By: Dave Grossman, HotelMagician.com
[ Also see July 28th, 2008 post: OpenSkies launches JFK-Amsterdam service and 15% off NYC-Paris ]
Whether you are in “Biz”, “Prem+”, or “Economy” service, OpenSkies, a new airline wholly owned by UK-based British Airways, will aim to please. And it’s likely to succeed.
I was graciously invited to attend the inaugural celebration of the very first OpenSkies flight landing in New York’s JFK airport from Orly (ORY) airport in Paris, France.
Now keep in mind that the following review is based on touring the plane (there’s only one for now, so it *is* the plane you’d be on) and meeting with the crew and executives of the airline – and not based on an actual flight. Still, I feel fairly confident in my perception of the overall experience.
To start, customers on OpenSkies have a concierge they can rely on for things related to their trip. Arriving in Paris and afraid to try and arrange a taxi because you don’t speak French? The concierge can help. Nice touch.
Operating a Boeing 757, OpenSkies sells 3 classes of service:
Biz: A business class service with 24 seats, 73 inches of legroom and FULLY lie flat 
seats. As far as I know, nobody else has 100% lie flat seats NYC-Paris. A test drive of the lie flat indicated that someone up to a touch ove
r 6 feet would be able to lie completely flat while taller than that may need to bend at the knees a touch. The seats are *very* roomy and are configured in sets of 2 facing each other. My initial reaction was that it would be odd to be facing a traveling companion, but I don’t think it really would be. In fact, it’s easier to talk this way. And if your seatmate isn’t someone you wish to speak to, there is a black pull-out privacy shield that can be used to give you almost total privacy. Nice. In my opinion, this Biz product is really a First Class. And a good one on par with international carriers.
Prem+ : This cabin has 28 seats with 52-inch pitch. In short, picture the best US Transcontinental seats and then make it more comfortable and roomy, and that is Prem+. It is like what you’d 
expect in Business Class on most airlines although the 52 inch pitch is not even close to lie-flat, so you won’t be sleeping on your side here. Since you can mix and match cabins when purchasing a ticket, I would recommend splurging on Biz on the overnight flight to Paris for the lie-flat bed and then Prem+ for the ride back since it’s less likely you will be sleeping then. It’s perfectly comfortable in all other respects for the long journey.
Economy: 
These are fairly standard economy seats, and they don’t recline very much. That said, I’d still choose these seats over the economy seats on any other carrier right now because: a) you still get the full in-flight entertainment system, which I’ll describe later, b) you still get a nice meal with a menu to choose from, and c) you have only 29 other customers in economy class competing for the attention of flight attendants. And with only 82 seats on the plane, boarding and disembarking will definitely be easier.
I spoke with several of the cabin crew members and they were all really excited about OpenSkies- and they are all friendly without exception. I can only assume they will be this way in flight and having flown with many a surly flight attendant on other airlines, it will make a notable difference. They love how small the cabins are so they can really give attentive service and feel that OpenSkies will really change air travel on their routes. It may well do so.
Frequent Flyer Program: OpenSkies participates in the British Airways Executive Club loyalty program for earning and (soon) redeeming miles. Tier points for BAEC members are earned as well.
Affiliation: OpenSkies is affiliated only with British Airways as far as loyalty programs. While BA is part of the oneworld airline alliance, OpenSkies is not and does not plan to be. They feel simpler is better here.
They do operate one codeshare with the all business class airline L’Avion (where L’Avion customers can ride OpenSkies metal into JFK) but unless you’re trying to book from Paris to JFK on L’Avion, you are unlikely to notice this exists.
In-flight Power: All seats, even economy!, have powerports capable of running US and Euro based plugs. No converters are needed. This is a HUGE plus for OpenSkies for those that would like to work (or watch DVDs) on their laptop for the full flying time.
In-Flight Entertainment:Each class of service gets a portable entertainment unit with approximately 50 hours of programming that can be accessed (stopped and started) at your leisure. Best of all, there will never be a plane-wide IFE outage as is common on the systems many legacy carriers use. There are mechanisms that extend out from the seat in BIZ and Prem+ (or attach to the seatback in Economy) as well as storage spaces should you wish to temporarily store the IFE unit while you snooze.
Meals: Hard to comment on this without flying, but you get an idea from the picture. 
All classes of service are said to have actual menus so you can pick what you want and know what is in the dish before the flight attendant asks. I know that I absolutely hate flying the airlines where I’m asked if I want the chicken or pasta without knowing what the ingredients are and then getting the “groan of death” when I ask (since they’ve been asked 50 times already). Nice one here, OpenSkies.
Pricing: Economy class pricing is in line with current fares on major carriers, BIZ is priced in the mid-$3Ks at press time, with Prem+ in between.
Why Orly in Paris instead of CDG?: Orly (ORY) is closer to the Paris city center and skips the chaos of CDG which serves a very high number of connecting flights and has far longer immigration queues.
In Summary: I look forward to trying their flights. Overall, it looks to be a very enjoyable setup and if the execution matches the framework, they should do very well. I would like to be able to credit the flight to an American based frequent-flier program (rather than BA) but that is a small gripe. Good luck to OpenSkies!
Special Offer: We have no affiliation with OpenSkies, yet I feel confident enough that the experience will be enjoyable that HotelMagician.com is going to offer the following introductory special…
Book any HotelMagician.com vacation package (that is flight+hotel bought from the “Vacation Packages” tab on HotelMagician.com) that includes a flight on OpenSkies between now and July 31st, 2008 and complete travel by Dec. 31, 2008 and get back a $100 check by mail. Vacation packages will book into Economy Class so you cannot participate in this offer if you want to fly Prem+ or BIZ.
When selecting your flights, make sure you use the city pairs JFK and ORY in your search, sort by airline, pick British Airways, and make sure the sort by airline field reads like this:
British Airways
Flight 700(x)
Operated by OpenSkies BA European Ltd
Just book before July 31st for travel ending no later than December 31st, 2008. Then, after you complete your travel, go to
Complete terms and the claim form are at http://hotelmagician.com/promotions/openskies_100_rebate_offer.html
-DG
More images from the inaugural landing at JFK below. Enjoy!
