Air to Ireland - Continental?
 

Well, I hedged my bets and lost. Had reserved but not booked tickets to Ireland for October on American/Aerlingus for $858 pair. Same flights now up to about $1227+. So our alternative is to fly Continental out of Newark, which is about the same drive time for us as Boston for $200 less. Any good/bad experiences with Continental? (I think we will purchase these regardless, but just interested in the comments.)

(My travel dates are not that flexible, work in small office so can't take too much time at a stretch and am working in a paid holiday!)

My mother usually flies Continental to Dublin...no difference to be honest and its usually cheaper.

In coach: they depart, they arrive, the food is better than you'd get in some poster's houses and worse than in others..in other words, the usual food (I've started bringing my own).
Minimal legroom (you already know that) but I will give a big rave for their individual set back video monitors AND for their entertainment system. It doesn't quite approach the quality on Virgin but it is getting there.

Enjoy your trip and the money you saved.

BTW...how MANY of the "experts" here told you to "wait and buy your ticket later" hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm???

I'm not sure why, but Ireland seems like it's often a tricky ticket to get a good fare.

No way I'd pay $1227 for October though. We just paid less than your original flights were running, for October - flying from the midwest to Budapest on AA partners. On quality, I don't think AerLingus (it wouldn't be AA) would be terribly better or worse than CO. I have heard that Continental has started flying some 757s transatlantic from the east coast, which I wouldn't like, but I don't think those are to Ireland yet.

Expert, I'm not as most of us aren't, as JonJon/TopMan/Singletail/Intrepid pointed out, but since these things tend to go up and down, personally I'd probably keep shopping. $1000 is more than I've ever spent for a flight to Ireland from my area, much less the east coast. But, if you'd feel more comfortable having them in hand, I'd understand that too.

We're flying Continental into Shannon in August & paid around $1,500 for two r/t tickets, which is the most I've ever paid for economy class to Europe. Does anyone know if I can find a lower fare before we go, will Continental refund/voucher the difference?

The first time we flew to Ireland, our tickets (4 of 'em) were $625 per, from NYC to Dublin in July. $510 sounds not too terrible to me now in relation to that, but when I think we spent $1425 for airfare and 6 nights in a hotel in Paris for 2 in February, this is WAY HIGH! But I'm not going to forgo my trip for a couple hundred dollars. DH will have a few less Guinness pints! (right!)

Thanks for the info on the seat back systems, TopMan, I have never been able to watch a movie on those drop down monitors. I was able to watch 2.5 movies
on our last flight, sure helps the time pass!

Leona, I'm too cheap for those $1500 tickets. That's why we try to go off-season!

I flew Continental thru Newark to Paris in May. My first time with them as they rarely have sales from Atlanta. I really liked them, seats pretty comfortable, good movies, food ok, very, very nice service people. Easy, pleasant connection in Newark. I really put them up at the top of my list for coach to Europe. I enjoyed my last flights on BA and Luftansa also. Delta is the WORST airline, horrible seats, horrible Atl. airport, nasty custiomer service. I had flown BA, then Delta, then Continental. I was really reminded how poor Delta is. No comparison.

Allisonm, try priceline. Our first trip to Ireland we booked tickets thru priceline and were put on Continental. We've just returned from Ireland and booked thru AA on Aer Lingus. I wasn't really impressed. Continental does a nice job if not better.

Try priceline -- you have nothing to lose. Plug in your dates -- we have always flown direct from Newark.

If you decide on Priceline, be sure to figure in about $70 per ticket for taxes and fees.

Good luck. ((b))

Dublin flies 767-400 to Dublin and 757-200 to Shannon. 757 is clearly the worst plane to fly to anywhere, on any airline.

Leona - are you paying $1,500 for each ticket, or is it $1,500 for TWO tickets. If it's for two, I don't see how you'd find that to be expensive. If it's $1,500 each, then it's probably a refundable (or almost refundable ticket) - so you may be free to shop around some more.

Budman, I just tried Priceline but their prices were about the same as Continental from Newark. (I don't really mind going to Newark.)

NOW I go to Continental to go ahead and book and I see that they are flying 757s to Shannon. That's a pretty damn small looking plane!! rkkwan, why are they the worst?

allison, not rkkwan, but check the layouts of the 757 vs 767 (777 is better yet)

The 757:
http://www.seatguru.com/continental/B752I.shtml

The 767:
http://www.seatguru.com/continental/B764.shtml

The 757 is a smaller plane. Long, thin, not a lot of head room comparatively. 3-3 seating, single aisle. Not used often trans-atlantic.

Oh, and no personal video screen on the 757

Huge difference between the comfort level of a 757 and 767. Clifton already stated it. But let me expand, by using CO's examples, between their 757-200 International (Shannon) and 767-400 (Dublin).

757 is 3-3 seating. If the plane is full, there's simply no possibility of getting a good seat. You can either
- have a window seat, but climb over two people to get out
- have an aisle seat and have two people climb over you to get out
- middle seat... think about that for a trans-Atlantic flight. Even the shortest EWR-SNN is over 6 hours.

In contrast, the 767 is 2-3-2. You never have to climb over more than one person to get out, and have 4/7 chances of getting an aisle seat. Two aisles for 7 people compared to one aisle for six.

The 757-200 International has 156 coach seats and only two lavatories (one for every 78 people) - at all the way back. If you're lucky enough to get one of the front rows reserved for elite travellers, you have to walk past as many as 25 rows to get to the bathroom, likely the longest one has to walk on an aircraft for that purpose. And with just one aisle, just think about it how to get back there with the service cart out, and everybody trying to use the bathroom.

In contrast the 767-400 have 200 coach seats and 6 lavatories (one for every 33 passengers - i.e. more than double the 757-200). Even if you sit in the last row, you'll only have to walk past 14 rows to use the bathroom.

And Clifton also mentioned that there's no personal video screen on CO's 757.

Well, thank you all for your input. I just booked my flight on Aerlingus, which was my hope from the beginning of the planning stages. Prices have been jumping around all over the place, but I am locked in at $505 per. I am going to try not to look anymore to see how much better I might have done by waiting. We will be on the big beautiful airbus. Ahhhh...