MSY

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!

My most recent trip to Europe for Hitachi Data Systems took me to Stockholm, Sweden, to teach three classes on their enterprise storage arrays.  I was there for ten days, teachng a 3-day class from Wed-Fri, then two classes Mon-Fri of the next week.

Most of my adventures to Europe begin with a trip on a Delta Air Lines MD-88, as I fly from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), to catch a ride to Amsterdam or Paris.  This week, the long flight was to AMS, on an ex-Northwest Airbus A330 wide-body jet.

On wide-body jets like the B767 or the A330 (below), I usually try for a window seat.  Aisle seats invariably mean you have to let someone out so they can use the lavatory. 

I had seat 16C from ATL-AMS.  Not my preferred choice, but the young man next to me only got up once, so I was able to watch "Sherlock Holmes" on the in-flight personal video system and get some sleep.  The food was totally forgettable, like most Delta flights in coach. That's not a big deal, since I had a fantastic meal at One Flew South at ATL "E".

Breakfast! The KLM Crown Club on the "domestic/Europe" side of Schipohl (AMS). Dutch passport control now has an "elite" line for first/business class and gold/platinum flyers. I sailed through the checkpoints and had time for a bite and a coffee. My PortAPocket wallet was doing its job nicely so far!

Gotta love this place, in the big duty-free shopping mall at AMS.

My flight from AMS-ARN (Arlanda Airport, Stockholm) was an uneventful two hours.  KLM flight crews are great.  They always offer a ham or cheese baguette sandwich, along with something to drink.  I passed on food in favor of more sleep.  Once at ARN, it's just a matter of picking up the bag and grabbing a taxi--no passport control (I guess the Swedes trust the Dutch).

Home for the next ten days!  HDS is located in the same building as a Radisson Blu hotel in the Stockholm suburb of Solna.  Time for a hot shower, check in to see what's happened in the world while in-transit, and have a nap!

Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris

February 9-10, 2010, were bad-weather days in the city of Atlanta, GA. The "snowpocalypse" that gripped the east coast for more than a week by then had come to Peachtree Street. Worse yet, it had come to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, ATL. Several thousand flights were cancelled from Tuesday to Thursday of that week, and things were still pretty chaotic by the time I was to leave for Zuerich on Saturday the 13th.

I booked an afternoon MSY-ATL flight for that Saturday, a bit of a departure from my usual get-out-early strategy. There's usually an 11:30am or so flight to ATL that I'll book, but this day, I took one with a departure time of 1:50pm. I was very lucky in this regard, because the first two flights of the day were cancelled, because the planes weren't at MSY. The mess the snow and weather made of Delta's largest hub placed a lot of their equipment out of position on Friday and Saturday. The flight I booked was coming from ATL just two hours before my flight, doing a fairly standard ATL-MSY-ATL run.

While there was lots of chaos around me, with Delta ticket agents furiously trying to re-book people from Friday as well as the two early flights that day, I was able to check in and wait in the SkyClub with little delay out front. The flight was 15 minutes delayed in taking off, but it was the 30 minute delay trying to find a gate to park at and someone to open up the plane that created all sorts of problems for me. The flight parked on "C" concourse, and I had less than 15 minutes to get from "C" out to "E" where my ATL-ZRH flight as parked. Naturally, I missed boarding by about ten minutes.

I don't know if I was just fortunate to have an efficient and sympathetic gate agent because of my Platinum status, but I like to think he would be nice enough to take care of anyone in this predicament the same way, but I was quickly re-routed to Zuerich via Paris-Charles De Gaulle Airport. Air France had a 6:30pm flight to CDG, and then I could easly connect from there on a commuter jet to ZRH.

So, in this case, the lemonade made from this mess of a flight day tasted pretty good. Air France flights to CDG always have better food than Delta flights to Europe. Walking across Paris (which is what it feels like at CDG) to get from the international terminal to the hop-flights isn't all that bad after sitting down for eight hours. The only serious downside to missing the Delta flight was that my bag didn't get transferred to the AF flight; it came in on the Sunday evening flight and was delivered to my hotel at some point while I was teaching Monday. It's been a while since I had to teach in my sweats, but the class had a sense of humor.

The return journey at the end of the week was quite uneventful, and that was just fine by me! The bus line that ran right past the hotel went all the way to ZRH, so I took the bus at 7:30am and was at the airport for 8am. Check-in went smoothly, and I slept through the main meal, not waking up until they were offering me that microwave cheese pizza Delta serves as a snack about an hour before landing. I had on my "Saints Super Bowl Champs" t-shirt on the trip, so I cleared ICE with ease. The ATL-MSY flight was a comfortable hour in first class, which was welcome after the long ride in a coach seat.

Looking forward to my next trip to Switzerland.

.

KLM "Cityhopper" Regional Jet

My trip home from Helsinki which began on 5-Dec was a bit more complicated than planned, thanks to multiple cancellations of flights because of aircraft mechanical issues.

I wrapped up the training I was doing for Hitachi Data Systems on Monday, 14-Dec, and was scheduled to fly home the next day. My original itinerary was to be a reverse of the outbound trip: an early-morning flight from Helsinki (HEL) to Amsterdam (AMS), then AMS to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta (ATL), with a final hop from ATL to Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans (MSY). This trip was off to a bad start from the beginning.

(more after the jump)

At about 0600 local time at HEL, the gate agents for KLM (who were contractors to a local airport service company) began arguing at the gatehouse desk. Since said argument was in Finnish, I didn't quite follow. A couple of minutes later, the pilot came back up the jetway from the KLM Airbus A320 we were to fly to AMS and joined the discussion. In English, the pilot explained that there was a mechanical problem with the aircraft. He apologized, said it was a brand new A320, just put into service by KLM a week ago, therefore, with typical pilot-casual arrogance, he couldn't imagine it being something serious. The problem was, KLM did not have a licensed aircraft mechanic at HEL. Like many airlines, they use a contract mechanic on an on-call basis. That meant a 45-minute delay at a minimum for the call-out and diagnosis.

An hour later, the flight was cancelled, via an announcement in English by the pilot (who was Dutch). This caused a stir in the gatehouse. Clearly the gate agents did not want to do KLM's dirty work. It was difficult to determine if they were just lazy or if they didn't want to be the bearers of bad news because they worked for a contract company. We were instructed to pick up luggage downstairs at baggage claim and then re-directed to a KLM service desk. My bag was forever coming out, so the service desk was jammed with frustrated/annoyed/angry passengers. I sat down in line and rang the Delta "special services" line. Delta re-booked my itinerary, putting me on a 11am HEL-AMS flight. Since I would miss the AMS-ATL leg, they put me on flight DL259, the second Northwest Airlines flight, AMS to Detroit (DTW), of the day. I had to walk the length of the terminal building to get back to the KLM check-in desk, where they once again took my bag and re-issued my boarding passes.

The two-hour HEL-AMS flight was an uneventful flight on a regional jet like the one in the photo above. We landed at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam with enough time for me to clear Dutch passport control and grab a quick bite to eat. I made it to the gate, cleared security (at Schiphol, they do ID and carryon inspection at the gate), and sat down to wait.

And wait. And wait. The Northwest A330 we were to fly to DTW also had mechanical difficulties. The KLM staff manning the gate (KLM employees at Schiphol) explained that they really wanted to get this flight out if possible, because, even delayed, we would be better off in Detroit. So would they, given the cost of hotel rooms they'd have to pay for in Euros at AMS. Alas, after two hours of waiting, they were forced to cancel DL259 on the 15th. Another call to Delta special member services, and I was re-booked on DL253. A very-courteous KLM staff put me up in the Crowne Plaza near Schiphol, bought me dinner and breakfast, and the hotel even bought me a drink at the bar. My luggage stayed in the system, otherwise I would have changed clothes and hopped on the inter-city train for dinner in Utrecht.

I returned to Schiphol on Wednesday morning, 16-December, for DL253. I checked in at a KLM Business/Elite desk, where a professional and lovely (in both looks and personality) lady took care of finalizing the re-booking of the flight. This slowed me down a bit, but not critically so. The passport control lines are always longer for people entering AMS from outside the airport than the EU-International crossover zone inside, so getting in was slow going. Fortunately, I had a good breakfast at the hotel, so no worries here.

I had my passport scanned and cleared the personal security screening at the gate with no difficulties. When I went to the boarding line, however, I ran into a problem. The KLM gate agent manning the boarding line was one of those types who behaves like a kindergarten teacher who is fired for being too anal-retentive. She demanded I produce a paper ticket.

When a passenger ends up re-booking more than once on an international itinerary, the e-ticket system tends to break down. There are a number of fees and tariffs on international air travel, so the computers kick the itinerary back into the traditional "paper-ticket" systems. Experienced gate agents are aware of this and take care of the warning flags for the by now frazzled passenger.

Alas, this KLM gate agent was either inexperienced, or just naturally hostile. Perhaps both. She demanded my paper ticket. I said I had none. She then thought I was a fraud, since my boarding pass said "paper ticket required" I explained that I got that boarding pass from her colleague at the KLM business/elite ticket desk there at AMS, but she would have none of it. I must have a paper ticket. I said, I'm sorry, but her colleague did not issue me one. She then demanded a print-out of my e-ticket. That's when I got snippy and snarky. I said "if I printed it out, it wouldn't be an electronic ticket, would it?" She then demanded I get out of the line and wait at the desk in the gatehouse for one of those agents to return. When her colleague returned to the desk, the more experienced lady called me up on the computer. Casting one of those "you moron" looks to the younger agent (who was looking over, expecting to be vindicated), she walked me back to the front of the check-in line and sent me through. I went through the x-ray/metal detector routine and boarded the plane.

The AMS-DTW flight was uneventful. The combination of no sleep the previous night and self-hypnosis MP3s put me out quickly. I skipped the first meal service, getting about 5 hours' sleep. I ate the microwave pizza and watched a movie. Soon enough, we landed at DTW.

My suitcase did not make it on DL253 for some reason, so getting through ICE was actually simpler. There was a Delta (former NW) agent right after Customs control (the last thing before passengers get out of federal limbo) manning a table with all the domestic boarding passes for the disrupted fliers. She told me to deal with the baggage issue at MSY, gave me a boarding pass, and sent me on my way. I had a nice chicken sandwich and two pints of Guinness at the "Irish pub" on the B concourse at DTW and was more than ready to go home.

The DTW-MSY flight was on an Embraer 190. This is a model of regional jet that has seats three across: a seat, the aisle, then two seats. It's also got first class seating. I plopped in one of those first-class seats, was served a glass of red wine, then read/napped/read (and red) all the way home.

At MSY, the gentleman who is at the Delta Baggage desk saw me coming and was not happy about that. This was the fourth or fifth time my bag has been delayed by DL this year. Because the bag was in the KLM/Northwest system, they didn't have a clear picture of where it was. I was tired and just asked they find it for me. It ended up on an AMS-MEM flight the next day and arrived at the house on Thursday evening.

Overall, even though I was plagued with cancellations and re-bookings, I was treated fairly well by the SkyTeam folks. With the exception of one very-rude KLM agent at AMS, I can't complain. I'm just hopeful I don't get two flight cancellations in the same trip anytime soon.

Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport

I'm teaching in Helsinki this week, so the flight plan is New Orleans to Atlanta, Atlanta to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Helsinki.

The flight to ATL was a bit bumpy. This happens on about half of my MSY-ATL (or return) flights. The air gets choppy over Alabama, sometimes to the point where the flight attendants have to shut down their service in the main cabin of the plane. My platinum status with Delta means I'm usually upgraded for this leg when I buy the ticket or within a day or two after purchase. This flight was no exception. Other than the bumps, the flight was what you'd expect for an hour.

(continued behind the jump)

Once at ATL, I had some time to kill. The timing of the MSY-ATL flights was such that I'd have either an hour or a three-hour layover. When I'm teaching, it's more than essential that I get to where I'm supposed to be on Monday morning, and that means making sure there are no missed connections. That made the one-hour layover dangerous. ATL is such a large hub, better to be there early. We came in from MSY on "B" and the flight to Schipohl departed from "E" so I made my way to the international concourse after a bio-break. I had lunch at the upscale sushi place on "E" (detailed review to follow). Then I headed over to the always-crowded SkyClub and did some work until time to board.

Usually I'm early to the gate, so the "breezeway" thing isn't a big deal, but they started boarding before I got there, so being able to legally jump the line was a good thing. I was nestled into seat 28G in no time, next to a nice gentleman from South Carolina. The plane was an older B737-300, with no individual entertainment systems. Luckily my iPod Touch was charged fully. We were only about 6 minutes off of an on-time departure.

As soon as we got to 10K feet, I put on some self-hypnosis stuff by Dick Sutphen, and was out like a light. And I mean out to the point where I passed on all service, first beverage, dinner, snack, and breakfast. No complaints, I don't need to be eating all that airplane food, anyway. We arrived at Schiphol Airport at 0730CET, a full half hour ahead of schedule.

Schiphol is set up so you're not immediately routed off to immigration. If you've come in from a non-EU country (like the US), and are transferring to a flight to another non-EU country, you stay on one side of the immigration barrier. If you're like me and connecting to a flight within the EU, or if AMS is your final air destination, you got through passport control. The lines were about twenty-deep, but moved quickly. Looking at the time (0830 and I had a 0900 boarding time), I passed on going to the KLM Crown Lounge and headed in the general direction of the gate for the AMS-HEL flight. I stopped for a quick breakfast (photo at top).

The AMS-HEL flight is usually an A320, but this time it was a regional jet. This is the first time I'd flown a regional for KLM. Other than having to take the steps down to the tarmac and back up the plane's steps, no problems. I quickly nodded off again and slept through most of the 2:15 flight to Helsinki. The flight was uneventful except a bit of chop as we hit the cloud cover over Helsinki. Once on the ground, no immigration or custome--the Finns trust the Dutch, I guess. Taxi to the hotel and all was well.