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Mini Open Skies Biz Bed Review
Here is a series of rather short reports on some interesting flights I have taken in the past few weeks and I will start with a relatively short review on Open Skies’ Biz Bed sleeper service from JFK to Paris Orly airport. I have flown Open Skies for a few times and indeed have flown all three 757s that it currently operates. I have always flown its Premium Plus, aka Premium Economy, product and have quite happy with it. Paris Orly airport is a breeze to fly through, especially arriving on this flight. As a disclaimer, I have never been a big fan of British Airways’ Club World seat, and can never quite get over the part that I have to stare into my neighbor during takeoff and landing, and the lack of storage spaces. However, Open Skies, in its website, offers seemingly an upgraded experience. Quoting from its website, “once onboard, stretch out in absolute comfort in your fully flat bed with Egyptian cotton duvet, soft under-mattress, full-size pillow and pajamas.“ I am actually quite looking forward to the experience, but of course…
September 14, 2015
BA 8006 JFK-ORY Lv2130 Arr1105+1 Boeing 757-200ER Winglet F-GPEK “Lauren”
http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Ca...October%202015
Spotting “Lauren” arriving from Paris…
Check-in:
My flight was originated from LAX, so my baggage was checked through to Paris, and with a little less than three hours connection and an early arrival into JFK, I had plenty of time to go to Terminal Seven, and even stopped by the premium check in desk to make sure that my bag was checked through. The agent was friendly enough and I was soon inside British Airways Terraces lounge.
My first minor complain is that no one “reminded” me that Open Skies Biz Bed passengers are entitled to pre-flight dining and a couple online reviews share that “new” Open Skies Biz Bed passengers are shocked that there is no full dinner service onboard. British Airways has not fixed this issue and neither the check-in agent or lounge agent reminds me that I can use pre-flight dining. Maybe BA should just print give out little information cards to all Open Skies Biz bed passengers. Of course I did my homework, and just went to the dining area 60 minutes prior to boarding. There was a staff in the entrance checking boarding passes and the dining area was very busy but I managed to find a seat. The food was honestly pretty disappointing. Entrées were limited to beef brisket (not to mention few pieces left – obviously the most popular dish here), salmon, and a strange rice stations with random toppings and random Asian-influenced sauces that are definitely not authentic. The staffs were helpful, but the food was just pretty bad. I even wrote a comment on one of those iPad stations. But I honestly wasn’t too hungry. I just had a few bowl of minestrone soups and then headed to the boarding area.
Boarding:
Honestly it was rather disorganized, as people were crowding the gates. Fortunately the gate agents forcefully enforced the boarding order and I was able to boarding among other Biz Bed passengers. The purser was greeting passengers in the jetway. Amenity kit, headsets and bottled waters were already pre-placed in each seat, and the F/As later did a quite pre-takeoff beverage round (OJ or champagne), and then newspapers trolley.
There are five rows of Biz Bed seats divided into two sections. The first section was full, but the second section had three empty seats, but unfortunately, not the one next to me. However I picked 5A because it allowed me direct aisle access without climbing over stools of my neighbor passenger.
Seat:
Biz Bed uses the original Club World seat with a cosmetic refresh. It does not feature the same additional enhancements on the new generation of Club World seats. The lack of storage for small items is clear, and there is no additional laptop sized storage space. The divider is the butterfly style, not a completely sealed one. The seats are also showing signs of wear and tear. But it is fairly comfortable, and it goes completely full flat, despite a bit narrow. I really hope that Open Skies is thinking a new fleet soon.
Flight information:
Door was closed on time at 9:30pm, and other than the three empty seats in Biz Bed, the rest of the plane was pretty full in both Prem + and economy section. We pushed backed six minutes later. Things were fairly busy at JFK and we did not take off till 10:09pm from R/W31L.
Flying time was six hours and forty-three minutes, and our routing took us towards Montauk and New Shoreham first, as we climbed to 35,000feet. Then we crossed Cape Cod, Lunenburg, Sydney, Harbor Breton and Clarenville before climbing further to 38,000feet and crossing the Atlantic Ocean. We did not see land till we approach the French Coast. We passed Lorient, Redon and then onto Orly.
Here is a series of rather short reports on some interesting flights I have taken in the past few weeks and I will start with a relatively short review on Open Skies’ Biz Bed sleeper service from JFK to Paris Orly airport. I have flown Open Skies for a few times and indeed have flown all three 757s that it currently operates. I have always flown its Premium Plus, aka Premium Economy, product and have quite happy with it. Paris Orly airport is a breeze to fly through, especially arriving on this flight. As a disclaimer, I have never been a big fan of British Airways’ Club World seat, and can never quite get over the part that I have to stare into my neighbor during takeoff and landing, and the lack of storage spaces. However, Open Skies, in its website, offers seemingly an upgraded experience. Quoting from its website, “once onboard, stretch out in absolute comfort in your fully flat bed with Egyptian cotton duvet, soft under-mattress, full-size pillow and pajamas.“ I am actually quite looking forward to the experience, but of course…
September 14, 2015
BA 8006 JFK-ORY Lv2130 Arr1105+1 Boeing 757-200ER Winglet F-GPEK “Lauren”
http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Ca...October%202015
Spotting “Lauren” arriving from Paris…
Check-in:
My flight was originated from LAX, so my baggage was checked through to Paris, and with a little less than three hours connection and an early arrival into JFK, I had plenty of time to go to Terminal Seven, and even stopped by the premium check in desk to make sure that my bag was checked through. The agent was friendly enough and I was soon inside British Airways Terraces lounge.
My first minor complain is that no one “reminded” me that Open Skies Biz Bed passengers are entitled to pre-flight dining and a couple online reviews share that “new” Open Skies Biz Bed passengers are shocked that there is no full dinner service onboard. British Airways has not fixed this issue and neither the check-in agent or lounge agent reminds me that I can use pre-flight dining. Maybe BA should just print give out little information cards to all Open Skies Biz bed passengers. Of course I did my homework, and just went to the dining area 60 minutes prior to boarding. There was a staff in the entrance checking boarding passes and the dining area was very busy but I managed to find a seat. The food was honestly pretty disappointing. Entrées were limited to beef brisket (not to mention few pieces left – obviously the most popular dish here), salmon, and a strange rice stations with random toppings and random Asian-influenced sauces that are definitely not authentic. The staffs were helpful, but the food was just pretty bad. I even wrote a comment on one of those iPad stations. But I honestly wasn’t too hungry. I just had a few bowl of minestrone soups and then headed to the boarding area.
Boarding:
Honestly it was rather disorganized, as people were crowding the gates. Fortunately the gate agents forcefully enforced the boarding order and I was able to boarding among other Biz Bed passengers. The purser was greeting passengers in the jetway. Amenity kit, headsets and bottled waters were already pre-placed in each seat, and the F/As later did a quite pre-takeoff beverage round (OJ or champagne), and then newspapers trolley.
There are five rows of Biz Bed seats divided into two sections. The first section was full, but the second section had three empty seats, but unfortunately, not the one next to me. However I picked 5A because it allowed me direct aisle access without climbing over stools of my neighbor passenger.
Seat:
Biz Bed uses the original Club World seat with a cosmetic refresh. It does not feature the same additional enhancements on the new generation of Club World seats. The lack of storage for small items is clear, and there is no additional laptop sized storage space. The divider is the butterfly style, not a completely sealed one. The seats are also showing signs of wear and tear. But it is fairly comfortable, and it goes completely full flat, despite a bit narrow. I really hope that Open Skies is thinking a new fleet soon.
Flight information:
Door was closed on time at 9:30pm, and other than the three empty seats in Biz Bed, the rest of the plane was pretty full in both Prem + and economy section. We pushed backed six minutes later. Things were fairly busy at JFK and we did not take off till 10:09pm from R/W31L.
Flying time was six hours and forty-three minutes, and our routing took us towards Montauk and New Shoreham first, as we climbed to 35,000feet. Then we crossed Cape Cod, Lunenburg, Sydney, Harbor Breton and Clarenville before climbing further to 38,000feet and crossing the Atlantic Ocean. We did not see land till we approach the French Coast. We passed Lorient, Redon and then onto Orly.
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