Europe Via SkyTeam, Take Two: A Mini-Trip Report

I was on one of those outdated Virgin Atlantic upper class cabins for work in early December. I wasn't impressed. There was a crack on the housing around the tv. The seat was showing past its age.

"Ben would kill me, but he’s too busy flying a Gulf carrier for the thousandth time" - I liked the playful shot at Ben. It would be nice to see more dueling opinions on this blog. Like when Ben compared Etihad and Emirates F. It would've been nice to pull in other contributors' opinions who maybe would have differed.

Should you buy something you don't need because it's cheap?

Should I care about global warming considering that I won't be around and it's your kids that will suffer anyway.

So much confusion.

Who would spend 147,500 miles !? Just take the train. How ridiculous. I guess when people like you buy the 147,000 miles tickets they will continue to raise prices.

France is a large country with many dynamic cities outside of Paris, but for the most part you’ll have to fly through dreaded Charles de Gaulle-Roissy airport to reach them (though Air France is introducing a JFK-Paris Orly route)

Ahem. Openskies. Been flying JFK/EWR-ORY for years.

Nick, is there a reason you didn't consider the train (as per the poster two above) or flying through ORY? Or a train to ORY? 😉

Also, there's the OneWorld/BA option of domestic award flights in Europe often being a good deal at 7,500 miles o/w. Did you consider any such option?

Might not work for December but don't forget you can fly from Canada to many destinations in France with non-stop flights via Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City. Air Canada fly to Paris and Nice (via Rouge) and will resume Lyon service in June and Air Transat (though not part of any alliance and does not offer any business class) fly to Paris, Nantes, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Mulhouse, Marseille and Nice (most are however seasonnal) as well as multiple other destinations in Europe.

I have always highly enjoyed your posts, Nick. I'm glad you're back and hope to be reading more from you in 2016.

But this post was such a tease! I wanted more. I have been toying with the idea of visiting Aix-en-Provence and would have loved to read of your impressions.

There used to be a Delta flight between JFK and LYS (Lyon) as well...

Just take the Eurostar between France and London; unlike ye old great USA, public transport in Europe is sooooo much better.

I'm confused what is new about that A340? Unless you were on one of the truly ancient (and I believe now all retired) A340-300s the last time, that's pretty much what they all look like. The wall with the lit-up sparkly panel has been there for many years.

@BigDaddyJ @Ryan: It was New Year's weekend. Train prices were extremely high and comparable to plane tickets... and since I landed at Heathrow, it was a lot easier to just leave from Heathrow rather than transit into London to jump on a Eurostar.

Also, sadly no award space on BA for the short hop to France -- again, it being New Year's weekend. I considered 147,500 for a direct Nice-to-USA routing, personally, to be superior to spending $600+ to position myself in London.

CX is using the No. 1 Travellers Lounge for their F customers while their lounge is being renovated. Peversely, this is a very poor option as you are escorted to a tiny separate library-themed 'Reserved' room which appears to have maximum occupancy of 5 or 6 (no exaggeration!) although there was just me and one other on my visit. A glass of champagne and a time-appropriate meal from the menu is bought to you, and that's the last you see of any service. You can wander out into the general area for signs of life if you wish, but I thought it pretty uninspiring. Instead, I headed off to the BA F lounge, having to convince the door dragon I was eligible for entry (educate your reception people BA !!) It was OK, not great, and had a buffet breakfast with chilled champagne. Bottom Line: Can't wait for the new CX F lounge to finally open!

"I woke up on January 1, 2015"

I thought it was New Year...