I apologize for this third post of the same info, but Ngaire asked that I post it here due to the relevancy of the fly in/out port stops, so please forgive the redundancy!! You are so lucky to visit these wonderful cities.

I know some of you are flying into Paris next year and with the price of airfare going up, I wanted to share my experience with this airline. L'Avion is a discount business class airline that flies between NY and Paris or Amsterdam. It recently merged with Open Skies and is now owned by British Air. I flew round trip to Paris on it over the XMAS holidays for $1450 and would like to offer a brief review.

I just spent Dec 19-22 in Paris and can't say enough nice things about the city. The people,food and sight were wonderful. My daughter went out with me on L'Avion to Paris and is coming back Open Skies through Amsterdam and staying at the Banks Mansion Hotel there. I will get her review of the hotel and the airline out of Amsterdam and post it at a later date.

L'Avion is a step down from business class air like Lufthansa or Continental but a step up from BA's World Class Plus. The plusses are: A very nice lounge with excellent food in Newark (next to BA or Virgin...the best food I have ever had in a lounge), easy and courteous check in both in Newark and Orly, only 90 passengers so no lines, good leg room, comfortable wide seats, tasty food..but not the extravagance of normal biz class, good service, very fast delivery of baggage, closeness of Orly to Paris, good pricing, you wait in the lounge and are escorted to the plane as a group with the gate next to the lounge. Negatives are : there is a hefty change fee of $450 once ticketed if you get the best rate, the seats are the old fashioned business class seats-no flat bed or even inclined seats, if you have the inside seat you have a tough time getting out when the seat in front of you is fully reclined and you bother your seatmate, mediocre entertainment system, food is just a step above economy though very tasty and two courses with wine served, you cannot check in until 3 hours before flight. Would I take it again? Yes, in a heart beat. It was very civilized.

Since I am posting here...I would also like to recommend Hotel D'Aubusson in Paris in the Saint Germaine area. It has special XMAS specials and is a lovely hotel and is so well located. It isn't too expensive for what it offers. I had a three night package for $310 which included breakfast each day, tickets to the D'Orsay or the Louvre, a river cruise and a tea. It was one block from the Pont Neuf. The service was lovely. There was a live jazz band Wed thru Sun. The 5 night package included transportation from the airport or train station. The more charming rooms were the $360 per night deluxe rooms which had canopy beds and 10 foot beamed ceilings. It was walking distance to just about everything and very central to the XMAS markets, restaurants and museums.