Open Skies: In flight Economy

by Grant Martin on

Looking at the economy configuration, you don’t immediately see many differences between the Open Skies product and any other transoceanic carrier.

But a closer look at the product reveals the perks. Seats are new, all-leather and surprisingly comfortable. With only about thirty seats in the cabin, there is a quieter, personal feel in the area, which means that if the baby three rows ahead of you starts crying it’s not going to reverberate as dramatically. The back of the plane, rows 18 – 14 make up the economy section with a hard bulkhead at the front, so if you’re concerned about legroom don’t sit in row 14.

Like other transoceanic carriers, both recline and legroom are limited in this section as well (I poked my head around the seat and decided not to recline into the dinner of the woman behind me), but such is the nature of coach.

Once airborne, an Archos 705 portable media player (many with the clear plastic still on the screen) chocked with 20 new releases and 42 TV shows including Ugly Betty, Family Guy and 30 Rock is dropped off. In addition, 66 musical artists with 777 titles are loaded as well as 10 simple interactive games. This In Flight Entertainment (IFE) is standard throughout the aircraft, although the headphones passed out in Economy and Prem + are a little flimsier than those given out in Biz.

Navigating the system is as simple as choosing French or English at startup and tapping what ever menu option you want on the screen. The entire system is refreshingly responsive, unlike many of the IFE that I have tested, which I partially believe is because the systems run independent from the aircraft. So when there’s a glitch in the server or row 10 isn’t working, the flight attendant doesn’t have to reboot the entire system. The bad part about this is that you don’t get integrated into the aircraft computer, so you don’t get GPS or network data, but the pros seem to outweigh these points.

In coach, these system strap to the back of the seat in front of you (or the bulkhead), while Prem + and Biz seats have dedicated arms and slots for the systems.

Meal service still has the same “chicken, pasta or fish” options with similar portions to other carriers. In spite of the portions, all meals are served on ceramic dishes with real flatware, so even if you aren’t eating better food you feel better about eating it. Food service is standard between Economy and Prem + as well, so you won’t be paying extra for that if you opt for second class tickets.

Continue onward to In flight: Prem + or skip ahead to

In flight: Biz
Transfer in from Orly
Return trip logistics
The final word

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Open Skies: In flight Prem +

by Grant Martin on

What you are paying for in Prem + is for comfort and leg room. The biggest difference between the Economy and Prem + cabins is the sheer volume of space alloted to each passenger. Seats in Prem + are much more pleasant at 20″ wide with a 140 degree recline and a 52″ seat pitch, resulting in four seats per row instead of six.

A generous armrest containing two brackets for your IFE system is between each pair of seats while a tray table and controls for recline, lumbar, leg rest and footrest extension are on the other side.

Another significant perk between Economy and Prem+ is the power port available between all Prem + seats. On an eight hour flight with a two hour battery, this can make the entire difference between getting a little and a lot of work done. It’s worth noting that this feature isn’t unique to Open Skies though; plenty of carriers offer in-seat power in their cabins (even coach) – it’s just that power only goes to the back of Prem + on this airline.

Continue onward to In flight: Biz

Transfer in from Orly
Return trip logistics
The final word

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Open Skies: The final word

by Grant Martin on

So why book a ticket on Open Skies? The New York to Paris hop is already stuffed with routes (Air France has six), competition is high and prices should be reasonable across the board.

For me, what sets Open Skies apart from the competition distills down to one ratio: quality vs cost.

For the extra one or two hundred dollars over the competition to fly in Economy, passengers can enjoy a smaller cabin, comfortable seats and superior In Flight Entertainment, food and service. Another investment beyond that gets you the wide, luxurious, deeply reclining seats in Prem +, in seat power and enough space to have a miniature party around your seat. Further investment gets you the supreme luxury of Biz: mouth watering catering, lie flat seats and astonishingly articulate service. Add on top of that the comfort of working with the concierge program, airport lounges and friendly ground staff and you have a winning combination.

Open Skies treads the line of quality vs. cost so close that they make me, a devoted budget traveler, consider paying the extra couple hundred dollars just to fly in their economy. And if they ran a promotion, something like the 2 for 1 sale that they ran earlier this summer, that tips to ratio from reasonable to downright ludicrous. As I calculated in that earlier post, two seats in Prem + this summer were less expensive than a flight in economy on a legacy carrier. It should be no question at that point what airline to take.

I think that once (if) Open Skies joins the Oneworld Alliance, this should prove further reason to fly on them.

Until then, I’ll be watching the fares and operations at Open Skies closely. Three other niche carriers tried the business-class-only formula and went bankrupt within the last six months — can British Airways succeed where they failed? Will they generate enough interest and lock in a loyal passenger base before they hit the red?

If enough people learn about the service, try out the airline and have as good of an experience as I had, I think Open Skies will do well. It’s up to us to take the leap into an unknown carrier, to spend the extra dollar on comfort and to put faith in the new service.

Godspeed, Open Skies.

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Spirit Airlines to start charging for MIDDLE seats!

by Grant Martin on

Airlines have been doing anything they possibly can to raise money over the past few months, from checked bag fees to charging for soft drinks to increasing the price for almost everything that formerly had a fee associated with it.

Now, according to an article over at Smarter Travel, Spirit has decided to start charging extra for online seat selection.

Carriers have done this before — many current legacy carriers charge extra for sitting in an aisle or window near the front of the plane or in preferred seats. But what Spirit is proposing is to charge for ANY seat selected online before departure — even the seats that most people don’t want.

Fees will range from $15 for a window to $10 for an aisle to $5 dollars for a middle seat.

So if you want to sit next to a person that you’re traveling with or want to sit in a decent seat and want to pick your spots before departure, you’re basically screwed into paying these fees. It looks like you can still go to the airport the day of departure and get assigned seats, but there’s no telling who you’ll be sitting next to and where at that point.

[Via Airfarewatchdog]

What strange things have been found on planes?


Click the image to read the bizarre story…

Air India pilots doze off — jet wanders off through Indian airspace

by Grant Martin on

Think you’re the only one that’s tired after that redeye between New York and London? The pilots are too, and they actually have to fly the aircraft back in a couple of days. Good thing they get plenty of rest and drink a ton of coffee to stay alert in the cabin.

Or do they? Earlier this month, two pilots on an Air India flight bound for Mumbai fell asleep in the cockpit, completely missing the airport. They were halfway to Goa before air traffic control was able to wake them up. A source close to the incident is quoted as reporting that: “The aircraft should have begun its descent about 100 miles (160km) from Mumbai, but here it was still at cruising altitude. We checked for hijack.”

Your guess is as good as mine about how they check for a hijack.

After finally waking up the crew, the aircraft was turned around and pointed back to Mumbai, where the incident is now quietly trying to be brushed under the rug. A local bureaucrat downplayed the incident by suggesting that there was a communications error instead of napping going on in the cockpit. I suppose if you’re asleep and can’t talk, that’s a communication error, right?