Change Forum
(April/May 2011) IAD - ORY - round trip. Wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the flights late April, returning early May. We were attracted by what we considered very good value for business class flights and were very pleased with the treatment on both legs. Meals, drinks and crews were all very good. The flight attendants were very pleasant and attentive. Both flights departed and arrived on time. The lounges at both IAD and ORY were fine. At ORY the security and customs is the "speed" line and went smoothly. We flew Easy Jet, R/T, ORY to Pisa and were pleased with that experience, as well. Frankly, connecting from ORY to other destinations in Europe is really good. It doesn't seem as congested as CDG and the London airports, but it was my first experience, there, so maybe we just lucked out.
The only negative on the trip was not the airlines' fault, but the arrangement (or, lack thereof) at IAD for clearing customs and security when returning international, trying to connect at IAD. After you clear customs, you had to go through security again -- we came very close to missing our flight back to Florida. It seems as though they could have a way to avoid going through security, again, if you are connecting and not leaving the gate area.
Thumbs up for Open Skies.
Open Skies airline
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That's not unique to IAD. All countries require you to clear security again if taking a domestic flight. Some (maybe all) also require it for connecting to an international flight. Every intl gateway in the US thus complies with that requirement.
Thanks great report
Used to fly the now bankrupt MaxJet
(dirt cheap why they went bankrupt)
out of IAD a lot the transition to customs
with the elevator crates they truly suck
used to delay me all the time...
not the airlines IADs fault for antiquated technology.
2 thumbs up for ATL for seamless transition...
Have never mised usually clear in less than 30 minutes
there.
We always have to clear security again when reconnecting from an iternational flight.
My husband and I flew Open Skies from Newark to Paris in late May and early June 2011. We loved the flight and agree with zzzot2 that the service was great. Our flight to Paris was about 40% empty and our flight home was at least 30% empty so I worry about their profitability.
Other posters have warned about steep penalties for changes in your itinerary and we ran into that. I got sick in Paris and we had to fly home. They wanted $1,400 euros (almost $2,000) as a penalty and another 800 euros ($1,100) for the fare differential between what I paid months earlier and the current fare.
We were able to avoid the $2,000 penalty by having a doctor's invoice emailed to their central office. They cannot accept any medical or other excuse in person at check-in. The paperwork must be done in advance by email. Fortunately, our hotel was able to scan the doctor's invoice and email it to Open Skies saving us a lot of money.
Making the change at the counter took about 45 minutes and we were fortunate that a supervisor handled it. Leave extra time for check-in if you will be making a change. The lounges have free wifi and they let us use their telephone for free to cancel hotel bookings. Everyone was very nice overall.