{"id":14991,"date":"2010-08-06T02:10:58","date_gmt":"2010-08-06T10:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/?p=14991"},"modified":"2010-08-06T13:17:10","modified_gmt":"2010-08-06T21:17:10","slug":"open-skies-review-how-i-lost-1600","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/living\/travel\/open-skies-review-how-i-lost-1600","title":{"rendered":"Open Skies Review: When Nobody Knows Your Airline’s Name (How I Lost $1600 and Was Almost Stranded)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ever heard of OpenSkies? They’re the all business class airline formerly known as L’Avion, renamed after being acquired by British Airways. For a little more than the cost of an economy ticket – or sometimes a little less, depending on when you book, OpenSkies<\/strong> offers travelers between New York or Washington, DC and Paris an all business class flight. When you spot a fare on OpenSkies<\/strong> that’s the same as the cost of an economy seat on a major airline, it’s certainly tempting. Throw in the 3 free checked bags you get (compared to the paltry one that’s allowed on most international flights now), and for those who just can’t seem to get everything a trip out of the country requires into one bag, it seems like a no-brainer.<\/p>\n At 6’1″, most flights consist of twisting my legs into uncomfortable, slanted positions so that I don’t end up with the seatback bar digging into my knees and a tray table in my chest. The allure of legroom would have been enough, but combined with the fact that the fare was $40 less than the lowest, non-stop economy fare at the time, I decided to forgo more miles on my normal carrier (hello, Continental!) for an airline I hadn’t heard much about before.<\/p>\n Now, I’m rethinking that.<\/p>\n