This post is about my trip to Paris to take advantage of American Airlines' Double Elite Miles promotion that ended on January 31, 2012.
My second trip of the year began after a long day at
work. My flight departs at 9:20 PM and
gets into SFO at 11:00PM. My upgrade
cleared a few days before departure but my redeye back to DFW did not clear so
I was added to the waitlist. The red eye
looked very full but there was about 5 seats remaining when I checked the day
before the flight. I left work at 4:45PM
after staying behind to help out. I ran
straight into rush hour traffic and made it to my park and ride lot at about
6:30PM. I was scheduled out to leave at
D16 in the international terminal but I wanted to see if I could stand by for
an earlier flight. I took the bus to
Terminal C and checked in near gate 30.
I asked if I could stand by for the 7:15PM flight and was added to the
flight immediately. I was given seat 12D
on this old 757 bird.
I took my boarding pass, went to the security check
point and was lucky enough to be invited to use the Trusted Traveler Line. It was a great experience as I only had to
put my bags on the belt and walk through the metal detector. I did not have to take off my shoes, or take
out my liquids or laptop. The whole
process took only about 10 seconds and I was truly amazed to see that I could
definitely get used to this new process.
It is a pilot program for American Airlines at DFW and MIA and also for
Delta in DTW and ATL. The agent was very
polite (they do exist!) and told me that they were planning to expand the
program. It is great for frequent flyers
as we know that getting stuck behind a large family with kids is the touch of
death on the begging of a trip. She also
told me that C30 is the only check point at DFW to offer this service so even
if I purposely show up at this checkpoint, it is not a guarantee that I will
get to use the expedited line.
By the time I made it to the gate, it was 7PM and I
was one of the last 5 passengers to board.
While waiting on the jet bridge to board, I had an error rejection from
AA on my phone which led me to believe that my return upgrade had cleared (3
days before departure). By the time I
got on the plane, all the overhead bins were full. I waited in the back galley and took out my
passport before taking my bag up front to check it. One of the First Class flight attendants gave
me the last spot in an overhead bin located in coach when I took by bag upfront
for gate check. That saves me both time
and a trip of having to go to the carousel at DFW and reclear security for my
return flight.
Some people might ask why in the world I would
purposely stand by for a coach seat on an earlier flight. The primary benefit is to get in 2 hours
earlier for SFO allowing me to have a 3 hour layover in SFO. The first class flight food offered on the
last flight was hot nuts and cookies. On
the flight I took, even though I got a coach seat, the flight attendants took care
of me very well. I flashed my Executive
Platinum card and was offered anything I wanted off the buy-on-board menu. I got a sandwich with chips, alcohol, and a
bag of nuts. The only bad part was that
general boarding had already begun and I had a slim chance of finding overhead
bin.
The main cabin flight attendants were very nice and
were really friendly. It is rare to meet
such an outgoing crew. I chat with them
for a bit in the back galley and blogged after the service was done. The sandwich was very filling so I saved the
bag of nuts and chips for a later time during the trip. I sat next to a mother and son from China
looking at high schools to attend in the near future. I chatted with them for a bit and exchanged
contact number with the son and told him if he had any questions about life and
growing up in the USA, he could feel free ask me.
I chatted a bit with the flight attendants between
services and went back to my seat to try and rest a bit before we arrived. After we touched down, I bid fare to the
mother and son visiting from China.
Since we alighted via the L2 exit, I had to cross over into the (now
empty) First Class cabin for a bit to grab my roll-on board baggage before
leaving the plane. I made my way over to
the Admiral’s Club quickly to maximize my time (3 hours!) on the ground.
Jamie checked me in and thanked me for visiting them
via the Amex Platinum Credit Card. I
proceeded to grab a few items to eat and drink before plopping myself in front
of a desktop. I checked my Paris reservation
online and sure enough, an error notice came up there as well. I called the Executive Platinum Desk and
spoke with David who confirmed that I was in queue for the upgrade. He had to speak with the rates desk for about
fifteen minutes before letting me know that I had additional taxes to pay due
to the upgrade from LHR to DFW in business class. I was confused on this matter of additional
taxes to pay. I knew that if I flew
longhaul from the UK or France, I had to pay additional taxes. I thought that I was exempt since my flight
from Paris to London (about 300 miles) was on a British Airways operated coach
seating. He told me that the taxes were
added since the longest sector was in a premium cabin and that I originated
from France. There was no way to escape
this tax if I wanted to fly in Business Class on the way back from London.
I dug out my new Amex Delta Credit Card that I got a
few weeks ago and subsequently I am still trying to fulfill the initial $3,000
spending for 45,000 Delta SkyPesos SkyMiles bonus. I learned something new about Luxury Taxes
once again. Flying premium cabin from
the UK, France, and India all incurred this additional premium charge. The rate is determined by how long the flight
is from the country of origin. The
farther the flight distance, the higher the tax will be. UK has one of the highest rates out there and
it continues to rise. The trick around
the UK APD tax is to fly into the UK… but depart and connect in a nearby
country such as Ireland or Spain so that the taxes will be lower. Apparently this did not work for my Paris
flight nevertheless.
David took down my information and told me that I
was in the queue to be processed. I ask
Deepak, one of the Admiral’s Club agents, to print out my boarding pass back to
DFW and also for my trip to Paris. He
processed my first boarding pass fine but had problems accessing my Paris
itinerary since it was in the middle of being reissued with the additional fare
collection and the deduction of a upgrade from my account. They told me that by the time I land in DFW,
it should be done so I can get my boarding pass there. I looked to see how the upgrade looked for my
flight back to DFW on the red-eye and only one seat remained. I ended up being #2 on the upgrade list after
all the other passengers cleared so my flight #4 on American this year resulted
my being stuck in 17C… in coach! That
gives me a 80% upgrade chance this year so far since my DFW-ORD leg was
upgraded already. Since the flight is
only 3 hours, it was not bad and First Class only really got a bigger seat
only.
The flight was very full and we boarded a few
minutes shortly before midnight. I
accept my fate of being stuck in coach and put on my ear plugs/eye shades
shortly after takeoff. I slept for a
while until I hear flight attendants near me were trying to assist a passenger
sitting behind me. My ears perked up
when they asked if he was diabetic and they were attending to him with a cup of
orange juice. I am not entirely sure
what transpired with this older overweight man but they gave him a portable
oxygen tank. The man sitting across the
aisle from me was a doctor and used the onboard kit to measure this man’s blood
pressure. He ended up being ok but it
was a scary moment as the flight attendants were all frantically grabbing
things to try to help him. They brought
him towels and took off his shirt to help him cool down. I could not sleep during all that commotion and
everyone around me were all looking at the event unfolding in front of us.
Other than that, the flight was not memorable as I
was asleep during the beverage service.
We got in about 5:30AM and I made my way to the A23 Admiral’s Club which
is near where the next flight tor ORD (A21) was located. The agent helped check me in for my flight to
Paris and asked for my passport. He put
me on standby for the 7:30AM flight to ORD as there were still 10 seats
available in First Class. I grabbed a
quick shower and then went to use the computers for a while. I got a drink chit from him for a bottle of
water before leaving the club at 6:45AM to Terminal C. The airport was very quiet as it was still
early in the day for most travelers. I
know that in a few short hours, thousands of people were transiting through DFW
that were traveling to/from Europe, Japan, South Korea, South America,
Australia, Canada, Mexico, the USA, and beyond.
I was cleared into First Class a few minutes before
boarding and got seat 6E on this MD 80 bird.
I got to sit next to a commuting flight attendant for American Eagle who
heading off to work. We chatted about AMR, her job, and just travel in
general. It made the flight go by faster
as the MD 80s (aka “Mad Dogs”) lacks an entertainment system. This flight crew was very friendly and Jill
served us in the First Class cabin. Out
of 16 seats, only 1 was empty and I knew that at least 4 people were
non-revenue passengers (including the one sitting next to me). I am happy to see that despite uncertainty
among the company, the crew members were putting up a face and taking care of
passengers.
Breakfast option we had cereal, banana,
blueberries/strawberry, yogurt, and a choice of biscuit or cinnamon raisin
bagel. I went with the biscuit since I
had a bagel on a flight a mere 2 days before.
There was not a hot option available.
The service was very good for a short 2 hour flight and we arrived a bit
early so we had to wait for about 10 minutes for the previous plane to
leave. I bid the crew good bye and made
my way straight to the Flagship Lounge by gate K19. I stayed there until it was time to board my
flight to Paris.
When I got there, there were a lot of passengers in
the lounge bound for the Shanghai and JAL Tokyo flight. Once they started boarding, only a few
passengers remain. The next rush period
was for the Delhi flight in the early afternoon. The last busy period I was there had a few of
passengers for my Paris flight since the 767 aircraft does not have a First
Class thus limiting the access to the Flagship Lounge to OneWorld Emerald
members. I am sure that the following
rush periods would be for the Beijing and London flights.
The food options for the morning was bagels/breads,
sushi, fruit (pineapple, watermelon, grapes, and strawberries), and
yogurt. The light lunch offered was
sandwiches, sushi, Italian Wedding soup, brownies, fruit, and cheese/crackers.
In the afternoon, the light supper food option came out and they consisted of
pizza rolls, bacon wrapped scallops, chicken kebabs, fruit, and a few items I
do not recall. There was an open bar of
alcohol, water, club soda, and soft drinks.
Snack mix was available all day.
I think that the ORD Flagship is the least nice when compared to the JFK
and LAX lounges in the amount and quality of food offered. I will say that this lounge is NOT worse than
the United First Lounge at ORD.
The drawbacks of this lounge is that there is no
showers so one must got to the Terminal H/K Admiral’s Club for that. The bathroom is very small. There is a small
business center with 4 cubicles that has desktops and the other open for
laptops. There was a cell phone free
room for people seeking peace and quiet.
Before leaving, my favorite club agent, Denise came in and we caught up
for a bit. It had been a while since I
had seen her. She has a new 15 week old
baby boy now and she was not pregnant the last time I saw her. We chatted for a good 20 minutes before
boarding was called for the flight to Paris at 4:20PM.
I packed my things and headed to gate K9 right
before they started boarding for flight even though the monitor announced FINAL
BOARDING at 45 minutes before departure.
It was very hectic right from the start.
They called for Business class, Emeralds, and Uniformed military along
with people not paying attention and clogging up the boarding line. The 767 has small overhead bins above the
middle seats so the big roll on boards had to fit on the sides, Business class
seats were all full and coach was very well booked as well. The gentleman sitting next to me was a
business man on a paid Business Fare so I hope American is making a profit on
this route (and many others as well!)
We departed on time with no waiting in line for
takeoff and the weather was good. Dinner
service started a little late after we took off. We were first served hot nuts and cheese
served with a drink of our choosing. I
notice that one of my ramekins from the nuts had a chip on the rim of it. The next course was the appetizers of shrimp
and smoked salmon. Then we had a green
salad with a choice of oil & vinegar or Creamy dressing. I was still fairly full from eating in the
lounge so I did not consume much of the salad.
That course ended for me when I found a piece of ceramic that was
chipped off from the serving ware. I told
the purser about it and he apologized for it with a surprised look. He offered me another salad but I was pretty
much done anyway and it did not help when I found a piece of dishware
on the
bottom of the salad bowl.
(My starter- Shrimp and Salmon... the poor man's caviar)
(My seat mate's vegetarian starter and salad)
(My salad)
(My seatmate's vegetarian meal)
(My steak)
During the dinner service, I watched Avatar: The
Last Airbender. Even though it is a
kid’s movie, I enjoyed watching it.
Sometimes no swearing and adult themes are a good change from most of
the main stream movies now shown. I went
to the bath room to get ready for bed and had no trouble falling asleep since I
did not sleep much the night before and having eye shades and ear plugs
helped. I got woken up by my seat mate
who was trying to step over me on the way to the bathroom. I was awoken immediately after sleeping for
about 2 or 3 hours and was more excited than anything about going to Paris for
a day. At that time, it was about 3
hours before arrival so I got caught up on my blogging and to keep my New
Year’s Resolution.
Breakfast was served 2 hours before landing and I
had to huevos rancheros as my name accompanied by a croissant/half bagel and a
fruit bowl. The eggs were pretty good as
I am tired of the same old omelet served on all airlines for breakfast. It had way too much tortilla in my opinion
and having either bacon or chorizo with it would have been even better. Before
arrival, I chatted briefly with the purser (Thierry) who seemed like a nice
guy. I even complimented on the new amenities we
received: a better blanket, Samsung Tablet, Amenity Kit, and the slippers. I only wished the tablet had more movies and entertainment options on it but it is
definitely a step up on the old clunky system probably from the 80’s.
We arrived in Paris when it was still dark and going
through immigration was not too bad as we had priority cards before
landing. No landing cards were needed
and by the time I landed and got out of the secured area, it was about
8AM. I took the shuttle bus to Terminal
2E from 2A and it took me a while to locate the free hotel shuttle bus to the
Holiday Inn. I had to walk back and
forth to finally arrive at the bus stop.
This bus served a bunch of hotels in the Village of Rossy: Holiday Inn,
Marriott, Best Western, and a few other brands I am not familiar with at
all.
I checked in at the Front desk about 9:30AM and had
no problem with the early check in. I
got assigned to room 223 which later I discovered was a room made for someone
with disabilities. I did not have high
expectations for the property but was pleasantly surprised on how nice and big
the room turned out to be. The bed was
big and there was a lot of open space. I
had to ask the front desk for a complimentary wifi access code. He gave me one that was good for 24 hours but
limited it me to 200Mb of download and 50Mb of upload data on one device
only. I only used about half of it so it
was plenty. After settling into the room
and unpacking, I used the internet to surf and caught up on my email after
being disconnected from the world for about 10 hours.
I drifted off to sleep and woke up at 3 PM local
time (8 AM in Central Time) to realize that I wasted about half a day of
exploring already. I was tired when I
got to the hotel but sleep overcame me.
I locked my valuables in the safe and left the hotel at about 4PM. By the time I made it to Paris, I got off at
Saint Michael near the Notre Dame. I
grabbed a few photos near the Notre Dame and browsed in some of the shops near
it and continued on by passing by the Hotel De Ville. I had only €2.3 on me so I had to rely on
using my Credit Card for a while which required a minimum of €10
sometimes. I found my way to a Starbucks
so that I take advantage of the free wifi and the restroom. I used the wifi to locate a BNP Paribas near
me so that I can withdraw money fee free with my Bank of America card.
I eventually found myself on Rue de Rivoli which
where I stayed last time I was in Paris.
I happened to stumble on the same bank location I used before and also
passed by the Best Western that I stayed last time as well. After getting some local currency, I grabbed
dinner at the Café Alexander to enjoy some Mediterranean cuisine that I had
previously enjoyed. By the time I
finished with my dinner, it was about 7PM and I wanted to buy souvenirs.
Many of the shops closed early on Sunday so I
had to rush to browse through the selections.
I stopped by the Louvre to take some pictures and made by up north
towards the Hard Rock Café. It was
exciting to explore Paris at night by foot.
I enjoyed going into the different shops and browsing for gifts. The neighborhood grocery stores were very
quaint and I managed to find one selling Biscoff cookies.
At 8:30PM I eventually made my way to the first Hard
Rock Café that started off my collection and 25ish shirts later; I added the
Paris City shirt to my collection. I
walked around and taking in the sights of the people and the city. The best part of the night was eating a fresh
crepe with Nutella. I had to stop by a
McDonald’s to buy some macaroons to take home and I made a stop at a supermarket
to buy cookies and coffee as well. I
took the subway back to Notre Dame to try and buy some local crafts but those
vendors already left for the evening.
After getting some more gifts/souvenirs, I took the train back to
Charles de Gaulle Airport at 10PM. I dozed
off during that trip and made it to the airport at about 10:40PM. I waited around by the free shuttle back to
the Holiday Inn with a big bag of the items from my shopping spree.
There were a lot of people on the bus and half of
them got off the bus with me at the Holiday Inn. I went straight to my room and started
packing. I brought along a large duffle
bag because I know I would have too much to carry on. After showering and suing the internet, I
fell asleep at about 3AM. I set an alarm
for 6AM since I was trying to catch the 7:50AM flight to London. The room was very comfortable and a very good
price for $60 + 5,000 Priority Club points considering the daily rate was €109
(plus tax) which is about $150. Other
payment options for the room were $40 + 10,000 Priority Club points or 15,000
Priority Club points. I only had about
13,000 points at the time so the option I took has the best value to me.
I woke up at 8AM so I was very late for my flight
since I did not hear the alarm go off. I
will have to ask for a wakeup call next time I am in a hotel and not rely on my
phone alone. I took the bus to the
airport and arrived at about 8:30AM since there were a lot of people on the
shuttle both arriving and departing. I
stopped at Terminal 3 near the Rossypole and took the CDGVAL to Terminal 2. By
the time I got to the British Airways counter, it was about 9:45AM. I was sent by the agent to the AA counter as
it was an AA issued ticket. I waited in
line for quite a while and by the time it was my time, it was about 10 AM. I was placed on the direct flight to DFW
departing at 11:30 AM but was required to pay a change fee due to the routing
change. The agent should have charged me
the difference in the airfare that I paid for and the cost of a walk-up fare
but she was nice enough to only charge the change for me. I did get some taxes refunded back to me
since I skipped the transit through LHR so that decreased the amount I needed
to pay. She took care of the changes and
was finished by 10:10AM. She told me to
go check in at the counters for the flight. She also immediately cleared the
upgrade into Business class with one of my System Wide Upgrades and I chose 2G,
the bulkhead aisle seat, in the middle section of the 2-2-2 configuration.
The check in counter was a hot mess and it took
forever to get checked in. The lines
were confusing and I did not know where to go.
I went to the shortest line possible since I was flying in
Business. I got scolded by one of the AA
representatives who was trying to rearrange the ropes/poles marking the
area. I waited in line for about 15
minutes and had to answer some security questions about my baggage before
seeing the agent to check my bag in.
They were checking in for both the flight I was on (AA 42 to DFW) and
the one to Chicago (AA 48 to ORD) departing an hour later which might account
for the massive amount of people in the lines.
The agent told me that boarding was starting shortly
at 10:30AM so I would not have a chance to visit the Admiral’s Club. She did not give me a priority pass for
security but noted that I can flash the boarding pass to access the No.1 acces
line for security. It would have been
better if someone was working that line.
Eventually after waiting 5 minutes and being ignored by the agent
checking the regular line, a young lady came by to escort me through
immigration and security which took a few minutes. I did not get a departure stamp from my
immigration officer so I was a little disappointed with that.
The gate area was a mess so I headed towards the
lounges and had a choice of the Admiral’s Club or the Cathay Pacific
Lounge. I chose the latter as I feel that
would be a nicer lounge. I have my
boarding pass and AA Executive Platinum card to the agent. She welcomed me but also informed me that she
would not be making any boarding announcements for my flight. I stayed for about 15 minutes and had a
breakfast of bread and Coke Light and fruit.
I used their computers for a while but the internet was very slow and I
gave up eventually.
About 40 minutes, I headed to board my flight to
DFW. They were doing the general
boarding at that time. My boarding pass
was scanned and I was given only the stub at that time. We had secondary security screening (US bound
flight) mandated by the TSA. They just
waved me through and I discovered that I was lucky to depart from an apron
position. I went down the stairs to get
on the shuttle bus to the plane. I took
a few photos during this time until boarding and was told by one of the agents
to stop doing it. At least I got a few
pictures in before they told me to stop.
We boarded via the stairs on this 767 bird. I was able to find overhead space for my bags
and sat down to watch the general boarding chaos/fun.
We had a late departure as 2 passengers came from
presumably connecting flights. The
business class was filled to capacity 28/30 passengers and 2 seats blocked for
pilot rest. I was surprised to find out
as I had a choice of 3 different seats when I made my ticket changes. Pre-departure beverages of water, orange
juice, and champagne were served.
Newpapers were distributed before we took off and the purser gave us a
menu. The pillow, blanket, amenity kits,
Bose headphones, and Samsung Tablets were waiting at our seat upon arrival.
After we took off, we were offered hot nuts and
cheese that were served in ramekins. I
drank a whole bunch of Coke Light during the entire flight. The appetizer course was served with shrimp
and smoked salmon. The green salad was served with a choice of honey mustard
dressing or vinaigrette (my choice) topped with asparagus, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I got the steak as my main served with
broccoli and potato gnocchi. It was
pretty good but I could not finish the gnocchi as I was stuffed. The purser came by with the bread basket and
I chose the wheat bread. When the dinner
main entree orders were taken by the purser, I was greeted even which is a rare
occurrence for me.
Dessert was an option of a grape/cheese/cracker plate
and custom made sundae. I again went
with the sundae with everything on it: fudge, butterscotch, strawberry, chopped
nuts, and whipped cream. I also got some
Bailey’s on the rocks and a cup of tea to top off the meal service. I did not watch any movies when I found out
that I had already seen Surviving Christmas previously in the past. I even got to chat with Pete, one of the
flight attendants serving the economy sections, about American Airlines in
general, bankruptcy, planes, aviation news and several other items. He was really nice and I enjoyed hearing
positive comments about the company’s future. I watch some TV shows on my laptop and worked
on blogging to help pass the time. I
even napped for a few hours since I was still messed up from all the flying and
time zone changes.
After I woke up, I got some snacks from the galley
(cereal bars, potato chips, kit kat, nuts, and cheese crackers) selection. I even got a cheese/cracker plate from the
galley flight attendant. The rest of the
flight was uneventful but it was very enjoyable. For the pre-arrival meal, we had a choice of
a pizza/salad or a cold plate of tandoori chicken and potato slices (my
choice). Prior to arrival, the Samsung
tablets and headphones were collected. I
thanked the purser for the wonderful service onboard and discovered that we
lived in the same city.
I was the first passenger off the plane and made my
way to the customs/immigration hall.
There were a lot of flights that had just arrived so it was very
packed. British Airways Boeing 747 from
LHR and AA Boeing 767 from Frankfurt are the only ones I recall amongst several
others from Europe. I quickly made my
way to the Global Entry and was at Baggage claim within 5 minutes of getting
off the plane. It took a while to get my
bag and very few people waiting around were from my flight. In fact, the claim area was very pretty
sparse as there were workers clearing the belts for those passengers still
stuck in immigration. After getting my
bag, I made my way to the Global Entry line once again and departed the secured
area to the outside world. I called the
Parking Spot to have a pick up and they came within 5 minutes (probably was already
at the airport for a drop off). I got to
my car by 5PM and was shortly on my way home.
It only took 30 minutes from the time I got off the plane and to my car. That is what I call efficiency and am glad
that I paid for Global Entry.
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
Overall, I had a great time flying around everywhere
and had a great time. There is not much
in my books that can beat the feeling I got walking around Paris at night. The shopping and eating were very
enjoyable. Despite missing my flight, I
still had a good time on this short trip.
The hotel was a delightful surprise and I had a lot of room to
enjoy. It puts the Best Western that I
stayed with last time to shame. The best
part was that I only paid $60 + 5,000 Priority Club points for a €109 (plus
tax) stay and it was very close to the airport.
I would stay with them again if I have an early departure from CDG
airport in the future. Otherwise, I
would stay closer in the city for transportation reasons.
American Airlines improving their soft product in
their Business and First class cabins is a big plus in my book. The only thing missing is the fully lay-flat
seats (will be on the new fleet). The
767 bird that they fly on the international routes are good for
transcontinental and Hawaii flights but not for international flights. I am excited that this aircraft will be
replaced by the new Boeing 787 dreamliner
(if production issues are resolved soon).
Until then, the new Boeing 777-300ER plane will be delivered this year
and will be used primarily on the LHR route (from MIA, DFW, ORD, LAX and
JFK). The rest of them will be probably
deployed most likely to NRT/HND (from ORD, LAX, DFW and JFK) and to China (PVG
and PEK) as they get delivered to AA.
Sad news is that the ORD-DEL route will be discontinued as of March 1
this year so that frees another 777 into service. I wish American the best as I plan on
continuing to buy economy tickets and then using my System Wide Upgrades on
them a long time (if permitted).
PS: I called American Airlines Customer Relations
about the chipped dinnerware in the salad to let them know about it and was
offered 3,000 AA miles as a token of appreciation for letting them know about a
week later
Thanks for bearing with me on this long trip report
and for also taking the time to read it as well. I hope to have many more
enjoyable trips to share the rest of the year.
I used a business class to Paris flight for my work and i must say that i had a blast! I could see the you probably enjoyed yourself as well. I always like it when people take pictures of their experience flying first class or business class. Thank you for sharing!
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