markkus flew Continental Airlines Business First (Business), on a B777-200ER (New flat bed BusinessFirst) (22/07/2011 15:33)

Flew back from New York to London Heathrow in Business First and had the lie flat beds which were very comfortable.

My seat was at the front, Row 1 and although it was a little bit noisy at times I managed to get some sleep. The staff were fine and there’s certainly enough of them!

The food was good and, even though I wasn’t drinking on the flight there wasn’t a great deal of alcohol on offer.

All in all a very good experience, unlike Newark airport which is appalling. Ignorant staff and very poor choice of shops. Even the lounge, which is massive, is extremely disappointing with hardly any food on offer and again the bar staff and counter staff are extremely rude. This airport falls way way below any decent European airport

ilikepeanuts flew Continental Airlines Economy, on a B777-200ER (New flat bed BusinessFirst) (10/10/2010 21:00)

Our flight, CO89, was from Newark Liberty to Beijing Capital, in Continental's new Economy Seats.

CHECK-IN: Newark Liberty's check-in counters are all self-service, meaning that there is only one or two Continental representatives in one whole row of Check-in counters, which can get a bit annoying when you have check-in baggages. The line was quite long for both Businessfirst and Economy. Check-in was not that swift. We were bewildered to find out that our seats were at the last row of the whole plane. After asking a representative, we learned that actually, the best seats are given to the people who pay the most. People who pay not so much, like us, get the worst seats. But, if you call Continental right after you book a flight, you might be able to hold a good seat for yourself. So next time you book a flight, at any airlines, call them to hold a good seat for you, or else, if you payed not as much as the others, you won't like the seat the had for you a bit.

AIRPORT: There was no lounge for us, since we weren't in Businessfirst (Continental has no First class, Business and First are combined into one class: Businessfirst), so I'll tell you a bit about Newark Liberty Intl' Airport so you get some prior knowledge of it. Newark Liberty is divided into three terminals: A, B and C. United is in Terminal A, so is Continental Express. But the rest of Continental and Continental Intl' arrivals take up the whole Terminal C. There is an airtrain that can take you from one terminal to another, and they are usually not so full. Car rentals such as National, Budget, Enterprise, etc. have buildings all by itself, but they are destinations of the airtrain too, so no worries about lugging your bags all the way to the car rental building. Newark Liberty isn't the main airport of New York, so airlines such as Emirates, Qatar, Air China etc. are all in JFK, although Delta and United, two of the largest airlines in the world (United and Continental are combining), are both in Newark Liberty. The airport has a big number of duty free stores, restaraunts, snack bars and stores, which was really helpful for us since we had a bunch of time to kill. Newark Liberty doesn't offer free Wi-fi, although some restaraunts do. There is only two or three washrooms in the whole terminal, which was really annoying since all three of the Terminals in Newark Liberty have a decent size. Done shopping. 11:30, it was time to board.

BOARDING: I am a gold member of United, and United and Continental are combining, plus they are both in Star Alliance, which meant that I got priority boarding. "eliteAccess" is Continental's frequent flyer program, and of course, they get priority boarding too. There was a decent number of eliteAccess card holders, so there was a line even at the priority boarding gate. Done boarding, I've started my trip. With my seat at the back row, I knew that this was going to be a looooooooooooooong flight. We took off almost 45 minutes later than scheduled, which was not really pleasing for an international flight.

THE SEAT: No matter what you do, even if you have to be seperated from your family, DO NOT SIT AT THE BACK SEAT OF ECONOMY!!! There are 5 reasons why: First, these seats have really limited recline, which makes it really uncomfortable to sleep in. Second, the IFE boxes under the seat in front of you is closer to you than any other row, which makes it impossible to stretch a bit. Third, the flight attendants are so loud!!! I was woken up a few times from the noise of the galley. Fourth, the flushing of in-flight lavatories are really loud, and there are two lavatories right behind you. Fifth, for some reason, all the people in economy tend to hang out in the spaces beside you, which means that about five people are hovering over you at the same time, making it impossible to have any privacy or sleep. DO NOT SIT AT THE BACK ROW!!!

IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT: The new economy seats of Continental all have personal seat-back IFE screens. Consisting about 190 movies, 140 TV shows, 100 music albums and 30 games, which is a decent number for economy. There are a bunch of featuring movies such as Avatar, Karate Kid, etc. The movies and TV shows are great, although the games Continental offers are all very old, uninteresting games. Surprised that there were no Lady Gaga, Beyonce, or Justin Bieber albums in the music selections. All the albums have at least 3 years of history, which means that Continental obviously hasn't updated its music for quite a long time.

FOOD: All the economy passengers are served with real silverware, which I really like. The food tasted like airplane food. Hard, rubbery, tasteless. No surprises in that. We were at the back row, as you know, so by the time that slooooooooow moving cart got to us, there was only one choice left from the two: Beef with rice. The sidedishes were: a plate of good-tasting salad with Italian dressing, a crunchy brownie, and a small loaf of bread with butter and jelly. Standard airplane meals.

SLEEP: Couldn't get a wink of sleep in my seat because of the noise and the uncomfortableness of the seat. Again, DO NOT SIT AT THE BACK ROW!!!

ARRIVAL: Having taken off 45 minutes late, We arrived at Beijing later than scheduled. We got off the plane last, and lugged our jet-lagged bodies off the plane.

OVERALL: Not a bad flight, but food and policy of booking seats needs improvement. If the full score was 10, I'd give this flight overall a 6.5.