I am going to Paris for just one important meeting. I debate spending only 24 hours there and then, considering that Delhi airport is often fogged out and that flight schedules are frequently disrupted, I decide that 48 hours in Paris may be safer. Then begin all the problems that foreign travel always involves these days. Paris hotels are ridiculously expensive. My trip coincides with Paris Couture Week so the rates are even more ridiculous than usual.
But there are advantages to being a regular guest. The Westin Paris, a lovely old hotel with a great location next to Le Meurice offers me what is β by Paris standards β a great deal. Naturally, I grab it. Then, the Air India flight that I normally take has now ceased to be a daily service so there is no departure on the day I am leaving.
I would rather slash my wrists than fly Air France so I consider changing planes in Dubai when I realise that there is now a Vistara option. The older I get, the less patience I have with airports which are usually especially in the West so sloppily run that even if you have had a good flight, the arrival experience makes you wish you had never come. Some airlines Air India, for instance are sensitive to this problem and try to make the arrival experience more bearable for frequent fliers, regulars, Maharaja Club members etc.
Vistara, on the other hand, has the worst ground handling worldwide of any major Indian airline. Crap on the ground! Expecting nothing from Vistara a prediction borne out by subsequent experience , I try and find out which agency Air India uses at Paris Airport.
It turns out to be something called France Meltin Airport and Transportation. For a euro per head if you are a couple , they will get someone to receive you and escort you through the airport. Anyone can book this service. You can mail them at meltin meltin. And I can see why. It is money well spent. It takes minutes to get through immigration and customs. Gwendal joined Michelin after he finished business school and though he has no background in hospitality, he has taken the venerable old restaurant guide and transformed it.
