My return trip days usually start earlier. Instead of a 7am flght from Stockholm or Helsinki, or an hour's drive from Zaltbommel to Schipohl, I had a 12:30pm flight from Vienna to Paris. The upside of not having to greet the wait staff of the Roomz Hotel at 5:30am is that I don't get home tonight until late.
The CAT station near Landstrasse (Wien mitte) doesn't look like much on the surface.
Vienna's City-Air-Train (CAT) makes perfect sense for me, given the location of my hotel (Roomz at Gasometer) and the training facility. I took the U3 to LandStrasse, walk around the corner, and catch the train. There's even a set of airline check-in desks at Landstrasse for Star Alliance (Austrian, Lufthansa, United, etc.) customers. You can check in for your flight, drop off your bag, and go straight to your gate. Being on Air France/Delta (SkyTeam), I couldn't avail myself of this option, unfortunately. The train ride is 16 minutes nonstop to the airport.
The CAT is a typical inter-city double-decker configuration-great for watching the city go by!
Arriving at VIE via train, it's a journey up a couple of escalators to the departure concourse. Check-in for Air France was a smooth process, in spite of it being a Saturday. Saturdays mean fewer road warriors and more families/casual travelers. These are the folks who don't know how airports work and tend to slow down the overall process getting to and on a plane. Like many European airports, VIE is one giant shopping mall. Security screening is at the gate, enabling passengers who arrive early to move freely about and shop. I picked up some chocolates in one of the shops for the family, then parked myself at a cafe' across from my gate. VIE has free wi-fi, so my cappuccino at €5 didn't seem so bad. With e-mail and such checked, I crossed the hall and got in the screening line. This is where the influx of casual travelers often bogs down the system, and today was no exception. The guy who didn't take off his belt, or the older woman who had three bags, one containing a liter of water, or the dad who didn't take his laptop out of the bag all exacerbate the process. Finally through screening, I dashed downstairs to the bathroom, then watched as the Airbus A319 arrived at the gate. As the plane parked, I noticed that two of the ground crew pushed a portable stairway to the rear door of the plane as a gate agent maneuvered the standard jetway to the front door. The jetway blocked my view of that stairway, but I did see a vam pull up to the bottom, then zoom away. What an imagination-stirring moment! Was the mystery passenger who deplaned from the rear extra security for 9/11? A government official? An undercover agent? I've read too many Ludlum novels lately.
The flight to CDG pushed back a few minutes late, but the pilot made up the time in-flight. The flight was full, but the A319 isn't too uncomfortable even when filled six-across in each row. A relatively short 1:17 and we were parked at a gate at CDG, in Terminal 2D.
I don't understand Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris, France. I don't understand why an Air France 747 coming from Atlanta parks away from the gates and you have to take a bus to the terminal, but an A319 coming from Vienna just pulls up. I don't understand why I can walk from 2F to 2E when coming from the US, but I have to take a bus to go from 2D to 2E when arriving from Vienna. Maybe there's a method in the madness, but I don't see it. Still, once safely past security screening, CDG is pretty much any other airport in the world. There are more power outlets for computer users, however.
The B767-300ER which would take us to Atlanta was parked at the gate, and the agent was making preparatory announcements when I walked up at 3pm (boarding at 3:15pm, for a 4:10pm departure). Being firmly in SkyTeam territory at CDG, the gates were organized in Delta style, with a separate boarding line for SkyPriority passengers. I ended up being first in the SkyPriority line. A security officer scanned my passport and asked me the usual questions about who packed my luggage. When I presented my boarding pass to the gate agent, I was pleasantly surprised to discover I'd been upgraded! Nine hours makes for a long flight, and it's always better to sit in one of the comfier chairs, drink champagne, and plug in the laptop. One of the things that makes me look past some of the problem flights with Delta is how flight crews treat passengers in First/Business Class. They take good care of you, from that initial glass of champagne to the snack towards the end of the flight.
Being upgraded today was doubly special, because I got to watch the pilot of "Treme" on the individual entertainment system. Delta has a deal with HBO, so it's more than just movies and tunes offered. For a homesick New Orleanian, it was nice to spend the first couple of hours of the trip watching a tale from home. The meal choices for this flight were pretty standard: steak, chicken, and a cold plate. The steak is very predictable and (by my standards) always overcooked, but I just wasn't in the mood for chicken parm, so steak it was. The starter was a trio of roasted pepper soup, smoked salmon, and tomato slices with mozzarella. This was followed by a green salad with balsamic vinegar dressing. All the while, the champagne flowed freely. I switched to a California Zinfandel for the steak, which helped the overcooked filet go down. Dessert was an interesting presentation: they put everything on a cart, brought it up to you, and let you choose. The options were the usuals, a cheese/fruit plate, lemon tart, and vanilla ice cream with either berry or chocolate sauce. I had the ice cream with berry sauce and the lemon tart, along with a glass of port. By now, the effects of the wine and the Tylenol PM I took were kicking in, and I dozed off, waking up as we passed over Newfoundland, Canada. I was greeted by the Purser, a charming lady named Laurel, who offered me a warm chocolate chip cookie and something to drink.
The "snack" service was a choice of a cold shrimp salad or a hot turkey sandwich. I went with the sandwich. The meat and cheese are good, even if I'm not a big fan of the seeded ciabatta bread they serve it on. When I asked if there was any of the champagne left, I was presented with a flute of bubbly (not that the Riesling on the menu would have been a bad alternative, mind you).
I've been able to stay much more occupied on this trip because my Acer Aspire OneFinally netbook is so easy to manipulate in-flight. The small size of the netbook makes it easy to just slip next to me when a tray with food arrives. Because there's power here in the biz-class seats, I can just fold the netbook up, then pull it out when the tray is cleared. That's enabled me to write a lot more than I usually do!
Around nine hours and fifteen minutes after leaving CDG, we landed at ATL. Deplaning and passport control was uneventful, but the stack-up at the Customs check, after you claim checked luggage, was unreal. The process of clearing customs, re-checking my bag, and getting past TSA took over an hour. I had to get a boarding pass for the ATL-MSY flight, so a trip to the SkyClub on "A" was in order. Fifteen minutes later, I'd shaken off the after effects of being behind a complaining woman from North Carolina in the TSA line with a Sweetwater 420. It was time to go home.
ATL-MSY flights always are choppy, no matter what time of day. White wine helped. Fortunately, it's not a long flight, and tonight it was uneventful. Home, albeit for less than a day, and off to SFO tonight!
