A Dream or a Headache? Review: Renting a Tesla EV at Hertz

Posted on April 8, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

April 8, 2023

18–26 minutes

Hertz has started offering Tesla Electric Vehicles for rental throughout North America. It has been on my to do list to try one of these electric vehicles. When a trip from Vancouver to Seattle came up, we rented one of these cars putting almost five hundred kilometres on it over the weekend. How would the experience go and would we actually save any money? The truth would end up bearing a lot different than we initially expected.

A Dream or a Headache? Review: Renting a Tesla Electric Vehicle from Hertz.

I’ve had the opportunity to rent a lot of automobiles over the past fifteen years because I’m one of those people that travels a lot for work. I think I’ve probably hired several hundred cars over the course of my business and personal travelling career.

For this trip, I had a need to get from Vancouver, Canada to Seattle, United States for a last qualifying stay at the W Bellevue to renew annual Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status. This was a distance of about 200 kilometres or 125 miles one way. Given that this weekend trip was going to put on 500 kilometres onto a car, I figured I’d rent a vehicle for the journey as opposed to taking my personal car.

Being voracious recyclers at home, it was a perfect opportunity to try out an electric vehicle, and see whether this would be a dream or a headache experience.

Renting a Vehicle from Hertz:

Hertz has ordered 100,000 Tesla Electric Vehicles to compliment it’s worldwide rental car fleet. While they were initially a little slow to roll out during the mid days of the pandemic, most major city locations have Tesla’s now available to rent.

Renting a Hertz Tesla EV is fairly easy. I picked the city and location of where I wanted to book through their global website. In my case, I selected the Vancouver International Airport, Canada and the Tesla’s were located at the top of the rental car selection of vehicles through the Hertz website.

At Hertz Vancouver International Airport, Hertz had three varieties of Tesla’s available for rental:

The Tesla 3 SR (compact RWD luxury car – standard range – approx 430km)
The Tesla 3 LR (compact AWD luxury car – long range – approx 560km)
The Tesla Y (Sport Utility Vehicle – approx 531 km).

The price point of the Tesla’s were about double in cost for what you would expect from renting a regular car. I figured that I might offset the additional through gasoline savings over the 500 kilometre trip.

I ended up using the American Express Platinum Card’s discount code for Hertz, which offered a twenty percent discount and a complimentary additional four hours on the rental. As a result, I booked a Tesla Y rental for 28 hrs on a weekend rate from Friday 2 PM to Saturday at 6 PM. Given that there was also 20% discount for prepaid rentals, I ended up pre-paying for this rental.

About two days prior to my rental period, Hertz sent me some automated emails about what to expect driving a Tesla. The emails took viewers to a Hertz Tesla Educational Series webpage that offered some basic questions and answers surrounding how to operate, unlock and charge a Tesla.

Unfortunately, as a result of having a busy work schedule, I didn’t get the opportunity to fully watch every video on the web page before our weekend rental. While I did get the basic concepts down of how to unlock and drive a Tesla, I didn’t get much information on the process to charge a Tesla. If at all possible, it would be better to get these videos at least 5 days in advance of any rental.

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Picking up a Tesla:

On rental day, I aimed for convenience and took the bus into Vancouver International Airport. I went to the Hertz rental counter and went through the usual process. There was additional paperwork for the Hertz Electric Vehicle, but as a Hertz Gold Plus Reward member, there weren’t any additional forms to fill out. Since I had booked the Tesla Y as a specific model, there was no further Hertz President’s Circle upgrade offered.

I was given the keys and walked out to stall number 22, which was located at the end of the bank at Vancouver International Airport. A 2022 Tesla Y Performance was waiting for me in sharp Red Multi Coat Paint. It’s been a while since’ I’ve owned a red car, but the look of the red was actually pretty sharp and a change fro the usual whites and black luxury cars out there.

Collecting a Tesla Y Performance at Hertz Vancouver International Airport, Canada

The Telsa Y has a higher centre of gravity and had the jelly bean shape of my old BMW 535i Grand Turismo. The vehicle had been given a government decal “OK” sticker for its use in High Occupancy Vehicle lanes in my home province of British Columbia, Canada.

The trunk offered a fair amount of room, although it was a bit smaller than you might expect for a sport utility vehicle. It had more than enough for two rolling carry on suitcases, along with power lifts for the trunk lid.

The Tesla Y Had Ample Trunk Space for Two

The interior of the vehicle was clean and futuristic. The interior is described on Tesla’s website as an “all black premium interior“. Tesla’a only offer a large monitor screen in the centre of the car. There is no analog (or digital impression of an analog) speedometer or tachometer. While it took a little getting used to, the screen was, for the most part, intuitive and fairly easy to navigate.

A Clean Looking Interior – Tesla Y Performance

There are no physical metal keys provided with a Tesla. The Tesla is unlocked by swiping a key against the B Pillar of the Door. The Tesla is also started by placing the key card in the centre console of the vehicle.

The Tesla Keycard Used to Unlock a Tesla Vehicle

In my case, the Hertz Rental vehicle was presented with a 100% fully charged battery and 9,857 kilometres on the odometer. I was offered the opportunity to “purchase electricity” from Hertz at the end of the rental for $35 CAD. I foolishly declined this- which I’ll get into more later. I was verbally told to bring the vehicle back with 80% charge, but this wasn’t written down anywhere on any paperwork that I received.

A Tesla Vehicle Inspection Sheet with Full Tank / Battery Markings

Instead, the attendant marked my Hertz Vehicle inspection slip as “Full” and “8/8” on the gas / electricity level. I was quickly released and sent on my way.

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Driving a Tesla:

After a quick check for pre-existing damage at the rental facility, I set out on the open road from Vancouver to Seattle. With about two hours in the vehicle and two hundred kilometres to travel, I would get a fairly comprehensive feel for the vehicle.

One of the first things that you might notice is that the Tesla EV’s have a fair number of proximity sensors around the vehicle. Tesla displays a rather unique display on the left hand side of its monitor that offers imagery of vehicles present around the car.

Starting our journey, we made a run for the international Canada / United States Border at Peace Arch Crossing at Blaine, Washington, United States of America. It was pretty quiet at the border today, and we were on Interstate 5 headed south really quickly.

Crossing the Canada / United States Border at Peace Arch Crossing, Blaine – Washington, USA

The Tesla’s offer a best in class navigation system. In addition to the usual features of a navigation system such as arrival time, the navigation system gives you an idea of the expected charge left on your vehicle on arrival. In our case, our two hour drive was showing an arrival with a 33% charge remaining.

Tesla’s Navigation System offering integrated battery performance expectations

This version of the Tesla Y featured the basic level Tesla Auto Pilot. Tesla describes this as “Autopilot enables your car to steer, accelerate and brake automatically within its lane. Current Autopilot features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous”. It’s worth noting that this set up does not include a full navigate while on auto pilot, a summon feature or a self park feature that has received a lot of media attention for it’s occasional accidents.

While the Tesla Auto Pilot feature did add some convenience to the vehicle, I actually found it a lot less intuitive than the features in the comparable Volvo and Audi vehicles that I’ve driven. The Tesla system required a re-set every time I changed lanes; perhaps discovering the real reason why I always see many Tesla drivers clogging up the fast lane in my part of the country. It also included some annoying computerized chimes when you activate the system; the perfect thing for interrupting the rhythm of conversations with your other vehicle passengers.

The other feature that took some getting used to was the Tesla ReGenerative Braking. When you are driving, Tesla allows the momentum and the velocity from the vehicle to charge the vehicle’s batteries. Unlike the BMW Efficient Dynamics system or the Audi Re-Generative Braking Systems (which are almost completely transparent), the Tesla ReGenerative Braking systems are much less invisible.

In short, Tesla ReGenerative Braking is about as subtle as a gun. When driving at freeway speeds, taking your foot off the accelerator is similar to throwing an anchor out of your car, or dragging a brick along side the under carriage of your car. Releasing the gas, the Tesla immediately starts to slow, almost akin to a hauling a refrigerator behind your vehicle. The Tesla ReGenerative Braking took some getting used to, and it took a lot away from the free wheeling experience of coasting down a highway without a care in the world.

All features aside, we had a straight forward drive down from Vancouver, arriving to the W Bellevue without any incident. Although straight foward, the Tesla Y wasn’t all that much fun to drive. I would probably rate it as a 6 out of 10 on the “fun to drive scale”. It seemed to clomp along over the segments of the interstate in a cumbersome manner. The higher centre of gravity also seemed to make it a little top heavy in the corners. It wasn’t something that I would look forward to driving, and I’ve actually had more engaging drives in a boring Kitchen Aid styled Toyota Camry.

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Tesla Supercharging Charging Stop #1

Forty Three Minutes and $10.86 USD

Tesla advertises that a Tesla Supercharger can charge a vehicle up to 322km in 15 minutes. With this branding in mind, I was expecting a fast charging experience. What I would end up getting was a cumbersome process that was inconvenient to navigate on a rental or occasional basis.

After driving a short 200 kilometres, we found ourselves arriving into Bellevue / Seattle on a thirty three percent charge. We had a range of 156 km left on the car. As a result, we needed to charge the car in order to get the vehicle back home from Seattle to Vancouver – a distance of over 200 kilometres.

Tesla Superchargers are pretty easy to find on their website, or within the navigation system located in the vehicle. In our case, there was a Tesla Supercharger located about two blocks from the W Bellevue, so we didn’t have to physically drive a long distance to get to the Tesla Supercharger.

Locating Tesla Superchargers on the Internet

After a night at the W Bellevue, I snuck the car out the next morning at about 12:30 AM while MrsWT73 was getting ready. I had no idea how long the charging process would take, but allowed myself about 30 minutes in order to complete the charging process.

I would end up finding the Tesla Supercharger located in the underground of a private parking garage. I would end up having to pull a paid parking ticket at $7 USD an hour just to enter the garage, on top of any electricity charging fees. The fact that the chargers are located behind a pay wall aren’t really identified anywhere, and I thought that this was a bit of a hidden expense.

There were eight Tesla Superchargers at this particular Bellevue Washington, USA location. I was able to grab the last available supercharger. The charging is pretty straight forward. After parking, you plug the supercharger into the vehicle. Hertz bills your credit card used to rent the vehicle directly, and there is no need to present a card or membership card at a Tesla Supercharger.

Charging at a Tesla Supercharger – Bellevue, Washington, USA

While the vehicle was charging I received these friendly reminders on using the integrated navigation system. I didn’t bother putting theTesla Supercharging station into the system as a destination, given that it was only two blocks away from the W Bellevue hotel.

The view from this particular Tesla Supercharger wasn’t all that aspirational. I would rather frankly spend my time looking at something else than a drab and dark underground parking garage. At this particular station, most owners appeared to wait with their vehicles. Next to me was a woman in her early thirties with an Oregon plated Tesla Model 3 with a poodle dog in her car. On my other side appeared to an Indian tech type programmer; both skimmed through their smart phones while they were waiting for their charging cycles to complete.

While I was here, this particular Tesla Supercharging station would end up with a queue of two vehicles all waiting to get onto a supercharger. I find waiting for a gasoline pump to be off putting at times, so I couldn’t really imagine waiting for a Tesla Supercharger space. I assume once you’ve pulled a paid parking ticket, you’re committed to waiting for a charger.

The Tesla Charging configurations are set in the computer within the car. Unbeknownst to me, the Tesla Charging Configuration had been set by the previous operator to 50% charge. As a result, my charging session abruptly ended without enough electricity to get me back home to Vancouver, Canada.

After my car stopped charging at the 50% halfway mark, I eventually figured out to charge the vehicle up to the fastest 80% charge level. This was a bit frustrating, but if you were a Tesla owner, I presume that you’d get this figured out pretty quickly. As a Tesla renter, this took a bit of time to guess your way through it.

My two charging sessions at this single location cost $3.95 USD and $6.91 USD totalling $10.86 USD for charge number one up to 80% battery capacity.

As I left the parking garage, I had to also pay $7 USD for the forty three minutes that I was parked in the garage. Like I mentioned earlier, I found this to be a bit of a scam. Tesla doesn’t outwardly advertise additional parking charges, or that it’s Tesla Superchargers are hidden behind a pay wall on their Tesla Supercharger maps or websites.

Making matters more inconvenient, this particular garage didn’t like Canadian Credit Cards at the payment kiosk. For our Canadian readers, they will empathize as this is sometimes found at US Pay at the Pump pay stations at many gas stations. I ended up on a “Press Here for Help” line with several cars backed up behind me. I eventually was let out without payment after the operator recording my name, drivers licence number and vehicle licence number.

Fiddling with Local Property Parking Payment at a Tesla Supercharger – Bellevue, Washington, USA

While this isn’t exactly on Tesla (or Hertz) for this matter, in today’s information environment, they should be indicating where their chargers are located. It would ultimately end up being a whole hour expended, after I took into account the time I drove to the Tesla Supercharger, charging of the vehicle, negotiating with the parking garage attendant, and driving back to the hotel.

Inconvenience Factor: 8 out of 10 (ten being highest)

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Tesla Supercharging Charging Stop #2

One Hour and Twenty Minutes and $27.45 USD

After our stay at the W Bellevue, it was time to return to Vancouver. We set off with our 80% charge, and headed back up Interstate 5 for a two hundred kilometre journey returning back to Canada.

The drive itself was pretty straight forward. Using the Tesla navigation system, I navigated to the closest Tesla Supercharger to the Vancouver International Airport. This happened to be the Tesla Supercharger at Richmond Centre, located about 15 minutes away and 8 kilometres from the Vancouver International Airport.

Near the end of my rental, I arrived to the Tesla Supercharger with a 15% charge left on the battery. The Richmond Mall was a popular spot on Saturday night at about 4:30 PM when I arrived, and almost all of the twenty superchargers at this location were occupied. Most appear to have been left by their owners, as they dined in nearby Chinese Restaurants, or engaged in retail therapy in the nearby mall.

Charging at a Tesla Supercharger – Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

My Tesla was due back by 6PM, so with ninety minutes left in my available rental time, I was a little time constrained. I was still under the mind set from Tesla’s marketing that I could get an 80% charge in fifteen minutes.

The first Tesla Supercharging station space that I pulled into didn’t seem to connect with the car to allow for charging. This cost me about seven minutes fiddling with a charger that didn’t seem to want to sync with the vehicle and allow for delivery of charging. The Tesla kept reporting “Starting to Charge“, which was pretty ambiguous and non committal.

Arriving on Empty – Charging at a Tesla Supercharger – Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

After changing stalls, I was a bit horrified to learn that it was going to be one hour and fifteen minutes to get back to 100% full charge. I would later learn that the fastest charging for Tesla’s are up to the 80% mark, wheres Tesla’s take forever to charge the last 20% of their batteries. This is a really difficult standard for those that need to return a vehicle at 100% charge.

Getting shocked with a charge wait time of one hour and fifteen minutes

Toward the end of the charging cycle on the second Tesla Supercharger station, my car seemed to be get stuck on “Calibrating” while stuck at a 99% charge. I was never able to get it to a full 100%, despite sitting there for about eight to ten minutes. Together with my first charging failure, this added another twenty minutes of idle time onto my time spent at the charging station.

Getting Stuck on Calibrating, and failing to get to 100% battery

I was aware that I was going to start to get into the period of time during any car rental when you were going to be charged for half a day’s rate due to being late for one extra hour. Given that I had already used up my four hour grace period, I ended up abandoning the effort to get to 100% charge. I disconnected myself from the Tesla Supercharger and headed off to the airport to return the vehicle.

My two charging sessions at this single location cost $36.91 CAD or $27.45 USD for charge number two; over an excruciating one hour and twenty minutes of time. It is also worth mentioning that the fee for electricity in Canada is almost double what it is in the United States, eliminating most of the cost savings factor.

Inconvenience Factor: 10 out of 10 (ten being highest)

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Charges on the Hertz Bill:

I returned the Tesla Y car at Hertz at Vancouver International Airport having covered 466 kilometres travelled. The Hertz roving attendant closed my contract out. He promised me a bill by email, which actually never arrived.

I ended up chasing after the bill through hertz.com customer service. I was a bit surprised to see that I was charged for two hours of additional time, which was appeared to be as a result of bringing the car back one hour and one minute later.

I lost all my EV cost savings, as a result of additional charges due to charging the vehicle

These extra charges is pretty much killed any savings that I might have had by operating an electric vehicle instead of a gas one. Even as a Hertz President’s Circle member, I thought it was a bit chintzy to charge for a full extra hour when the car was one minute late. Apparently, there is no further grace period there, with time clocked down to the minute.

In additional, some thirty days after my rental, my electrical charges don’t seem to have appeared to have been charged to my credit card. I’m not sure when it’s reasonable to expect them, but so far, they haven’t turned up. For a business traveller, this makes expense reconciliation a little problematic.

Cost Benefit Analysis:

In choosing a rental car, it’s a reasonable question as to whether it’s going to going to be cheaper to rent an electric vehicle versus a more conventional gasoline powered vehicle.

Comparing the two options, between the likely Hertz President’s Circle Upgrade Full Size Toyota Camry I would have received, I came up with the following price and time comparison. I have assumed a Toyota Camry with its 15.8 gallon fuel tank, and 3.99 USD a gallon for Regular Gas in Washington State, at the time of this trip.

	Full Size Toyota Camry or Similar	Add Time to Fill Up (in mins)	EV Tesla Y	Add Time to Charge Up (in mins)
Distance: 466 km
Price Premium of Tesla EV over a Full Size Rental			$40
Gasonline Tank #1	$63.08	5 mins
EV Charging #1			$14.60	40 mins
EV Charging #2			$36.91	80 mins
Additional Time charges resulting from additional charging			$47.10

Total	$63.08	and 5 mins	$138.61	and 120 mins

Cost Difference Advantage: Gasoline	-$75.03
Time Difference Advantage: Gasoline	+115 mins
Carbon Emissions Output Goodwill Feeling	?		Zero

In summary,

Despite initial intentions to save money on an Electric Vehicle rental, it actually cost substantially more than a gasoline equivalent version.
The EV almost cost double the gasoline equivalent.
I spent $75 CAD more on electrical charging, rental price additions and late fees, as a result of the Tesla Charging
The Tesla also cost me an additional two hours of my life, fiddling with the charging system.
The expenses haven’t fully reconciled with the Tesla Rental, despite being more than 30 days after the rental.

Ultimately, beside the wonderful green commitment of no green house gases, the advantage between the two options is very clearly the gasoline version. I actually looked forward to rolling into my next gasoline station, and filling up my own car in five minutes with 900km range on the tank.

I think I will stay with my Audi mild hybrid vehicle and a 5 minute gas fill up instead for the near future

Lastly, I happen to be at that stage in my life when time is my most valuable resource. I would have rather spent those two hours waiting on the supercharger doing something else. Even assuming I didn’t have to pay the rental late fees, I would have only saved about $30 a tank. I think my time, at least these days, is worth more than $30 / hour. I might feel different if I was retired or a student.

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My Thoughts on Renting a Tesla with Hertz:

Hertz has taken the rental vehicle experience to a new level with the addition of Tesla Electric Vehicles to their fleet.

While I initially thought that I would be saving money by renting a Tesla to travel long distances, it actually cost me about $75 more than a comparable gasoline version. Perhaps worst of all, it cost me an additional two hours of time waiting and dealing with superchargers that didn’t always work, or weren’t easily accessible.

Perhaps of you had a charging system available to you at home as a Tesla Owner, this value proposition might be completely different. However, as a Tesla renter, it makes absolutely no sense at the current price point.

Wasting almost 90 minutes out of your rental cycle in order to return a car fully charged makes for a really inconvenient rental. The Hertz pre-delivery information doesn’t speak to this time commitment. The Tesla marketing of 15 minutes of charge fills that void and it’s not completely accurate. My advice would be to allow an additional two hours before you return the vehicle to the airport.

This equation is especially problematic for people like myself who travel on business and try to catch the evening flight home, after a day’s worth of meetings. In that equation, I can’t imagine spending additional time at the charger, prior to getting to the airport.

In my humble opinion, the Hertz EV Rental Experience very much falls into the “Headache” department, instead of the “Dream” department.

If you have rented an EV with Hertz, did you find it a “Dream” or a “Headache” ?

Tags: Hertz, Hertz Presidents Circle

Review: Icelandair Saga Business Class B757-200, Reykjavík (Keflavik) – Seattle

Posted on April 6, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in Airline + Boeing 757 + Business Class + Icelandair + Jordan, Israel and France via Icelandair, Turkish and Royal Jordanian Business Class + Trip Report

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Quirky Icelandair is one of the few major airlines left in the world that does not form part of any major international airline alliance. It operates on a model that offers connection to many European destinations through their hub in Keflavik Reykjavik Iceland. It is also known for offering the Iceland Stopover program that allows for a free seven day stopover in Iceland at no extra charge. Today’s journey was courtesy of a deeply discounted business class fare that would allow us to get over to Europe from the United States. How would our paid travels fare with one of the lessor travelled European airlines?

This post is one chapter on our trip to Jordan, Israel and France during the end of the pandemic. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Alaska Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.

✈️ Read more from this trip:

Review: Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class, Boeing 757-200, Reykjavík (Keflavik) – Seattle Tacoma International Airport

This would be the second time I would fly this exact route and my sixth Icelandair flight overall. For our past experience on the Icelandair Boeing 757-200 aircraft, please see our past review of Icelandair Saga Business Class B757-2 Seattle – Reyjkavik and for our flight out on this route, please see Icelandair Saga Business Class B767-300ER Seattle – Reykjavik.

In terms of booking this flight, I had stumbled upon a great discounted business class fare from North America to Paris for travel in the off season. With a ticket price of $1,145 USD round trip, there was nothing not to like. It was even worth positioning in from Vancouver for this fare, so we arrived to the Seattle Tacoma International Airport on a separate Alaska Airlines flight. To read more about how we came across this fare, please see our trip introduction for more details.

We would end up crediting this paid flight to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, earning 125% Elite Qualifying Miles. Icelandair allows for frequent flyer accumulation in a limited number of programs that include Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, Jet Blue Airways True Blue and it’s own program Icelandair Saga Points.

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The Lounge: The Icelandair Saga Lounge

We arrived into Keflavik International Airport on Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Paris – Reykjavík. With about ninety minutes of connection time, we headed straight to the Icelandair Saga Business Lounge for a little exploration.

We have previously visited and reviewed Icelandair’s Saga Business Lounge Keflavik. Little has changed between our visits, so I won’t be reviewing it fully again. Please see our earlier review of Icelandair Saga Business Lounge Keflavik for more lounge details.

Icelandair Saga Business Lounge Seating, Keflavik, Iceland

New on this visit, the Icelandair Sage Lounge Keflavik continues to have one of the more complicated lounge access rules out there. Since our last visit, they’ve added this clarifying sign for those that aren’t flying on Icelandair metal directly. If you happen to be flying a different carrier, access is entirely dependent on whether your carrier is paying Icelandair for your entry.

Complex Access Rules for Icelandair Saga Lounge, Keflavik, Iceland

We settled in for a short connection in the Icelandair Saga Lounge, enjoying the lounge fireplace with a Gin drink in hand.

Icelandair Saga Business Lounge, Keflavik, Iceland

Boarding Icelandair Saga Business Class:

It was recommended on our boarding cards to leave for the gate at 45 minutes prior to departure. Our departure time was scheduled for 5:05 PM with an original boarding time of 4:15 PM.

While we were chilling in the lounge, we received a notice by SMS of a flight delay in the lounge to 5:30 PM. This in tern yielded a change in boarding time posted to about 4:50 PM.

We eventually left the Icelandair Saga Business Lounge. As Iceland was out last point of departure from the European Union we had to clear departure immigration. There was no line at departure immigration and we were stamped out of the European Union.

After passing towards the turnstile to let us into the main international lower departure concourse, I used the bar code on boarding card for the turnstiles and found ourselves randomly selected for additional questioning. The questions were pretty easy being solely based on travel history and we were underway really quickly.

We wandered down to gate D31, which appeared to be a bus gate. About a dozen people were queuing already but without any real staff present to manage the line. As a result, I ended up walking around looking at 66 North souvenirs that were price for New York City’s high street instead of being a bit more reasonably priced.

We eventually return and joined the queue at Gate D31. The queue started to process into the hold room.

Boarding for Icelandair Saga Business Class to North America

A screener eventually came along working the line to review passports. When our boarding card was checked, we were provided an opportunity to get to the front of the line. We were asked to “walk up the right hand side of the hold line”. We did as instructed, bypassing all of these travellers. We eventually ended up at front of queue while we waited for a bus.

Priority Boarding – Icelandair Style, Keflavik, Iceland

We eventually boarded a bus out to our remote stand. While Icelandair Saga Business Class was permitted to board first, it didn’t yield transport out to the plane in a separate or private bus.

Bus Gate Views, Icelandair Boeing 737-8 Max on the Apron at Keflavik, Iceland

Once the bus was full, we took the bus out to a remote stand. We were given instructions for double jet bridge boarding through 2L and 4L for all passengers above row 20, with the rest boarding through the rear stairs.

By this point, MrsWT73 started to comment on how bargain basement Icelandair was. The bus transfer wasn’t all to her likely, despite the deep discount on the air ticket and the boatload of Alaska Mileage Plan miles she’d be earning.

Boarding Icelandair Saga Business Class, Keflavik, Iceland

Using the front stairs, we boarded Eldborg. Our aircraft was named after a symmetrically shaped crater featured in Iceland.

Icelandair

FI 681 – Saga Business Class (A)

KEF-SEA (Reykjavik Keflavik International Airport – SeaTac International Airport)

October 25, 2022

5:05 PM – 5:50 PM (scheduled)

Booked: Boeing 767-200

Flown: Boeing 757-200

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On board Icelandair Saga Business Class:

After climbing those outdoor stairs, we boarded through door 2 L and had a left turn immediately into the Icelandair Saga Business Class cabin.

Icelandair Saga Class is set up in a 2 – 2 configuration on their Boeing 757-200. Unlike our Icelandair Boeing 767-300ER flight out, this business class cabin was missing a central row. This more compact arrangement made the cabin feel a little less airy.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – Boeing 757-200

Icelandair must have had chosen to downgrade of aircraft or a swap from our original Boeing 767-300 ER that we had originally booked. Many travellers appeared to not have seats assigned next to each other, which resulted in on board crew dealing with seat swappers and other seating assignment requests during whole boarding process.

By the time this was all sorted, the Saga Business Class cabin completely full with twenty seats being fully occupied by take off.

We located our seats 2A and 2C. We positioned ourselves on the south side of the aircraft for our flight to North America with light pretty much guaranteed for the whole flight.

Waiting for us on the seat were a bottle of Iceland Bottled Water, in addition to a small lumbar pillow and rolled up blanket.

While the seat space wasn’t super generous, it was more than enough for a seven and a half hour flight to Seattle. You won’t get the same experience as a reverse herringbone business class seat that offers ample work space and space to relax. In seat storage is really limited to the seat back pocket in front of you, and there are no other compartments to charge phones or other devices.

Despite not having storage space, the seats do offer individual seat power. As there is no direct to USB charging mechanism, I would end up fishing out my iPhone North American Plug in order to charge my iPhone while we headed overseas.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – In Seat Power

The seats also offer the proprietary two pin headphone connectors which were located underneath the pull out table tray in the armrest.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – Two Pin Headphones

The Icelandair Boeing 757-200’s are older aircraft. Despite this, the Icelandair versions had individual air nozzles above us. Having air nozzles make the trip that much more comfortable.

Personal Air Nozzles – Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – Boeing 757-200

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Pre-Departure Services:

We were offered a pre-departure beverage of sparkling wine was made available from a tray in a plastic cup. There were no other choices available, such as water or juice.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – Pre-Departure Sparkling

While we were waiting for the flight to get underway, we were also presented with Icelandair branded noise cancelling headphones. The headphones fit into the two pin holes located in the arm rest.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – Noise Cancelling Headphones

The Amenity Kits: Hanns Dottir Branded

We were also presented with an amenity kit which was waiting on the seat when we arrived. While Icelandair can get the reputation as being a bit of a low cost carrier, it’s nice that they still offer an amenity kit for a trans-continental flight of over seven hours in duration.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – Amenity Kits

The amenity kits were Hanns Dottir branded, having dropped their partnership with Blue Lagoon from the last time we travelled with Icelandair. The kits contained Hanns Dottir lip balm, personal mist and hand lotion. A tooth brush / toothpaste, ear plugs and eye mask was also found inside the amenity kit bags.

We had a pilot announcement of seven and a half hours flight time to Seattle Tacoma International Airport with radar showing good weather the whole way.

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Departing Keflavik International Airport:

As it came time to get underway, we had a short taxi over to the departure Runway 01. We had no waits departing. We appeared to be among the last aircraft to leave Keflavik International Airport in this sequence of fights.

In Flight Entertainment:

As we got underway, I looked at the in flight entertainment options. The Icelandair in flight entertainment system consisted of a monitor in the seat back in front. The monitor was lightly adjustable in case of a seat recline.

The system had been upgraded from our last trans continental flight and contained about seventy movies and television shows; an upgrade from the previous version that consisted of only about thirty movies.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – Advanced Video on Demand

I played with the flight track feature, which pictured our flight track from Iceland to Washington State, USA. Our track would take us over Greenland, Western Canada and eventually down to Seattle, USA.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – Route Map

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – Route Information

While there were more movies on the system than in the previous generation, I’d find that a regular traveller on Iceland air might tire of the limited selection quite quickly. Most of the major international airline players have a substantially greater selection, so you’ll have to settle for what you’ve got while flying Icelandair.

In a bit of irritating viewing, the Advanced Video on Demand would often disconnect. This would require you to restart your movie, pass through all the commercials, and then fast forward to where the interruption occurred. While I wouldn’t normally mention it, this occurred five or six times on our flight length; a surprisingly irritating amount.

Dealing with Movie Interruptions on Our Icelandair Flight

In Flight Wifi Internet:

Icelandair also featured in flight wifi internet available. The service was available for 12€ for the flight, or on a complimentary basis for Saga Business Class Passengers.

Perhaps a bit irritatingly, the system required a different URL to connect, dependent on the version of aircraft that you were flying on. I would end up discovering a QR code located within the entertainment system. A scan of the QR code would end up linking you to the correct URL.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to actually get the wifi to work on this particular flight. Even after trying a multitude of connection combinations, I was unsuccessful. I eventually gave up on the wifi as a measure of entertainment.

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Food and Beverage:

Once we were airborne, the crew passed out the dinner menus. Icelandair still offers a printed menu, which adds to a nice touch for minimal effort.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – Dinner and Drink Menu

The Icelandair dinner menu only offers two options; neither one is vegetarian. If you need a vegetarian meal, you’d have to order it in advance as a special meal.

The wine list was also presented. It offered an old world European centric wine list, along with a surprise red from Argentina. Overall, we had no complaints about the wine list.

One of the more unique features of Icelandair are their collection of Gin and Tonics. Icelandair offers a variety of no less than six Gin and Tonic’s, that are all served in individual portioned containers.

If the wine and Gin weren’t enough, there were also Icelandic Gull Beers available, along with Espresso Martini’s.

Rounding out the menu presentation, a series of salty and sweet snacks were also listed on the menu.

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The Meal: A Full Dinner

As we climbed to cruise altitude, the supper service started slowly with a beverage cocktail service. I enjoyed an Olafsson Icelandinc Gin with Franklin and Sons Natural Light Tonic water, accompanied with lemon and crisp crackers that appeared to be off menu.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class – Pre Supper Cocktail Beverage and Snack

I went onto enjoy the main dinner item which was presented as aVeal Ossobuco with truffle mashed potatoes, fried onions and a Madeira sauce. The veal was racy for an airline meal. Along with being a bit of a drippy meal, I really enjoyed it and it was something completely different than the safe dishes that come to expect most times from international airline cabin food.

Veal Ossobuco, Fried Onions and Truffle Mashed Potatoes

We had pleasant sunset views as we finished the meal service with a constant view of the sunset along our entire flight.

I tucked myself into sleep after the meal. I attempted a rest of the reclining seats. While it wasn’t exactly a fully flat seat, it was enough to get some what of a bit of relaxation. The Icelandair Saga Business Class seat itself is pretty compact; especially when it’s reclined in front of you. As I indicated earlier, it was more like a premium economy or a domestic first class product. For the price paid, I couldn’t complain. I did mange to get a little sleep in the light recline of the business class barca lounger seat.

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The Second Service: A Light Snack

At about 90 minutes prior to landing, we had a second service. We received a small plate of a canapé stick, with some crackers and cheese. While it was a nice touch, it wasn’t very filling.

Icenlandair Saga Premium Business Class – Second Service

If I was sleeping, I probably wouldn’t bother waking up for the second service.

Arriving into Seattle Tacoma International Airport:

We had an easy approach into Seattle Tacoma International Airport. It had been a number of years since we’ve arrived into Seattle Tacoma on an international arrival.

On this visit, we’d get the opportunity to try Seattle Tacoma’s South Concourse arrival facility. The new facility is a marked improvement from the dark basement that Seattle bound travellers used to arrive into.

After disembarkation, we proceeded down a few corridors to access the overhead walkway. We rode the escalators up and over the south satellite terminal apron and taxi ways. It was an easy walk thanks to a moving sidewalk. We had some great views of United Aircraft as we descended into the international arrivals hall of Seattle Tacoma International Airport.

The new international Seattle arrivals’ facility is a world ahead of the rest of the Seattle Tacoma International Airport. The arrivals hall featured a massive arrivals’ area that was in stark contrast the rest of the older Seattle Tacoma facilities which were dating from the 1940’s.

We collected our bags and proceeded through the international connections desk to connect to an Alaska Airlines flight back to Vancouver.

My frequent flier points for this Icelandair flight credited without issue to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan about fourteen days after the flight. While it wasn’t the fastest partner airline credit, it posted without any intervention.

The Bottom Line: Icelandair Saga Class

Icelandair offered a cost competitive way to get over to Europe in a reasonable amount of comfort. While the business class seats certainly aren’t state of the art, we did have access to the usual amenities in business class; additional luggage allowance, access to a lounge at the departure airport and in Iceland, and a full meal along with a complimentary beverages and bar service.

While you won’t ever confuse Icelandair business class seats for a fully flat business class product in a major international airline alliance, it’s a reasonable way to get over to Europe, assuming the price is right.

If you’ve flown Icelandair Saga Business Class, did the lounger recliner seating detract from your experience ?

Tags: Alaska Mileage Plan, FI 681, KEF, SEA

Review: Icelandair Saga Class B737-8 Max, Paris Charles de Gaulle – Reykjavík (Keflavik)

Posted on April 4, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in Airline + Boeing 737 + Business Class + Iceland, Spain and Morocco via Icelandair Saga Class & British Airways First Class + Icelandair + Trip Report

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Icelandair offers connecting service from North America to Western Europe through it’s hub in Keflavik Reykjavik Iceland. It also offers a proper business class recliner seat to and from Iceland, where many other European carriers offer an economy class seat with a blocked middle. How does Icelandair fare up on an intra-Europe business class segment?

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Review: Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Boeing 737-8 Max, Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2B – Reykjavík (Keflavik International Airport)

After a wonderful three day visit to Paris, France, it was time for our flights back home to North American. We purchased this ticket on a deeply discounted business class fare. We credited the miles to Alaska Mileage plan, earning 125% Alaska Mileage Plan miles and allowing us to obtain Alaska MVP and MVP Gold status for the year.

This flight was a similar but slightly shorter version of Icelandair Saga Business Class Reyjkavik – Madrid, along with our inbound flight to Paris on Icelandair Saga Business Class Reykjavik – Paris, so please feel free to check out those reviews if you want to see what another intra – Europe Icelandair Saga Business Class flight looks like.

This particular flight would mark my firth Icelandair flight and I have to say I’ve had a pretty good experience with Icelandair so far to date.

Boarding Icelandair at Paris:

After a visit to Icelandair’s contracted lounge Salon Extime Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2B, we wandered to the gate. We had a medium length walk along to Gate D67.

Although we checked in at Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2B, we actually had a Terminal 2D gate assignment. The two terminals are within the same building, so it wasn’t any issue to navigate between the terminals.

We walked along the spacey looking French contribution to aviation; the Charles de Gaulle airport concourses that look ever so bizarre compared to other airports around the world.

Headed to the Gate – Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2D, Paris, France

We found our brand new Icelandair Boeing737-8 Max aircraft parked at Gate D67. It was covered Icelandair’s newest livery, featuring a green stripe across the rear stabilizer.

Getting Ready to Fly – Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2D, Paris, France

We had a bit of a wait in order to board the aircraft. This was followed by a secondary wait on the jet bridge as we walked onward to board the aircraft.

Icelandair

FI 545 – Saga Business Class (A)

CDG-KEF (Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2D – Reykjavik Keflavik International Airport)

October 25, 2022

2:10 PM – 3:30 PM (scheduled)

Booked: Boeing 737 8 Max

Flown: Boeing 737 8 Max

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On Board Icelandair Saga Class:

I was really interested to see what kind of seat Icelandair would install on their newest Boeing 737-8 Max aircrafts. Their current recliner seats are hardly state of the art, but they do serve the airline well for it’s short flights from Iceland to Europe and are passable for their longer flights from Iceland to the Americas.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Cabin – Boeing 737 – 8 Max

After boarding the aircraft, we would discover that Icelandair has installed the exact same seat as on it’s older Icelandair Boeing 757-200 and Boeing 767-200 series aircraft. While hardly cutting edge, it does ensure some consistency in Saga Premium Business Class seating across all of it’s aircraft.

Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class seating on its Boeing 737-8 Max product is in a 2 – 2 configuration. There are four rows of Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class seating, for a total of sixteen seats of business class.

The seat storage offers overhead bin storage space on each side of the aisle. We had no challenges storing our rolling suitcases in the Saga Premium space.

Plenty of Overhead Storage Space in Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Cabin – Boeing 737 – 8 Max

We found our assigned seats 2D and 2F and settled in for the short two hour and thirty minute flight. The Iceland Air Saga Premium Class seats are a little bit more compact on legroom than on their long haul Boeing 757-200 and Boeing 767-200 aircraft. Admittedly, for a short flight, we didn’t notice it all to much.

The Icelandair seats offered Empower in seat power, along with a double pin headphone adapter in the centre console. There was also a sliding retracting table hidden within the centre console, which was convenient, but a little delicate for holding beverages.

Each seat had a personal television monitor. The television monitor had an ability to swivel and til to allow for minimizing of glare on the viewing angle.

Television Monitors – Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Cabin – Boeing 737 – 8 Max

Each Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class seat offered an individual foot rest for comfort. This is something that I have typically found on my flights on Boeing 737 – 8 Max’s to date.

Personal Foot Rests – Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Cabin – Boeing 737 – 8 Max

The Icelandair Boeing 737 – 8 Max aircraft is a brand new aircraft. Along with other Boeing 737 – 8 Max aircrafts, it featured individual in flight seat nozzles for persona ventilation.

Individual Air Nozzles – Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Cabin – Boeing 737 – 8 Max

Icelandair names all of its aircraft with a plaque that is typically found by the front door. Today’s aircraft was named Landmannalaugar with registration TF-ICP.

Icelandair Name Plates – Boeing 737 – 8 Max

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Pre Departure Services:

We didn’t have much in the way of pre departure services on this intra Europe international flight. A bottle of Iceland Water was waiting for us at our seats when we sat down. There was also an individual antiseptic towel wipe.

Icelandair crew did pass out a noise cancelling headphone of the two pin variety. They were somewhat useful for the entertainment system on this short hop.

Overall, the Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class cabin was comfortable for the regional three hour business class flight around Europe. Even though the seat was a little more compact on the Boeing 737 – 8 Max product, there wasn’t much noticeable difference in flying this newest aircraft.

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Departing Paris Charles de Gaulle:

We got underway fairly promptly. We had a long but speedy taxi way over to the departure runway.

In doing a little plane spotting, we were able to see the Air France Concorde jet that is permanently parked on display at Paris Charles due Gaulle airport. I find these displays at London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle to be pretty inspiring and a neat glance at luxury travel in a past era.

Departing Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France

We climbed to altitude pretty quickly over France’s beautiful countrysides. With the sun behind us, we had pleasant views getting up to altitude.

Climbing to Altitude, Departing Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France

In Flight Entertainment System:

Icelandair offers an in flight entertainment. The monitors are on seat back screens embedded in the seat ahead of you. The monitors contain a small swivel that allow for adjustment of the screen, in the event the person sitting in front of you reclines their seat.

There were a limited amount of movies on board with eighty seven different selection available. While it won’t match the largest mega carriers in terms of selections, it is more than enough for an occasional trip to and from North America when connecting through Iceland.

Our flight track today had us heading up through the United Kingdom and over to Iceland.

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The Meal: A Breakfast

Once we were into the cruise altitude, the drink menu was dropped off. The drink menu was comprehensive and mirrored products on the Icelandair trans-continental flights.

Icelandair Business Class Menu – Paris to Keflavik

Prior to the meal service being presented, we had a cocktail and beverage service. I enjoyed a Gin and Tonic, along with the usual Icelandair snacks

Icelandair Business Class Beverage Service

Lunch was delivered with the menu tucked onto the tray. Lunch today consisted of a bread roll with whipped butter with Icelandic seat salt, chicken salad with roasted sweet potatoes and basil oil, finished off with dulce de leche.

The meal was presented all together on meal tray. The meal was actually pretty tasty. MrsWT73 gave the dulce de leche high marks for the dessert.

There wasn’t much do to after lunch aside from stare out the window. We spotted the last of the United Kingdom before passing over the North Atlantic.

We had a really great crew serving us today. They were super attentive and pro-actively offered coffee refills, along with wive top off’s at almost every opportunity and contact.

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Arriving to Reykjavik (Keflavik):

As the flight drew to a close, we had an approach into Iceland. The views arriving Iceland are always really interesting. The barren landscape and rocky lava landscape is pretty inspirational, no matter what time of the year you find yourself arriving.

We landed and arrived to the “C” gates at Keflavik International Airport. We fortunately were assigned a jet bridge. Without having to take a bus, we were set to get off pretty quickly.

Strangely though, we had a mad scramble by some other economy passengers running into the business class cabin prior to them opening the aircraft door. Being stampeded by others wasn’t something that you always saw. Perhaps, they had tight connections.

On the Ground at Reykjavik – Keflavik International Airport, Iceland

After we deplaned, we immediately into the Icelandair Saga Lounge – Keflavik. There were several on our flight connecting onwards on our next Icelandair Saga Premium Class Reykjavik – Seattle flight.

Spotting Ukranian Border Information near Iceland’s Immigration Booths

Generally speaking, it was not a bad first flight from Paris, although it certainly kills some time travelling through Iceland.

Lastly, my frequent flier points for this Icelandair flight successfully credited to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan fourteen days after the flight. While it wasn’t the fastest credit, it posted without any intervention or request for missing points.

My Thoughts on Icelandair Saga Business Class:

Like I’ve written previously, Icelandair remains a more comfortable way to get to and from Iceland than the legacy mainline airline alliance carriers of British Airways and Lufthansa. The large recliner seats were comfortable and much better than the euro-business class offered with other European carriers.

While we aimed to fly their newest aircraft in the form of their Boeing 737-8 Max, the set up on this aircraft was just the same as on their legacy Boeing 757-200/300 and Boeing 767-300 ER products. There were no notable differences between the two products, and the friendly Icelandair service was present throughout.

Have you flown the new Icelandair Boeing 737 – 8 Max product?

Tags: Alaska Mileage Plan, CDG, FI 545, KEF

Review: Salon Extime Lounge – Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2B/2D, France

Posted on April 2, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in Contract Lounge + Jordan, Israel and France via Icelandair, Turkish and Royal Jordanian Business Class + Lounges + Trip Report

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The Salon Extime Lounge is presently the lead contract lounge located in between Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle, serving both Paris Terminal 2B and 2D. The Salon Extime Lounge offered a really comfortable place to relax in prior to our departing international flight. How would our experience fare compare to other international lounges?

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Review: Salon Extime Business Lounge – Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle International Airport – Terminal 2B/2D, France

This review is of the Salon Extime Business Lounge at Paris Charles de Gualle International Airport.

Dependent on your departure area and carrier, you may also have access to the nearby Air Canada Salon Maple Leaf Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2A, Salon Paul Maxence Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2A, the Salon Air France Business Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2F and the Salon Air France Business Lounge Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2E – Concourse L.

Our departing flight today was on Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Paris – Reykjavík and connecting onwards to Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Reykjavík – Seattle.

Checking into Icelandair Business Class:

We departed The Westin Paris – Vendôme. Given that there was still a gasoline strike on, we took the train back to Roissy Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2B. Including a very long walk from the CDG TGV RER station over to Terminal 2B, the trip took about one hour and ten minutes.

Checking Into Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class, CDG Terminal 2B, Paris, France

For some reason, there were two Icelandair flights leaving exactly five minutes apart. As a result, there were double the amount of travellers at the check in desks. Fortunately, we had only two travellers ahead of us in the Icelandair Saga Premium Business line, with only three ground agent attendants working.

Our checked baggage was checked through to Seattle with a reference to “you have access to the lounge”. I had looked it up and discovered that Icelandair uses the Extime Lounge Paris, so I knew the name and roughy what we were looking for.

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Locating the Salon Extime Lounge:

The Salon Extime Lounge Paris is located in the space in between the two flowing Terminals in between Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminals 2B and 2D. The two departure halls are inter connected, and there is no obvious moment when you pass from one terminal to another. Both Terminal 2B and 2D share the same central departures facilities, so you’ll pass through the same exit procedures in order to access the departures concourse.

We passed up the departure escalators, through the No 1 Priority Security Line and eventually down escalators through to the secure side.

Locating the Elevator Access to Salon Extime Business Lounge
Map Courtesy of Aeroports de Paris

The Salon Extime Lounge was located immediately behind the Laudrée retail store. The lounge was located off a concealed hallway adjacent to the Laudurée retail store that looked more like a fire exit than access to a business lounge.

Locating the Access Corridor to Salon Extime Lounge, CDG Terminal 2B, Paris, France

Passing down the hallway, we eventually located the lifts up to the top level.

After arrival to the top floor, we had a walk down the long hallway towards the Extime Lounge. The hallway was made a little brighter as a result of skylight windows throughout the passageway.

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Accessing the Lounge:

The Salon Extime Lounge is presently accessible through contract access with several business class airlines.

The current list of carriers that provide business class access are:

Agean

Austrian Airlines

Croatia Airlines

Eurowings

Icelandair

ITA Airways

LOT Airways

Lufthansa Airways

Royal Air Maroc

Swissair

Air Baltic

The lounge itself is not part of any one airline alliance and contracts to available carriers to provide traveller access.

Accessing the Salon Extime Lounge – CDG Terminal 2B, Paris, France

At the moment, the lounge does not appear to partner with Priority Pass or another other lounge membership cards.

At present, it also does not offer forward facing access to purchase access at the door or online, in order to gain entry to the lounge.

Our access today was provided courtesy of our Icelandair Saga Business Class as a result of travelling in business class.

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Inside the Salon Extime Lounge Paris Terminal 2B/2D:

The Salon Extime Lounge is currently the Star Alliance Lounge for travellers passing through Terminal 2B and 2D. I wasn’t expecting too much by coming through, but the lounge actually turned out to be a really pleasant stay.

After being granted access to the lounge, we entered into the first lounge space. Passing down a corridor, we entered in to the first room. The first room was set up in a darker kitchen parlour style of room.

Accessing the Salon Extime Lounge, Paris, France

Lounge Seating – Extime Lounge Paris, France

Continuing on into the main part of the lounge, the Extime Lounge offered a main seating space in a long rectangular room. The room had bright floor to ceiling windows, which made the space pleasant to relax in.

The furnishings in the Extime Lounge were brand new and in great condition. The lounge had a contemporary feel, with upscale looking loungers. The Extime Lounge had a more stylish look than your average business lounge that contained your usual bland looking lounge chairs.

The lounge contained information monitors for flights serviced from this terminal.

The lounge was sparsely occupied during our visit. There were plenty of places to find a place to sit. Unusually, we had our choice of almost anywhere in the lounge.

Towards the far end of the lounge, the was also a quieter room that contained additional chairs and loungers. For some reason, the back of the lounge was really popular. It also contained a number of private and window seating.

To summarize, the lounge seating was really comfortable with a wide variety of places to sit. There were a heaps of comfortable loungers and we had our choice of where to sit.

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Food and Beverage:

The Salon Extime Lounge offered a range of snacks and food items suitable for a business lounge.

One of the best features of the Salon Extime Lounge was that hte lounge offered actual french champagne. I commend the lounge for offering real champagne. It is not that often that champagne is offered in Business Lounges, so it’s a real treat if you happen to find it.

French Champagne Was Proudly Offered – Extime Lounge Paris, France

Many Spirits & Wine were Available – Extime Lounge Paris, France

There were also a wide range of soda’s offered, including the traditionally french Orangina soda.

Cooler Drinks – Extime Lounge Paris, France

There were a selection of cheeses on offer. While there wasn’t anything too exotic, it’s always nice to have French Cheese.

French Cheeses – Extime Lounge Paris, France

In addition to cheeses, there were also some salads available in small quantities. It made for some easy and convenient snacking.

There were also a number of hot items available. Today’s service included steamed rice, chicken stew and cod with sauce.

Hot Servery Dishes – Extime Lounge Paris, France

I settled in with an Orangina with lemon and Champagne combination.

French Orangina Soda and Champagne – Extime Lounge Paris, France

We spent about forty minutes in the lounge prior to heading off our Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Paris – Reykjavík flight. Although we weren’t expecting too much from the Extime Lounge, we left more than satisfied prior to our flight.

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My Thoughts on the Salon Extime Lounge Paris:

The Salon Extime Lounge Paris wasn’t a lounge or a brand that was familiar to me prior to this visit. Surprisingly, the Salon Extime Lounge more than met expectations. In addition to offering a comfortable place to stay, the lounge offered french champagne and a small variety of food items.

The Salon Extime is easily worth a little bit of your time prior to your departing international flight.

If you’ve visited the Extime Lounge Paris, did you enjoy some french champagne?

Tags: Business Class, CDG

Westjet (again) Offering Status Match & Challenge to Westjet Rewards Silver, Gold and Platinum Elite.

Posted on April 1, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in Airline + News + Trip Report + Westjet

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Westjet and Air Canada have taken a bit of a beating lately in the post pandemic return to travel era. As a result of frequent flight cancellations, and reductions of service in Eastern Canada, we are now seeing Westjet return to the market place with an effort to attract some of Canada’s most frequent fliers. Their latest promotion is by offering a status match and challenge to select Canadian frequent fliers.

Westjet (again) Offering Status Match and Challenge to Westjet Rewards Silver, Gold and Platinum for Air Canada and Porter Elites.

Westjet Airways has announced a spring promotion that allows for a status match and challenge for its Westjet Rewards program. This is similar to the fall 2022 offer, with the exception that it is no longer being made available to British Airways Executive Club elites.

The Essentials of the Promotion:

Status Match to Westjet Silver / Gold / Platinum for rest of 2023:

Westjet is presently offering a status match to Westjet Silver / Gold or Platinum levels.

The details are as follows:

Experience benefits such as lounge access, priority services, complimentary upgrades and more while WestJet takes you where you want to go. With proof of status in Aeroplan or VIPorter, you can receive Platinum, Gold or Silver status with WestJet Rewards until June 30, 2023.*

Silver will be awarded with proof of Aeroplan 25K or VIPorter Venture
Gold will be awarded with proof of Aeroplan 35K, Aeroplan 50K, Aeroplan 75K or VIPorter Ascent
Platinum will be awarded with proof of Aeroplan Super Elite or VIPorter First

Keeping your new status is easy. Travel with us between the date your status is approved and June 30, 2023 to extend your status for all of 2023. Your required tier qualifying spend during this timeframe will be 25% of what you would normally need.*

Registration needs to be completed by April 30, 2023. Westjet is promising that all applications will be reviewed within 10 days.

Westjet Rewards is Presently Offering a Status Match to Select Top Tier Elites

It’s hard to say whether this is a “once in a lifetime” offer. While we see sometimes see status match opportunities limited to once in a lifetime, there is no indication on whether Westjet considers this to be limited accordingly.

I generally don’t advocate taking advantage of status match offers, unless you actually plan on using the benefits. There is always the possibility that your travel plans can change into the future, and you might be prevented from accessing a similar opportunity in the future, if you’ve already taken advantage of it in the past.

Westjet is Offering A Status Match Mapping to These Select Levels

The full terms and conditions of the promotion are also posted within the registration page.

Status Challenge for Rest of 2023 with a lowered minimum spend:

In addition to the status match promotion, Westjet Rewards is offering a status challenge for the 2023 year, with a reduced qualifying spend of 25% of the usual levels.

Keeping your new status is easy. Travel with us between the date your status is approved and June 30, 2023 to extend your status for all of 2023. Your required tier qualifying spend during this timeframe will be 25% of what you would normally need
Spend $750 to Obtain Silver Level (Usually $3,000)
Spend $1,250 to Obtain Gold Level (Usually $5,000)
Spend $2,000 to Obtain Platinum Level (Usually $8,000)

Westjet Rewards has Pro-Rated Downwards the Minimum Qualifying Spend

You must Join Westjet Rewards before completing the registration form and proceeding to sign up for the status match or status challenge.

While this particular promotion isn’t as generous as the fall 2022 promotion (by about 5% less generous), it still represents a good deal for someone who has a lot of flying coming up on Westjet, or wants to accelerate their earnings in advance of the summer 2023 travel season.

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What Can You Use Westjet Rewards for:

Westjet Rewards can be used as a cash back type program offering dollars off of a cash component of any eligible fare with Westjet. The program markets itself as cash back being an easier method than calculation of points. The higher your status level yields a higher amount of cash back earn rate.

Westjet Business Class: Upgrade on a Complimentary Basis with Eligible Fares

Platinum benefits are comprised of 8% WestJet dollar earn rate, highest eligibility for complimentary upgrade to Premium and Business with eligible fares, early access to purchase an upgrade, unlimited airport lounge access, unlimited advance seat selection, first, second and third checked bags free, no fee for same-day flight changes, priority security screening at select airports, priority support number, priority check-in, priority baggage and priority boarding will be awarded to the member immediately after achieving Platinum status and noted in the member’s WestJet Rewards account.
Gold benefits are comprised of 5% WestJet dollar earn rate, higher eligibility for complimentary upgrade to Premium and Business with eligible fares, early access to purchase an upgrade, unlimited airport lounge access, advance seat selection vouchers, first and second checked bags free, no fee for same-day flight changes, priority security screening at select airports, priority support number, priority check-in, priority baggage and priority boarding will be awarded to the member immediately after achieving Gold status and noted in the member’s WestJet Rewards account.
Silver benefits are comprised of 3% WestJet dollar earn rate, eligibility for complimentary upgrade to Premium and Business with eligible fares, airport lounge access, advance seat selection vouchers, first and second checked bags free, priority check-in and Zone 2 boarding will be awarded to the member immediately after achieving Silver status and noted in the member’s WestJet Rewards account.

My Thoughts on the Promotion:

While I have flown Westjet domestically and internationally, I haven’t found much use for their frequent flier program Westjet Rewards. This is indeed a program that requires you to be “all in”, instead of one that allows for occasional earning.

My goals of a rewards program offers the ability to redeem access to international reward redemptions in business or first class. Westjet Rewards doesn’t participate in any meaningful airline alliance like Star Alliance, One World or Skyteam. It does offer some limited reciprocal relationships with Delta Sky Miles and Air France / KLM Flying Blue, but I haven’t found that these programs deliver a lot of value for my travel needs on the earning and redemption side.

Westjet B737-8 Economy Class isn’t all too aspirational

While in our days before the pandemic, we saw Westjet service some unique routes not offered by Air Canada such as Calgary – Comox and Calgary – Brandon. In today’s environment, that advantage has mostly disappeared or has been severely limited by schedule, thanks to the general contraction of routes and frequencies to mostly core, fundamental and profitable routes.

Receive Friendly Westjet Service on Board their Aircraft

Lastly, while it does offer some international routes on their state of the air Westjet Boeing 787 aircraft, most of these routes are through Calgary to European destinations; a destination that is highly competitive from my home base in Vancouver, Canada.

In addition, the program does not offer much in the way of a lounge network. Aside from Westjet Rewards access to the Westjet Elevation Lounge Calgary, and the Plaza Premium Lounge network. I generally get access to these lounges through Priority Pass courtesy of the American Express Platinum Card.

Relax in the Only Westjet Elevation Lounge at Calgary International Airport

Despite this, there are some that may be further ahead by simply signing up for this promotion. Perhaps if you’re got travel planned ahead for this fall, there is a slim chance that signing up for this promotion may put you further ahead.

Naturally, if you’re a regular Westjet traveller, or perhaps a Westjet RBC Mastercard holder, you’ll want to take advantage of the program assuming you meet the qualifying terms and conditions as an elite flyer.

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In Summary: Westjet Rewards Offering a Status Match.

Westjet Rewards is offering a time limited status match offer for Canadian residents in Elite levels in the Air Canada Aeroplan, Porter VIP and British Airways Executive Club programs. This is a time limited offer and you need to sign up by September 30, 2022.

Registration is easy through the link and demonstrating proof of status through. a photograph of a screen shot of your frequent flier account.

Unfortunately, I haven’t found Westjet Rewards to be super useful for my travel patterns. Their lack of partners for international travel and a meaningful program that offers lounge access and access to premium cabin awards makes this a non starter for me.

Do you see the value in a current status match over to Westjet ?

Tags: Westjet Rewards

What’s Left of Notre Dame Cathedral, Sacré Coeur and Montmartre, Paris, France

Posted on March 31, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + Attraction + City Visit + Europe + France + Jordan, Israel and France via Icelandair, Turkish and Royal Jordanian Business Class + Trip Report

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Our second day of sightseeing around the city of Paris involved us taking in the Notre Dame Catherdral, the Ile St Louis, the Basilica du Sacré Coeur and the charming neighbourhood of Montmartre. We would spend a free style day of exploration through these charming sights, without the commitment of a firm schedule. This made for a pretty relaxing second day in Paris, France.

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What’s Left of Notre Dame Caterdral, Sacré Coeur and Montmartre, Paris, France

There is nothing like visiting Paris, France. It’s one of the leading cities to visit in the world, and a must see for any visitor to Western Europe.

As I had written on a summary of our first day’s sightseeing, it had been a while wince I had visited Paris, France. The last time I had the opportunity to visit the city was when I passed through on my way to business school in Grenoble, France in the year 2007. As a result, I was keen to see the spots were we had missed on the first da’s sightseeing.

Why Visit Paris, France ?

The reasons remain the same. There are dozens of reasons to visit Paris, France. First and foremost, the city of Paris has several of the world most famous landmarks. The world would not be the same without the Eiffel Tower, the Arc the Triomphe, the Louvre, the Notre Dame Catherdral, and the wonderful Seine River flowing underneath’s Parisian’s bridges.

In addition to the wonderful landmark sights, Paris is also known for world class food. As the home of the French Bistro restaurant, it also offers Michelin Starred dining opportunities. As the home of French Onion Soup, Grand Cru Classé wines and french baguette bread, there is more than enough french cuisine to dive into.

Lastly, Paris, France is also known as the City of Lights. The city is lit up throughout the night with wonderful light displays. The Eiffel Tower also has a terrific light display that appears on the hour, until about midnight.

All of these are great reasons to visit Paris, France.

Getting To and Around Paris, France:

The city of Paris France has an excellent train network and rail system. As a result, I’ve never had a need to rent a car in Paris. I have always relied on the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF) rail system and the métro in order to get around the city.

On our stay, we were staying at The Westin Paris – Vendôme hotel, which was exceptionally well located for sightseeing. The Westin Paris – Vendôme hotel was conveniently located next to the Tuilieries Metro Station, which made for convenient navigation to and from the hotel.

The Place de La Concorde:

We set out for a day’s worth of sightseeing from The Westin Paris – Vendôme hotel. The hotel was located next to the Jardin des Tuilieries park just steps from the hotel.

Today, we headed left walking on foot towards the Louvre Museum, and started walking over toward the Notre Dame Cathedral. We passed the fountains in the Jardin des Tuilieries as we headed over to the Louvre Museum.

While we didn’t visit the Louvre Museum, it appeared that the rest of the world had the museum on their schedule. The crowds at the entry courtyard demonstrated that this would be a busy experience.

The Notre Dame Cathedral:

We walked from the Louvre over to the Notre Dame Cathedral. It had been a while since I’d visited the Notre Dame Cathedral, especially since the electrical fire that consumed most of the historic wooden chapel.

Arriving to Notre Dame on this visit, the front of the Notre Dame was in great shape.

However, the rear of the re-construction project was in full swing. Based on photographs, it would be years before the Notre Dame Cathedral would be finished.

We headed across for a brief walk through the charming Ile St Louis; picking up some take away sandwiches for a brief snack.

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Visiting the Basilique du Sacré Coeur:

We took the Metro Train from the St Michel de Notre Dame up to the Château Rouge Metro Station. After walk through some engaging Parisian neighbourhoods, we climbed the stairs up toward the Sacré Coeur church.

The Basilica of Sacré Coeur was constructed in 1873 but the grounds weren’t consecrated until 1919. It was built as a result of contributions from Parisian Catholics after the Franco – Prussian war between 1870 -1871.

The Sacré Coeur Church commands an excellent view across Paris. We enjoyed our take away sandwiches while we enjoyed the fall skyline views under the shadows of this wonderful cathedral.

There is nothing like being locked into Paris, France.

Walking the Hilly Streets of Montmartre:

From Sacré Coeur, it was a short walk to the charming neighbourhood of Montmartre. The streets of Montmartre were very popular on our visit and we saw many cruise ship excursion groups making their rounds.

Along with some charming tourist cafés, we saw some local artists sketching out their subjects.

We wandered down the hill towards the Moulin Rouge. The quiet charm of the Montmartre neighbourhood was fully over come with tourists today. It marked a busy place to visit and was a consistent theme to our visit.

After climbing down the hill, we enjoyed a great dinner at Bouillon Pigalle near the Moulin Rouge, prior to heading back to The Westin Paris – Vendôme under charming sunset skies in the City of Light.

My Thoughts on Visiting Paris:

Our second day of visiting Paris, France had us taking in some of the city’s familiar sights that included the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Sacré Coeur church and the wonderful Montmartre neighbourhood.

The city of Paris remains one of these places where you can visit and simply wander, taking in the city as it comes.

If you have visited Paris, France, what sights do you take in on your visit to the city ?

Tags: Walking Tour

Canadian American Express Business Platinum Cardholders get a Break: Hilton Honors Gold Status now Included

Posted on March 30, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in News + Trip Report

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World Traveller 73

March 30, 2023

5–7 minutes

Once it a while, we get a great promotion that really adds value to it’s card holders. American Express (Canada) has just announced that it’s American Express Business Platinum Card Holders will now have complimentary access to Hilton Honors Gold Level status. Like many things with the American Express Platinum Card, enrolment is required, but it’s a simple process. Let’s review the announcement to see what the changes are for current cardholders.

Canadian American Express Business Platinum Cardholders get a Break: Hilton Honors Gold Status now Included

American Express recently sent out an email message to it’s Canadian Card Holders announcing “Important changes to your Business Platinum Card from American Express“.

I opened this message with a bit of dread. Given how loyalty programs tend to abuse their customers with cut after cut, I was expecting another devaluation of some sorts or an annual fee increase. Instead, the news was incredibly positive.

American Express Business Platinum Card Holders now have Hilton Honors Gold Status Included

As a Business Platinum Cardmember you are eligible to enroll in complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status

Per direct communications with their card members, American Express Canada is now offering Canadian American Express Business Platinum Charge Card Holders the ability to enroll and obtain complimentary Hilton Honors gold elite status.

It’s worth mentioning that American Express Platinum Card Holders (personal version) already have complimentary Hilton Honors Gold level access included with their annual fee. This change adds the same benefits for it’s American Express Business Platinum Card Holders.

American Express Business Platinum Card Members are given a generic web address in order to sign up for their benefits.

What Does Hilton Honors Gold Status Get You?

As a long time Marriott Bonvoy and Starwood Preferred Guest loyalist, it’s been a while since I’ve stayed at a Hilton property. Nevertheless, they are a transfer partner with the American Express Membership Rewards program and there is potentially some use there in markets when Marriott doesn’t work or isn’t available.

Hilton Honors Gold Level Status is available for those that regularly spend forty or more nights with Hilton. It is the next level tier above Hilton Honors Silver (ten nights), and underneath their top level Hilton Honors Diamond level (sixty nights).

The Hilton Honors Gold Level isn’t all to shabby. It offers:

80% Points Earning Bonus on Stays
“Space – Available” Room Upgrades
Daily Food and Beverage Credit or Continental Breakfast (varies by brand and region)

The largest benefit here is the daily food and beverage credit or Continental Breakfast. If you’re staying at a Hilton property for leisure purposes, having access to a food and beverage credit between $15 to $25 USD within North America (or a full breakfast internationally) is a tremendous help.

Get Access to a Food and Beverage Credit at Hilton properties with Hilton Gold Status

While you’ll have to earn the high level Hilton Honors Diamond Level status (with sixty nights) in order to get that coveted complimentary Hilton Executive Lounge access, having a free breakfast is a pretty decent addition if you’re travelling on a self funded personal stay.

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How to Register for Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Status:

It was really easy to sign up for complimentary Hilton Honors Gold Status through the American Express portal.

I clicked through to www.americanexpress.ca/benefitstatus and landed on the American Express Benefit Enrollment Summary Page.

Admittedly, I haven’t signed up for many American Express Platinum Card benefits. I am already a Hertz President’s Circle member through actual rentals. I earned Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Status the hard way, and I don’t usually rent from Avis.

My dashboard looks a lot less impressive than it could be.

After clicking on the Hilton Honors tab, it was easy to enter your name, address and Hilton Honors number.

After submission, a pop up window opens that confirms the submission of your request. It promises a result within one to three business days, and cautions that it may take as long as fifteeen business days.

The process is pretty efficient, as when I next signed into my Hilton Honors account the very next day, the status was already reflected in the home page dashboard. Within twenty four hours, I was now the holder of a proud gold band across my account page!

I didn’t get an email as promised, but perhaps Hilton Honors will batch send these out after a few days or weeks.

Further exploring the site, there is also a convenient MyWay benefits grid. The MyWay benefits grid explains the MyWay Benefits across each brand. The grid sets out when you can expect a cash credit, a full breakfast internationally or something less at the more discount hotel brands.

Hilton has done a much clearer job than Marriott Bonvoy here by clearly explaining what to expect at each hotel brand. You are also allowed to set up your account to ensure your preferences are recorded.

While we don’t typically see a whole lot of credit card improvements as an existing customer, this one is actually pretty worthwhile. While it won’t be an earth shattering change, it will likely prompt me to stay a little more at Hilton hotels, since I’m nearing Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Platinum status.

My Thoughts on the Changes:

It’s great news that American Express Business Platinum Card holders are now getting Hilton Honors Gold level status included, as part of their regular card membership.

Since it doesn’t take more than five minutes in order to take advantage of these benefits, if you’re an American Express Business Platinum Card Holder, I recommend that current card holders sign up by following through the link to the enrolment page.

While we don’t often see credit card companies enhance benefits for the better, I am happy to see American Express adding benefits to it’s Canadian cardholders, as the benefit offerings in Canada are generally much weaker than it’s American Express Card Holder members.

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In Summary:

American Express Business Platinum Card Holders now have access to Free Hilton Gold Status.

American Express Canada have added the ability to add complimentary Hilton Honors Gold level status for its’ American Express Business Platinum Card Holders.

While it isn’t earth shattering, it’s always better to get increased value out of any credit card. Having a free breakfast isn’t anything to sneeze at.

If you’re looking to Sign Up for the American Express Platinum Card, please feel free to use the attached referral link for the highest possible sign up bonus.

Have you Signed up for Hilton Honors Gold Status through American Express Platinum Card Membership ?

Tags: American Express Platinum Card, Hilton Honors, Membership Rewards

Review: Bateau Mouches Seine River Cruises, Paris, France

Posted on March 29, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + Attraction + City Visit + Europe + France + Jordan, Israel and France via Icelandair, Turkish and Royal Jordanian Business Class + Trip Report

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One of the best deals on a tourist attraction in Paris, France are the Bateau Mouches Seine River Cruises. For a mere 15€, you can spend an hour riding on a river cruise along one of the greatest rivers in all of Western Europe. While there are many river cruise companies, I always seem to return to Bateau Mouches for my river cruising adventures in Paris. Read on to find out why…

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Review: Bateau Mouches Seine River Cruises, Paris, France

When visiting Paris, France, You’ll gave an opportunity to view the city of Paris by taking a cruise along the Seine River. There are a whole host of companies that offer Seine Cruises, but my favourite happens to be the Bateau Mouches.

Why Bateau Mouches ?

The Compagnie des Bateaux-Mouches has been aronud for quite some time. It was was founded in 1949 by Jean Bruel, beginning with a single steam boatc from the universal exhibition of 1900.

In present day, the Bateau Mouches operate a modern fleet of 15 boats that host almost 2.5 million people annually. In addition to having longevity, it also operates out of a pier that is located a little ways away from the main piers at the Effeil Tower. I find that this makes the experience a little less mass volume, in my humble opinion.

Getting to Bateau Mouches:

The Bateau Mouches operates out of a pier near the Pont d’Alma on the north side of the Seine River, Paris, France. You will need some mobility to walk down to the pier, which is located on the shores of the Seine River.

We arrived to the Pier on foot based on a stay at The Westin Paris – Vendôme hotel.

Getting Tickets:

The Bateau Mouches sells tickets on line through it’s website. Alternately, you can buy tickets on a walk up basis at the pier itself.

The Bateau Mouches is reasonably priced for a tourist attraction. Tickets at the time of our visit were 15€ ($16 USD) for an adult, and only 6€ ($6.50 USD) for a child under 13 years of age.

On the purchase of a ticket, you can queue for the next available sailing. The pier has a holding area containing all the passengers for any particular sailing. Seats are not pre-assigned, and are open seating once boarding is announced. If you want access to your favourite seat on the next boat, you’ll be best to be ready to get into the holding area, immediately after the last sailing departs.

It’s also worth noting that the Bateau Mouches also sells vending machine alcoholic beverages from within its waiting compound. There didn’t seem to be any issues with a bring your own policy, since everyone in France seems to be doing that anyway.

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Riding the Bateau Mouches:

A ride on the Bateau Mouches takes you along the length of the central Seine River.

After boarding our 4:30 PM sailing, we scrambled up to the upper deck. We aimed to pick seats on the outer flank, so we’d have the best possible photographs and unobstructed views from our ride.

We set off in an eastbound direction on the scene. The weather was co-operating with us and we had sunny fall sunset views.

We started off viewing the Pont Alexandre III, named after a Russian czar. It’s ornate 19th century columns have made it’s way into many photographs of Paris.

MrsWT73 was getting into the concept of cruising, with a version of her own bring your own rosé.

We passed by the ornate buildings attached to the museum of the Louvre; all of them looking magnificent from the waters.

We eventually came along the the Ile St Louis, a charming small island just adjacent to the Notre Dame Cathedral. We eventually passed by the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was well under reconstruction due other electrical fire several years back.

Eventually travelling all the way down to the Pont Charles de Gaulle, we made a “U” Turn and proceeded back up the right hand side of the Scene. We had a great view under bridges as we navigated westward on the Siene.

Passing by the Louvre again, we eventually ended up by the Eiffel Tower. We had a number of views by the Eiffel Tower, before spinning around one last time and returning to the Bateau Mouches quay for disembarkation.

After disembarkation, we had a walk back to The Westin Paris – Vendôme, eventually walking out to the nearby The Cafe de la Paix for a bistro style dinner.

My Thoughts on Cruising with Bateau Mouches:

The Bateau Mouches remains one of my favourite activities while in Paris, France. Provided you can get the right weather co-operating, you can spend a nice hour watching the world go by in the comfort of a nice river cruise boat.

At a mere 15 € for admission, it’s one of the better bargains for a tourist attraction in Paris, France.

It’s highly recommended for romantics, family travellers, or those just looking for something to do.

If you have visited Paris, France, do you have a preferred boat company for Seine River Cruises?

Tags: Seine Cruise

Restaurant Review: Café du Trocadéro, Paris, France

Posted on March 27, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + Jordan, Israel and France via Icelandair, Turkish and Royal Jordanian Business Class + Restaurant Review + Trip Report

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With my business travel being mostly limited to Canada, and MrsWT73’s business travel being more international in nature, she’s had the fortunate opportunity to visit France several times over the course of her business travelling career. It’s usually the case that she’s travelling on her own, so when the opportunity presented for us to return to Paris, France, she’d have an opportunity to present some of her restaurant finds to me during a joint visit. She delivered me to the Café du Trocadéro for a snack, in a region of Paris that I’d never had the opportunity to visit before. How would our bistro visit fare?

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Restaurant Review: Café du Trocadéro, Paris, France

Occasionally, you get to discover a restaurant as a result of the travel explorations with your partner. MrsWT73 has been fortunate to have travelled throughout Paris, France for business reasons and had always visited the Café du Trocadéro on her trips through Paris.

In the spirit of exploration, we would get the opportunity to visit for the first time together on this trip.

About Café du Trocadéro:

The Café du Trocadéro is well positioned across from the Place du Trocaéero, les Jardins du Trocadéro and le Palais de Chaillot. This area is known for it’s stupendous Effiel Tower vistas and views.

The café can easily be located almost immediately across the street from these wonderful views.

Locating the Café du Troacdéro, Paris:

The Café du Troacdéro is located immediately across from le Place du Trocadéro and the Palais de Chaillot in Central Paris, France.

It is conveniently located next to the Trocadéro Metro station which offers easy access.

We ended up walking from L’Arc de Triomphe through the neighbourhoods in order to visit.

The Terrace is split into two areas. There is one that is immediately attached to the restaurant. The second one is across the sidewalk and is a touch closer to the views. The second area is closer to the traffic circle, so there is a slight trade off with noise compared to slightly better photographs.

During our fall visit, dining was offered in the bistro between the hours of 7 AM and 2:00 AM. Given the operating hours, the atmosphere tends to be lively with people there at all hours.

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On the Café de la Paix Menu:

The Café du Troacadéro offers a wide ranging menu of your french bistro favourites.

The usual appetizer favourites appear on the starter menu, such as 12 escargot de Bourgoune and Foie Gras de Canard. In terms of main courses, the tartare de boeuf haché and the entrecôte de boeuf both looked appealing from a savoury perspective.

Most appealing is the snack chich menu that offers bar snacks. The Hot Dog, Croque Monsieur / Madame, Avocado Toast and le Club Sandwich all make a “familiar favourites” an appearance here.

The Café du Troacadéro also offered a very wide range of wines by the glass. They offered over over twenty different varieties, which was pretty good for any bistro. There was also an extensive cocktail list, which seemed to be pretty popular amongst visitors.

The menu offered something for everyone . While there wasn’t any english version of the menu available, we didn’t have any challenges ordering with my basic french language skills.

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The Meal: Café Supper

Since MrsWT73 was on nostalgia lane, we stopped in for a simple snack. We were able to get a table outside under these fall weekend temperatures to enjoy a little of the Paris atmosphere and lifestyle.

It was a simple glass of Bourgone Haute Cotes des Nuites white wine for me, and a Côtes de Provence Rose AOC (pour madame) for MrsWT73.

Between the two of us, we split a terrific croque monsieur sandwich off the snack chic menu. It was pretty tasty. I’m not exactly sure why these taste so great in France, but they sure are memorable and a great snack filler.

The service from staff was really efficient, and we were promptly waited on without any concerns or issues. The people watching from this particular outdoor location was pretty good, with all types of Parisians visiting during our late afternoon weekend visit.

After snacks, we had a walk over to the Effiel Tower and a slow Seine Cruise on the Bateau Mouches prior to returning to The Westin Paris – Vendôme for the evening.

My Thoughts on Café du Trocadéro:

In our relationship, it’s usually me that discovers and researches new restaurants and attractions to visit. In this particular bistro, it was MrsWT73 that discovered a great find worthy of our time in Paris, France.

The Café du Trocadéro offered great bar food, a terrific selection of wines and pretty neat views with the Eiffel Tower peeking through the concourse of the Trocadéro Gardens. Sometimes, it’s better to rely on your partner for things to see. In this light, I was happy to be introduced to a new restaurant courtesy of my spouses’ business travels.

If you have visited the Café du Trocadéro, what brings you back here over other places ?

Tags: Restaurant Review

Restaurant Review: Bouillon Pigalle, Paris, France

Posted on March 25, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + Europe + France + Jordan, Israel and France via Icelandair, Turkish and Royal Jordanian Business Class + Restaurant Review + Trip Report

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I’m always on the search for a new restaurant experience. While my tastes range anywhere from traditional bistro right up to fine dining, I am always up for a new dining adventure. On the other hand, MrsWT73 has much more generic tastes. She prefers straightforward food that isn’t too fussy or complicated. In researching Parisian restaurants, this led us to Bouillon Pigalle; Paris’ version of straight forward bistro dining. Read on to see what our dining experience would be…

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Restaurant Review: Bouillon Pigalle, Paris Opéra, France

I am usually on the search for great dining opportunities when visiting any new city. As a city with world class dining experiences, Paris – France should contain hundreds of excellent dining opportunities.

My research led me to Bouillon Pigalle. As recommended by Condé Nast Traveller magazine as one of the twenty five restaurants in Paris you should be eating at right now, we set out to locate Bouillon Pigalle for an early dinner during our visit to the city.

About Bouillon Pigalle:

We could call Bouliion Pigalle a restaurant for these economically depressed times. It’s hard to locate a restaurant where you can enjoy a three course meal in the heart of Paris, France for under 25€ ($27 USD). Yet Bouillion Pigalle serves up a lengthy menu of french favorites at exceptionally reasonable prices. Even the wine is served in bulk and was actually pretty drinkable.

Bouillon Restaurants runs two locations of this concept; the version at Bouillon Pigalle restaurant across from the Pigalle Metro Station, and the Bouillon République restaurant near the Républic Metro Station.

Locating the Bouillon Pigalle:

The Bouillon Pigalle is located a short walk down from the world famous Moulin Rouge cabaret. It’s located at the bottom of the hill from the Montmartre neighbourhood in Paris.

We ended up at Bouillon Pigalle after an afternoon of sightseeing in Montmartre and taking in the sights of Sacré Coeur church. Instead of returning to our hotel at The Westin Paris Vendôme, we opted for a little more exciting dining in the immediate neighbourhood.

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Inside Bouillon Pigalle:

The atmosphere inside Bouillon Pigalle restaurant is that of packed calamity. Like many French Bistro’s, tables are stacked on top of each other with a high volume of diners. Our wait staff actually pulled our table out in order to seat MrsWT73.

Noise levels are moderate to almost loud, and a general boisterousness consumes the dining environment here like it did in your school cafeteria, all those years back when you were in secondary school.

On the Bouillon Pigalle Menu:

Bouillon Pigalle offers a straight forward menu containing all of your favourite french classics.

BouillonPigalle2021_24x32_FR_web Download

Some highlights from the menu:

Almost all the starters are priced under 5€
Almost all the mains are priced at 11 €, or less
Almost all the deserts are priced at 4€, or less.
All Bottles of Wine are House Varieties, priced at 10.80€ or less

While their website offers a french menu, they will provide an english menu (pictured below) at the restaurant on request.

The sheer combination of everything being so reasonably priced leads to a certain approachability to the menu. As a result, you tend to order more than you might normally.

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The Meal: Café Supper

I ended up ordering a full experience consisting of a starter and main. MrsWT73 went a little bit lighter and just stuck with a starter served as a main course.

We started off with some complimentary bread on the side. While it wasn’t the usual french baguette for tourists, it was exceptionally savoury and on the dry side of flavour profiles.

I started off with escargots. Simply described, it was presented as six escargots (snails) with beurre Persille.

MrsWT73 went with another French Onion Soup. It was value priced at 3.80€ ($4 USD), although it was admittedly not as tasty as the one we’d had earlier in our visit at le Café de la Paix, Paris Opéra.

I went traditional and old school with an Steak and French Fries with Roquefort Sauce. It was pretty darn tasty for a bistro meal. While the Roquefort sauce wasn’t overly complex, it was a nice addition to the meal that you don’t normally find in North America.

The cheque was presented digitally, saving the servers their time in running around trying to tabulate bills. The check for 3 courses, one half bottle and one glass of wine came to 33.40 € ($34 USD)

We would end up paying by Apple Pay, while MrsWT73 sent me photographs of myself tearing into french escargots as a great memory.

As we left the restaurant at about 6:45 PM, we saw evidence of Bouillon Pigalle’s success. Queues were tarting to form for dinner, with about seventy five people in line just before 7 PM.

If you’re looking for a wonderful and inexpensive meal, make sure you arrive to Bouillon Pigalle little early.

After dinner, we headed back on foot to The Westin Paris – Vendôme for a little after supper champagne and some Eiffel Tower light show viewing.

My Thoughts on Bouillon Pigalle:

Bouillon Pigalle was a great dining experience for a casual modern Parisien Bistro.

By offering a really approachable menu at a reasonable price point, Bouillon Pigalle is a restaurant for these current economic times. In addition to offering reasonably tasty food, the price point is something everyone can process.

Bouillon Pigalle easily gets my endorsement for casual bistro dining in the Pigalle area of Paris, France.

If you have visited Bouillon Pigalle or Bouillon Républic, did you enjoy your dining experience ?

Tags: Paris Opera, Restaurant Review

Restaurant Review: Café de la Paix, Paris, France

Posted on March 23, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + Jordan, Israel and France via Icelandair, Turkish and Royal Jordanian Business Class + Restaurant Review + Trip Report

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There are times in travel where you get a unique opportunity to walk down memory lane. In this instance, it was returning to a restaurant where I had the opportunity to visit some thirty five years ago. When the average lifespan of a restaurant is only eight to ten years, getting the opportunity to visit a restaurant that’s been open for over one hundred and fifty years is something special to be treasured. In this return visit, thirty five years in the making, I would get a repeat of my past dining experience.

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Restaurant Review: Café de la Paix, Paris Opéra, France

There are times where travel involves a walk down memory lane. In this example, it involved returning to Café de la Paix.

Café de la Paix was a restaurant I had the opportunity to visit in 1987 when I visited with my dad on my first trip as a twelve year old to Paris, France. On that visit on a warm day in the summer of 1987, I remember being served Coca Cola in tiny 330 ml bottles, by waiters in traditional black and white attire, under a warm August heat. The place had a fast pace to the restaurant, something intriguing in the world for a twelve year old at the time.

The Café de la Paix restaurant has withstood the test of time, and remains one of the more historic restaurants in France. With this background in mind, it was time to re – visit Café de la Paix, for a repeat visit some thirty five years later.

About Café de la Paix:

The Café de la Paix is a historically famous café located on the northwest corner of the intersection of the Boulevard des Capucines and the Place de l’Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France.

The building is designed in the Napoleon III style by the architect Alfred Armand, who also designed the historic Grand-Hôtel in which the café is located. The hotel is now operated by the Inter Continental Paris. The Café de la Paix has a florid interior decorations, historic location, and high-profile clientele have all brought it international recognition as a site of great cultural significance.

The Café de la Paix has had dozens of famous guests over the years. It’s proximity to the Palais Garnier opera attracted many famous regulars including Jules Massenet, Émile Zola, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Guy de Maupassant. In later years, these have included visitors such as Oscar Wilde, and the Prince of Wales.

Locating the Café de la Paix, Paris Opéra:

The Café de la Paix is located across the street from the magnificent Paris Garnier Opéra house. It cant have a more beautiful location against the backdrop of this magnificent structure.

We walked up to the Café de la Paix from our hotel The Westin Paris – Vendôme. After a short ten minute walk through Vendôme, we arrived to the restaurant.

After a short while, we arrived to the Paris Garnier Opéra House. Under the dark of night, it still looked to be an impressive building.

The Café de la Paix Opera house is located just to the left of this building, in the Grand Hotel currently run by Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG).

During our fall visit, dining was offered in the restaurant and cafe between 6 PM to 11 PM.

If you’re visiting during non summer hours and you’re hoping to dine in the café, it is recommended to check for adjusted café hours as the café seems to take on more of a breakfast orientation during the off season.

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On the Café de la Paix Menu:

The Café de la Paix is split up into a fine dining restaurant, and a bistro café restaurant with an outdoor terrace.

Since we were looking for a more casual dining experience, and a great view of the Paris Granier Opéra House, we opted for the outside dining at the café.

The Menu at the Café de la Paix Restaurant was as follows:

Menu-Restaurant_Cafe-de-la-Paix_Hiver_2022 Download

Whereas the Menu at the Café de la Paix Bistro and Terrace was as follows:

Cafe-de-la-Paix_Terrasse_Hiver_2022 Download

While the café offered a simple menu, there were more than enough french favourites there to keep any visitor engaged.

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The Meal: Café Supper

We both went for the full café experience with both a starter and a main course.

MrsWT73 and I both went with a starter of french onion soup; described as “French Onion Soup – Created in 1862, Croutons and Comté Cheese”.

It was presented in a white wine broth and served exceptionally hot. It received high marks from MrsWT73; calling it the best ever French Onion soup of her lifetime.

I went with a simple club sandwich for dinner described as “French Chicken, tomato, mayonnaise, egg with our without bacon”. It was really pleasant and hit the spot.

It was also presented with individual private label Maison Laurino mayonnaise, dijon mustard and ketchup; a wonderful upscale touch.

MrsWT73 went with a croque monsieur described as “paris ham with comté cheese withour without egg on top”

We were super impressed with the meal. Although it wasn’t a fine dining experience, it represented exceptionally close to a french bistro café experience steeped in a legacy historic building and location.

We had a slow walk back to our hotel at The Westin Paris – Vendôme for the evening.

My Thoughts on Café de la Paix:

It was a unique memory and experience to be able to return to the Café de la Paix after thirty five years.

Admittedly, not much has changed at this location over the last thirty five years. Although I didn’t enjoy that Coca Cola under the summer sun, I did get the opportunity to catch up on some of the usual french favourites in a casual bistro style fare. The views of the Paris Garnier Opéra house certainly didn’t hurt either.

If you have visited the Café de la Paix, did you enjoy the views ?

Tags: Paris Opera

Returning to the Eiffel Tower & Central Paris, France

Posted on March 21, 2023 By World Traveller 73 in Activity + Attraction + City Visit + Europe + France + Jordan, Israel and France via Icelandair, Turkish and Royal Jordanian Business Class + Trip Report

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The city of Paris, France offers a wonderful introduction to a world class city in Western Europe. With wonderful landmarks, inspiring cuisine and enough museums and sights to fill a lifetime of visits, the city of Paris, France has something for everyone. Our first day in Paris, France consisted of a day of walking through some of Pari’s most famous sights.

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Returning to the Eiffel Tower & Central Paris, France

There is nothing like visiting Paris, France. It’s one of the leading cities to visit in the world, and a must see for any visitor to Western Europe.

It had been a while wince I had visited Paris, France. The last time I had the opportunity to visit the city was when I passed through on my way to business school in Grenoble, France in the year 2007. As a result, I was keen to get re-acquainted with this world class city.

Why Visit Paris, France ?

There are dozens of reasons to visit Paris, France. First and foremost, the city of Paris has several of the world most famous landmarks. The world would not be the same without the Eiffel Tower, the Arc the Triomphe, the Louvre, the Notre Dame Catherdral, and the wonderful Seine River flowing underneath’s Parisian’s bridges.

All of these are great reasons to visit Paris, France.

Getting To and Around Paris, France:

The Place de La Concorde:

We set out for a day’s worth of sightseeing from The Westin Paris – Vendôme hotel. The hotel was located next to the Jardin des Tuilieries park just steps from the hotel.

We started off our sightseeing day after a short walk to the Place de la Concorde.

The Place de la Concorde was initially laid out between the years 1755 and 1775. It’s most famous landmark is the giant obelisk that is three thousand three hundred years old. It’s pink granite structure originally stood at the Temple of Rames at Thebes; today’s Temple of Luxor. The obelisk was given to France by Muhhamad Ali, viceroy and pasha of Egypt.

There are fountains surrounding the Place de la Concorde. Today’s visit had the fountains marked by green water similar to anti freeze.

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L’Arc de Triomphe:

From the Place de la Concorde, we walked the Champs Elysées street up towards L’Arc de Triomphe. It was a beautiful fall day as we walked up the Champs Elysées. The Champs Elysées looked a little different in this post pandemic world, with some shops completely shuttered and sitting vacant.

It was full tourist season with travel re-bounding in full swing. We arrived to L’Arc de Triomphe, where it was full of visitors taking photographs.

L’Arc de Triomphe is situated in the middle of the world’s largest traffic circle. L’Arc de Triomphe was built in 1806 by Napoleon to commemorate his victories. It remained unfinished when he started loosing battles and was eventually completed in 1836.

L’Arc de Triomphe also has the tomb of the unknown solder, which has laid on this spot since 1920. It has an eternal flame that is rekindled every evening around 6:30 PM.

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The Trocadero of Paris:

From L’Arc de Triomphe, we walked through Pari’s neighbourhoods over to the Trocadero of Paris. There were charming stores and shops on the way over to the Trocadero; there isn’t anywhere in the world that offers stores and local shopping quite like this.

The Palais de Challot was built for the world exposition in 1937. The terrace holds a magnificent view of the Eiffel Tower along with the Trocadero gardens below.

Having never been to the Trocadero Gardens, it was a really impressive place to take in the views of the Eiffel Tower. The sloping water feature towards the Eiffel Tower made for memorable views.

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Walking Back to the Place de la Concorde:

From the Eiffel Tower, we took a long slow walk back towards the Place de la Concorde. We were treated to views of the Eiffel Tower peeking out through the buildings around the neighbourhood south of the Seine river.

We came across le Pont d’Alma; perhaps most famous for the location where Princess Diana was tragically killed in a car crash in 1997. It was amazing that some twenty five years later, a memorial was continuing at this site in honour of Princess Diana’s memory.

We enjoyed great views on the walk back along the Seine River to the Place de la Concorde.

The views of Paris’ bridges were also enlightening under the fall sunset of the day.

We made it back to The Westin Paris – Vendôme and eventually set out to the nearbyThe Cafe de la Paix for a bistro style dinner.

My Thoughts on Visiting Paris:

The city of Paris, France is a wonderful city full of engaging sights. It has been a while since I had walked the streets of Paris, France. I had forgotten how much I had missed it.

If you have visited Paris, France, what sights do you take in on your visit to the city ?

Tags: Walking Tour

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A Dream or a Headache? Review: Renting a Tesla Electric Vehicle from Hertz.

Renting a Vehicle from Hertz:

Picking up a Tesla:

Driving a Tesla:

Tesla Supercharging Charging Stop #1

Forty Three Minutes and $10.86 USD

Inconvenience Factor: 8 out of 10 (ten being highest)

Tesla Supercharging Charging Stop #2

One Hour and Twenty Minutes and $27.45 USD

Inconvenience Factor: 10 out of 10 (ten being highest)

Charges on the Hertz Bill:

Cost Benefit Analysis:

My Thoughts on Renting a Tesla with Hertz:

If you have rented an EV with Hertz, did you find it a “Dream” or a “Headache” ?

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Review: Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class, Boeing 757-200, Reykjavík (Keflavik) – Seattle Tacoma International Airport

The Lounge: The Icelandair Saga Lounge

Boarding Icelandair Saga Business Class:

Icelandair

FI 681 – Saga Business Class (A)

KEF-SEA (Reykjavik Keflavik International Airport – SeaTac International Airport)

October 25, 2022

5:05 PM – 5:50 PM (scheduled)

Booked: Boeing 767-200

Flown: Boeing 757-200

On board Icelandair Saga Business Class:

Pre-Departure Services:

The Amenity Kits: Hanns Dottir Branded

Departing Keflavik International Airport:

In Flight Entertainment:

In Flight Wifi Internet:

Food and Beverage:

The Meal: A Full Dinner

The Second Service: A Light Snack

Arriving into Seattle Tacoma International Airport:

The Bottom Line: Icelandair Saga Class

If you’ve flown Icelandair Saga Business Class, did the lounger recliner seating detract from your experience ?

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Review: Icelandair Saga Premium Business Class Boeing 737-8 Max, Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2B – Reykjavík (Keflavik International Airport)

Boarding Icelandair at Paris:

Icelandair

FI 545 – Saga Business Class (A)

CDG-KEF (Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2D – Reykjavik Keflavik International Airport)

October 25, 2022

2:10 PM – 3:30 PM (scheduled)

Booked: Boeing 737 8 Max

Flown: Boeing 737 8 Max

On Board Icelandair Saga Class:

Pre Departure Services:

Departing Paris Charles de Gaulle:

In Flight Entertainment System:

The Meal: A Breakfast

Arriving to Reykjavik (Keflavik):

My Thoughts on Icelandair Saga Business Class:

Have you flown the new Icelandair Boeing 737 – 8 Max product?

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Review: Salon Extime Business Lounge – Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle International Airport – Terminal 2B/2D, France

Checking into Icelandair Business Class:

Locating the Salon Extime Lounge:

Accessing the Lounge:

Agean

Austrian Airlines

Croatia Airlines

Eurowings

Icelandair

ITA Airways

LOT Airways

Lufthansa Airways

Royal Air Maroc

Swissair

Air Baltic

Inside the Salon Extime Lounge Paris Terminal 2B/2D:

Food and Beverage:

My Thoughts on the Salon Extime Lounge Paris:

If you’ve visited the Extime Lounge Paris, did you enjoy some french champagne?

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Westjet (again) Offering Status Match and Challenge to Westjet Rewards Silver, Gold and Platinum for Air Canada and Porter Elites.

The Essentials of the Promotion:

Status Match to Westjet Silver / Gold / Platinum for rest of 2023:

Status Challenge for Rest of 2023 with a lowered minimum spend: