Continental

[Clare R]

I'm looking forward to seeing if the planes in and out of Bristol have also been upgraded. I am travelling both in October and January and have had a few 'issues' over the timing of flight changes.

However last night I spoke to Continental chap sitting in Tampa airport to change our inward January flight to Orlando, the difference in price is 70p and 'how would I like to pay?'!! Gave him my husband's credit card details, no quibble, no security check, no speaking to him it was bliss.

[ncmurray]

We flew with Continental in August from Manchester, and it was probably the best flight we have ever had.

Seat back TVs, really friendly and helpful staff, good food, and we arrived 30 minutes early!

We also had to change two of our home bound flights by 24 hours, and we spoke to a girl in Tampa who couldn't have been more helpful. There was no charge to make the change, either.

I would definitely book with Continental again. The only possible downside is that you may not get seat back tvs, but it would appear that they have upgraded most of their aircraft as most people on this forum seem to have had them.

Nuala

[Mo Green]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Clare R
I'm looking forward to seeing if the planes in and out of Bristol have also been upgraded. I am travelling both in October and January and have had a few 'issues' over the timing of flight changes.

However last night I spoke to Continental chap sitting in Tampa airport to change our inward January flight to Orlando, the difference in price is 70p and 'how would I like to pay?'!! Gave him my husband's credit card details, no quibble, no security check, no speaking to him it was bliss.
[/quote]

Clare we flew Continental out of Bristol on the 9th September and had a new plane with seat back screens. Really enjoyed flying out of Bristol. Easy car parking and, mid-week, very very quiet.

Mo

[Southsider]

We had the old plane on the way over but sat is Seat 7 which is just by door as you enter the plane, so had our own screens........on the way back from Orlando our flight 4.00pm was delayed and so we had 10mins in Newark to make our connection, which we did (well out of breath) and we thought there was no way our suitcases would be on the flight too, but to our surprise they were![clap]

It is worth joining the onepass on Continental too, as the miles soon add up, I have now got Silver Elite status........nearly catching up with Ceri !!![msnsmile2]

[doaky]

Hi All, I flew with Continental from Edinburgh to Newark and then from Newark onto Orlando in 2004 and cleared customs in Newark which took a while and we almost missed our connecting flight as our boarding card didn't have the gate number on it (it wasn't allocated at time of check in at Edinburgh) so my hubbie was chasing around for someone to speak to to assist us).

We're going back to Florida in Feburary, however my mum and step dad who came with us last year have decided to do a Mexican Rivierra cruise instead. They will fly from Edinburgh to Newark and from Newark onto Los Angeles with a 1hr 10 min lay over in Newark. As they are oldies (mum 72), does anyone know whether they will have to clear customs in Newark and would this be sufficient time for them.

Maggi

[Clare R]

The direct answer to this question Maggi is NO. Continental's own timing on connecting flights at Newark is 75 minutes and this can just about be done if you are first off the plane/in immigration/first luggage off carousel and frankly your parents won't be that lucky!!

I have had my next two flights with Continental brought forward five minutes one week, ten minutes the next week that I have had to have alternative connecting flights.

Continental Airlines I find are not the easiest to deal with through Contact Us and in any case they will not alter flights through e-mail contact.

Telephone this number 0845 607 6760 you will probably end up speaking to someone in Tampa and they are then very helpful but do stress that 70 minutes will not be sufficient for your parents to clear Newark and ask them frankly what they are going to do about it. I find if you keep the conversation 'light' with a bit of British humo(u)r then they will generally pull out all the stops to help you.

If you want to DM me please feel free I have had quite a lot of contact with Continental over the past few years.

[Rhosyn]

We always fly Continental from Bristol seat back tv's on the way out but not on the way back. Nice if they all their flights out of Bristol had this. It does make the flight go quicker.

[CERICROWLEY]

We have flown with Continental now for probably just over 3 years since they started coming out of Bristol.

1. because the airport is so close to us over Gatwick.
2. Even if we fly from Gatwick at slightly cheaper tickets, the travelling costs make it about the same price.
3. Ok planes are smaller, but they are improving them all the time.
4. Air stewards have a fantastic attitude to you over some other airlines.
5. do I need to go on, I made a choice in May to go with cost of tickets and fly from Manchester direct to Orlando, never, ever again.

ok so you connect in New York, the travelling to London is just as made if not worse that waiting to connect in New York, You do have the change of missing your connection, would I prefer to be stuck in the USA waiting for next flight or stuck on the M25 and missing my flight.....

Frequent flyer programme has worked out a real treat over the virgin miles, Hiya Tricia welcome to the elite club. We have over 150,000 virgin miles we cannot use as everytime I want to book they are not available, but continental have real blackout dates, and the upgrades are worth doing as well.

I am going out Oct 24th bought an economy ticket,( very reasonably priced as well) but since travelling first class in August, I want to do it all the time..... So I have enough miles lets give it whirl.. 20,000 miles each way plus $450 each way. this way worked out a lot cheaper than actually purchasing the first class ticket. So again Continental get the thumbs up...

But also just to let a few of you know that do travel continental, we booked as well for Christmas and due to the fuel and economy problems, they have cut a couple of flights, We had notification by email that they have changed our December flight from a 2hour 30mins to 1hour 30mins so I call an explain that the time is too tight for a connecting international flight and he said he would change it but the next flight they have going to Orlando was 6 hours later. I went off on one and told him if he checks back he will find that I have always booked this flight no CO392 from Newark to Orlando and they have just bumped me off the flight to get more tickets sold on a more convenient flight, as I can still book the same flight in January right now. He assures me that the flight has been cancelled. So I will wait and see when I arrive in Orlando if the flight is still going.

So from a certain date it looks like you will either have a 1hr 30min connecting or a 6hour, not sure from when, as they haven't altered my upcoming October flight.

Oh by the way tricia, See if you can catch me my next flight I will be upto Gold.

[CERICROWLEY]

Oh p.p.p.s to this. have just been on checking some things etc, and Continental now accept Paypal as a form of payment

[Clare R]

Ceri,

The very situation you relate is what is happening to me in October with a Newark/Tampa 16.10 connection which is no more. Hence I have a 6 hour wait and by 'pushing' them I have got free entry into the President's Lounge.

January flight, once again, booked the 16.10 only to find within a couple of days that it is no more. By talking to nice chap in Tampa they have now put us on a flight to Orlando for an extra 70p each. For those of us down in Rotonda it is a longer drive but better than ending up in Tampa at 11.08 pm which is what I shall be doing on my own four weeks tomorrow!