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.