Flying CONTINENTAL B737 & B757
 

I'm considering flying to New Jersey on Continental, but have never flown Continental in my life. I'm hoping that someone can give me a comparison to American/United or the infamously bad Delta in terms of service & plane condition. Thank you.

I like Continental, and they don't charge for meals like AA does. ((b))

Considering the quality of airline food, that's not much of a plus-factor to me!

Well the "infamously DELTA" as you so delicately put it I flew on several times, the most recent this year in April. And I had no problems. Flights were on time, no lost luggage, and everything was great. I have never flown Continental, when we compared out fares they were much higher than Delta to where we were flying to. And I know nothing about American/United as neither one flew into where we were going.

I like Continental but when they are bad, and they can be, believe me, Delta couldn;t possibly be any worse.

I would fly on the one that is CHEAPEST and has the most convenient schedule FOR YOU...I mean, it isn't as if you are going to be on the plane for more than what...5.5 hours max????

Or are you flying internationally?

Well yes, SFO - Nice:
Continental:(B737-757) SFO-New Jersey-Nice.
Delta :SFO-NYC/Atlanta-Nice. We have friends that flew Delta last year and swore they would never fly Delta again; they actually gave away their two $400 Delta certificates to other people because they had such a painful experience(double delays and lost lugage).

I don't know how those smileys got on my posting.

I've flown United, AA, USAir, Delta, Cont, probably 25+ times each, Delta and USAir closer to 100 just because of where I live and fly. I don't find there to really be much difference. I think people will focus on one bad experience. For me, I've had terrible and pleasurable experiences on all of them. They are all very similiar in their operations.

On the other hand, I find Jet Blue, AirTran, SWA, Frontier to stand out in their own ways, but not the big carriers.

:-) You had the : and the ( together which have you :(, then you had the : and the S together which gave you :S ((b))

I would not be happy on those single isle, 3X3 seating planes for those long flights.

Ugh, make that single "aisle".

I agree with Loki about the big carriers.

As someone with six figures worth of freq flyer miles on Continental and American and Delta each, I don't see much difference between 'em. The lack of service is pretty much ubiquitous. I would just focus on schedule, routing, and price. Other than that, don't worry and just enjoy planning your trip. What will be will be.....

I fly both Continental and American frequently and find them to be very similar. If I were going to NJ I would fly Continental if price is not an issue since Newark is a Continental hub, which means if your flight gets canceled you will likely have more options than on American.

CO doesn't fly to Nice. Are you flying Air France from EWR-CDG-NCE? If so, I wouldn't do it. You have to reclear security at EWR from CO to AF, and you have to transit at CDG, one of the worst airport in the world to change plane.

Take the DL non-stop JFK-NCE instead.

Thanks everyone for your replies, they are very helpful in coming to my decision to fly Air France direct to CDG and then onwards. I figure I'd rather be stuck in CDG than in Newark even though I haven't seen much of the Garden State.

I think most of us would prefer getting stuck at EWR than CDG. And if things are complicated, you'll likely get better help from CO at EWR than AF at CDG.

And most of us would also agree that CDG is one of the worst places to change planes in the world.

I thought Frankfurt was the worst place to change planes.

Please, don't equate Newark with the Garden State. It's the industrial area of New Jersey. ((b))

Single aisle B757 international flight is the pits.

Thanks for your input. You're so right CDG is a lousy airport to change planes, so we are planning to relax and stay overnight at the Chateau MontRoyal near CDG before moving on to Nice. On the return we're flying Montpellier to Rennes to do a quick tour of Britanny before driving back to CDG the night before our return flight. Any tips for driving from Rennes to CDG? Take the southern freeway or drive through Normandy? I realize this is the US board but I recognize your names from the Europe board.