Yeah, Paris. My beat now. This time decided to take the AF out for the good service and better schedule; took UA back since more difficult to justify going non-contract and since it would qualify me for Premier Exec for next year. Worked out well.
8 DEC 08
IAD-CDG DL8331/AF027 Q 24L B777-228ER F-GSPN (29011)
I got to Dulles at about 7:30, well early for my 10:25 departure. There were
people blocking the biz/ST Elite checkin, so I went to an open economy agent. She was very friendly, checking me in,
giving me a lounge card after scrutinizing my WP card (hello, status was on BP), and she moved me to a forward window seat. (Satan had put me in an aisle at
the back, of course.) She then turned mean at my rollerbag, insisting I check it, even though it could easily fit into
a huge 77 bin.
I then engaged in a quest - a search for the Dulles mailslot (there's only one). With the help of a UA line monitor and the arrivals info desk I found it
- near international arrivals, behind the ramp that leads down to the roadway. Little traffic that late, so painless TSA.
I headed to the nice AF lounge, where I received a friendly greeting. They had done some work on it - there was now a tiny bar, designed to prevent the self
service that had so roiled the Puritan virtue of Virginia's authorities. The food had also been enhanced, with sandwiches (ham, salami, turkey and
vegetarian), and a bunch of items in little cups (nut mix, grapes, cheese - cheddar and laughing cow, vegetables - carrot, celery and cherry tomato, rice
pudding with cinnamon and very nice brownies.)
Our big birdie was parked outside, and as usual the double doors swinging open 50 minutes before departure heralded boarding.
I headed to my seat - and was disappointed to see that it was a no-window window over the wing. Bloody Boeing.
I worked my way in (tight pitch!) and waited, my eyes on an empty row behind. Someone else moved faster than I, though, so I stayed. A guy was at the aisle,
but middle remained empty. As it should have been - I'd be surprised if load cracked 40%.
Unlike on the -300, there was no sign of cameras as we pushed back about fifteen minutes early and headed out. I was on the wrong side for the ramp, and of
course coud barely see out, so not sure if the waterboards were there. Wonder what President Obama will do with them.
Powerful takeoff to the north, with nice reflections of light on the wing, if I seriously twisted my neck.
Service was much as the last time I reported this flight - first little amenity kits, then menus. Food was served together with drinks. Champagne, of course, even in coach. And menus:
Meal Service
Middle Eastern-style seven-grain salad with shrimp
Choice of main course
Breast of Chicken with paprika accompanied by
Lyonnaise potatoes and French green beans
-or-
Cheeese ravioli with basil sauce
Cheese
Entremets
Coffee-chocolate chip cake
Coffee and tea
Depending on the flight, we will serve breakfast or a light meal before arrival
I had the pasta which really wasn't good - one big glop, and needing more sauce. Entrement was rice pudding again; the cake was decent. And we were
offered the usual baguettes.
I turned my attention to the IFE. Unlike on the -300 it wasn't OD, but I found a just- starting Simpsons - the episode when Bart cheats so they think
he's a genius. A touch I hadn't noticed before - the principal of the gifted school had portraits of Einstein and Bart behind his desk. Hehe… This
was followed by Friends, which I decided to bail for a movie.
Without success. Movies all blank. Eventually I asked for a reset (to their credit two F/As arrived moments after I rang the call button), but to no avail.
In fact I got a screen saying only some functions were available, so I did two quizzes (Aeronautics and geography), then gave up. Trick question from the
aeronautics quiz - when will AF get its first 380? Trick answer: "Early 2007."
So I turned on my light, read Chippie's Alaska report, which I'd brought, then did some work. Eeeuw. At about
3:30 ET, west of the tip of Ireland (Airshow worked), the sun began to peek through. Yay. I wrote this report on my Blackberry.
Breakfast was the same as last time - chocolate chip brioche, yogurt and a packaged drink, something Canadian with 25% OJ and the rest sugar water. Not good.
It was totally cloudy till short final when we broke through to land, about 25 minutes early. We had a very long taxi, even by CDG standards, which gave me
time to spot a few things - TP, SQ, SV, KU, the Armee de l'Air VIP Airbus, Tahiti Nui taxiing by en route to LAX and PPT, China Eastern and MEA 330s (funny
how its become a long-range standard, though never meant for it), and, in the bankruptcy section, a couple of XLs.
Unlike last time, immigration and customs were fine, though there was a long wait for the stupid bag. By the time I was ready to leave it was snowing hard, so
I decided to spend some tax Euro on a taxi. Which provided a few more spots on the taxi out - JAT (speaking of bankruptcy), Aigle Azurs, Blue Line Fokkers
(and a white MD80), a SV MD-11F, Myair crossing above us and of course -BVFF on stilts next to the road.
I checked into the hotel - the rather grand and very nicely-located Westin - then went for a little walk, checking out the Christmas lights, Ferris wheel and
market on Place of the Concorde and the Champs Elysees.
Tuesday, sadly, was spent working, with our meeting dragging till close to 7:00. (Value for taxpayers!) And most of Wednesday was taken up with meetings too, though fortunately things went mostly smoothly and we were done by about
6:00. (It's been known to drag on all night). The best part of the trip,
actually, was that I'd managed to coordinate with a friend who I hadn't seen for a long time, and we met up Wednesday evening for drinks and
dinner. He had a meeting on Friday morning, so decided to stay with me for convenience - though we stayed up till 1
a.m. drinking wine. Hey, work was done.
Friday was scheduled to be travel day, but I not surprisingly decided to stay the weekend. Had a slightly lazy morning, then met up with my friend again after his meeting. We spent the afternoon not doing much, just walking around Paris, having lunch, then coffee, then stopping my an automated massage place for which another friend had free coupons. He and other friend took off in the evening, and I moved over to the other hotel I'd booked. (The Westin at non-government rate is slightly steep.)
Saturday morning, we met up again, till my friend departed at about 1:00 for Germany. It started to rain soon after, so I decided to find something indoor and settled on the Museé de Quai Branly. This is the national museum of non-Western art, divided into Africa, American, Asian and Oceanic, and designed by the French superstar architect Jean Nouvel. To be honest, I was more interested in the building than the art, though it had many fascinating objects, and I spent the whole afternoon there. Strangely, about half of the object labels seemed to reference our favourite city, though they spell it without the "e."
I returned to the hotel to pick up my stuff, then headed back to CDG. With an 11:45 departure on Sunday, I decided it made sense to stay near the airport. Unfortunately, I decided to take the Roissybus instead of a taxi (you're welcome, taxpayers). It's supposed to run every 20 minute but I waited more than half an hour (traffic was awful) till three arrived in quick succession. It then took over an hour. Next time, taxi (sorry, taxpayers.) Not much to see in the rain, though I knew we were near CDG when I spotted -BVFF again, with the lights in the engines. From the road I saw LY, a Pullmantour 74, a couple of XLs and an Etihad, before getting off at 2A. There was a mob at the far end of the terminal - LY security - and Etihad was checking in in the middle, but no sign of their F/As. EK was also checking in at 2C, where I picked up a timetable, then the shuttle to my simple hotel. From the parking lot, it had a great view of departures, from below, but hard to see in the mist and rain. I did, however, ID a few AFs and an easyjet.
14 DEC 08
CDG-IAD UA915 9D B777-222ER N781UA "2381" (26945)
An early return to CDG for my 11:30 departure. Was raining and miserable again, and I didn't see anything interesting on the way in. The First/1K line had about 20 people waiting, but the biz/Premier - which I used - had only one. The economy line was unbelievable - through the terminal, into the inner ring, and far around it. I got through the silly questions - why don't they ask them outbound? - and was quickly checked in. Satan had of course picked a lousy seat for me, but I'd managed to change it online to the bulkhead aisle - aisle being an experiment, since I figured there wasn't much to see across the Atlantic. The agent offered me an u/g for EUR 400, but I declined. UA J not that good, and E+ bulkhead not bad.
After checkin I headed upstairs, waiting a full half an hour for passport control. Two interesting events there: a group of people of a certain nationality trying to cut the line, saying that "she" had told them to start a new line, and, as I got close to the end, their opening the EU line to everyone. Meanies.
From the gate area I could see a Gulf, a Qatar, and an MH, with "Visit Malaysia Year" titles. (Is it just me or is it always Visit Malaysia Year?) Also there were my 77, in old colours, and the 76 for ORD, in NC. US, I saw from the monitors, was delayed. I looked when I got back - delay was from 1:00p to 6:22.
Security wasn't too bad, and I hung out near the gate, saying hello to two FTers, who weren't too friendly. For some reason I had a feeling about the flight, and gradually they called a bunch of names, including mine. I approached the counter, and was told I'd been op-upped. Yeee-haaaaa! They musta seen EI's post. New seat was 9D, which I was concerned would be a middle, but I figured it would be impolitic to ask.
They didn't actually announce boarding, but when they opened the doors people moved up, so I boarded with them. Excellent news - D was an aisle, and I was in the two row minicabin. Did I mention Yeee-haaaaa!?
I settled in and was ignored by the F/As, who were busy chatting with the a nonrev in F and a couple to my side. In fact, one even said she was too busy to hang my jacket. They did bring drinks, but the last of them were offered to the two across from me. One of the F/As was actually working hard, though, and both hung my jacket and offered me predeparture champagne. I heard an F/A tell another pax that newspapers hadn't been boarded. AF has them even for coach. Happily, my middle seat remained open; behind it was a gray bag market "Property of United Airlines. High Yield Items. Noise Reducing Headsets (HE280) United Business." Invitation to steal?
We pushed back a few minutes late and headed out. I had really hit the jackpot - not just the op-up, but channel nine was on! We, and others, asked for long pushbacks (not sure what they are), but were granted only short ones. A long CDG taxi, which yielded glimpses of Kuwait in the distance, Saudia, a blue tail with an orange blotch that turned out to be Sun d'Or, Airpost, one of the TUI groups, BVFF again, and Tahiti Nui departing. Also something that looked a bit ATI-like, with wavier stripes. We were behind DL21 and right ahead of a LOT 170 - only LOT could make it look ugly with the stripe below the cockpit.
After departure, I guess we were catching up to DL, since I heard the controller tell them to maintain at least 300 knots, while we were told not to exceed 280. Later, DL was reprimanded for requesting an illegal odd-number altitude (33k.) Also, I'm used to hearing French aircraft speaking to controllers in French, but was surprised to hear AC doing the same. (And later to hear more French west of Ireland.)
We had taken off to the east, according to Airshow, then turned left, cutting the northern coast of France and then just south of Land's End. Shortly after departure, an F/O lowered curtains behind row 2 - a crew rest area (no F/J curtains.)
At altitude we were offered drinks (champagne, natch) with death nuggets, followed by hot towels and lunch. In J there was of course a menu:
to begin
Smoked Tyrolean beef with tomato and mozzarella
Pine nut pesto sauce
Fresh seasonal greens
Creamy parmesan and peppercorn
or honey Dijon vinaigrette
main course
Grilled fillet mignon with shiitake port demi-glace
Garlic mashed potatoes with chives and a carrot-zucchini sauté
Roasted chicken with sweet chili sauce
Mixed pepper risotto and green beans with sun-blushed tomatoes
Canelloni with spinach and ricotta
Sun-dried tomato and onions with a light tomato sauce
Today's menu features beef from South America
We apologize if occasionally your choice is not available
I decide to go all-out and requested the steak. Though I was in the second row to order, I was asked for a second choice - echoes of my KWI flight.
The beef appetizer and salad were nice - salad was lettuce with radish and grape tomatoes - and were served with nice breads. I had more champagne.
After finishing, I hit yet another UA jackpot - the steak! It was really good, washed down with some nice red wine.
After the mains came:
dessert
International cheese selection
Bleu de Bresse, Comté
European specialty dessert
The lead F/A - who seemed to be French (she had jokingly reprimanded me for not speaking French) offered the dessert, which she said she couldn't describe in English. It was a rather scrumptious lemony pie, which I enjoyed with some grapes, coffee and port.
We continued on, and I continued to listen to Channel 9, with friends that included CO29, UA967, AZ604, Cactus 719, and Arkefly 341. Cabin was mostly darkened after lunch. I continue to listen for a bit - hearing DL ask AC if they were offset, and a 74. Hello? Even I know those are gone. As usual, it turned quiet over the water, so I turned my attention to my laptop and this realtime report, then watched Transsiberian on the AV-nOD. OK, I guess. After that, more work till my laptop battery died, since I wouldn't have much time back home before heading out again. (They have Empower, not normal sockets.)
About an hour before landing, they came around again:
Prior to arrival
Tuscan-style wrap sandwich
Herb-marinated chicken, salami and cheese with tomato and kalamata olives
Cheese plate with fresh seasonal fruit
Cheddar, Brie, Chaumes
I had read this as both, but it turned out to be one or the other. I went for the cheese plate, which was pleasant, the fruit being grapes, melon and strawberry. Crew was becoming elusive though - I wanted another roll for the last piece of cheese, but no joy. About half an hour before landing I wanted to get up to put stuff away, but I still had linens, a coffee cup and a couple of glasses. Finally, I placed them all on the middle seat, and walked back to see seven - yes, seven - F/As chatting in the galley. One did pick them up right before landing.
I had tried to reacquire Channel 9 once we made landfall, but didn't hear anything till we were close to the airport, with a snip fit between us and the controller who complained that we were on final and hadn't called. We had, twice.
Flight time had been slightly long, so we landed a few minutes late. I was one of the first off, so I got a primo seat in the horrid mobile lounge, with a ring seat of the staff bellowing at the pax to cram in more tightly. SA's 346 was there, as was AF's early 772. Long immigration line for citizens/passports, and almost none for the foreigners. Great.
Jumped a cab and headed home. Dump the stuff out of one bag, into another.
