This is my first Trip Report so try to bear with me!!!
Introduction:
These are the routing of my flights:
-EWR-FRA-EWR on CO in J on the 767-400 (both ways)
-FRA-PRG-FRA on LH in Y on the A321 (both ways)

Around Christmas time my grandfather found out he had a meeting in Prague, Czech Republic. It was pretty obvious that we were flying out of EWR since I live about 20 minutes away; my family and me are also loyal CO flyers !! About the end of January around my birthday (Jan 30th) after trying to get our flights sorted out, as we knew we couldn’t fly direct out of EWR to PRG. We narrowed it down to 3 options: EWR-AND OLD: Munich - Riem (MUC / EDDM) (closed), Germany">MUC-EWR in J on the A346, EWR-FRA-EWR on LH on the 744 or CO EWR-FRA-EWR on the 764. We choose the latter, due to the fact that we were able to buy a full fare economy ticket on CO and upgrade using points (40,000) to be exact. In doing this it was still cheaper than flying LH and we would get CO points =).

Around April since we had the Long Haul flights taken care of we booked the Short Haul flight FRA-PRG-FRA on LH. It was about $160 for each ticket, which wasn’t bad at all. By this time we found out my aunt and uncle were going to be joining us and were able to get on the EWR-FRA flight in the BusinessFirst cabin also but had different flights all the rest of the way.

Before the Flight:

The day of the flight was crazy even though my flight was at 7:25 p.m. !! I had to pack (Yes I’m one of those last minute packers) I also had to get a new suitcase, the night before I found out mine was broken, Lucky me right? After I got my new suitcase, finished packing and cleaned my cave (Moms orders as she didn’t want my room to look like a war zone when the guests came) It was already about 2!! My Aunt and Uncle came to pick me up around 3:30 and we were going to meet the “grandparental units” at the airport.


Check -In:

We arrived at EWR around 4 and headed to the Elite Access/BusinessFirst International check-in on the upper level of Terminal C. The line was very long and a group traveling to CDG had a boat load of luggage to check in Yikess!! But the line moved fast and we only waited about 10 minutes and were greeted by a nice agent (Who was not outsourced, for a change) Check in was smooth and she wished us all a pleasant flight. We then proceeded to security, gahh what a mess!!!! Good thing they have an elite line which made it a somewhat shorter wait. After about 20 minutes of screaming and yelling, we were off to the Presidents Club near the C121-C139 gates. This lounge was packed I left the lounge for a bit and met EWRCABINCREW (Bill) as he was on his way to BOM. We stayed at the lounge for about an hour and a half, at about 6:30 p.m. we headed for gate C128, Boarding started at 645 p.m.

View of another 767-400 not ours though, taken from the President’s Club.


7/22/09
Route: EWR-FRA
Flight: Continental flt 50
Aircraft: 767-400
Seat: 2D
Scheduled Departure Time: 7:25
Actual Time of Departure: 7:50
Scheduled Arrival Time: 9:25 a.m.
Actual Arrival Time: 9:10 a.m.
Scheduled Flight Time: 8 hrs
Actual Flight Time 7hrs 10 min
Load: 95%

Boarding :

We boarded first and as soon as we sat down the crew asked what we would like to drink, handed out amenity kits and menus. That is when I knew that it was going to be a good flight! The crew soon then came around with international newspapers on the Trolley which I like!! Captain came on and introduced himself…said it was going to be a total flight time of 7hrs and 10 min and that the weather in FRA was not going to be pleasant at the time of our arrival. We were delayed for about 15 minutes due to some late bags, hey at least it’s not over 2 hrs so I didn’t mind waiting… We then taxied out to the runway and waited about 10 minutes. Take off was powerful and we used up most of the runway, there must have been a lot of cargo!

In-Flight

We climbed to about 33,000 feet and stay at that altitude all of the way to FRA. About 15 minutes after Departure the flight attendants started the dinner service, here’s what the menu was like:



TO BEGIN
Warm roasted nuts with your preferred cocktail or beverage.


HOT APPETIZER CART
A demitasse of lobster bisque accompanied by raspberry, walnuts and Brie cheese wrapped in pastry and Thai chicken satay, served with peanut sauce.
SALAD AND WARM BREADS
Fresh field greens, romaine and Belgian endive with cherry tomato, goat cheese and pecans

Your choice of balsamic vinaigrette or buttermilk ranch dressing

Freshly baked garlic bred and assorted rolls with butter.


MAIN COURSES

THE CHEF’S SELECTION
Veal osso buco presented over rice pilaf, with lemon zest and fresh parself, sautéed broccoli rabe and fresh broccolini

TANDOORI BREAST OF CHICKEN
With tomato cream sauce, basmati rice with raisins, peas and mild cheese in a savory sauce and curried chickpeas.

GRILLED HALIBUT
Herb-crusted halibut and marinated char-grilled shrimp with lobster sauce, stewed artichoke hearts, roasted red tomatoes and fine green beans.

MANICOTTI FLORENTINE PASTA BOWL
Manicotti filled with fresh spinach and creamy ricotta, Parmesan and feta cheeses, Salute sauce, mozzarella cheese and freshly grated Parmesan cheese


FRUIT AND CHEESE CART
Select American and imported cheeses, grapes, assorted gourmet crackers and bread, served with Port wine.


DESSERT CART
Edy’s Classic Grand vanilla ice cream with choice of toppings or an assortment of petite pastries

Fresh Brew ® gourmet roasted regular and decaffeinated coffee made exclusively for Continental Airlines or tea with your choice of milk or lemon

Enjoy a cup of freshly brewed Emilio Caffe Italian Espresso or Cappuccino exclusively in BusinessFirst on our 777 and 767 aircraft


We apologize if occasionally your choice is not available


EXECUTIVE MEAL OPTION
If you should prefer more time to work or relax, we suggest this meal option, complete with appetizer, salad, hot main course, presented all at once, whenever you wish. Please choose your main course from the selections on the previous page.


PRE-ARRIVAL REFRESHMENT
A selection of juices

Fresh seasonal fruit and yogurt

Swiss cheese, pepper-coated salami and ham cold plate

Assorted breads including cinnamon and crusty rolls and warm croissants with butter and strawberry preserves

Fresh Brew ® gourmet roasted regular and decaffeinated coffee made exclusively for Continental Airlines or tea with your choice of milk or lemon

I had the Middle seat 2D so I had plenty of room to stretch out as you can see!!



I looked over at the window and saw this sunset as we were climbing, so I handed my aunt the camera. I think it came out pretty good don’t you think?


A hot towel to start off the dinner service.



Mixed peanuts and Water before dinner (sorry for the blurry pictures.)



The Flight Attendant bringing the trolley with the appetizers!!




I had everything that was offered on the menu for appetizers and with some garlic bread=).



Here is the salad with the buttermilk ranch dressing, so good!!!



I had the TANDOORI Breast of Chicken, which was really good and had kind of Indian spice to it.




I skipped the cheese cart and right onto the sundae with caramel and whip cream, also with my recent copy of Airliner World
[IMG]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2454/3789652597_e38a12b68d_b.jpg[/IMG ]



After dinner everyone kind of went to sleep, as for me I couldn’t so I just went up to the galley and talked with some of the FA’s. We had a good conversation about CO’s entry into STAR and their involvement with United, they had some mixed emotions. By the time we were done talking it was about 2 hours before landing and they had to prepare for the breakfast service.


The “European Breakfast” served about 1 hour before landing, as they were finishing it started to get really turbulent as we were starting our descent into FRA.



Arrival into FRA
About 9 am we started our final approach into FRA and it was really bumpy even before we started our approach. I couldn’t really see anything because one I had a middle seat and two it was really cloudy and rainy. Touchdown was smooth and we taxied to Terminal 2 and my initial impressions of T2 was that it was very new!!! Also that it was really empty, to empty especially for FRA I thought it would be packed. Customs was the shortest I have ever experienced about 1 minute and the officer did not even look at me!!! We got our bags and headed for the Le Meriden Frankfurt. By the Time we got outside it had stopped raining.


Here are some pictures from FRA:



The Lufthansa and SAS office in downtown Frankfurt.



Some skyscrapers in Frankfurt




My hotel room with the Mood lighting over the bed, which I thought, was pretty cool.



The exterior of the Le Meriden Frankfurt.



Frankfurt was an interesting city but kind of boring….We were talking to the limo driver and he said, it’s mostly a banking city. Which made sense because around 6 p.m. the city was dead, he also said that most of the people that fly to FRA are just connecting and don’t usually stay in Frankfurt. But outside of that it was a very modern and clean city. Saturday had come so quickly and we were off to the airport for our flight to PRG.

Before the Flight

We left the hotel around 9:15 a.m. for our 12:10 flight to PRG. A cab picked up me and the grandparentals and it was about a 10 minute drive to FRA Terminal 1. We arrived at Terminal 1 and it was pretty chaotic with long lines everywhere and the line for checking in luggage was really long, it was okay I enjoyed watching the display board change =D. After about 25 minutes our bags were checked to PRG. We then headed to security and passed the very nice duty free stores, I wish I had more time =(. Security was very orderly, no one was screaming and was rather quiet it felt like someone should be swinging across a vine telling us to take our shoes off =). We then headed to gate A21 and waited to board at 11:25 a.m.

While I was waiting I decided to walk around a bit and explore the Terminal and it was pretty nice and very busy especially for a Saturday mourning. Here are some of the pics I took while I was spotting, sorry they didn’t come out that good I’m not the best photographer =p :

Here an LH 744 I believe it was going to EWR =)






A DL 763




A SQ 744 arriving from SIN, also note the Air China A332 and the China Eastern plane in the background, do they always sit till their flights?




A UA 763 and as I was taking a picture the pilots waved to me!! Note in the back the reflection of the UA bird and the airbus wing and engine it looks like a united airbus heavy =D






7/25/09
Route: FRA-PRG
Flight: Lufthansa flt 3260
Aircraft: A321
Seat: 30C
Scheduled Departure Time: 12:10 p.m.
Actual Time of Departure: 12:07 p.m.
Scheduled Arrival Time : 1:15 p.m.
Actual Arrival Time: 1:10 p.m.
Scheduled Flight Time: 1 hrs
Actual Flight Time 1 hour
Load: 65%



Boarding and Departure

We boarded exactly at 11:25 a.m. and it was pretty orderly also and it was sad I could understand the LH gate agent speaking English more then I could an American gate agent speaking at EWR, the people at EWR sound like they work at K-mart as the speaker. We got on the plane which looked brand new and the crew was really good looking and young!! We pushed back about 5 minutes early and taxied to Runway 18 and took off immediately; it was a very powerful take off. It was a really bumpy climb is the air always rough around FRA?




In-Flight

After the FA’s were released they immediately sprang into action and did a drink and light snack service which was nice especially on an hour flight!! I noticed they didn’t charge for anything-even alcohol, which was pretty amazing for an American to see  . Sorry I didn’t take pictures my camera died as soon as we boarded =(. After the crew collected the trash the pilot announced our final descent into PRG.

Arrival into PRG
While on our final approach we had a great view of the city of Praha, we landed about 10 minutes early and taxied to the gate. My initial impressions of PRG were that it was a very modern and new airport!! We also didn’t have to go through customs, does anyone know if the Czech Republic is in the EU yet? We then collected our bags and caught a taxi to the Hilton downtown.

The next 5 days were spent exploring and touring around Praha which was a very nice and interesting city!!! Here are some of the pics that I took (if anyone would like to see more ask me and I will email them to you as I don’t want to make this TR already longer then it is 


Here is a dog that was on the boat cruise that we took, his name was Henry =0



A church at sunset that was located in Old Town Square



This is part of the Prague Castle



Me on the Terrace over Looking Praha


Me with my aunt and uncle



A hallway leading to the lounge on top of the Hilton



Old Town Square



One of the streets in Praha




The Hilton Lobby


A pretty nice looking building =)



Before the Flight

The 5 days went by so fast, I guess it because of all of the fun we were having =(. We left our hotel around 11 a.m. for our 1:55 p.m. Flight to FRA, it took us about 20 minutes to get to the airport from downtown Praha. There was no line at any of the desks and we checked in with no problem and headed to security. Security again was orderly and were done in about 10 minutes and headed down to gate C2. While my grandparentals stayed at the gate, I decided to do some more exploring and spotting. Here are some of the pictures I was able to get (sorry again for the lousy pictures =(.)

A Brussels Airlines BAE and Some OK birds




An OK A320 taxing past me



A Finnair A320



A Travel Service 738











7/30/09
Route: PRG-FRA
Flight: Lufthansa flt 3261
Aircraft: A321
Seat: 12A
Scheduled Departure Time: 1:55 p.m.
Actual Time of Departure: 2 p.m.
Scheduled Arrival Time : 3:05p.m.
Actual Arrival Time: 3 p.m.
Scheduled Flight Time: 1 hr 10 min
Actual Flight Time 1 hour
Load: 40%



Boarding and Departure

We boarded at 1:25 p.m. and boarding wasn’t long at all the door was closed around 1:55 p.m. The reason we pushed at 2 was due to the fact that we had to wait for some late bags to come in. The crew again looked really young and was like comparing night and day to some of the crew of American airlines =). We taxied to the runway and had yet another powerful take-off!! Here’s some pics I took while on the take off roll:





In-Flight

The FA’s were released and started the Snack and Beverage service we were given a cheese sandwich with butter and a chocolate bar, here’s a picture of it:




Arrival into FRA

A couple minutes after the crew collected the trash we started our descent into FRA. We landed about 5 minutes early and taxied to our gate, were we saw this LH 744 being prepared for it’s next long journey:



We then headed to get our bags which were already waiting for us!! After we got our bags we caught our shuttle to Heidelberg which is located about an hour outside of FRA.We had a great time there and before we know it the last 4 days of our vacation were over and it was time to make the long trek home, but in style!!


Before the Flight

We left the hotel around 8:15 a.m. and got to FRA around 9 for our 11:20 flight to EWR on CO. We were dropped off at Terminal 2, which was very nice and modern; does anyone know when was it built? We walked up to the BusinessFirst (we bypassed the long coach line hehehe) counter and were greeted by a friendly agent, who checked our bags and wished us a pleasant flight. We went through what looked like passport control and it was really long it took us about 30 minutes to get through. After that we made the long walk down to the Delta Lounge which was totally out of our way =(. No pics of the lounge sorry I went to go do some walking around, FRA T2 isn’t really spotter-friendly =(. But I did take a pic of the check in area:



We left the lounge around 10:20 to make the walk down to gate E5. I thought it was pretty cool you went through security right before the gate and each gate had its own holding area and such. We got into the gate lounge and boarding for BusinessFirst customers started at about 10:35, so we got in line it looked like it was going to be a full flight today!!




8/3/09
Route: FRA-EWR/b]
[b]Flight: Continental 51
Aircraft: 767-400
Seat: 2D
Scheduled Departure Time: 11:20 a.m.
Actual Time of Departure: 11:30 a.m.
Scheduled Arrival Time : 2:15p.m.
Actual Arrival Time: 2 p.m.
Scheduled Flight Time: 8 hrs 55 min
Actual Flight Time 8 hrs 32 min
Load: 100% in both classes


Boarding and Departure

We were welcomed aboard by the friendly EWR-based crew and were shown to our seats 2 A, B and D. Shortly after we were seated one of the pursers came and handed us amenity kits and the menus. Her colleague then came and asked us if we would like a welcome drink and I ordered a coke. The head FA “Molly” welcomed each of us personally and told us we had a long day ahead of us, an 8 hr and 32 min flight. She was a very nice lady and was good at her job, she was from Dallas. Here are my grandparents enjoying their glass of champagne:



The captain came on and informed us of the weather in EWR and also said his announcements in German, which I thought was pretty cool. All of the announcements were done in English, no German speaker onboard I found out later that it was because there was a series of thunderstorms that passed through EWR that weekend and none of the German speakers were able to get out of EWR.We then pushed around 11:30 and the flight attendants had to prepare for a short taxi to runway 25R. We had a pretty long take off roll and another bumpy climb.

In-Flight

We climbed to about 35,000 feet and once the flight attendants got up, they started to prepare our lunch service for today. Here’s what the menu was like:



TO BEGIN
Warm roasted nuts with your preferred cocktail or beverage.


HOT APPETIZER CART
A demitasse of potato and truffle soup accompanied by a savory vegetable and mushroom filled pastry and peanut marinated chicken breast skewer with coriander sauce.

SALAD AND WARM BREADS
Mesclun salad mix with orange, pink grapefruit and almonds

Your choice of tomato and thyme vinegarette or sour cream dressing

Freshly baked garlic bred and assorted rolls with butter.


MAIN COURSES

THE CHEF’S SELECTION
Grilled rib-eye steak complemented by a demi-glace sauce, with potatoes gratin, green asparagus and sautéed red and yellow bell peppers.

HERB BREAST OF CHICKEN
With morel mushroom sauce, seasoned sugar snap peas, buttered carrots and rosemary new potatoes

HALIBUT WITH GRILLED SHRIMP
Served over saffron risotto, with fresh sautéed spinach and tomato ragout with onion and bell pepper

PASTA BOWL
Eggplant lasagne with marina sauce, green asparagus and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

FRUIT AND CHEESE CART
Select European cheeses, grapes, assorted gourmet crackers and rolls, served with Port wine.


DESSERT CART
Vanilla ice cream with choice of toppings or a petite dessert cup

Fresh Brew gourmet roasted regular and decaffeinated coffee made exclusively for Continental Airlines or tea with your choice of milk or lemon

Enjoy a cup of freshly brewed Emilio Caffe Italian Espresso or Cappuccino exclusively in BusinessFirst on our 777 and 767 aircraft


We apologize if occasionally your choice is not available


EXECUTIVE MEAL OPTION

If you should prefer more time to work or relax, we suggest this meal option, complete with appetizer, salad, hot main course, presented all at once, whenever you wish. Please choose your main course from the selections on the previous page.

SKYSNACKS

A selection of light snacks and refreshments


PRE-ARRIVAL REFRESHMENT

Lemon pepper soaked salmon with horseradish sauce

Fresh seasonal fruit

CHICKEN BRUSCHETTA
Sliced chicken breast, tomato, and Provolone cheese and pesto sauce on sourdough bruschetta with a cherry tomato, gherkin, and kalamata olive and onion garnish.

Chocolate

Fresh Brew ® gourmet roasted regular and decaffeinated coffee made exclusively for Continental Airlines or tea with your choice of milk or lemon

Setting the Tray Table


My Coke and some mixed peanuts


Add some garlic bread to the mix =)


Once again I had everything there was on offer for the appetizer, which was really good


The salad with the sour cream dressing wasn’t bad at all!


I forgot to take a picture of my entrée =(, but I had the pasta bowl and it was awesome I recommend it!!


I skipped the cheese cart and got the famous ice cream sundae =D!!



About 1 hour after the lunch service, the crew came around with cranberry cookies. These are probably the best cookies I have ever had in my life!!


After I finished off the amazing cookies, I went to the galley and talked to Lisa who was the in-flight chef and applauded her on the meals. She was really nice and told me she lived in Colorado, she reminded me a lot of my mother9Good thing.) Time went by pretty quick and before I knew it she was starting to prepare our pre-arrival snack, which I took a picture of her doing:

[IMG] http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2246/3806041613_0a9dcbc383_b.jpg[/IMG]

Here is the pre-arrival snack, which was really tasty


After we had the snack I went up and joked around with Lisa and Leah for a bit and told them how horrible the food was jk=). Right before landing the surrounded me and were all joking around, here’s a picture of Leah and I:



Arrival into EWR
It was sad to see the flight end but I had to get home as I had been gone for 2 weeks About 30 minutes out of EWR the captain announced our descent into EWR which was smooth and we landed a little ahead of schedule. I said goodbye to the crew and we deplaned, it was the end of a great trip. We walked to customs which really didn’t have that much of a line. Now baggage was a different story, it was pretty chaotic with a lot of people around our belt. We managed to get our bags and left EWR for the 15-minute ride home.

Overall Impressions
It was a really great trip and wouldn’t mind going back to Europe. I enjoyed flying CO, it was a great way to start and end my wonderful trip to Europe. Everything from the food to the Cabin crew was top notch. Even thought they have the old seats the food and the service make up for it. I think this is why I fly them so much is because I am never disappointed. I hope you enjoyed reading my First Trip Report and comments are always welcome. If anyone wants to see more of the pics from the trip just send me an message with your email and ill send them to you.

**Special thanks to Noah and director for helping me with this Trip Report!!**