Trip Report
Continental Airlines
757-200 N33103
DUB-EWR

6th July 2000


The flight is the earliest flight of the morning from Dublin to the states (09:30), so it's an advantage as you can be in New York for lunch, that if you are stil hungry after taking this flight. Another advantage is that you would be able to connect to a whole load of other places in the states with CO. I wasn't connecting anywhere this time though, so i killed a bit of time in the lounge before boarding. The CO staff at the gate were really professional, and it's great being able to clear US immagration before boarding. Once onboard, I sat in 4F, there are only a couple of rows for business class in this aircraft, by the way I thought the colours of Continental looked very smart. Even though the aircraft was small, the seats were huge fabric electronic reclining yokes, very comfortable, and the legroooom was super too. After a glass of juice (stil too early for champaigne) we taxied out to runway 28 and held short while a BD A321 landed, then we proceeded to take off passing a Volare A320 that was taxiing-in having landed before the BD. The amenity kits were pretty small, but well stocked with the normal stuff. Once airbourne a drinks service began, and what I thought was really great was the way they asked you weather you wanted italian bread sticks and a dip or nuts or something with your drink. I had the bread sticks, and then after that I looked at the menu, very impressive.

For Starters; there was a choice of lobster with lemon or procutto with melon. I had the lobster, which was served from the cart. It was a small helping, but tasted wonderful.

As well as the starter there was a huge salad with a choice of dressing, the breads were fresh and tasty too.

For the main course there was Veal, Herb Roasted Chicken, Oriental Salmon or Pasta. I had the Oriental Salmon which rates as one of the best airline meals ever. I thought that the portion was way to big (so American) and i couldn't even finish it.

One of the highlights was the desert, following the fruit service, i declined the cheese selection. There was a cart with lots of things, apple cake, sundaes etc. I had a strawberry sundae with nuts, very nice.

All was great so far, and I liked the way the head FA always got me another coke without me having to ask for it like on some other Airlines. What I thought was silly and annoying was the way the junior FA in BusinessFirst introduced herself and then dis-introduced herself at the begining and end of the flight. I really hated how corny that was, and she kept referring to me as "cute" which really began to irritate me after a while.

Only about an hour after the meal we were offered snacks, which seemed odd how anyone could possibly be hungry. I took some chips for my hotel room later that night. Not long after that they came through the cabin with milk and warm chocolate chip cookies, at this stage I thought thier obsession with food was out of control. Following this we got another meal with a fancy baguette sandwich, chocolate and fruit. I didnt eat any of it.

The inflight entertainment was good, the PTV's looked small but the films were okay, didn't watch any of them though. The music was really bad though, the channels were full of rubbish. They need to change this.

After a flight of just over 6 hours we were heading down to Newark somewhere over Albany, and we landed over 20 mins ahead of schedule. We were in before lunch, and overall I thought that Continental were a great airline, and are proof that an airline can improve. I remember flying Honnolulu to Auckland and then to Sydney and back to LA with them over 12 year ago on a 747 and DC 10 in economy, it was pretty bad. I was happy to get back on TWA to go to JFK after that experience, and that's saying something.

I would fly Continental again, but I think they serve too much food, although all of it is excellent and I was a little annoyed they didn't have a chef on board like I had read they had on some flights :-(
The 757 is an okay transatlantic jet, I don't care what people say about it only having two engines, for a 6.40 flight there's absolutely no problem, although it is not as spacious as the Airbus or 767. Overall I give this flight 8/10 and I was a little dissapointed I would be flying home from JFK on another airline.

I hope you liked my 1st trip report.

Great trip report, it sounds like Continental serves a great deal of food. But hey apparently good service.
Happy San Juan Night!
Chepos
Puerto Rico

I think they only have a chef on the 777 flights. I have never heard of them serving so much food!

Hey Shamrock,
I also travelled them wqhen i went to MEL from AKL, And they were really bad!! And i mean bad!!

I was dreading the return Flight!!

Cheers
mikey

Cool trip report. I will fly soon with a Boeing 757, but on a charter flight with Swissair daughter airline Crossair. I'm very exciting about that. I love the 777 so much and the 744 too, of course. Anyway, it looks like that I have to fly with Continental soon, they seems to be a very good airline for me. Just one thing to say, in my opinion you shouln't fly Delta. I had the worst experiences with them ever. American is for me good.
Greetings from Switzerland
Mike

pleased you all liked the report.

Actually I have flown Delta a few times and while agree that their inflight service could be better (especially in coach on t/a flights)- they are not all bad. The worst is the styrofoam headsets, but I had a really pleasant experience with them in April going from DUB to JFK. The crew were really great and I spent ages talking to them and they were really pleased that I was interested in flying etc. From my experience I think that people are Delta's greatest asset.

hi. does AA also fly to Dub? And how is Aer Lingus? I had excellent experiences with American on my DFW-ZRH flight this april. The problem on Delta is that their crew are quite old and unfriendly (especially the ladies) They run through the cabin and were unfriendly.
Anyway flying is great, this is for sure. I have never flown to EWR airport, just to JFK airport. which one is better?
ok, take care.
Mike

This was a very good Trip Report !!! I live in Germany near Duesseldorf. Untill March or April (I don`t know exactly) Continental fly to EWR with DC-10 from DUS, now they replaced the DC-10 and fly with 752. I think the 752 is a good Airplane for Short- and Medium Range but 8.30h from DUS to EWR is to long only with an Airplane that has only one Aisle.

Swiss-Airplane,

Well actually AA does not fly in reality to Dublin or Shannon but they codeshare all Aer Lingus Airbus flights to New York JFK, Newark, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore and Los Angeles. Aer Lingus are excellent, especially in Business class on their A330's. I'll write a report soon on one of my trips with them.

Sabena332, i'm hoping CO will increase their flight to DUB to a 762 from DUB soon, but i guess you are right that a 757 is too small of a Dusseldorf flight. Was it just that they retired the DC10 or was there not enought passengers from Nordrhein-Westfalia area.

Hi there. I heard once that CO will upgrade the DUS-EWR route to a brand new Boeing 767-400 by November. They have not enough 767's in their fleet, so they have to fly to DUS with a 757. They fly to ZRH, where I live with a 762. The 752 is a nice plane, once but sure a bit small for transatlantic fligths. Once was a rumor that Lufthansa wants to order 753ER for flying transatlantic flights.

to Shamrock104. To bad that Aer Lingus isn't flying to Zürich anymore. There is just a Crossair flight to DUB. I would like to fly once to DUB, maybe also via UK with BA or with Crossair. Crossair is an excellent airline. Swissair is nice too.

Greetings.
Mike

Swiss Airplane,

Yeah too bad there is no longer an Aer Lingus flight to Zurich. I went on one of the last flights there with the 737-500. I am a fan of crossair but I cannot understand them sometimes. They go to great lengths to please their passengers, with service etc, but they sometimes forget the most basic things, like even though their MD-83 flight to DUB was nearly always full, they changed it to a ARJ at the weekends. But there is usually too many passengers/freight so every day there are bags offloaded, and once they off loaded my own bag, even though I was flying business class and the bag had priority stickers all over it!!!! I could not believe it, they didn't even tell me they were off loading it. I think it would have been bad to off-load economy bags but business class bags!!!!

Anyways apart from that I like crossair. Hope to fly them soon at the end of July.

Hi Shamrock104
Yeah Crossair is very good, but sure not always. Sometimes they forget the Duty free service, althoug the plane was not full at all. I love Swissair too and last year I flow Malaysian Airliens to Kuala Lumpur from Zürich. Econommy, but excellent service. fantastic. Domnestic flight I flow First Class, they were also perfect. Have you also ever flown with Swissair? How were they?
Anyway there is a rumor that Swissair will join Oneworld too, so Aer Lingus and Swissair will be partners soon. Maybe. I have never flown with Aer Lingus, just once with Cityflyer Express but this flight was not good at all. In the US I like American very much.
Greets
Mike

Swiss Airplane,

I have flown with Swissair many times and find them good, but not so consistent. For example once I flew AMS-ZRH-Bucharest and back and they were very good. Then once I flew them from ZRH to AMS and they were absolutely terrible, anything could have been better than the service on the A320 aircraft. The crew were cranky etc. but I think that generally they are okay and their frequent flyer programme is excellent.

I think that Swissair should join Oneworld, as currently Oneworld have no hub in central Europe, only London, Dublin, Shannon, Helsinki and Madrid. Zurich would make sence, but I hear the airport is already too busy and delays are normal there because of it.

Sorry to hear of your experience on Cityflyer. I have heard bad reports but I have only 1 positive experience. I was tired having flown from Nairobi to Gatwick and then I missed an early flight, but they re-booked me and when I boarded I expected only a drink on the short flight to Dublin, but they served a hot breakfast and did 2 drinks services. This was not so exceptional but the f/a's were really very friendly and I enjoyed this because usually on London-Dublin flights they are cranky, especially on bmi.

Hi Shamrock104
Yeah on Swissair you can spend good and bad times, but in most cases they have good times and for this summer shedule they improved service again. Over the last few years they saved money by the passengers and now they want to make a better product for passengers, due the hard competition worldwide. I really hope that Swissair will join Oneworld with a big hub in ZRH and they should bring SAA and LOT also inside. Maybe Sabena too. Have you ever flown on British Airways? Are they good? For me is Malaysian Airlines the best airline so far. Extremly good service and nice Flight Attendants. I liked them so much. China Airlines was ok, nothing special. I would like to fly with Aer Lingus soon and I would like to go to Ireland also soon. I don't know Europe well, I know more overseas destinations. But the green island must be a nice country. Where do you live in Eire? I live in Zürich, but I'm originally from Berne, the capital.
Greetings
Mike

Glad to hear Swissiar are rising, but not like United I hope! I have only flown MAS once, last January on a domestic flight in Malaysia, not very good, but smiling crew nevertheless. I have flown BA many times, and they used to be okay but in the past 2/3 years they have become very very good. I flew LGW-NBO-LGW and LHR-KUL with them, both in World Traveller, but they were excellent and the crew were really friendly both ways. The quality of the food is high and the service efficient and friendly.

If you are going to Ireland, avoid the summer tourist season, there are so many tourists and the service is really bad, also it's less expensive to go off-season. You could fly from Zurich direct to Dublin with LX or via LCY with Aer Lingus, they codeshare with LX on GVA/ZRH/BSL-LCY flights that connect to DUBLIN. Alternatively try BA/EI over Heathrow or Swissair/EI over Heathrow. The least expensive way may be to fly easyjet (not quality though) to Gatwick/Luton and then EI from Gatwick to Dublin. Ryanair also fly Gatwick/Luton to Dublin (I hate ryanair though).

Hi. Sure I will come once to Ireland. Just don't know when. But I hope soon. There are many ways for coming to Ireland. If Swissair will join Oneworld then I have even more possibilietes, but I would like to try Crossair as well as Aer Lingus. Does Briitish Airways is still in talks to buy Aer Lingus? And why do you hate Ireland? I heard they are very sucessful. I have never flown with them, they don't fly to Switzerland. Does Go or Easy Jet are better? By the way I also prefer quality airlines and flights, I'm not a fan of this lowcoast airlines and wiht youthfare you can travel quite cheap too. Easy jet is flying into Switzerland. the only good thing about Ryanair is that they have ordered 738, I prefer Boeing jets instead Airbus. I flow neve to Heathrow, but I would like to do that soon. I just flow to Gatwick. And since I have free flights by KLM and Swissair and so I can travelling easy. This april I flow Southwest Airlines in the US. They were not bad at all, much better than Delta domnestic flight and also better than United Express. On which flight were you in Malaysia? I flow Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi and back the backflight in First Class and they offered us a hotmeal for this 50 min flight. Amazing. Economy flight was not that great at all, just nice Flight Attendants.
Greetings
Mike

So Swiss-Airplane, do you work for KLM or Swissair? I think you should fly via Amsterdam to Ireland, there are 6 daily Aer Lingus flights from AMS-DUB. They operate mostly A321's, but some 737-400/500 and A320 aircraft on these flights. I like KLM, only flew them twice from AMS to Nice and back a few years ago. I think that BA won't take over Aer Lingus, the unions are too strong and it's a case of national pride. In Malaysia I flew MAS from KUL to Johor Bharu and it was ok, but I flew BA to Malaysia and Finnair home via SIN, BKK and HEL. They were ok, I prefer Finnair to SAS, the staff are friendly and always happy to serve you. I think i'll be flying to Switzerland myself at the end of July for a weekend, my friends have rented a house in Zurich. I'll probably fly crossair from DUB to ZRH (hopefully business class) and return via London City with Crossair and Aer Lingus, as the Zurich flight arrives too late in Dublin for my work.
I hope that crossair increases it's frequency on ZRH-DUB and maybe they could introduce a yearly BSL-DUB or GVA-DUB.

Best Wishes,

phillip

Hi Phillip
Good morning. Hope your weekend was pretty nice. No, I don't work for any airline. I'm working for the biggest bank in Switzerland in the heart of Zürich. Very interesting job, but has badly nothing to do with airplanes. To bad about that. Yesterday I went to the visitor terrace on Zürich airport, because my parent s flow to Mallorca on Spanair with 5 hours delay at the airport, due aiport problems on Mallorca island. Luckily they had to wait only 30 min. for a taxi there. Anyway on Zürich airport a lot of planes have delays. Always this is just so bad. I flew KLM adn Northwest twice to the US. They are not bad, but also not excellent. Just ok, typical tourist Class airlines. I would like to try BA and also Lufthansa in Europe. Maybe I would fly with BA and Aer Lingus to Dublin. Or with Swissair free miles. I have to look. Maybe still this year, I just don't know yet. Does Aer Lingus have all leather seat in their A320 familiy-aircraft? Swissair has that in Economy Class too. Yeh sure try Crossair, if your are travelling witht them in small plane (Embraer 145, Saab 2000) they have there just one Class service and this service is really excellent. Champagne...... If you come to Switzerland by the end of july let me know it, I can show you around if you want.... See you then
greetings
Mike