Today, March 31st is the last day of USAirways as an airline.  Tomorrow, on April 1st (not lost is that it is April Fools’ Day), the new American will emerge from the merger of the two airlines and my loyalty program shifts from the Star Alliance to One World.  I’m sad to lose my Star Alliance portal as my USAirways miles have helped me redeem on flights to Toronto for the Film Festival and TBEX, to Africa for my safari trip on it’s partner, South African Airways, and most recently on my round the world (RTW) ticket on partner airlines to Australia with a European return to spend Thanksgiving in Paris.

As my Australia trip was fraught with so many issues, I was not surprised to find out when I landed in Paris that my flight a few days later to Frankfurt was canceled due to a sympathy strike that weekend.  The odds that Lufthansa would sympathy strike to support Air France on the only weekend I was there just made me laugh (if only I could play and win on my bad luck this trip).  After a few calls to both USAirways and Lufthansa, both of which said talk to the other guy as it was an award ticket, I finally got an awesome USAirways agent to help me get home for a belated Thanksgiving dinner with my mom.  I knew that there was a direct flight from Paris to Philadelphia on USAirways so lobbied to get on that flight.  With a direct flight home, I was able to try the new Envoy (business) product on USAirways.

Flying Envoy gave me access to expedited immigration as well as the Star Alliance lounge.  The lounge was a nice place to wait before going to the gate.  It wasn’t crowded at first, easy to find a seat and get a croissant (this is Paris!) or two before the flight.

As security would occur at the gate, I left the lounge early thinking I needed extra time (I did) and could find some food (not really, just a coffee kiosk).  Riding the escalator to the gate, I had a bit of a flashback to The Graduate, a movie I watched so many time in Film Class, cue Simon & Garfunkel.

At the gate, as with so many other security checkpoints, I had the “random” search which frankly was the most intrusive female pat-down I’ve had on this trip (there were so many “random” pat-downs).  The gate area was packed as there were more passengers than chairs to sit and wait.  The Envoy group boarded first and I turned left on the plane which was a nice change on USAirways.  I wasn’t escorted to my seat, welcomed by name or anything personal which immediately reminded me that I was almost home and flying a U.S. carrier (sorry, guys just my experience).  The new Envoy cabin is a 1-2-1 setup and I was on the window in my own space. The seat converts to a flat bed (flat, flat as my UK boss would say) which I did use on the day flight home to stretch out.

 

The toiletry kit was a nice design of red, white and grey.  Inside the bag?  USAirways branded items  with Red Flower toiletries.

So as I settled into my seat, I was greeted by the male flight attendant and offered a drink of sparkling water or champagne.  With a full cabin, he would be a bit harried throughout the flight but still had time to talk to passengers and refill my Malbec throughout.

As this was a last minute flight for me, I wasn’t able to order a special meal so had to go with the standard menu which was quite good.  There was an appetizer and salad before the entree, but I skipped those and chose the entree and dessert courses. Surprisingly, the food was simple, straightforward and tasty.  The desserts (yes, plural) would be a highlight!

 

Alternating between movies, music and the flight map, the in flight entertainment system (IFE) was good with many choices.  The view outside, well, just lovely.

This was my 10th flight of my month long RTW trip and probably the most important as I was coming home.  It was a very long trip and the past few months were exhausting (see this point for more) with 43,000 miles traveled. Knowing that this was my last USAirways international flight was also bittersweet (my first and last international Envoy flight).  Despite the “love to hate” sentiments toward USAirways that many travelers have had over the years,  I’ve had good flights and friendly crews.  A new world, actually a new One World, starts tomorrow so it will be interesting to see how my travel and award redemptions change.  Hopefully, I’ll get to fly the Envoy product again in its new incarnation with American as it was pretty nice, just please keep the desserts but change the water!