Off to Paris! JFK-CDG-JFK on DL/AF

[kc2aqg]

Next week, I will have to spend a week at a client located a bit south of Lyon, France. Since this is my first time heading over to Europe, I am definitely planning some sightseeing/photography time in Paris. The trip goes as follows:
Friday 6/1 - DL118 JFK-CDG 763
Stay over in Paris
Sunday 6/3 - TGV Train from Paris to Lyon
Work at client in Bourge Les Valence for week
Friday 6/8 - TGV Train from Lyon to Paris
More sightseeing in Paris for the weekend
Sunday 6/10 - AF006 CDG-JFK 772

My first TATL trip, very exciting!!! :D

[T-Bird76]

Sounds like a great trip and the weather in France if great this time of year, enjoy!

[hiss srq]

I am quite intrested to hear how the train trip goes. I am not big on trains but one of my goals is to ridethe TGV. Best of luck on the trip and have a blast. Don't tell people your America. Tell them your canadian and say ehh alot lol lol

[JetBlueAirwaysFan]

Have a great trip!

[mirrodie]

Sunday 6/3 - TGV Train from Paris to Lyon

So jealous! You will not regret it. Wait a minute, you're done! Hope you enjoyed it!

And flying back on Sunday, that's 2 of you flying on my bday. MIght do a bit of spotting, we'll see.

[kc2aqg]

First off, happy bday Mario! Birthday spotting is always good :D

The TGV was amazing. The ride was very smooth, but when you look out the window, you realize just how fast you are going. The seats were exceptionally comfortable, but we were in first class so they should be! I am actually getting back on the TGV in 3 hours to go back to Paris from Lyon.

France has been amazing so far! Paris was great just seeing the sights: the Eiffle Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and the Champs Elysses and walking along the Seine. I'm going back to stay in the city tomorrow as well and I'm very much looking forward to it! The town of Valence also is quite amazing. It is much quieter than I expected, but the scenery is amazing with mountains all around and the people have been incredibly friendly. The whole trip has been the experience of a lifetime!

I got a nice surprise today: flying out last Friday night from JFK, we encountered a 4 hour delay on the ground due to thunderstorms in the area and the closure of certain routes out of NY airspace. I didn't think it was that bad waiting on the aircraft, the crew were very friendly and brought us water and snacks. I looked at my skymiles account today and noticed that there was a deposit of 20K miles. Thinking this could have been credit card fraud (someone signing up for a skymiles credit card under my name), I called Delta and found out that they credited everyone 20K miles for the delay. I personally think this is a really nice gesture of the airline, especially since the weather was certainly not their fault and they handled the delay just fine. I guess this comes about as a result of the jetBlue valentine's day meltdown. Anyway, I thought I would report that since it seemed atypical for a legacy to go to such lengths of customer service. I'll bet nobody on AA flights got that kind of bonus for that night! Sorry Tom & Mario, I know you're AA fans but you know that's true.

[mirrodie]

Birthday spotting is always good

The TGV was amazing.

I'll bet nobody on AA flights got that kind of bonus for that night! Sorry Tom & Mario, I know you're AA fans but you know that's true.

THanks. Just hope the wx is good.

I'm thrilled to hear you enjoyed the TGV. Don't you just love seeing the contour of the land and watching those quaint french villages whisk right by in a matter of seconds? Just to think you can cruise through an entire village in less than malh a minute. Or to present the point further, as if you were cruising through Manhattan, from tip to tip, in less than a minute!

Nice gesture on the part of DL. AA just slashed its miles expiry. And DL is overburdered by delays. So just how useful are those 20K miles in the long run ? ;) Just kidding. ;)


Say, if you're in Paris tonight, hit the Guiness Tavern. Partied there til 4 am listening to some great American rock. see you PM

[MarkLawrence]

Mario

You make a very valid point as how useful those miles are...it's something I'm becoming more and more frustrated with Delta about - the use of miles. On two occasions now, I've been looking to use my miles for travel, and have tried to use SkySaver options to book - the last occasion was last weekend - I'd like to take my family to go and see relatives in Tulsa, OK. So, I log on to Delta and start looking for SkySaver flights. I searched forward for 8 months - not ONE day - all the options are SkyChoice miles and from PBI to TUL return, this is now 50,000 miles! Gone are the days of the 25,000 mile award tickets with Delta. I sent them an email asking them about no SkySaver fares available in the next 8 months and I get the stock "You need to check out the rules for SkySaver awards" reply - very frustrating! And, now with going to South Africa next year on Delta, that's going to be another 17,000+ miles added that I realistically may not be able to use (I won't go into the frustration of trying to book an upgrade to South Africa with SkyMiles...another LONG story with no happy ending).

Is it me, or are frequent flyer miles just becoming more and more difficult to use?

[mirrodie]

it's something I'm becoming more and more frustrated with Delta about - the use of miles.

Mark, it is SO much more frustrating. I've used my miles to book trips 3 times:

-coach tix JFK-SYD for 2 in 2000
-First tix JFK-Hawaii for 2, honeymoon in 2004
-First tix JFK-SYD, in 2006

Getting the tixx in 2000 was relatively easy. I think I booked 4 months out. 2004 was surprising easy too- we booked 5-6 months out and not only did we get the days we wanted for a 2 week honeymoon, but when AA would not give us an extra day in LAX, we spoke with some reps and they granted us the entire day in LA on layover. So we got to visit with Mike and some other good friends.

Booking the '06 trip was a bit more harried. It was booked in October 05 for June 30, 2006 departure. Squaring away the dates were spotty (even though I had the entire summer to play with) and award availability in Qantas was spotty. Factor in the culture at flyertalk.com, where people wait like vultures to book 330 days away from a travel date and the seats were just non-existent on Qantas. Then I learned of Air Tahiti Nui and flew them in F and if you read my trip report, it was incredible.

But NOW, Air Tahiti only gives up ONE award seat in F and one Award seat in J, per flight. That is just ridiculous. The airline should consider that people travel in pairs at the very least, especially to a tropical destination.

AA began the first loyalty program. My impression is that with all the other ways you can redeem your miles, they are almost forcing the client to use them for otherthan non-travel purposes. And if the trend continues, that AA continues to limit its redemption of miles for airline tickets, I will cease to be loyal to them.


I'd like to take my family to go and see relatives in Tulsa, OK.

Good luck. I've got family there too. Hit the Silver Flame restaurant. great steak and potatoes at a great price.

[Winglets747]

Delta SkyMiles has definitely the worst program for actually using your miles. I only keep my account because of the number of promotions they offer. But if you can, dump Delta.

Any SkyTeam flight miles go to my NWA WorldPerks account where the miles are much easier to use. Continental One Pass is another good SkyMiles partner.

AA's AAdvantage is excellent and has consistently excellent with me and my family. Not only do they have discount awards for off-season travel, they have the standard award level (50K miles) for trips to Europe in the summer, which is nearly unheard of. The only downside is that AA does not have nearly as many promotions as other airlines, so their miles are harder to earn but certainly an excellent value.

Back on topic--getting 20K miles for a delay is excellent. I only wish DL was consistent on giving out miles for all delayed flights.