A review of Continental Airlines by an infrequent flyer
Written: Jun 14 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very friendly and professional staff
Cons: Comfort of planes
The Bottom Line: For service Continental Airlines is very good. However, the comfort of the planes is not very good.
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| klueger's Full Review: Continental Airlines |
This review is written by an infrequent flyer. So for those who don’t fly very often this review might help you in your decision to fly Continental Airlines or not to fly with them. A friend and I flew on one of Continental‘s express jets non-stop from Pittsburgh, Pa to Houston International airport. We attended a board meeting for Faith Alive ministries which was actually extremely enjoyable.
Now my thoughts about Continental, Check-in at Pittsburgh went smoothly. They do not have curb side check-in, but that was no big deal for us. An agent did help with the final step of the check-in process and was extremely helpful. In Pittsburgh the agents take your luggage exactly where you check-in. Our return trip was different. I don’t know if it’s because of the airport, but you check-in your luggage then you take your luggage to another area for them to send it to the plane. The Houston agents where polite, however, due to recent layoffs they seemed really stressed and over worked. We never the less received respectful treatment which is a positive for continental.
I must say that Continentals staff all seemed very pleasant and professional. I have no complaints about any of the staff. The air attendants are great, and the pilots where all professional and got us to Houston and back to Pittsburgh safely. This is always a good thing as far as I am concerned.
I was happy with the snacks we got on the flights. I expected a bag of nuts or something similar. However, Continental provided crackers, pepperoni, a cheese spread (which I did not try), a bite size candy bar and a bag of trail mix. I was really surprised that what they call a lunch snack contained all those items. On the flight home we had what they call a dinner snack. This consisted of a tuna or turkey sandwich, a bag of corn chips, and a bite size candy bar. They also have a decent selection of beverages. The alcohol drinks do cost and additional $5. Not being a drinker of alcohol I cannot comment on the quality of their alcohol.
I would have to say the main problem I have with continental is the actual comfort of the seats on the plane. These seats have no cushioning what so ever. On a 31/2 hour flight your back and buttox regions are incredibly sore by the end of the flight. The planes are very small and cramped. I am of average build and height and I felt cramped, I can only imagine how taller people feel on these planes.
The overhead compartments also do not have much space. Neither my friend nor I had large carry-on bags so we could easily stowe them under the seat in front of us, but many people had trouble storing their carryon luggage. Continental does have a procedure to check larger carryon luggage, but not having to deal with this I am not sure how it worked. I do know that you could not access this luggage during the flight.
Retrieving our luggage was no big problem. On our return flight home, though our luggage went on an earlier flight than we did so it was waiting for us outside the lost luggage claims office. So we did not have to deal with the staff in the lost luggage areas. This was a blessing.
The other problem we had which created a little stress for us was our flight back to Pittsburgh was delayed this not the problem. The problem was the time and flight was displayed over the gate departure door. It was displaying the delayed time. All of a sudden it went back to the scheduled departure time, and then completely disappeared. It also disappeared off the board of flights. The customer service attendant got swarmed with questions about our flight. He looked it up and informed us that the flight had departed. Seeing 50 or more people having questions about this flight he informed us he would look into the matter. He did call and got the flight back up rather speedily. However, this computer glitch which I believe was probably caused by human error did create a little concern for a good amount of people. Especially those of us who do not fly very much and have not experienced this type of thing. The representative though was calm and reassuring again showing that Continental does employ top notch people.
My overall impression of Continental is they have a good staff. The people working for them are superb. However, the comfort and computer glitches they had will make me think again before flying with Continental. If service is the main factor in choosing an airline Continental is definitely worth flying with. If comfort is the selling factor you might want to investigate another airline.
Thank you for reading my review and I hope you have found it helpful in some way.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
klueger
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Location: Somewhere east of the missippi
Reviews written: 173
Trusted by: 181 members
About Me:
Trying to serve God and not my earthly desires. Know that I love you all
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