Delta vs. Continental for transatlantic travel..
 

Hi, any thoughts on which might be better for transatlantic flights between East coast USA and Europe? Will a meal be served onboard? Thanks, Greg

Yes, two meals served each way on basically all carriers. Which airline to take depends on what route (and therefore what aircraft type is used) as well as what class you're flying.

Delta is SkyTeam and Continental is Star Alliance. Do you have miles with either? I would avoid Delta's 747 and Continental's 757's. I would encourage Delta's A330 and Continental's 777's.

If you call a roll and juice a meal on arrival to Europe, then rkkwan is correct--Two Meals.

www.airlinequality.com

Reviews if you are going coach service food

sucks pretty much equally equally on both.

Recently 2 Onepass CCs on www.continental.com 60000 FF miles

paid with that also got the miles.

Got enough for several free flight tickets that way.

Pretty cool way to do it

Find that the continental fares seem to be most competitive

this year...

Assuming you are in coach, there is not a huge difference between the two. Food stinks on both, and will be limited - eat before getting on the plane, or bring snacks. Delta gives you free (cheap) wine and beer, if that matters.

The biggest difference will be between planes, rather than between carriers. The Delta A330s are probably the best of either carrier, with reasonable pitch, a decent 2-4-2 layout, and AVOD. The Delta 767-400s are similar in comfort to the A330s. The Continental 777s offer better AVOD, but lesser pitch, and a generally less comfortable 3-3-3 layout. So, the top choices, for me, would be Delta 767-400, Delta A330, Continental 777, in that order. The Delta 767-300 is fine, if you don't care about AVOD, as the videos are overhead on most planes of this type. The Continental 767s are also comfortable, but have only the loop videos in the seatbacks. The 757s are generally uncomfortable, IMO, on either carrier.

According to www.airlinequality.com, Delta gets a 3.9 and Continental gets a 4.9. But that is on a scale of 0-10.

I'd recommend Continental over Delta for transatlantic travel, i've had better experience anyhow

Thanks for the replies. The Delta flight between Newark, NJ and Amsterdam, would be on Boeing 767's. I couldn't find any indication of 767-400 or 300.

The Continental flights use Boeing 767 also, but again no indication of 300, 400 etc.

When referring to pitch, is that indicative of the seat's size, width, legroom or what specifically? Greg

pitch = legroom.

Continental only uses 757-200 for EWR-AMS. It's not comfortable in coach, unless you have elite status and can get the bulkhead or exit rows.

You seriously don't want to fly a 757 to Europe if you can avoid it.

You seriously don't want to fly a 757 to Europe <b>in coach</b> if you can avoid it. If you're flying business on Continental, 757s have flat beds and are better than their 767s.