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Contiental Airlines International Flight to Rome

Contiental Airlines International Flight to Rome

Old Oct 17th, 2005, 03:41 PM
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I just returned from Paris on Continental (transferred at Newark also). I can add one thing: you have to buy the earphones to tap into the entertainment system: $5 or 5 euros. I thought this was pretty petty for a 7 hour flight. You can keep them, though, and use them over and over again on other CO flights.

I agree with everything everyone has said about the seats, bathrooms and lack of amenities. Our crews were good on all 4 flights. And the food was passable to horrible.
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Old Oct 17th, 2005, 04:37 PM
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Thanks for the further info. You all might have a point about connecting at EWR vs. CDG with an eldery person who cannot walk far. Something for me to keep in mind.
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Old Oct 17th, 2005, 05:01 PM
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Some of Continental's planes have individual video screens, others do not. Check your particular plane on seatguru.

We chose Alitalia on the way back for the video screens. And guess what, they didn't work most of the time! When I asked about it the flight attendants were like, so what. Both flights were miserable - just the norm.
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Old Oct 17th, 2005, 05:05 PM
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One problem with CDG and the elderly - when we landed at CDG we had to take a VERY SLOW and VERY HOT bus ride to the terminal. They literally unloaded our plane on the tarmac and shoved us onto these buses.

As I recall, they had NO seats. Everyone stood. The reason I recall that is because I was standing next to a very tired woman (well, we were all tired obviously) who was carrying a baby and all her luggage. I felt so bad for her. She was just a little thing too. I offered to help her, but she said she was OK. (She looked like she was going to die actually.)

Does anybody else recall that those buses have no seats???
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Old Oct 17th, 2005, 08:38 PM
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CO does not charge, and has never charged, for headsets for trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flight. dabolin is either mistaken, or some crew on your flight are robbing the passengers.

EWR-FCO is currently scheduled with their new 767-400. Since FCO is beyond the range of the 757 from EWR, it can only be served with the the 767-200, 767-400 or 777-200. All fairly new, all with individual screens.
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Old Oct 17th, 2005, 09:01 PM
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Another thing to think about if you take the CO flight through Newark is that the immigration and customs lines can be quite long. The last time I flew FCO-EWR-IAH, it took almost an hour just to get through customs. That was about 5 years ago - I don't know if that's a normal experience or not.

In any case, when we fly IAH-EWR-FCO and back in December, we have allowed 3 hours for our connection on the return.

Also sometimes the connections at CDG are OK. When I connected through CDG in January, I was able to walk from gate to gate. I have no idea how you can tell what sort of connection to expect, it would be nice to know.
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Old Oct 18th, 2005, 07:06 AM
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Thanks again for the further info and details to consider.
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Old Oct 18th, 2005, 07:27 AM
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Perhaps your sister will be able to use the CO lounge with your mother. Sometimes the rules say that you can have one guest.
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Old Oct 18th, 2005, 07:39 AM
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Yes, I've checked into that, as well. It seems my mom can bring in a guest. I just wonder if they'll even have time to use it on either route.
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Old Oct 18th, 2005, 09:32 AM
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I am 6' tall, with long legs. My husband is 6'3". It's hard for us to get too comfy in coach. But we flew Continental coach to Rome in May 2005 and enjoyed the trip as much as possible under the circumstances. The personal TV's make time go faster, we had two seats together on the right-hand side of the plane, and the food was edible.

This compares favorably with the horrible experience we had with Air France last year. We were in a part of the plane that couldn't cool down, and sat in a row with three seats, when there should only have been 2.

Coach is coach, but some coaches are better than others.
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