OpenSkies 003
Paris Orly – Newark
Boeing 757-230 (F-HAVN) (Gloria)
Seat: 11F
Scheduled Departure Time: 13:40
Actual Departure Time: 13:50
Scheduled Arrival Time: 16:10
Actual Arrival Time: 16:20
Check In: After a busy couple of days, I decided it would be easier to just head to the airport and vegetate in the lounge till boarding. We picked up the Les Cars Air France bus from downtown Paris Gare Montparnasse to Orly for a very reasonable 11,50 Euros per person. We both entered Orly South a little after 9am.
There was not much of a crowd at the OpenSkies desks, mostly people from the early Washington Dulles flight, so it did not take long before we were at a counter. Because we were especially early and we were checking luggage, the ticket agent had to check with his supervisor if it was alright for us to check in. The manager promptly came by and examined my passport. After a few calls on her handheld radio she informed us that we were allowed to check in but I would have to endure additional security at the gate. I agreed, she placed a very bright red sticker on the back of my passport, and shortly thereafter. We were given our very purple boarding passes and told that we could use the Fast Track lane to get through security. Immigration and security were quick this morning and my traveling companion wanted to do some shopping first to which I obliged.
A couple of minutes, later we headed towards the lounge called “Salon Icare.” After handing in our lounge invitation to the agent behind the desk, she once again reminded us that she would call out our flight when it was time to board. The lounge was completely full when we stepped in, however, we found a pair of seats by chance as a couple was leaving for their flight. Once the EWR and IAD OpenSkies flights were called, the crowd significantly thinned out.
The lounge was very pleasant in my opinion, the décor was relaxing and reminded me of the SAS (aka. IKEA) lounges. Also, there were a variety of snacks on offer this morning including:
- Bread sticks
- Mints
- Prunes
- Raisin Bread
- La Paille D'ore Raspberry Wafers
- Chocolate Butter Cookies
- Ciabatta roles
- Butter Cookies
-Macaroons
- Croissants with butter and assorted jams
In my opinion this was more than enough. I selected a croissant with some strawberry jam and a nice cappuccino from the coffee machine. There were no views of the apron from the lounge, which meant it was a rather boring stay for me. Thankfully, the lounge had free wi fi which helped pass the time. After a few more snacks and a couple of drinks, I decided it was time to head towards the gate as I was ready to see some planes.
It was a quick 30 second walk to gate A11 where the crew had just arrived and I could see out the window that a Boeing 757 was being towed in. Around 12:45, “Gloria” inched her way forward and the crew boarded her the moment the jetway was hooked up. A few minutes later an agent showed up and opened the gate area. After my quick pat down and a document check, my traveling companion and I were seated in the boarding area.
Boarding: At 13:10, boarding was announced but just like in Newark it was a free for all. A minute passed before our boarding passes were ripped and we were being greeted at the boarding door by a very friendly and energetic chief purser in her British accent.
“Good afternoon, welcome onboard.”
Thankfully this time round I had secured a pair or exit row seats just behind door 3R. As usual a blanket, pillow, amenity kit and a bottle of water had already been placed on each seat.
Boarding finished up quickly and the door was closed. However, we continued to sit there for an additional ten minutes before pushing back at 13:50. The manual safety demo was once again conducted in English and in French. We approached the runway and just sat at the threshold for another ten minutes. A couple of planes landed and then we began to move, but to my horror we taxied on the active runway and took the first exit, making a full 180 degree turn back towards the terminal. Thankfully we did not stop and continued past the terminal where captain Rene came on the P/A to announce that the direction of the runway had to be changed due to thunderstorm activities in the area.
Flight: At around 14:20, the engines were spooled up and we were airborne in no time. A few minutes after the seatbelt sign was turned off, a French flight attendant (lets call her Camille) went around handing out hot towels. In order to get comfortable for the flight I decided to pull out my blanket from the plastic casing only to discover it was wet and smelled like moldy cheese. I pressed the call button and Camille was by my side a few seconds later.
“Sorry but do you by chance have another blanket? This one is wet.”
“Let me check.”
She came back a few minutes later
“I am sorry, we don’t have any extra ones. We are only supplied with a limited amount.”
Camille was in the aisle moments later with a cart containing the portable digital players. Everything including the wires was handed to me without a single word being uttered by her.
The movie choices were the same as on the way over to Paris and I settled on “Shutter Island.” Hot towels were passed out without Camille uttering a single word either.
Soon enough it was time for lunch to begin and Camille handed out some “Happy Mix” packets.
“What would you like to drink?”
“Wine please.”
“Red or white?”
“Red please.”
Camille proceeded to hold up a bottle of red in each hand with a “dis one or dis one?”
“The Bordeaux please.”
Once we had finished our snack mix and drinks, everything was collected. Camille was back but this time she was holding some black paper mat for the tray table. Shortly there after Camille put down a tray of food in front of us which turned out to be some sort of fish appetizer.
I am not sure if the fish was red snapper or something else but it tasted pretty decent. The lentils on the side were really good though, I could easily have asked for seconds. Sadly, the bread once again was not heated, but relatively fresh. The empty plates were collected and Camille was back out for the main course.
“Steak, duck or shrimp?”
“What do they come with?”
“Shrimp with pasta. The steak and duck with vegetables.”
“Shrimp for me please.”
“Drink?”
“Red wine please.”
My pasta dish was put on my tray with another round of bread. The lemon butter sauce tasted really good and the shrimp were cooked perfectly. Neither the pasta nor the shrimp were overcooked or dried out. Overall I was very pleased the dish.
My traveling companion picked the steak, which also tasted excellent. The streak was still soft and accompanied the sauce and cooked vegetables perfectly. The appearance may be off putting, but it was one of those instances where you should not judge a book by its cover. The cheese was once again a bit on the dry side but was a nice little addition that many airlines are taking away from their meal service these days. Once Camille collected all the trays, she was back in the aisle
“Coffee?”
“Yes please.”
A tray containing a chocolate mousse and coffee were handed to me.
The chocolate mousse was absolutely amazing, but like I said earlier there is no chocolate mousse I won’t eat, as it is my favorite dessert. The caramel glaze and hazelnut crunch bottom added the perfect touch to an already amazing dessert. If I were not so full I probably would have asked for seconds.
Once the trays were collected, I put my seat in a slightly reclined position and continued to watch some comedies on the digital player. I should point out here that Camille was nowhere to be seen after the meal service, however she was more than willing to answer any call buttons that rang. While pleasantries and small talk may have been a foreign concept to her, she was still pleasant enough, smiled frequently, and was never rude with any passenger.
I need to point out something here, as I was in the exit row, I got to see the service being conducted a few rows ahead by a British F/A who was clearly from the original OpenSkies. She was in the aisle ever so often checking up on the passengers who were still awake. Even earlier during the meal service she handed out the meals followed by a couple of rounds with the wine bottles. She repeated this cycle ever so offering refills on drinks and bread. Something Camille our French (L’Avion) F/A never did for our section of the aircraft. I was just a little flabbergasted at such varying levels of service on the same flight.
A quick trip to the lavatory revealed nothing spectacular. There was still some German signage in the lavatory, which hinted at the previous operator of the aircraft.
I returned to my seat and decided to relax with some music. Thankfully there was some nice Armin Van Buuren on the digital player.
Soon enough the clanging and noise began from the galley so I gathered it was time for the snack before landing. Camille was back out in the aisle with her cart.
“Drink?”
“Coffee please.”
The tray consisted of an apricot yogurt with a plate of cold cuts containing:
- A slice of bread with some salami and a pickle
- A wrap containing pickles, bell peppers accompanied by a tzatziki sauce
- A egg casserole dish containing peppers
Not being a large fan of peppers, I had to carefully take out the offending matter. The salami and bread were pretty good if not a little dried out. The wrap was pretty tasteless and the egg casserole thing was so so. To add insult to injury the coffee was lukewarm. A very lack luster snack overall.
As we started to near Newark, Camille came by to collect the snack trays followed by the video players. For the first time, the British F/A serving the cabin in front of us approached me and handed a small box of mints. A nice little parting gift in my opinion.
Arrival: After a very smooth touch down at 16:24, we turned off the runway and taxied relatively quickly to the same gate I had departed from a week ago.
Upon reaching door 2L, the same cherry British F/A wished us a pleasant day and we were on our way towards immigration. Surprisingly the line was rather short and my immigration officer was in a very happy mood. Is it just me or does Newark have some of the friendliest immigration officers around? After a quick conversation about how Paris was her favorite destination to visit, she stamped my passport with a “welcome back.”
The baggage belt was not on when we reached, bit it started up two or three minutes later. Our bags took less than five minutes to come out which meant we were out by the curb in no time.
Verdict: I never got to try out Eos or Maxjet so I don’t really have a fair way to compare OpenSkies to any other boutique carriers. However for a premium economy product, it was not bad overall. Though I’m afraid I have more negative things to say than positive.
The lounge in Newark left a lot to be desired. The OpenSkies website mentioned, “Complimentary light dining, freshly made by one of our chefs,” thus I was expecting a British Airways Terrace lounge. What we got was very lack luster and would never be able to match the high standards set by British Airways. Passengers at Washington Dulles get all the comforts of a British Airways lounge, so why don’t Newark passengers? The “Icare” lounge in Paris Orly felt more comfortable, had more offerings on the catering front and seemed less crowded, but then again I was not expecting a British Airways Terrance Lounge so the expectations were lower.
One thing that really struck me was lack of consistency that OpenSkies has. For an airline that has a fleet of only four planes and flies to a mere three destinations, I was a bit awestruck as to how wildly different things can be. Take for instance the seat. The two former L’Avion planes feature the old Lufthansa seat, while the two original OpenSkies aircraft feature the brown leather seat. Nowhere on the OpenSkies website is there a picture of the L’Avion seat, only the brown leather ones used by the original OpenSkies.
The catering was again a mixed bag. Out of Newark there was a one-tray meal service while out of Paris there were three separate courses. I can understand that this may have been done due to the late departure hour out of Newark, but it conflicted with the menu that had been e-mailed to me 24 hours in advance. Thus my expectations differed from what was actually served. The quality of food was also much better out Paris than it was out of Newark.
However my biggest disappointment was the flight attendants. Ronerone in his trip report had mentioned that the two uniforms were still very much in use on his flight last year. While every F/A had the same OpenSkies uniform now, they may as well be working for their respective airlines. The original OpenSkies flight attendants were friendly, always smiling and had a little more finesse in their service. The original L’Avion flight attendants did not seem to share the same enthusiasm for the job. While they smiled and did their job, that’s where it ended. There was no above and beyond, they only did the necessary amount to get the job done. Truly genuine service was absent, especially from Camille on our flight back to Newark from Paris.
At the end of the day, would I recommend the BizSeat product on OpenSkies? I would, but it is not a product for everyone. I did not have a choice in carriers this time around as someone else paid for my ticket. If I had to pay for my ticket, I would definitely be looking for alternatives I am afraid. In my honest opinion, the original L’Avion “BizSeat” is not worth the hype associated with the OpenSkies brand. As far as I am concerned, I did not fly OpenSkies, I flew L’Avion and I can fully see why they did not last long on their own.
Maybe in the future when the product is streamlined (all brown leather OpenSkies seats) and in flight service is brought up to the standards of the current British cabin crew, maybe then I will change my opinion and think the price tag is worth it.
Overall OpenSkies was an interesting experience and it definitely opened up my eyes to a new way of traveling.
OpenSkies 004
Check In: 9 (Friendly and efficient with specific instructions as to where the lounge is)
Lounge: 6 (Decent snack selection but rather crowded with limited seating)
Boarding: 10 (Quick and easy)
Seat: 8 (Pretty good for a premium economy seat, even if it is a hand me down from Lufthansa)
Aircraft: 6 (Showings signs of wear and tear)
Food: 6 (Mixture of good (steak) and rather plain tasteless (pasta and breakfast))
Entertainment: 7 (While more choice is always appreciated, being able to actually anchor the device while eating would make it a whole lot better)
Service: 6 (Average at best with the disappearing act being performed after the meal)
Arrival: 9 (Easy enough with not much of a wait at baggage claim)
OpenSkies 003
Check In: 9 (Friendly and efficient just like in Newark)
Lounge: 8 (A nice lounge with some decent amenities but a bit crowded at times)
Boarding: 10 (Just like before, quick and easy)
Seat: 8 (Same as before, pretty good for premium economy)
Aircraft: 8 (Less wear and tear this time but decently maintained)
Food: 8 (Quality was much better and was served in separate courses unlike the outbound)
Entertainment: 7 (There really needs to ne a way to anchor the device on the seat in front)
Service: 6 (There was a stark difference between our French flight attendant and the British flight attendant serving the rows in front of us)
Arrival: 9 (Quick and easy once again with a ten minute wait at the carousel)
Total: 140/180 = .777
OpenSkies scored a total of 77% for their “BizSeat” product. Not bad for a premium economy product at all. I can see why they have such a loyal following as the product is certainly a nice alternative for someone who does not want to pay a business class price on the competition.
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.. They are always reasonably balanced between + and - , and this is just great 
