of me before disappearing into the galley. One of the FAs on the right noticed this, rolled his eyes, apologized, and went to the galley to get the other FA. To his credit, the FA who skipped over me was apologetic and immediately went to get my choice of the chicken entrée and some more bread. So no harm no foul.

The description on the menu of the chicken potato and carrot tajine with cumin butter stated the chicken was cooked in broth with cumin butter. I interpreted that as broth accented by some butter. Judging by the amount of butter in my dish, it seemed more like the chicken was cooked in butter accented by broth. Nevertheless, the dish was delicous and the portion was just right. The chicken, potatoes, and carrots were all very tender. I started watching the movie Captain Phillips during the main course. The cheese course was delivered with the main course. I only had a few bites of it before throwing in the towel



Trays were cleared just a few minutes after I finished. Dessert was offered from a cart about 10 minutes afterwards. Feeling quite stuffed, I just ordered the Raspberry Sorbet which was excellent and not too hard as a lot of frozen treats are on at altitude. Digestifs were offered after dessert dishes and table cloths were cleared, but I declined.



Cabin lights were soon dimmed. While most of the passengers turned in immediately following the meal service, I stayed up to finish the movie. While I generally consider Tom Hanks’ works as being top notch, I thought Captain Phillips was a movie that seeing once was good enough. After I finished the movie, I put my seat into angled lie flat mode, slipped on the eye mask, and conked right out. The seat definitely wasn’t as comfortable as a true lie flat, but it was well padded and comfortable enough. I ended up sleeping until the sound of rattling dishes from the FAs preparing for the breakfast service woke me up, about 2 hours minutes from arrival. A FA made a pass through the cabin not long after I woke up, and offered me something to drink, which I declined sticking to my water bottle. She also informed me if I wanted to have the full breakfast service, I would have order within the next 30 minutes. Alright then, let’s take a look at that menu again, shall we?

Breakfast

Orange juice, coffee, tea, hot chocolate
Fresh fruit, yogurt
Fresh bakery selection, breakfast pastries, butter and preserves

Choice of Entrée
Crepes with scrambled eggs and cheese
Parma ham, smoked turkey, cheddar and provolone cheese
Fruit salad with mascarpone cheese

If you would rather focus on your rest, you may request a coffee and a croissant up to 30 minutes before landing.

Not feeling particularly hungry, I just went with the cold cut plate along with a croissant, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of coffee. I got more than I bargained for when my tray arrived, as the cold cut plate was quite large. I just picked on that, but I really enjoyed the croissant which was warm and flaky. The fruit plate was fresh, if a bit unripe. My mom had the crepes with scrambled eggs and cheese, which she enjoyed.



While my seatmate on the left slept on the way to landing, my seatmate on the right had the cold cut plate as well. I’m glad I ate first because when he was offered the bread basket, he just grabbed from the basket with his hands forgoing the tongs offered to him by the flight attendant. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing, but nevertheless I didn’t appreciate his action as a matter of hygiene.

As breakfast trays were cleared, we began to descend. Coats were returned not long after. I did really appreciate the coat hook in front of my seat, so I didn’t have to have hold my heavy coat on my lap during the entire descent. Midway through the descent, we started hitting bumps and it only got worse as we lost altitude. There was quite a bit of yawing motion on our final approach, courtesy of strong winds buffeting the aircraft. Despite the more challenging than usual conditions, our flight crew managed set down all 200 tons of aircraft smoothly on the runway. The taxi to the gate was rather lengthy, but we were off the plane quite quickly after that.

Overall, I was quite pleased with the flight. The hard product was acceptable, and the food and service, other than the aforementioned faux pas, were pretty good. But it was nothing particularly memorable or special.

After clearing immigration and claiming our bags, we made the long trek to the Air France Arrivals Lounge which was inexplicably located next to the American Airlines check in counters. We literally had to fight through crowds to get there. The Arrivals Lounge was nothing special with limited seating and food options, and was far worse than the American Arrivals lounge at London Heathrow. But it had a good number of shower rooms, which was much appreciated after the long flight. After a nice hot shower and a latte, we headed to the catch the Roissy Bus, which took us into Paris.

dat4life

The ride from CDG took about 45 minutes as we ran into a bit of traffic on the way. After getting off the bus near the Opera House, it was a pleasant 10 minute walk down Boulevard Haussmann to our hotel, the Paris Marriott Opera Ambassador. The property was formerly a Radisson Blu. It was reflagged as a Marriott in 2013. Renovations are still ongoing, primarily in the lobby area. But it’s my understanding that most of the rooms have been updated to the Marriott standards.

A bellman greeted us as we entered the lobby and relieved us of our bags. The lobby was quite classy in design but not particularly spacious. I liked the dark wood finishes and the high ceilings. The front desk clerk acknowledged my Platinum status, and explained we had been upgraded to a larger deluxe room. Unfortunately, the room was not ready yet since we arrived at around 10:30AM, so he invited us to enjoy the lounge while we waited.



The lounge was located on the 8th floor of the hotel. As we entered the lounge, the very friendly club attendant greeted us by enthusiastically saying, ”Bonjour! Comment allez-vous?” Without thinking, I answered “Ca va”. He immediately became excited and asked if I spoke French. “Je parle francais et tres peu mal, Monsieur.” He laughed and said, “Still better than none, Monsieur.” I should probably explain I took two years of French in high school, and it was with doubt my worse subject. In fact, I even ended in summer school for it. Anyways, my last trip to France in 2011 went badly on the language front, as anyone I tried speaking to in French answered me in English. This time around the people I spoke to in French answered me in French, and I more or less understood it. Perhaps Parisians are more used to hearing badly spoken French than their countrymen in Nice, but I’m sure I elicited one or two well-deserved eye-rolls during our short time there. Nevertheless I knew just enough to read signs, order at restaurants, and communicate a bit which helped us out on this trip greatly. Considering how poorly I did in French class and the fact I haven’t practiced it in 10 years, I was kind of proud of myself.

Anyways, the lounge itself was a medium sized space, with a good number of seats and tables. If you’re able to snag a seat near the window in the narrow part of the lounge, there is a nice view of the Eiffel Tower.





On that first day, we got there just as the breakfast offerings were being broken down, but the aforementioned friendly attendant offered to get us anything we liked. We politely declined, still full from the meals on the plane, but relented at the offer of de jus d’orange. Breakfast is served in the lounge on weekdays. Offerings were fairly typical including scrambled eggs with all of the trimmings, along with a nice selection of pastries, bread, and fruits. However, breakfast is served in the restaurant downstairs during the weekend, with a much greater selection of offerings. They even had ramen noodles available, which seemed to cater to the large number of Chinese and Japanese tourist staying at the hotel.

The evening spread in the lounge was minimal with just some hors d'oeuvre, crisps, and petit fours. Complimentary alcohol is available as well. Interestingly, as friendly as the lounge attendant was in the morning, his counterparts during the evening were downright dour.

Rather wait a couple of hours in the lounge, my mom and I headed out to do some sightseeing, before returning to the hotel at 4PM. Our room was ready then. We were assigned to room 218, which faced Boulevard Haussmann. Even by American standards, the room was large. Furnishings were quite nice, and the beds were comfortable. There are also two large wardrobes available, as well as a Nespresso machine in the room. And most importantly, it was quiet and clean.

We did have a couple of minor gripes with the room. I requested a two twin bed room, but that is kind of pointless when you push the two twin beds an inch away from each other. A minor gripe, but it is a valid concern if you’re traveling with someone you’re not familiar with. Additionally, the comforters were much thinner than what I’m used to getting at full service Marriotts, making for some chilly nights. Judging by the color scheme of the bedding, I assume it’s a vestige from the property’s Radisson Blu days so hopefully that gets updated soon










Overall, we were quite pleased with the hotel. The property itself is very nice, and the elite benefits are good as well. Location wise, the hotel is located a block away from a Metro stop and is just a short walk from the Opera House and Galeries de Lafayette. It is within normal walking distance from the Louvre. The Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysees, and the Arc de Triomphe are a bit further away, but we were able to walk to them without any issues.

I used a total of 120,000 points (40,000 per night) for this stay, compared to the revenue rate of €300. It certainly wasn’t a bargain, but given the location and how nice the property is, I wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again for the same amount of points.

dat4life

Given SFO777 excellent recent Paris TR, this section is pretty pointless. But here it is anyways, though a bit brief as far as the commentary goes for my standards.

As we waited for our room, my mom and I walked down Boulevard Haussmann to check out the Arc de Triomphe. It was an impressive sight.








France’s tomb of the unknown soldier is located just beside the Arc.



Feeling adventurous, I paid €19 for the privilege of climbing of climbing up 5 stories worth of steep and winding stairs to the top of Arc de Triomphe. I’m sure my mom wanted kill me for dragging her up there midway through climb, but she powered through it and made it to the top. The view was very nice from up there. Though, our time at the summit was cut short by showers moving through the area.






On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a la boulangerie for a pain un chocolat pour my mom et croque-monsiuer pour moi. Absolutely delicious. While the walk was long, the weather was pleasant after the shower and it was a good way to take in the sights.







We did stop at Galeries de Lafayette. Fortunately, I have to pick up the tab for the damage my mom did there. At any rate, Galeries de Lafayette was the most absolutely most beautiful and classy store I’ve ever been to. Quite frankly, it makes the Galleria in Houston and Dallas look like a shack. Check out this glass dome in the center of the store.



After resting a bit at the hotel, we walked down to Louvre which took about 15 minutes or so. Had I known cameras were allowed in the museum, I would have brought my nice camera. But I was very jet lagged, so the pictures probably would have been as crappy as the ones I took on my iPhone. As impressive as the exhibits ere, I was way too tired to care. I pretty much was on autopilot the whole time we were there. But I did make sure we saw the Louvre’s most famously lady, which was far less impressive than I thought it would be.










The next day was colder and windier than the day before, so we opted for an indoor activity: exploring the Palace of Versailles.













Working hard or hardly working?




As our tour bus took us back to Paris, we passed by the Statue of Liberty’s French twin.


Might as well get an obligatory shot of the Opera House while I’m here.



We then headed over to Notre Dame via the Metro, which was very easy to use.



Notre Dame is by far the most impressive gothic style cathedral I’ve seen in person, which admittedly isn’t a lot. We got there in time to attend 11:30 mass (we visited on a Sunday). Mass was said in French, so while I didn’t understand what was said I did understand what was going on. I managed to grab a few photos after mass was over.
















After we left Notre Dame, we headed down to Champs-Elysees to the Laduree flagship store to pick up some macaroons for a friend back home.









Fantastic parking job buddy.



That night, we went to Paris’ most famous monument:











Paris is a great city, and I would definitely love to return sometime soon. Most importantly, my mom got some much needed down time and really enjoyed the trip.

highflier86

Kind of a random observation, but most of the premium TRs from the US always feature the beef, and is usually the choice among out Trip reporters for the entree.

Interesting, because I always avoid the steak given that they can never had it done, medium to medium rare, and other entrees usually end up being the safer choice.

CO777ER

Great photos!

dat4life

Thanks for reading, higherflier86.

You're absolutely right, it's a crap shoot as far as steaks on planes go. On my DFW-LHR flight, the steak wasn't that great, but it was near perfect on my MAD-DFW flight. So it can be done, but again it's crew dependent. The crew on the MAD-DFW flight was much better, and probably timed it so they could pull the steaks out of oven in time. Their efforts are greatly appreciated.

As to why I chose the steak entrees, they were the safe option for me given my lactose intolerance. If I didn't have that little issue, I would have definitely gone with the scallops dish, which I've heard good things about.

Glad you enjoyed it, CO777ER!

GlobalServiced

I must sadly admit that this is the first TR that I have read from you, dat4life, however this was absolutely sensational. Really makes me miss traveling to London. Might have to put this in my plans for the near future... Thank you for sharing!

By the way, I love the new AA livery on the 77W. Really sleek on that aircraft.

dat4life

Aw shucks. Thanks, TexasTea.

I completely agree. I do think the 77W wears it the best. The 772 and 763 can't pull it off as well, IMHO. Though, I think is looks decent on the 319 and 32B. Either way, it has definitely grown on me.

dat4life

Author’s note: Well folks, looks like I forgot to post this last part. It only took me a better part of a month to figure that out. For the sake of completeness, here it is and sorry for the delay


I woke up on our final morning in Paris to a text from my dad, as a winter storm was approaching the Atlanta area. My mom and I were scheduled arrive at Atlanta at 5:15PM local time, and depart at 8PM. Although the storm wasn’t forecasted to reach Atlanta until 11PM, I was worried about the storm moving in quicker than anticipated, especially with the memory of the Ice-mageddon of January 2014 still very fresh. I really had to be back at work the following day, so I rang Delta via Skype to see if alternatives were available, but no dice. A weather waiver was issued for flights departing after 11PM, which our itinerary didn’t qualify for. So we would have to stick it out and hope for the best.

Since our flight wasn’t until 1:45 in the afternoon, we had spent the morning leisurely packing before checking out and making the short walk to the Roissy Bus stop at around 9:30AM. There were several busses waiting at the stop, so naturally we chose the most crowded one. But we still managed to find seats for the journey, which took much longer than our journey into the city. Traffic was much worse than few days earlier, thanks to the taxi strike. In the U.S., strikes are generally comprised of a bunch of guys waving signs and shouting. They apparently take it a step further in France, and make everyone miserable. The striking taxi drivers decided to turn the motorway into their personal parking lot and hang out. How considerate of them!

So it took us a better part of an hour to reach CDG. We then hopped on a train to take us to Terminal 2, and made the trek to Air France’s premium check in, which is located in Zones 6 and 7.





After a short wait, we were beckoned to the counter by a free agent. Our bags were tagged all the way back to Houston, and our boarding passes to Atlanta were printed. However, the agent was unable to print boarding passes for our Delta flight to Houston for some reason, which really wasn’t a big deal.

We then headed to immigration, where there was no wait in the Sky Priority line. Our passports were stamped, and it was off to security, which was located in the separate M terminal. A quick train ride later, and we arrived at the satellite terminal. There were separate Sky Priority and general lines for security, but a large number of passengers, who weren’t eligible to use the Sky Priority line, pushed past the overmatched line dragon and went into the Sky Priority line thinking it was faster. After regaining her composure, the agent glanced at our boarding passes and directed us into general line which was now empty. I couldn’t help but smile at some of those maverick passengers as we passed them in line. How’s that for karma

After blowing off our remaining Euros at duty free on souvenirs for family and friends, we found ourselves in a modern and very attractive terminal.



It was a short walk from duty free to Air France’s Salon Lounge. We were greeted by a friendly agent at the reception desk. Our boarding passes were scanned, and the agent welcomed us into the lounge. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the lounge, so I was eager to check it out. The first thing I noticed was the sheer size of the lounge. It was so big that floor plans were posted in several locations in the lounge.



The lounge is well lit, thanks to windows running the length of the lounge, which also allowed for nice views of the active runways. The décor would be best described as modern, and would look right at home in an Ikea show room. There was plenty of seating available, though the design of the seats weren’t the best for comfort, in my opinion. The lounge did get quite full, but it didn’t feel overly crowded. There were a couple of iPads available for use in one area of the lounge.









The dining area was one of the largest I’ve seen in any airline lounge.



But what’s a dining area without some decent food. Fortunately, Air France saw it fit to outfit the lounge with a nice, albeit small, buffet. There was a nice section of hot items, salads, and desserts. When I saw crème burlee was on offer, I was stoked…only to remember I couldn’t freely partake. I settled for a fruit salad. A nice selection of soft drinks, wine, and spirits were offered as well.










The Salon Lounge was nice place to spend a couple of hours before our flight. It’s worth noting that there is a spa in the lounge, in partnership with Clarins. Treatments offered to Business Class passengers include a 15 minute massage or a facial.

We headed toward out gate, M29. Judging by the number of luxury good shots with a presence in the terminal, whoever designed this terminal took a page from the designers of Asian airports. Speaking of Asia, Burberry seems to be in the Lunar New Year spirit with lanterns all over the store. Though, it’s probably appropriate given the amount of passengers heading to Asia from this terminal.


As I mentioned earlier, the terminal itself was modern and quite attractive. If we didn’t have lounge access, I think we would have been happy just hanging out in the terminal, as it had plenty of shops, restaurants and things to do and see. There was even a “living wall”, kind of like a much smaller version of the one outside the Qantas lounge in Sydney, and children’s area complete with PS3s.





Across from our gate was an Air France A380 headed to Tokyo. It was my first time truly face to face with the world’s first super heavy, and what a sight it was. I don’t care for the aesthetics of the A380’s design, but its massive proportions are very impressive, to say the least. Either way, seeing the beast up close made me even more excited for my first flight on the A380 in May of this year.



After snapping a bunch of pictures, we headed back to our gate which was just across the hall. Boarding had already begun. The Sky Priority line was snaking down the terminal, and looked like it consisted of half the plane. As it turned out, the lack of agents available to check passports caused the line to build up and look worse than it actually was. It took less than 10 minutes to get to the single agent checking passports, and we made it to the scanner shortly after that. A smiling agent scanned our boarding passes, and we were walking down the jet bridge toward the 15 year old 777-200ER that would take us back across the Atlantic Ocean.

Air France 688
Paris (CDG) – Atlanta (ATL)
Depart: 1:45 AM
Arrive: 5:15 PM
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200ER (F-GSPH)
Seat: 3L (Business Class)

Once again, we were greeted by a friendly FA immediately upon entering the aircraft. After checking our boarding passes, we were directed to another flight attendant who escorted us past the tiny 4 seat First Class cabin to our seats, 3K and 3L. Impressive especially considering we were just flying Business Class. After stowing away our carry ons, we settled into our comfortable seats. As I mentioned up thread, Air France’s Business Class seats are very similar to American’s “Next Generation” Business Class seats in design and function, but are better padded, upholstered, and maintained. While many would probably consider the navy blue and tan color scheme of the cabin drab and boring, I found it to be quite attractive. That’s probably because I’m boring person, but I digress. At our seats already was a pillow, blanket, and amenity kit, which was a special 80th anniversary edition. One of the issues with the older seats is the lack storage, so we stuffed the pillows and blankets in the overhead and put the amenity kits in the small storage compartment in between the seats.


One of the reasons I chose the bulkhead seats ahead of time was the extra legroom, which made it easy to get around aisle seat even if it is in the angled lie flat position.



As boarding wrapped up, FAs came around with a tray of PDBs, which consisted of champagne, water, and orange juice served in real glasses. I chose a glass of champagne, which was decent, while my mom just has an orange juice. I sipped on my champers while watching the rampers finish up loading up some last minute cargo. After being stuck in a middle seat on the way over to Paris, it was quite nice having a window again.



The cabin and cargo doors were closed right at the stated departure time, and we pushed back shortly after. The safety video, which was beyond boring, was played as we taxi out to the runway. There was plenty of traffic around the airport, which naturally consisted of predominantly Air France aircraft to keep me entertained while taxiing out. Fifteen minutes later, we were holding short of the runway to allow a sister 777-200ER to land.




Traffic behind us

After the arriving 777 exited the runway, we lined up and started our powerful takeoff roll, and were airborne after barreling down over 7,000 feet of runway. The French countryside, complete with a lazy winding river, made for a picturesque backdrop while climbing out.



FAs were dinged out of their seats as we climbed through 10,000 feet, and immediately closed the curtains between First and Business which was kind of pointless because First Class was empty. But I suppose it would deter some devious passengers from taking advantage of the empty cabin. Anyways, it was quite nice to see a real thick curtain dividing the classes, compared to that mesh crap U.S. carriers use.


I then banged out a few hours of solid work, only to stop to admire the beautiful frozen expanses of North Eastern Canada.







There isn’t specific snack menu, but the menu states a “gourmet snack” will be offered midflight, which turned out to be a choice of strawberry or apricot compote. They were offered several times throughout the flight.



Before I knew it, we were just 90 minutes out from Atlanta and it was time for the pre-arrival meal. There was no choice, and just a penne pasta dish was offered. I passed but my mom partook, and said it was pretty good.



Shortly after trays were cleared, we were descending into Atlanta. As she gave us back our coats, our great FA wished a pleasant journey home to Houston. While food was mediocre for the most part (surprising as we departed from Air France’s hub), service was absolutely flawless which made for an enjoyable and memorable flight. Landing was smooth, and the taxi to our gate was quick.

Fortunately, we were able to beat the weather coming into and leaving Atlanta later that night. Our flight back to Houston was routine, and nothing to write about. Well that’s all folks! You made it to the very end. Thanks to all (two) of you who have read. Other than a few short weekend hops and some work travel, I’ll be grounded until May. But that long period of abstinence will be worth it as I’ll be going on a 34,000 mile adventure on Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, and Qantas in First Class, sometime in early summer. I might just find some time to write another trip report then…

CosmosHuman

Beautiful trip report. Your photos of Paris are tres chic! My high school French is pretty bad I'm afraid.