Cruiseshipcrew From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 189 posts, RR: 1 Posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 17058 times:
Hey everyone,
This is my second trip report. I flew to Hawaii to join my next ship for another 5 month contract. I upgraded my flights to BusinessFirst and flew myself through Baltimore the night before for fun. Hope you enjoy reading it.
Feb 24th:
I really don't like early morning flights at all so I decided to fly to Baltimore the night before and stay at the airport hotel. I also love BWI airport and have many memories there. When I was younger my dad and I would fly there and have airport weekends. Basically a trip to just hang out there. September 11th didn't stop us from doing it but over the years Baltimore's airport was changed and became less traveler (long term ) friendly. Overall we did around 15 trips. Anyone remember the Metrojet days?!
Anyway I had a 4:50 pm flight on Continental Express on the Emb-145. This flight lasted only a hour and not much happened. I arrived at the airport early so went to the Presidents Club and had some snacks and killed some time.
CLE's Presidents Club
757-300 at CLE
CLE's Terminal D
Not much leg room on this airplane.
Cabin
Two bags of pretzels!
Sunset right before landing at BWI
Getting off the plane in Baltimore
BWI's impressive international terminal
British Airways waiting for its flight to LHR.
I was done flying for the day. I had a 5:35 am flight the next day so I decided to use priceline.com and name my own price for a hotel. I bid $60-70 and got the Four Points hotel by Sheraton. The hotel was right at the airport and was a great deal for the price. I decided to get some quick room service and crash because I had to be up very early. From my last trips I know BWI's security can be really bad at the start of the day so I was going to give myself plenty of time.
Hotel room
Room service
Feb 25th 2009.
I woke up very early and went to the airport at 10 till 4 am. As the shuttle bus pulled to a stop I noticed the long line already at the Continental check in desk. I was surprised to see the agents already working so I wasn't too worried. When I made my way to the counter the Elite line was empty so I checked in and was done within two minutes. Security didn't open for another 10 minutes so there was a small line but after 10 minutes I was walking to the gate.
Continental Airlines flight 1727 BWI-IAH Boeing 737-800.
This flight was pretty empty in coach and 15/16 first class seats were taken. It was very dark in the cabin so I'm sorry for the picture quality.
737-800 First class seat
leg room
We left Baltimore a few minutes early and a few minutes after taking off they started to get ready for breakfast service. I was a little disappointed with this part because it wasn't up to Continental's normal standards. In the past when the flight attendant comes around to take your order they describe what the meal is "Today we have a cheese egg omelette with hash browns, fruit bowl" etc but today it was "egg or cereal?" Also there were no hot towels on this leg. I will say the Flight Attendants attitude improved as the flight moved on. I guess we are not all morning people!
Continental's breakfasts always fill me up and I don't always finish them. Today we had a eggs, potatoes, strawberry yogurt, ham, sausage and a fruit bowl. After I took the following picture they came around with their cinnamon rolls or biscuits. One thing I notice is the meals are so salty. I'm sure they are loaded with sodium so I never understand why some people use their entire salt shaker amount! That's got to be killer on your body.
Breakfast (cinnamon roll not in the picture)
Once we landed in Houston I went to the E terminal Presidents club to kill some time. I suggest that people go up to the 3rd floor because its not nearly as busy as the floors below. I got a quick snack and took a few pictures of the view.
3rd floor.
Snacks
777-200 going to Japan
View from the club
Continental airlines flight #1 IAH-HNL 767-400
They starting boarding the plane right on time. I was first to board and the TSA people didn't select me for the gate check so I was very pleased with that. They picked me in Baltimore and it was annoying. Anyway I got on the plane and took a few pictures of the seats.
Lots of leg room. The seat went almost flat.
After sitting down a very friendly flight attendant came around and passed out menus (they were cut a few months ago but have since been brought back for this flight) and take drink orders.
Mimosa
As I was drinking my Mimosa and waiting for us to leave a woman came up to me and shook my hand and said "Mr. Byrd as such a valued Elite member we are pleased to have you onboard for this flight. My name is X and I'm the inflight Manager and if you need anything at all please let us know." This was the first time this happened to me and it made the day. The crew on this flight was very nice and always greeted me by name.
Menu
I was very glad to see they brought back the Ice Cream Sundae dessert cart. This was missed and people let continental know they wanted it back! After about 45 minutes of boarding the plane took off on time.
Not long after takeoff they started getting ready for lunch. I was very pleased to see they brought back the table clothes but the hot nuts were not live yet but they are coming.
Nuts and another Mimosa
Appetizer: Chilled lobster half accompanied by Du Barry sauce. I'm not a seafood fan but the lobster wasn't bad and I love Continental's garlic bread.
Salad: Mesclun salad mix and romaine lettuce with roasted yellow tomato, cherry tomato, red onion and fresh mozzarella cheese. Choice of La Flora Italian herb vinaigrette or creamy Thousand Island dressing. I went with the vinaigrette.
Grilled Sterling Silver tenderloin steak with chimichurri sauce, served with grilled carrots, mushrooms, red bell pepper and broccoli florets, spicy rice with corn, jalapeño peppers, sour cream and cheese. It was very good. Last time I tried the BF steak it was pretty much nothing but fat but this was excellent.
I spot the ice cream cart!! A funny note, the people across from me in this picture happen to be boarding my ship on Saturday!
Continental stopped serving ice cream on the Hawaii flights a few months ago and they got feedback from a lot of angry passengers. I'm very glad to see that they have returned!
I watched a few movies and then fell asleep. A few hours later I had a gentle touch and was asked if I would like one of the freshly in-flight baked cookies so I said sure.
I had to take the required inflight picture from the planes lav
Around one hour before landing we had our arrival lunch. This was pretty tasty and filled me up.
We landed on time and once again I was back in Hawaii.
and I made it to my hotel room!
Thanks for reading my trip report. Overall this was a WONDERFUL trip with the best customer service I have ever had on any flight before. Great job Continental! Please leave comments. My next trip report will be in 5 months when I finish my 5 month contract on my ship.
Salvation From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 174 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 days 8 hours ago) and read 16685 times:
I had to re-read the posting date to ensure this was not a duplicate as I recall you had a similar report not too long ago. Thanks for sharing and it is indeed a welcoming sight to see menus and sundaes back on ALL CO flights between HNL and EWR, IAH, and LAX.
Out of interest, did you like 1-D? I've sat there once and will never sit there again. Nobody walked in front of me to cross to the bathrooms, but my complaint was that the light from the galley filtered in too much...it just didn't feel as "private" as I thought it should be.
STT757 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 16259 posts, RR: 52 Reply 4, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 16215 times:
I'm glad to see they brought back the menus and Sundaes, my Wife and I flew EWR-HNL in BusinessFirst back in August and there no menus nor Sundaes (they served Cheesecake). However Scott from CO who posts on Flyertalk mentioned about a month or two ago that Menus and Sundaes indeed were returning to the Trans Con First Class as well as BusinessFirst to Hawaii.
Good to see them back, I love the sundaes and the Menus are a nice touch.
Tommy767 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 6172 posts, RR: 9 Reply 5, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 15897 times:
Great report. I've never been to the BWI int'l terminal, only to where AA and DL fly into. Not nearly as spacious or nice.
Quoting STT757 (Reply 4): I'm glad to see they brought back the menus and Sundaes, my Wife and I flew EWR-HNL in BusinessFirst back in August and there no menus nor Sundaes (they served Cheesecake). However Scott from CO who posts on Flyertalk mentioned about a month or two ago that Menus and Sundaes indeed were returning to the Trans Con First Class as well as BusinessFirst to Hawaii.
I remember reading this report and was shocked that they did not give out sundaes on such a long flight. I guess there were some complaints and CO brought it back. Either that or IAH just has better service.
"Folks that's the news and I'm outta here!" -- Dennis Miller
Cruiseshipcrew From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 189 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 days ago) and read 15726 times:
Quoting Semsem (Reply 3): Please show pictures of your cruise ship / stops on next trip report in 5 months. What ship do you work on? Would be interesting. Thanks.
Will do. If you want I have a blog about working on the ship at www.shipblogger.com. I have a link for pictures and some videos on there also.
Quoting Tommy767 (Reply 5): I remember reading this report and was shocked that they did not give out sundaes on such a long flight. I guess there were some complaints and CO brought it back. Either that or IAH just has better service.
I know a lot of people voiced their anger to Continental about this so they brought them back on all HNL flights.
Tommy767 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 6172 posts, RR: 9 Reply 8, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 15523 times:
Quoting Cruiseshipcrew (Reply 6): I know a lot of people voiced their anger to Continental about this so they brought them back on all HNL flights.
Good for them. Sometimes airlines will listen (UA BOB in Y out of IAD and charging for water on US)
"Folks that's the news and I'm outta here!" -- Dennis Miller
STT757 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 16259 posts, RR: 52 Reply 9, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 14964 times:
Quoting Tommy767 (Reply 5): I remember reading this report and was shocked that they did not give out sundaes on such a long flight. I guess there were some complaints and CO brought it back. Either that or IAH just has better service.
Quoting Cruiseshipcrew (Reply 6): I know a lot of people voiced their anger to Continental about this so they brought them back on all HNL flights.
Yeah they got heat from their Frequent Flyers about the Menus and Sundaes, to CO's credit they listened and responded by restoring Menus and Sundaes on the Trans Cons and Hawaii flights. I love the Sundaes, the Cheesecake my Wife and I got going on Flt # 15 EWR-HNl wasn't that great and it was small.
Cruiseshipcrew From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 189 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 14838 times:
AA737-823 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 5338 posts, RR: 11 Reply 11, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 14621 times:
GET YOUR FEET OFF THAT BULKHEAD, YOUNG MAN.
As a mechanic, I have to clean those bulkheads... it's quite annoying. Not for CO, but for another carrier. So- SHOES DOWN, please!
Anyhow, great TR- I followed your link from flyertalk, not knowing it was you, but I instantly recognized your username here.
Glad you had a good trip, and that CO treated you right!
I'm doing LHR in BF in a couple weeks, and am hoping for the best! Never done BizFirst before.
Modesto2 From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 2634 posts, RR: 6 Reply 13, posted (4 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 14302 times:
Nice report! It's great to see other experiences on CO's great BF product. Glad you enjoyed the food as I am always very satisfied with CO BF food. I also love the 767's 2-1-2 BF configuration. Keep the reports coming!
EXCOASA1982 From United States of America, joined Oct 2008, 161 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (4 years 2 months 2 weeks 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 13335 times:
Even though CO did restore the service, it saddens me that they would have tried to reduce it in the first place Is it really worth it, to upset customers and dumb down the BF service they offer to begin with?
NWA757boy From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 662 posts, RR: 5 Reply 16, posted (4 years 2 months 2 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 13001 times:
Nice report, as always looks like nice service with CAL. Was your CLE BWI flight operated by Expressjet or CHQ?
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From United States of America, joined Aug 2008, 189 posts, 
) friendly. Overall we did around 15 trips. Anyone remember the Metrojet days?!
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Is it really worth it, to upset customers and dumb down the BF service they offer to begin with?
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