Continental Across the Country

Went to Philly and back last week on Continental.  The planes were either all 737-800 or -900.  Three out of the four flights had in seat power in economy class, and that was nice, especially since I wanted to work on the laptop across the country.  Each row had two power ports, so if all three guys wanted to play on the laptop, you’d have to share, but that's a step above most other US domestic airlines.  

 Continental had stopped meal service and replaced it was purchase snacks, no surprise there, obviously that’s the first thing United would’ve done to cut cost and try to bring in the ancillary revenue.  But that’s not much of a disappointment, the food wasn’t that great to start with, although it was still a perk compared to all the other legacy airliners.

The overall service was decent.  The Continental planes, at least the newer versions had DirecTV as a part of their AVOD in Economy for $6 each.  An obvious perk if you’re traveling with kids.  Not a bad way to pass the time if you were bored and had nothing better to do.  The flights were all pretty smooth and I always did like the Continental hub at Houston, fairly well laid out, and decent enough restaurants, at least for airports.   

Best seats in economy are either the exit rows or the bulk head seats, now, the bulk heads are considered premium and you’d have to pay extra unless you’re an Elite member, guess flying all of those times does have its perks.  The nice thing about Continental is that the aircraft are all still reasonably new, certainly newer that the United fleet.  So, my recommendation is if you have to fly United, stick with the Continental routes, newer planes, and heck, the power alone made the extra hour or two in the air worth it.  So, overall, despite the fact that Continental is now a part of United, I would still recommend it any day.  In fact, if you're a United frequent flier like I am, you should jump at the chance to take the Continental flights since you still get all the perks of a United Mileage Plus member.

Continental Express

I took a Continental Express flight from Grand Rapids to Philly last week.  Rode on the Embraer, and one of the first thing I noticed was this.  

Granted, it's a feeder airline, but apparently, in some parts of Continental, it's already United time.  There were still a few planes in Cleveland that were marked Continental Express, but the change has begun, and you could tell with the service too.

But it was really a tale of two flights.  On the first leg of the flight, the stewardess attempted to be funny, but just plain fell flat, and her attitude was really horrible.  I mean quite literally, the woman was trying to make jokes, and when the passenger attempted to make a cute little remark, this woman audibly responded whatever.  

The second flight though couldn't be more different, still an Embraer, the flight attendant was an old guy, cracked jokes like he was flying for Southwest.  Responded well to passengers comments, very friendly fella by the name of Vincent, flying from Cleveland to Philly.  Offered up great service, and made it a generally more enjoyable flight.  I didn't pay attention, but I wouldn't be surprised if the logo on that one was still marked Continental Express. 

Finally, one interesting picture as we were banking over the field over Grand Rapids, it was really cold.  I think the blue amplifies this very nicely.

Seating Configurations

The seating configuration in economy class is one of the more important indicator of how the airlines view their customers.  I’ve been on most types of Boeing as well as Airbus products and seen economy class configuration ranging from 3-3 on the typical transcontinental aircrafts, to 2-3-2, 2-4-2, 2-5-2, 3-3-3, and 3-4-3 on intercontinental aircrafts.  The variations typically go from the 767, A340, 777, and 747 (A380, which I haven’t flown on as yet).

Take for example, the 777, I think it is the easiest way for flyers to figure out what the airline thinks of its economy class passenger (relative to against each other)  From what I know, there are essentially three economy seating configurations in the 777.  The 2-5-2 configuration is operated by United and has been for a long time, and it’s a good deal if you get either of the side rows.  On most other airlines, the 3-3-3 configuration dominates, and it’s reasonable, no one is unduly annoyed, and the space is reasonable. 

Then there is the dreaded 3-4-3 configuration.  The 3-4-3 is actually a configuration typically used for ultra larger aircrafts like the 747 and the A380.  Now, a quick comparison, the cabin width of the 777 is 19.3 ft, on the 747, it is 20 ft, on the A380, it is 21.6 ft.  Now, you might saw, it’s only an 8 inch difference on the cabin width, what’s the big deal?  Well, think about it this well, when you have 9-abreast seating vs 10 abreast seating, the typical seat width is about 17 inches.  So, to fit in a 3-4-3 configuration, two things could happen, either the seat width is reduced, or the isle width is reduced.  Both options are terrible for the passengers, if the width is reduced, the passenger is squished, if the isle width is reduced, then the aisle passengers probably gets bumped all the time by the beverage cars coming down the aisle.  Either way it’s a poor trade off.

The bottom line, if you’re a casual traveler who flies only once in a while, before you buy your ticket, it doesn’t hurt to check a site like Seatguru or SeatExpert.  A couple of minutes on figuring out what kind of aircraft and the seating configuration can make a big difference if you’re going to be in the same seat with 300 other passengers for 10 hours or longer. 

Whole Body Imaging

Ok, I'm going to vent against the morons who decided to put in the whole body imagers into airports.  As everyone knows, the whole body imager is a reaction to the failed Christmas day bombing attempt against a Northwest (Delta) flight coming in from Amsterdam.  Most people are complaining about this because of the privacy concerns.  Honestly though, I can understand that the TSA is trying to protect the public.  What really concerns me is the fact that as a frequent traveler I might be forced to go through these ridiculous imaging systems and have an additional health risk involved just by traveling.

There are two types of imagers, one is a millimeter wave type scanner, and the other is based on backscatter X-rays.  In both cases, these use ionization radiation to basically do a strip search of you to make sure you aren't carrying on any dangerous items.  I know that the governments who employ these are saying they're safe, but I'm sure the guys who are making the decisions aren't getting X-rayed every time they go flying.  And I for one don't like the thought of having more radiation on me than I'm already subjected to when I fly normally or go through a doctor's office. 

The only practical solution for me is to make sure I get into the metal detector line if possible.  I will definitely opt out of the scanner if I am stuck in one of those lines.  Invasive procedure of not, I'd take my chances with a TSA personnel rather than having to go through these scanners.  I figure both are about the same in terms of really ensuring my immediate safety while flying.

Finally, as a father, I will not ever have my child be subjected to these types of imaging systems.    If she goes flying, I will make sure that she is never stuck having to go through one of these machines.  There is a definite difference between a loss of dignity versus a the potential risk for cancer later on in life.   For a traveler like me at least, the choice is clear.

America's Ryan Air

Ok, I'm being rather unfair to start with for two reasons.  One, I've never flown Ryan air, so in spite of all the horror stories I've heard, they could really be decent.  Two, Southwest (which Ryan Air is supposedly modeled on) is a pretty good airline in my opinion, in terms of service and value, they are certainly better in terms of service compared to some of the legacy airlines.  

This time it was a trip to San Diego to attend Neuroscience, so a quick flight from San Jose to San Diego.  A quick aside, it's been a little while since I've flown through San Jose, the new airport is actually quite nice.  The renovations make it seem like a real international airport, even though the only international flights come from Mexico.  But the new concourse is spacious, and it generally has a good feel compared to the old terminal.  Alas, the nice new terminal is offset by the horrible introduction of whole body imager by the TSA.  But that's a rant for another blog.  

Onto Southwest, the standard find your own seat feature actually works quite well, it probably sucks if you're stuck boarding last and then get a middle seat in the back for your troubles.  But the way I look at it, you could just as easily get assigned the middle seat in the last row if you're with a legacy airline, at least this way, it's relatively fair, as long as you check in early enough online.  For blessedly short flights like the one to San Diego, I'm happy to fly the 737.  I think this one was a -500 version, although to be honest, I'm not sure.  

We have the standard seating and there was nothing extraordinary either good or bad about the trip.  The flight was truly uneventful, a little bumpy.   I did notice that the flight attendant was very service oriented, even went through the trouble of finishing serving the drinks she had on hand, incredibly dangerous I thought given that a bad bump could seriously injure someone.  But I liked the devotion to duty. 

Now, I did have one hiccup in my trip.  Originally I planned to leave at 7:00 pm from San Diego back to San Jose, but unfortunately, business ran a little long so I had to change my flight the night before to 8:30 pm.  Called up Southwest, and no big deal, they changed the flight for me on the phone.  Then the next day I showed up, and got back home with no problems. Ok, I did have a business select ticket on the return flight, but you get what you pay for, and the trip to San Diego was a mere $60, so the direct flight was definitely cheaper than the only other option which was United.

I know what a lot of people say about Southwest as an airline for cattle, but with the service they provided. I'd be happy to fly them again any day in short regional hops.  Definitely a thumbs up on Southwest for good service and a very uneventful flight.

Always Compare Before You Buy

As a business traveler, I tend to not worry too much about pricing, I typically go to Orbitz figuring that it's the lowest fare.  But it's not always the case.  I recently purchased a flight to Philly and back on Orbitz.  I just did a quick comparison tonight on prices, and what a difference it was:

 

Off Orbitz site: $313

Off the Continental site: $314

Off the United site:  the site of the newly merged United and Continental... drum rolll...  A Whooping $702.

My reaction was what the hell?  United is nearly $400 more expensive on the same night, and this is the same airline, hell the same flight.  Talk about a rip off.  

I'm sure United will have some justifications about  why the pricing is set up this way, but this is just another example of how ridiculous United can get. I hope the rest of the merger  and the integration of operation is a little smoother than this, but then this is probably just United's way of maximizing revenue.

Anyway, it just goes to show it's always a good idea  to compare sites before you buy that ticket.  Especially true for non-business travelers.

United Continental

I'm a United frequent flyer, and I have to say, I'm usually not too critical of the United product even though they give me plenty of reason to complain, for example: getting rid of free alcohol on international flights. How lame is that, it's international, and the booze aren't even that good, but hey, I guess it's business and I can understand it. 

So, when the Continental deal got announced this year, I was both apprehensive and hopeful.  I flew Continental a few times, especially after they joined Star Alliance, and their service was definitely superior  It was friendly, and heck, their 737-900s even had power in economy class.  My greatest hope is that through this merger, the Continental standards will remain, and make the new United a better airline.  But  I'm apprehensive that with the drive for profitability, we'll end up with the same crappy United service on the old Continental routes.   Thanks again for nothing, Ryanair.  (yes, all the problems of the airline industry in my opinion can be traced to Ryan, thanks for nothing, you frigging lepurchauns)

Anyway, a recent example of the service I received.  I'm a United Premiere Executive, and I just recently hit my 50K mile again, usually they're pretty fast about getting the new gold card out to you once you reach the milestone.  But this time it took a while.  Since I had just booked a Continental flight, I decided to call up the United reservations and had them set me up with seats on the Continental flight, and also check on where my new card was.  

Not only could the new United suggested I call Continental, but when I asked about my card, the person in customer service told me the company no longer issued frequent flyer mileage cards.  My initial reaction was what the hell?  How cheap can United get.   But obviously it was a mistake, I called back today and was assured my new card was on the way.  The whole scary part is that as an Premiere Exec I still have to put up with this poor service, and people who don't know their own system.  How frustrating. 

Contrast this to Continental's customer service line, they were really efficient and got me all the seats I wanted on my upcoming flight.  Truly, United could take a few lessons. Until the airline complete their merger and integration, I know one thing for sure, I will always fly the Continental side of the new United whenever I can and use their customer service.  At least that way, if their service goes into the toilet, it'll take some time.

Swiss Air Return Flight Addendum

I came back to San Francisco from Zurich recently on Swiss Air, and had several observations about the return flight.

 

For long haul flights that lasts at least 11 hours, three people in the cockpit is the norm for such long haul flights.  This particular A340 seem to have a retrofitted business class that looked very nice.  Unfortunately, for me, I was still stuck in economy, but a couple of additional perks offset the fact that I sat at the bulkhead right behind the business class.  These were the fact that Swiss Air also decided to add in ice cream on the return flight, it was this Movenpick brand vanilla ice cream that I hadn’t heard of before, but I’m not complaining.

Also, the belly and nose cameras were active, although being at the bulkhead, I couldn’t watch us take off or land, although flying over the Atlantic and the continental US meant that there really wasn’t that much to see.  At times like this, a service similar to Channel 9 on United would’ve been nice.  It’s interesting to note that the pilots tended to be trilingual as they gave information in English, German and French.  I can only imagine that the Swiss school system must be pretty good to enable this type of service.

Overall, the Swiss Air service was great, only if they allowed the bonus miles on United's Mileage programs, that would make this a perfect airline to fly on every time, even if it is economy.

The AVRO RJ 85/100

On my travels to Europe, I’ve seen this little plane with four engines on numerous occasions.  They are typically flown by Lufthansa or Swiss, this time I got to sit in one.  It was the AVRO RJ 85/100.  It had an interest 2-3 seating configuration, which made it possible for about 95 passengers.  The item that  most stands out on this type is the engines, they looked huge for a plane of this size when I was sitting next to it or when looking at it from the ground.  The fact that there were four of them, I wonder if that’s a case of German over engineering.

The seats were standard, although the overhead bins were smaller than expected when compared to those on the Boeing 737 or the Airbus A320 series.   One complaint I had about this plane was the air circulation system, on take off or landing, there was a funny whiny noise on my plane, I don’t know if this is typical of the class, but it sure was annoying.  Surprisingly, plane had a range of 3000 km, which made it on par with the A319 and just about 600 km less than the A320.  There were definitely fewer seats in comparison though, and it seems to be taking routes very similar to those handled by the A319.  Definitely a short haul, the trip from Hannover to Zurich lasted just over 90 minutes. 

Service wise, there was nothing outstanding on such a short haul flight, but, the milk chocolate that Swiss Air gives continues to win them little props, now if they were only dark chocolate. Ah, but one can only hope.

Long Haul on Swiss Air

I've flown Swiss Air before within continental Europe, but recently I took my first intercontinental flight with Swiss Airlines from San Francisco to Zurich.  It was a fairly standard experience, but learned a few interesting things about Swiss Air and their particular configuration of the A340.

Swiss Air started up the SF/Zurich route only recently, and to inaugurate the route, they had at least one of their planes painted up to resemble... well, to resemble something that you might see if you were really high.  It's a poster child of the counter revolution I suppose, whatever that means.  

 

I unfortunately did not fly on this graffiti in the sky and instead had a more sedated version with  the normal boring Swiss Air paint scheme.  I wonder how Lufthansa (owner of Swiss Air) ever let something like this paint scheme slip in.  The marketing department and the paint police must not have been paying attention when this scheme was proposed.  I wonder if they had any special add ins for this particular plane's in flight service.

Anyway, onto the flight itself.  For those who haven't flown on an A340 before, it has a 2-4-2 seating configuration.  In terms of seating, I was in a middle seat in economy, 26E to be exact.  Part of the reason I sat there was that there were no aisle or windows left.  But I had the foresight to check out the seating arrangement on seatguru.com, and found a few interesting tidbits.  

First, rows 24 through 27 are supposed to have a bit of an extra leg room compared to the seating in the back section.

Second, and more importantly, it was best to avoid A, D, G, K due to the presence of the in flight entertainment box.  This is important because that was  one big box and tremendously limited the amount of leg room available for anyone who wanted to stretch out.  So, if you're tall, or like me just want to be able to stretch your legs.  It's a decent idea to pick some other seats.  

The seat is pretty comfortable.  It had a very nice recline, it did have an older look and feel to it, but for someone who wants to take a nap, it was relatively comfortable.  I'm not saying anywhere near lie flat comfortable, but for economy class, it was certainly passable.

The in-flight system is AVOD (Audio Video On Demand) and is quite on par with some of the Asian airlines, and has all the nice options including a few Asian movies which I found entertaining.   The screen is 8 inch diagonal, which makes watching movies possible.  Nothing exciting for guys who fly Asian or certain European airlines regularly.  But compared to those on United flights or even the Lufthansa 747, this is a huge upgrade.  The one feature they have which would have been exciting if it worked was the nose camera and belly camera which would've shown the world outside.  I couldn't get it to work, what a pity.

The A340 doesn't have individual air flow control, which is a it annoying, but the cabin environment was pretty nice to start with, so not a big deal.

The economy class food was... well economy class, I had the vegetarian pasta.  That was ok, the brownie was a bit too sweet, but I didn't expect a toasted chocolate chip cookie in economy.  The wine was free, an upgrade from United, which no longer offers free alcohol on international flights in economy class.   My initial reaction was what the hell?  But that just goes to show you how much influence O'Leary has had on the airline industry, ancillary revenue... bah.  I suppose I should be happy United isn't charging a Euro a piece for the toilets yet.  One complaint about the orange juice, it was frozen, I mean literally there was a ton of ice in it.  I wish they at least defrosted the stuff.  But the milk chocolate was a nice touch.

Finally, being a mileage junkie, I jumped on the United mileage plus site, and sure enough I had additional Elite Qualifying miles as expected.  The downside however is that for some reason United doesn't like to give the bonus miles with Swiss, which is odd given that Swiss is owned by Lufthansa, and flying on Lufthansa gets you the bonus mileage.  How absolutely disappointing.  But oh well, that's an area of improvement I suppose.

Overall, I would rate the economy class on Swiss a solid B. 

Business Traveling 101

A background about myself.  

I live in the SF Bay area.  I've been flying for business since 2002, I used to be in sales and flew a lot within the US.  But then I became a product manager and now fly less frequently, but now I fly to international locations a bit more.  When I first started, I didn't cared which airline I flew on, I used Southwest, United, American, Delta, you name it, whatever was convenient.  Obviously, I was green and didn't know the advantage of trying to stay within a network. 

It took me a couple off years to finally get the idea that if I flew within one alliance network a lot, I'd accumulate miles and free travel a lot faster.  Yes, I became a mileage junkie, and over time, I became a Star Alliance mileage junkie.  My airline of choice:  United. 

Why United?  Well, United had a big hub in San Francisco, and flew to a lot of destinations from San Jose, or at least it did until the last few years. They also had pretty good access to the rest of the world through Star Alliance.  Finally, when I started to choose United specifically, they had started up their Economy Plus service.  A definite plus.  

I also enjoyed flying quite a bit, since I'm also a bit of an airplane enthusiast.  After a few years of business travel, I thought to myself why not share some of my experiences, and may be help some other travelers like myself take advantage of an increasingly complex airline industry.  So, with that, I'm off...