Come fly with me and I'll give you what you need. (Continental Airlines)

Member Name: wildmink

Product:	Continental Airlines
Date:	12/03/04 (4287 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Efficient, Professional, Loads of space

Disadvantages: A smile wouldn't hurt, Bias towards first class

Flight CO21Y from Manchester to New York (EWR) Newark Liberty Airport. 7hrs

Having read previous reviews of Continental I decided to take a cautious approach to travelling with them and as with any flight prepared myself with a litre of water, a host of good books (Pratchett mostly) and a sense of humour.

Background
Continental is an international carrier based in Houston ?oil country? Texas with it?s secondary airport being Newark, New York. They have global alliances with many other airlines and have all sorts of useful info on their website at www.continental.com where you can book your tickets as well as check flight status and confirm your booking.

My experience
With the booking made through lastminute.com and being issued e-tickets we confirmed as soon as possible by phone and the lady at the end of the phone couldn?t be more helpful even suggesting she reserve the seats there and then despite being a month in advance so we booked window seats all the way. She also informed us of our baggage allowance and sizes and weights of carry on luggage (length + width + height should be equal or less than 51? for carry ons and two suitcases carrying between them 32kg for the hold). This surprised me but maybe I?ve got used to travelling charter where I?ve combined my luggage with my boyfriends just to try and get my things on the plane as there was an allowance between of us of 20/25kgs on JMC. A word of advice to men ? never come between a woman and her shoes ? she needs them all and will wear them all to prove the point if you raise the point.

So all happy as lastminute.com came through and we have booked seats and a substantially larger luggage allowance so I can take even more clothes with me that I?m not going to wear.

The day of the departure arrived with our flight leaving at 10am we aimed to get to the airport for 7.30 and lucky we did that. To my surprise despite us being ?early? and there being four desks op
en for economy the end of the queue was nearly out of the terminal. Having joined the rear of the queue we were quickly informed by the staff that the computers were down so allocation of seats was off one piece of paper. Check in took ages but eventually we got through and they managed to give us window seats.

The flight itself:
Definitely there is a preference given to first class but then again they are paying twice the price as the mere mortals. We were flying on a newly refurbished 737-700 with a Newark based crew. When we got to our seats I was feeling guilty as I was sure that my case/hand luggage (that really needed wheels) was huge and I was convinced it wouldn?t fit in the bins over the seats. But after being asked by the steward to put it up twice and me saying that there was other stuff blocking me putting it up he opened the bin and turned the case in there so that mine could go up. In fact you could have fitted 4 or 5 of mine in it.

As with all flights there?s the safety spiel and this was done over the inflight entertainment system which as far as I?m concerned is pretty swish. Basically the screen is in the back of the headrest of the seat in front of you and pivots to improve your viewing of it. In the left arm rest there is a removable remote similar in looks to a PS remote which enables you to change between games, video channels, and radio. There are 12 radio stations with a wide range of choice, I think 10 video channels with 1 or two films shown and other channels. I was glued to the CSI one which had three episodes. If you miss a program the loop starts again at the end of itself. Films on the way out included School of Rock but I didn?t watch that because my boyfriends remote had a faulty volume up button so we swapped seats as I was happy to play Hangman (remember American spellings) and games similar to PacMan. Oh don?t forget the adjustable headrests which they are ever so proud of ? it even gets a mention in the safe
ty spiel.

Almost as soon as we?d taken off drinks were served and once the crew had got back to the front of the plane the food was served up with another round of drinks straight after. The food (a choice of beef or chicken) was actually quite nice but not large portions however it was satisfying. Twice through the flight drinks were served again before we were served with hot chicken and cheese rolls and more drinks followed. The amount of drinks we were served I?m surprised they weren?t trying to drown us but I do remember the importance of keeping you fluids up while flying and after so many bad reviews they seem to have taken note as well. Note to the alcoholics - all drinks aside from alcohol are free with alcohol atrting at $5 each so not cheap.

On board comfort was good with blankets and pillows provided as well as blindfolds and earplugs. Headphones were provided free and they reminded you that on other shorter flights they wouldn?t be but charged at $5. The seats were spaced well with the seat being the right length for my thigh but probably and extra 5? legroom for the taller person. I?m not sure if I?m clautrophobic or have a fear of toilets (just don?t look down) but found the facilities clean, well stocked and as toliets go quite spacious.

The service was constant and professional but not much of a smile but they did leave you alone and that was what I wanted. I never needed any assistance and so couldn?t comment.

As for the flight back it was similar if not the same except the crew were friendlier so I guess it depends which crew you get. They also had the decency to dim the lights to try and encourage sleep. The meal on take off was Beef or chicken lasagne and I couldn?t say what the breakfast was like cos some berk thought I needed the sleep. Not a happy bunny and I was starved when we flew into Manchester. If you want to know about how we checked in at Newark that will have to be a totally different review so kee
p yours eyes open for it.

Why Continental?
We chose continental because we were flying to Trinidad and they along with American Airlines were the only carriers that went from Manchester to Trinidad via a stop somewhere in America (we wanted the opportunity to stretch our legs rather than sit on a flight for 10hrs +). I figured that if we did use the one company then if there was a delay it would be easier to argue with one company (as the booking was at the time that there were delayed flights to America) rather than two and continental was the cheaper.

Would I use them again?
They provided the service I needed and whilst being professional but not smiley smiley Carole smiley I didn?t need that. I would say that they were satisfactory to good. But you would think that with us flying out on Valentine?s Day and coming back on 29th Feb they?d have some sort of gimmick *sulk*.

Price below relates to trip from Manchester to Newark to Trinidad to Newark to Manchester so will be high.

Summary: