Weekend in Paris

So what next? Well, the airfare itself wasn't the hurdle. We could get approx $300 round trip airfares from Boston, but not on a Delta code. This wasn't too much of a difficulty as Delta now counts AF mileage towards Medallion status.

I did quite a bit of searching, and with my Delta Guardian Angel's help, reserved the following itinerary:

02Mar
DL   80 dep BOS 1710 arr JFK 1820    767-300ER  23A&B
DL 8267 dep JFK 1940 arr CDG 0850+1  747-400    46A&C
* OPB AF as AF007. Departs JFK T1, arr CDG T2C

06Mar
DL 8266 dep CDG 1315 arr JFK 1530    747-400    46A&C
* OPB AF as AF006. Departs CDG T2C, arr JFK T1
DL 1866 dep JFK 1745 arr BOS 1908    757-200    23A&C

We actually had the option of taking the DL direct flight on 06 March (CDG-JFK), but chose to take the AF flight, mainly because it left Paris three hours later (and gave us three more precious hours on the ground). GA was also very kind and booked us into 46A&C (leaving B open) for both legs. Unfortunately, the cheap airfare was unavailable on the nonstop BOS-CDG, CDG-BOS flights operated by AF.

Equally unfortunately, the tickets were paper tickets. Delta and Air France are not yet integrated enough to accept each other's electronic tickets. Oh well, just one minor hitch on the road to integration.... Another hitch was that the DL/AF codesharing deal is blocked space. The deal that DL had with SN/SR/OS was revenue sharing - they would each sell as many seats as they could on the cooperating flights and split the revenues. Obviously DL and AF are not yet cohabitating as much (I liken DL/AF to Edward and Sophie rather than Andrew and Sarah :-).

March 2 rolled around quickly. We'd been using our traditional jet lag diet, and thus were sufficiently starved on the day of departure that I was confident we'd have no trouble adjusting to Paris time. We left work at about 14:20, arrived at the Kendall T at 14:30 (I have an office above the Kendall T where I had stashed the bags), and were underway on a Red Line train to the airport at 14:37. The trip was speedy - a mere 24 minutes (not as good as our personal best time of 19 minutes from Kendall to Airport, but not far from it). Even better, a shuttle bus was waiting for us when we came upstairs from the blue line.

We arrived at Terminal C .... or I should say, Terminal D. Due to road reconfiguration at Terminal C, the Massport bus stop has been moved down the road to Terminal D, so you have to hike back to C. Not bad as we only had one small duffle bag and one carryon, but it could be quite a chore with anything more than that.

There was no wait for check in (YAY), and in fact the Medallion/First Class agents were taking passengers from the coach line (quite the opposite of what I experienced at SLC just two weeks ago). The agent was friendly and chatty (but not excessively so), and she had us checked in BOS-JFK, with our bag tagged BOS-JFK-CDG in just three minutes. She told us apologetically that we'd have to check in for JFK-CDG at Kennedy. Another hitch in the DL/AF cohabitation, it seems...

As we were starving (due to the jet lag diet), we picked up a small snack from Urban Pain (Au Bon Pain) - smoked turkey and cheddar sandwich. We ate it while sitting in the Kidport area, watching the kiddies bounce their energy away, and also viewing Northwest's arriving and departing equipment (a 757 configured 6 doors + 4 overwings, and an A319). The Logan airport newspaper mentioned that Virgin Atlantic was (finally) moving to Terminal E. This move was expected, as they're currently shacking up in a gate at Terminal B, which was part of the United - TWA trade.

Sandwich done, we walked through Press Relay. I didn't need any puzzle magazines, but I did pick up a rather fluffy Sports Illustrated for Women. Christopher got the Globe. It was a competition for which had least content. We walked next door to Travel 2000 and I got an inflatable neck pillow. As we were stuck in Transatlantic coach (for the first time since 1996!) I was determined to make my sleeping experience as comfortable as possible. After Travel 2000, we ran next door to Staples, and viewed our plane out the window - N198DN.

That done with, we headed back across Terminal C, picking up a Printemps map of Paris from the Air France counter (AF was just opening their counter at 1600 for a 2000 departure), and cleared through security. We managed to beat the rush, getting through quickly, while just a few minutes later there was a veritable stampede. Luck of the draw!

We sat in the gate area (gate 26) and read the Globe. It didn't take long. Across the tarmac we could see an unmarked ERJ with Delta Connection style tail but no titles. Whose was it - TransStates? Atlantic Coast? No time for pondering, BusinessElite boarding was called at 1640 (as this was an internationally configured 767-300ER), with Medallion boarding just five minutes later. The BusinessElite section was very empty. Even later, after getting off the plane, I'd estimate that perhaps a quarter of the seats had been sat in.

DL80 sch dep BOS 1710, actual 1711. sch arr JFK 1820, actual 1810
767-300ER, N198DN, 8 FA's (4C, 4Y), seats 23A&B. No meal.

We have seats 23A&B, in the fourth row of coach on the outboard side, but only the second full row. The row is so close to the front of the cabin that we're forced to look at the TV screen in front of row 20 A&B instead of the big movie screen in front of 22DEF. The flight crew passed out water bottles before pushback. Yum. I should have asked for two of them.

For the second time in a row, the cabin crew ran the safety video before pushback. We pushed back at 1711, and while being towed out, viewed the SR A330 and SN A330 (OO-SFS). I wonder, is SR having that low of a load now? They used to fill a 747-300 daily from BOS-ZRH. The A330-200 is much lower capacity. Are they making up for it with higher yields, or are they just not getting the feed anymore?

The captain spooled up the engines and we taxied out, with takeoff at 1723. The seatbelt sign was turned off at just 1726 (three minutes later!!). After a while, the captain came on the PA and announced we'd be cruising down the coast at 22000 feet. There was no drinks service in coach, but I did go to the galley for a bottle of water (luckily there was some available - it seems no matter how much water DL puts on their planes, it always goes).

Captain came on later to say we were scheduled into JFK ontime, and were theoretically scheduled at gate 28. He lit the seatbelt sign for descent at 1744 (do the math, that's just 18 minutes without belts). We landed at Kennedy and taxied over to Terminal 2, docking at gate 25 rather than the pre-scheduled 28. No matter, we had the time, as we actually arrived in a few minutes early (1810), and our flight to CDG didn't leave until 1940.

Delta and Air France are not in the same terminal (unlike Delta's previous cohabitators Sabena & Swissair, who are still in Terminals 2/3 with Delta, at least until their move to the leprous Terminal 4/IAB at the end of March). Air France was part of the consortium who built (and now inhabit) Terminal 1. "An airline with money", Christopher called them. ("well, yeah, but *government provided* money" My anti-subsidy voice responded). Luckily, there is an eminently walkable path between Terminals 2 and 1. We walked out of the arrivals (upper) level of Terminal 2, turned left, walked down the ramp, and were on the arrivals (lower) level of Terminal 1. It took perhaps four minutes and we traversed maybe 200 yards. Painless!

We went to the Air France check in desk (at the furthest end of Terminal 1 from the door we came in at, of course!), as directed by the agent in Boston. Because our bag had been checked in, we were able to utilize the "Tempo with cabin baggage only" check-in line. Unfortunately, there was a horribly complaining couple in front of us, with five bags between them that they insisted were all carryons. They eventually relented and agreed to check some of them. What a mess! After them, we let another woman (who was not feeling well) go ahead of us in line. Once we got to the front we got our boarding passes, and the agent put our baggage number into her computer (we didn't even have to ask her!).

After check-in, we made a quick pit stop, ran past the food court (very boring), and stood in line for security. Yoinks. It was long (and not very efficient). By the time we cleared through, it was just 1850. Since boarding was to be called at 1900, I made sure we didn't dawdle on our way down to Gate 2. I did note that Terminal 1 had the plus of being a new terminal. It was well laid out with nice amenities (that I saw), and had new fixtures throughout.

Gate 2 did not hold the plane I really wanted to be on, however. That was at gate 1, and was F-BVFB (go on, look it up, I dare you :). Our plane was F-GITE, a 747-400 with Groupe Air France titles. AF had helpfully posted an information sheet by the gate which stated that our Captain's name was Alain Deswarte, our Chief Purser was Yolande Duret, and the plane was configured 13P/58J/321Y. The flight was 6h25m enroute and the movie was to be "Rogue Trader" (English) or "Trader" (French). Do the French not have a word for Rogue? Or were Nick Leeson's dealings that horrendous that they have to "censor" them?

Gate 2 is quite interesting - I've never seen this many markings for a single gate before! It has markings for SST,A310,A320,747SP (one line), 767-200,757 (second line), 767-300, 777-200 (third line), A330, A340 (fourth line), and DC10/L1011,MD11 (fifth line), 747 (sixth line). We actually sat on the window sill waiting for boarding to be called. "Special needs" boarding was called at 1907 (families with non-small children stampeded forwards), with general boarding at 1912 ("rows 46 and higher" - we were in 45 but went on anyways :-).

DL8267 sch dep JFK 1940, actual 1952, sch arr CDG 0850, actual 0909
747-400, F-GITE, ? FA's, seats 45A&B (was 45A&C). Dinner & Bkfst.

I'd forgotten how LONG the 747 is (amplified by the fact that we're in the back cabin). It was quite a walk through the coach cabins to our seat, and we didn't even see either l'Espace cabin. I expect l'Espace 180 (first class) is in the nose and l'Espace 127 (business class) is upstairs. From our seats we could see F-BVFB - wow what small windows!!!

The seatbacks seemed quite hard and uncomfortable, but the blanket was big enough. AF was civilized enough to put a pillow and blanket on each seat rather than having them all in overhead bins for the grabbing like on US domestic airlines. The pillow was mushier than I was used to, so I was quite glad that I'd gotten a neck pillow.

Most of the way through the boarding process, a couple came on board with assignments for 44B and 45B. The flight attendant (male) asked the woman in 44C if she'd mind moving into our empty seat so that the couple could sit together. This rather peeved me, as I really wanted that extra seat. It also made me wonder - did AF have the *right* to that seat? It wasn't the last seat on the plane. And it *was* DL's seat, by right of purchase of blocked space. I really need to find out what the rules are in situations like that.

We pushed basically ontime at 1952, and takeoff was just 26 minutes later (2016). That seemed *very* quick for JFK. I've sat on planes in line for takeoff for an hour before. While waiting for pushback, the FAs passed out menus (one sheet piece of paper with French on one side and English on the other) and "relax" kits (which included crummy headphones, earplugs, and an awesome eyeshade).

There was no visible DL cabin crew on board. Odd, as there always has been on the SN flights I've been on (with DL codes). Another hitch? I also noted that the air vents were not directly overhead, but were just behind (but still overhead) the row in front. This made it very difficult to aim the vent while still sitting.

After takeoff, the seatbelt sign was turned off very quickly, and the FA's changed outfits. It was very odd, to see them go from a very nice navy blue to a rather garish royal blue. I also noted that there were very few women FAs on the flight (I saw two: an older Asian woman, and a prototypical young chic French girl with blonde hair).

The FAs passed out menus, where I learned that the menu was:
appetizer: smoked salmon
main course:
* breast of chicken with wild rice, buttered green peas and carrots.
* fillet of red snapper with a tomato, mushroom, and white wine sauce and rice amandine

cheese (camembert)
pastry (apple cake)
french (crusty) roll w/ butter

There was no salad (just the appetizer). How very non-American.

This particular 747 also had no main cabin screen (big movie screen in front of the cabin). Instead, there were 757-style TVs hanging down in the aisle. It seemed a bit surreal, as the 747s I always flew on when I was a kid between the US and Europe had the huge screens at the front of the cabin (and often another one mid-cabin as well).

I fell asleep pretty quickly (as usual missing dinner), while Christopher had the snapper. He also fell asleep. We woke up once and had to crawl over the interloper in 45C to get to the bathroom. She seemed quite put out (well that's what you get when you take our seat :). Then we had more sleep.

Breakfast came around much too soon, and as typical for continental Europe, was much too small. It consisted of plain yoghurt, a sweet roll, and a carton of OJ. I asked for (and received) milk and water to drink (not in the same cup). Not long after, the FAs changed from royal blue to navy blue, and preparations were made for landing. The seatbelt sign was run at 0842 (LATE, more on that later), and we touched down at 0853, and pulled into a hardstand at 0909. On our way there, we saw the Thai Longboat 747-400 (HS-TGJ) and a SQ 747-400 (9V-SMR).

Oh gods hardstands. I haven't done one of these in a big plane for a while. And being all the way in the back, we had to put up with waiting til almost the very end to get out. Instead of busses, there were mobile lounges waiting to take us to the terminal.

We got in, and I did remember something I read a while ago: these lounges are the LIFO model (Last In First Out), so we hung out as close to the same end we came in as we could. There were some really rude people who sat down and took up two or three seats, while old women went standing (the sitting people were perfectly capable of standing). I wished I'd had a seat to give them, but I was standing as well.

We got to the terminal and went into the immigration hall to find that it was MOBBED. But that wasn't the worst of it: there was NO EU PASSPORT LINE!!! We had to stand in line behind all of the Americans while they had their passports snooped through. From the time it took us to get to the hard stand, we were a good 45 minutes before we got through to baggage claim.

Baggage claim - a nightmare to itself. The carousels were rather scattered about with multiple flights dumping onto single carousels. Luck of the draw put our flight on the carousel to the immediate left of the immigration exit. So we got as good a spot as we could and waited....

....and waited and WAITED. I made a pit stop (there was a single 1-stall toilet. Don't even ask how long the line was). Finally, bags for another flight started coming off, even though there were many people still hanging around waiting for the JFK bags to come through. I went off to baggage services and stood in line for many minutes. I finally spoke with an agent who said "we paged you, why did you not respond to the page?". I didn't have a good answer at the time (sleep deprived!), but I later realized that one of these things happened:
(1) they paged me, but while our plane was on the hard stand and I had not even gotten to immigration yet.
(2) they paged me while I was waiting in line to get through immigration.
(3) they paged me while I was in the toilet (again, couldn't hear the pages).
(4) they paged me, in any of the above situations, but in French so I didn't understand.
(5) they never paged me.

I was inclined to think (1) or (2), but I later revised that opinion to (5).

AF said that they knew that the bag was coming on the next flight (which would arrive CDG at 1200) and that they would deliver the bag to the hotel "this afternoon", "certainly by 7 or 8pm". With that assurance, we chose to leave the airport and head to our hotel.

You know what happened, don't you? Haven't you seen this coming the whole time? The bag didn't arrive Friday afternoon. Or not by 7 or 8pm either. That's when I started calling Air France, when they assured me that the delivery company had the bag and it was "out for delivery". We were exhausted, so we crashed, figured that the bag would arrive shortly after we went to sleep.

I got up the next morning at 0800 and went downstairs to the lobby, only to find - no bag! So of course I rang AF at once, who said that the bag was "en route" and "should arrive any time now". I pleaded my case and asked to have the bag made special priority - which they claimed that they would do. They said the bag would arrive "certainly by 11", so we went to Invalides and saw the Museum of the Army and Napoleon's Tomb (while wearing the same clothes we'd been wearing for the previous two days).

We went back to the hotel at noon and NO BAG. I was getting rather pissed (no surprise), and after grabbing a quick lunch, I rang AF again. They said that they had only found my bag at 9pm the previous evening (even though at 7pm the previous evening they claimed the bag was out for delivery), and that there were "lots of bags" to be delivered. I made a rather cutting remark asking if AF lost bags often, but the agent either didn't understand or pretended not to.

At just before 14:00 on Saturday, a van pulled up outside the hotel. It was, finally, the bag. 30 hours after arriving in Paris, our bag arrived. I signed the receipt personally (after literally falling down the stairs to get there in time), and date and time stamped it. The "special priority" box said "Non" ("no"). Ammunition!

For more details on the Paris trip, I have written a travel report which is posted in rec.travel.europe and is also on the web at http://www.ckdhr.com/hrose/paris-travel-march2000.html.

06March

We took the Metro (Ecole Militaire to Madeleine via line 8, Madeleine to Chatelet via Line 14/Meteor) and then the RER from Chatelet to CDG. We arrived at CDG just before the scheduled check in time of 1115. We went to the Delta desk which had a Delta-clad agent at it. He looked at our tickets and sent us to the AF line. I pleaded my case with him, saying both that we were on a Delta ticket, and also that we were Medallion members and entitled to use the BusinessElite line. He had no clue (I suspect he didn't work for Delta).

We went and stood in the horrendously long line for AF's Tempo cabin. AF was feeding four flights from this line (NY, SFO, LAX, IAD). That's four planes (2x747-400x, 1x777-200, 1xA340) full of people. We had to stand in line to stand in line. First we stood in line and had our passports checked, and then were permitted to stand in line to wait for an agent.

While waiting in line I was getting rather grumpy, so I asked one of the AF agents how to find the Delta Station Manager (note: we had stopped in the DL ticket office at l'Opera that morning and I asked who the station manager was. The agent didn't know, claiming that Paris had recently changed managers). The first AF agent (I should note, by the way, that there were three agents, all checking each person's passport. A very VERY inefficient way of doing things) pointed me at the second, who sent me down to a Delta ticket desk further down the hall.

The Delta agent at the ticket desk (she was wearing Delta clothes, but I don't actually know if she worked for DL or if she was an AF employee) did try (I will give her that much credit). I asked if she could put us on the direct CDG-BOS flight, but she said that it was "full" (not surprising, DL doesn't buy many seats on that flight). I also asked her if we could stand in the BusinessElite line as Medallion members. She said no.

I got back to my husband who by this time was rather seething. The DL/AF alliance is just not very seamless AT ALL. No elite reciprocation - being Medallion on DL got us absolutely ZIPPO with AF. No accepting of electronic tickets. No flight attendant swapping that we could see (certainly none was announced). And then the whole mess up with the bag (honestly, 100 minutes to transfer one small duffle bag 300 yards is NOT difficult). I have my complaints about Star, but they are at least making an effort to have a seamless alliance. For example, UA Premier Executive gets you somewhere on Air Canada and Lufthansa and Thai. I want DL and AF (and AeroMexico and South African and presumably eventually Korean if they stop crashing planes) to get to this level of cooperation. I want to be able to *expect* certain things. I don't want guessing games and I don't want finger pointing. End of rant.

We finally got to see an agent (after standing in the second line for 25 minutes), and it took this agent FIFTEEN MINUTES to check us in. That's five times what it took the agent in BOS. In addition, the AF agent totally screwed up our connecting boarding passes (which I admit, she did at least print) - she had neglected to rip out our coupons for that leg to stick in the little boarding pass envelopes. Oh well, we can rectify that at JFK.

By this point I was beyond hungry (last thing I'd had to eat was some nibbles from Marks & Spencer while sitting on the RER). But we had to stand in line YET AGAIN to enter the secure zone. And France still has outgoing passport control, so we couldn't just feed to security, but had to keep two self-important government bureaucrats employed while they stamped my passport (yes, thank you, it's red. bugger off). Through security, and up to the terminal.

Yikes the terminal was a mess. "It's a poor man's DFW" said Christopher. He was right, too. It was long and thin, and the waiting areas were inadequate. Nobody obeyed the smoking/no-smoking areas. In addition, some people were smoking extra-noxious pipes and cigars. We ran into a cafeteria and got a jambon et deux fromage sandwich (ham & two cheeses) on wheat bread. It was airport priced (23F, almost $4), but I was so hungry I didn't care. We wandered down to gate 81 to wait for boarding.

Our aircraft this time was F-GITC, the slightly older brother of our outbound plane. Luckily, we were at an actual gate this time. The agents put US immigration forms (including I-94W, I-94, and customs forms IN FRENCH) at the boarding counters, but did not tell people to take them. Likewise, they did not tell US citizens to fill out the emergency contact info (at least they didn't tell Christopher).

We stood around for a few minutes, and they made an announcement. The cabin was "not quite ready", and it would be "about ten more minutes". Just as I expected, twenty minutes later, boarding was called (1245). The flight was once again, very full. Luckily, we did manage to hang onto our empty middle seat this time, even though several people tried to claim it (I moved from the aisle to middle seat as the man in the aisle seat stayed fully reclined the whole flight).

DL8266 sch dep CDG 1315, actual 1334. sch arr JFK 1530, actual 1507
747-400, F-GITC, ? FA's, seats 45A&C. Lunch & Snack.

I watched the safety briefing carefully. It was bilingual French and English. I don't know if they have a separate briefing for each country they fly to with different players. The English-speaking man on the briefing was disgustingly perky. I wanted to throw something hard at him.

We pushed at 1334, taking off at 1350. The seatbelt sign was turned off at 1356. The captain came on the PA to tell us that we would be 7H10M enroute. AF had put up an info sheet with the captain's name, etc on it, but only three minutes before boarding, so I didn't get a chance to note the particulars.

I noted that there were pillows and blankets on each seat for the return flight as well. Obviously they expect people to sleep even during the day. The seats on both legs had a decent pitch (32", perhaps 33") - better than domestic Y, but not nearly as good as domestic F. The tray table also had a funky cup holder which folded down so you could have a drink withou;t folding down your whole tray.

Once again there were lots of male FAs, and once again they changed from navy to royal blue (except the chief purser, who remained navy blue throughout). In fact, the chief purser spent an inordinate amount of time helping in the coach cabin. I was quite surprised, expecting him to spend much time in F/C instead.

The royal-clad FAs served an "aperetif" (pre-meal drink), and then followed with lunch, where the menu was titled "La Champagne: A Region to be Savored".

The details were:
appetizer: Reims-style chicken and coleslaw
entree choice of:
* sauteed turkey w/ Saint Menehould sauce and parslied potatoes.
* hake with cream sauce, basmati rice, with diced tomatoes
Cheese (camembert)
Champagne-style mousse with raisins
bread

Christopher decided on the fish, and I wanted the turkey. I say "wanted" ... however, by the time they got around to me, there was no turkey left. Many many people were left with fish when they wanted turkey. AF botched the meal proportions on this flight mightily. It was just luck of the draw that we were in the area of the cabin that was served towards the end (although not last by any means).

I didn't eat much of the fish, so I ended up with a meal of mostly carbs. After the meal was served and cleared, they started the movie (World Is Not Enough). Due to the carbs (and doing so much walking), I fell asleep quickly, and slept throughout most of the movie. I got up at the end and went in search of a drink. The "smokers bar" was set up with self-serve coffee and cold drinks - a very nice touch. Of course, I don't know where the FAs were during all of this.

The monitor was running "airshow" in many languages (including Vietnamese, Arabic, Spanish, English, and French), and I deciphered our estimated arrival time as 1500. At about 1330 New York time, the FAs rolled the carts out again to serve the snack, which was:

cheese sandwich
"fromage frais au lait de normandie" (yoghurt-like)
biscuits - petit ecolier (hard biscuit w/ dark chocolate)
orange juice

The FAs offered "tea or coffee", and to be difficult, I had water (well I really *WANTED* water :). I had been drinking water like crazy on the plane. Sunday in Paris (last full day there), I came pretty close to being dehydrated. Even though I had been drinking alot, I'd been sweating tons as we walked all over. I wanted to make sure this problem didn't persist on the plane.

At 1430 the chief purser came on asking people to fasten their seatbelts. I later realized that this was the equivalent of Delta lighting the seatbelt sign. At 1444 the seatbelt sign was lit, and the captain requested "seatbacks and tray tables upright", which I took to be equivalent of final. Odd. We touched down at 1456 and taxied to the same gate we left from (Terminal 1, Gate 2) at 1507. The same Concorde was there (F-BVFB) as when we left. Perhaps it had never left? People were standing up and trying to push off the plane while we were still on the active taxiway. What was the hurry?? We'd all get there at the same time regardless! Christopher said the same thing that had happened JFK-CDG (I must have been too sleep-deprived to notice).

We were off and hoofing down to immigration. As I expected, the immigration level of Terminal 1 was just as nice as the departures level. Interestingly, Green Card holders were grouped with Foreigners, and not the more traditional US Citizens. As Christopher and I were travelling together, we went through the US Citizen line together. The immigration officer was a friendly guy (it has never struck me before how FRIENDLY people are in the USA, especially New York. Yes, this is the post-Paris way of me thinking :-). He only glanced at my Irish passport and was content just to scan my green card. He said "welcome back", and we both said "thank you!".

We went to the baggage claim, and after a suitably long wait, our bags arrived. We went through customs (and were selected for secondary agricultural inspection, as we had truthfully said "yes" to the "do you have food?" question. Yes, we had food. It was potato chips!), and then out to the baggage transfer desk. We'd been arguing about whether we should put our bags on the transfer desk or carry them to Terminal 2 ourselves. It was an easy decision: actual Delta people staffed the transfer desk. And they were EXPECTING us. "Oh, Ms Rose? yes, here you are". We handed over our bags gleefully. There was a Delta red coat there who listened to our tale of woe and offered to escort us to the DL/AF shuttle van. As it was 50F out, we declined and walked to Terminal 2 instead. But she was a very friendly face.

We went over to Terminal 2, cleared security, and went to Terminal 3. Christopher was hungry (I'd eaten most of his snack), so we stopped at Chili's Too (along with most of the airline pilots in the terminal). He had a Cajun Chicken Sandwich, joked about leaving 8FFRs, rather than $8, and then we went down to the gate (Gate 2) for our flight to Boston.

While waiting for JFK-BOS, there was a DCA flight leaving from the next gate over at 1735. Repeated announcements were made for boarding (including "final boarding"). So many announcements were made that I figured they were waiting for somebody in particular. Sure enough, a family showed up at 1728 with trolley full of HUGE bags and expected to get on board. They were actually turned away! Poor people were forced to go and be rebooked - and were presumably put on a TransStates J41 instead of a real plane. That's what you get for showing up late.

While checking in at the gate the agent said that somebody had taken seat 23B, and wanted to know if we'd like to be moved to an exit row with a middle seat open instead. I said "26 or 27?". She knew that I obviously had flown 757s many times, she said "the non-reclining 26". I didn't want to fall asleep anyways, so I said sure.

DL1866 sch dep JFK 1745, actual 1751. sch arr BOS 1908, actual 1917
757-200, N665DL, 5 FA's (2 F, 3Y), seats 26D&F. No cabin service.

We boarded at 1724, N665DL 757 232. Once again, the video was shown before pushback, which was 1751. It took us quite a while before we took off (1826) even though the line didn't look that long. We cruised at 17000 for the 41 minute flight, seatbelts at 1847, final 1900, touchdown 1912, gate (C32) at 1917. No drinks en route.

We arrived. The bags arrived (claim 5, we don't use that one often). I swear, if AF had muffed the transfer of bags again, that would have been the last they'd ever see of me (of course, it was DL agents, so I had more confidence).

I'm inclined to try AF again - hopefully to an as-yet unserved-by-DL destination later this year. :) That would of course be in l'Espace and not in Tempo. I'm done flying in the back, even if it was just for pittance.

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