continental europe
 

Flying continental this June to paris from cleveland. Anyone fly this route? We are in coach and the plane is a 3-3 configuration. It seems rather small for the long flight.

It is a 757-200, which every airline is following Icelandair and Continental to use across the Atlantic.

It's about the same size as the 707, and bigger than those piston or turboprop aircrafts preceding the 707s; and also bigger than the business jets.

Is it smaller than the widebodies? Yes. Is it less comfortable? Probably. But that's how an airline can make money flying CLE-CDG. :D

Anyways, Continental is starting to install AVOD in coach for its 41 757-200s. First one was completed, and by next June, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 will have it. Along with brand new seats.

Many of the secondary markets, in this case Cleveland, are being started or switched to 757s. I doubt very much, Cleveland can support a wide body jet on a regular basis. We are not talking about passengers only, cargo is huge money maker for airlines, so all the widebodies are being reassigned to routes with heavy cargo loads.

Let me add that CLE-CDG is still almost 50 miles shorter than CO's EWR-TXL (Berlin), and about 200 miles shorter than NW's ( now-discontinued 757) DTW-FRA.

Since CLE is much less prone to delays than EWR or other Northeast hubs, the time you spend on your seat can potentially much shorter.

There's no chance CO will bring a widebody on this route. No 767 or 777 is scheduled at CLE at this moment. And the only 757-200s are those to/from LGW in the summer and CLE (starting next summer), and they're rotated back to EWR immediately.

My friend equated it with riding to Paris in a tin can! :)
But when you are flying on frequent flyer miles, I guess you can't be too choosy!

girlonthego - I have flown CO's 757 EWR-BRS (Bristol, UK) roundtrip, and my parents one-way CLE-LGW. Yes, all with miles. If I have the choice, I'll put ourselves on a widebody non-stop from Houston. But sometimes you have to take what they give you...

It's convenient if you live in Cleveland and wants to go to Paris. But if you're connecting anyways, make sure you have CO check on other partners. On co.com, you can only find NW and AF flights (AF is new this week); so you need to call to get the other partners like DL, VS, KL, and so on.

We actually used Delta miles to fly on Continental. We are going to Austria actually! We are visiting my husband's family and seeing Austria for the first time. Every flight for purchase was over 1300. coach. I was checking all over the airlines prepared to have to pay through the nose for this trip and I spotted these four seats on Continental. I am not from cleveland and have never been. But I don't mind changing there for a free trip. We are from Richmond VA.
They were the only seats offered and they were going to Paris. So, we decided to see Paris and add that to the itinerary! Not too bad. :)
I just was surprised to see such a small plane flying to Europe. I only went to Europe about 25 years ago and we were in a HUGE plane back then!

I see. Well, I hope you'll have one of the refurbished planes with new seats and AVOD. That'll make the flight seems a lot shorter.

What is AVOD?
Thanks.

AVOD = Audio/Video on demand. The 757-200 will have 25 movies, 25 TV shows and 50 CDs to choose from, and you can start, pause, forward and rewind anytime.

The screen is a nice 9" widescreen display with good resolution, though currently, all movies are only presented in 4:3 ratio.

The non-refurbished planes only have drop down screens every few rows.

Here's a bad picture I took from my seat on a CO 757-200, second to last row:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p689752376/?photo=472911047

Thanks for the explanation! I would love to have the AVOD. My teenagers would appreciate it more than any of us I am sure.
Well, I guess if we get lucky and get it, we get it.
Thanks again.

i find the 757 to be pretty comfortable. sucks that it's single aisle, but i like the ride. and the flight should only be a bit longer than, say, JFK-LAX, so it's really not bad! (though i usually fly that route on a 767...)

have a great trip! hope to see your report on your return next summer!

CO told us yesterday that all 41 757-200s will have new seats, power and AVOD by October 2008. If you're going in June, your chance of getting should be higher than 50%.

["Us" meaning those who attend the huge CO/Flyertalk event yesterday in Houston. I will have full report later.]

Interesting thread here. I'm surprised that it is possible to fly non-stop across the whole ocean on a 757. Icelandair do fly 757 but they always stop in Keflavik when flying across the ocean. I heard the Icelandair, too, is replacing seats on their 757's and putting in AVODs.

As long as the seats are comfortable I do not mind flying on 757s long haul.

In the olden days I flew on 707 across the Atlantic many times - they were on BOAC!!!

Thanks for the update on the planes being renovated!
I didn't know flyertalk had events?
I am glad that they are upgrading to the AVOD and newer seats. This will be great if it includes our flights.

lynnjoel: I am looking forward to the trip and will definitely post a report when we get back.

girlonthego - The CO/Flyertalk event is open to anybody with a Flyertalk handle and Onepass number. We get free food for 1.5 days and free tours, Q&A sessions with top executives, etc.

But I will not advertise it here. If one goes to the CO board on FT even once in a while, you'll know about it. I'm not going to tell people who don't visit that board how to freeload on Continental. Sorry.

Wow. I used to read the flyertalk boards a lot. My husband lost his high status with Delta when he stopped traveling so often. We have onepass #'s because we used to travel from NJ when we lived up there.

That is interesting. I am no where near Houston to get in on the free flyertalk event, but I think it is great for the ff crowd that lives near by.
Keep me posted on the 757's. I appreciate all of your info. You have been most helpful. :)

Girlonthego, were your tickets 50,000 miles each or did they make you use double miles (100,000) miles?

I did the Berlin, Newark flight a few years ago on Delta miles with Continental. The flight attendant told me that they pretty much keep the fasten seat belt sign on for the entire flight from Newark to Europe on the 757. Wine is $5.00, but the little drop-down screens were better than the projection television screen. The best option on a Continental flight is to take a sleeping pill and hopefully, they won't wake you up at 2:00 a.m., and tell you, "THE CAPTAIN HAS NOT TURNED OFF THE FASTEN SEATBELT SIGN."

The tickets were 50,000 each. I had been checking Delta's website, but they were offering no freebies at 50,000, only double miles. I figured it would be cheaper to just get more convenient direct flights from Washington DC and pay for them.

Well, prices are high this year. I just happen to be playing on Continental's website and I saw the paris flights. Well, who could pass up a couple of days in Paris to start our trip!

So, seatbeat the whole way? Was it terribly bumpy? Last time we flew to Hawaii, we flew over many severe storms across the midwest. It was bumpy as hell and we were in a huge plane. We didn't hit smooth air until we hit the pacific ocean!

Since I have only been to Europe once and that was so long ago I can barely remember it, I don't remember the flight very well. I have heard it can be bumpy over the Atlantic. rkkwan says they are overhauling all of their 757's next year. So, hopefully we will get one of them.
Yes, the sleeping pill is starting to sound better and better!

It wasn't bumpy, they just like to keep it on so the flight attendants can get around. After all, there is only one isle on the plane. Continental usually waits at least 37 minutes to turn off their fasten seat belt sign and Qantas has it off two minutes after take-off. Go figure.

girlonthego - If you read all of wally's post on the Fodorites, 95% of them are about:

- fasten seat belt signs
- no free booze

Trust me, I've flown CO for years to Hong Kong and Europe many times, and the fastern seat belt signs are never a problem for me. It's not an issue.

I second that. I've flown ~750K miles with AA and few other US based airlines and never had an issue with the seatbelts.

girlonthego - re your comment re bumpy flight, we've flown to Europe from March to October numerous times and only had one flight which was uncomfortably bumpy, and that didn't last that long. You're more likely to have rough flights during the winter, but that's not a given either.

Thanks for the info on the flights gang. I am not worried about leaving my seatbelt on. I usually do unless I need to go to the bathroom. So, not worried at all.
I am glad to hear the flights haven't been that bumpy. That one flight to Hawaii was a little scary when I saw the flight attendents lock down. I was in the exit row and they left dinners sitting all over and jumped in their seats. I turned to my DH and said this is not good! But while the attendent was locked in, she said that this was a normal procedure for them now. It seems to many FAs were hurt trying to keep up with their duties while it was bumpy. It was rocking for a while though. It was the day there were something like 30 tornadoes touching down in TN. We were taking off from Atlanta. Most of the weather pattern that day was crazy. I haven't had too many bad flights. Most are pretty smooth.

With Continental, the Fasten Seat-belt sign will be on and the flight attendants will be walking around pouring hot coffee. If only I could have the entire isle of the plane to myself.

I always keep my seat belt on (but loosened) for the duration of the flight. It's because of the sudden drops - you never know if one will happen. My DH and DS do the same.

Better be safe than be sorry (and injured).

I think the seat belt sign is permanently lit for the passengers' safety.

Did anyone notice that the 'No Smoking' sign has been replaced with 'No Cellphones' sign on newer/refurbished aircrafts?