Hawaii on Continental Airlines - reviews please?
 

Hi. I am planning a business trip to Hawaii and have a choice of any airline I want. At the moment, the timings for Continental from Newark to Honolulu seem to be most convenient but I have never used Continental before and have concerns whether their flights are usually on time or delayed and the in-flight service / friendliness of the staff, etc. I did a search on this forum but did not find much of new posts from this year. Will appreciate any feedback people have on their experiences with Continental.

Thank you.

I would recommend Continental over American. I flew Continental to Hawaii several years ago in coach and they do have free food. Well, a cheeseburger is better than nothing. American has food for purchase. Also, Continental had individual tv monitors in coach which does help the flight go a little faster. You may want to check www.airlinequality.com for more comments. You can also visit www.seatguru.com for configuration of seats. Not all seats are created equal.

We have taken this flight several times, and it is now our families airline of choice to the east coast.

New planes, pretty nice FAs, decent food by airline standards, and NON-STOP to Hawaii.

The only flight that was delayed was the time I flew Newark-San Diego, then home to Hawaii after that.

I've flown from DFW to HNL in First on American and the same class from EWR to HNL on CO...IMO the CO service was superior; better food and more attentive service although the service on AA was quite good.

Sorry, cannot comment on coach class.

I recommend Continental. It's a straight shot. A nap, a few movies then, poof, you're there! Don't have to worry about weather delays or making the gate. There is a great food court Maui Taco-YUMMY!
It's the best!!

Have flown Continental once, this past June to Honolulu from Virginia. They have pluses and minuses. First the minuses. Our plane was delayed on the tarmac (sp?) on our first leg departure. We stood there 25 minutes while the plane was refueled because there was weather in Houston the pilot decided he needed to fly around. Then, because we were flying around "weather" (showers??), the flight was longer and added to the delayed departure, you guessed it, we missed our connection to Honolulu. Our connection time was 1.5 hrs which I thought would be plenty of time, but after doing the "OJ Simpson run" through the airport, we arrived at the gate to be told "they just closed the doors". Not happy. We went to "customer service", were placed on a stand by flight two hours later, with no guarantee we would make it on that flight and other option would be six hours later with no way to get from Honolulu to Maui (our final destination). We did make the stand by flight with back of the plane, middle seats (of course, I had worked hard to book our flight early and choose good seats for our original flight). When we arrived in Honolulu were told by Hawaiian Air that Continental did not rebook our connection to Maui, so sorry, you have to wait five hours for the LAST flight to Maui (only one with seats available). Finally arrived at 10:00 p.m., (about 20 hours after our departure) should have been there at 3:00 ish. Not a great start to our vacation, one whole day wasted thanks to Continental and no apologies from them, either. DH was furious and stated he would never fly with them again. On return flight, we had similar experience, delay departure so that all "stand bys" could board flight. Mad dash to connection in Houston to our home in VA. This time, they did hold the plane. That's the minuses. The plus is that the planes did have the individual video screens which was nice. That's the only positive, I think. Next time, we'll fly Delta again (assuming they are still in business). Good luck.

Thank you. I will also be flying from the DC area - matter of fact the Dulles airport in Virginia. Hope I don't go through all those delays. Any more good and bad experiences out there?

Thanks

We flew out of Richmond. You'll probably be fine, flying from a much larger airport. The attendants on the plane were pretty nice, the food was not great, but we had our own "snacks" to supplement. If I could afford it, I'd definately go first class. That is a really long flight and the seats are tight. JMO. Even if something happened to make the flight less than great, at least you can take a deep breath and say "oh well, I'm in Hawaii, so life is good".

Well, I was a little ticked on the night flight home. Flew from Honolulu to Houston (on Continental) and they NEVER turned off the fasten seat belt sign. I guess this is common for U.S. airlines during a night flight. I got up several times to use the toilet and stretch my legs. My attitude is, if it is safe enough for the flight attendants to walk around and pour hot coffee, then it is safe enough for me to use the toilet.

Continental is higher rated than American. They do have newer planes and I would not hold a weather related delay against them.

Sherrie, the captain does not have the autonomy you credit him with. The pilot and the dispatcher must agree and sign off on the routing, and both have none-negotiable vetos. If the dispatcher says that the weather is bad enough to fly around, why would you want to be subjected to it? Death wish (or maybe turbulence wish)? I fail to understand why some passengers seemingly want to fly into weather when experienced pilots and dispatchers say "No way."

Wally, I'm sure you have read news stories about passengers being injured because they had their seat belts unfastened enroute. This is madness! Sure, get up and go to the restroom, but when you are in the seat, keep the belt on. If the captain knows that turbulence lies ahead, he (or she) will make a PA to that effect and you may have to put off your visit to the restroom. Airplanes can move in three dimensions without any warning, and the belt is the only thing that offsets those forces. Color me yellow, but when I am in any vehicle that provides safety belts I keep them securely fastened.

Bobmgr

While I do keep my seatbelt fastened while in my seat, I do refuse to pee in my pants when on a plane. And, as I said, if the pilot refuses to turn off the sign, then I will assume that if it is ok for the attendants to pour hot coffee, it is ok to get up and go to the toilet.

Aurora

American has been the leader in cut-backs in economy.

Wally, just about every airline keeps the seat belt sign on all the time, and the folks up front do PA's telling people to buckle up WHEN SEATED. No one is going to throw you off the plane at the next stop if you go potty with the seatbelt sign on...if there is real cause for concern, a cabin attendant will grab you as soon as you stand up.

I'm waiting for the day when airlines refuse any compensation to pax who fail to buckle up and are injured as a result.

I absolutely love Continental and have flown them to Hawaii three times now. I've never had any problems with flights being delayed, and have always been more than happy with their service.

I agree with a previous post that it's nice to get on a 767 because those have individual TV monitors on each seat. You have a choice of several movies, video games, TV shows, etc. which really can make the long flight go faster.

Continental also feeds you a TON. When I was there last week we got a snack AND a meal from Houston to Honolulu. The food isn't nutritious, but boy do I love the cheese pizza and potato salad :) They also do frequent drink services, have quite a few restrooms, and I've never had any flight attendants that were anything but friendly.

I can't speak about any other airlines, but I will always take Continental to Hawaii unless their service takes a big dive.

We've used them from Dulles to HNL and BWI to Cairns (with a stop in Guam), and MCO to ANC.

I'm a big Continental fan,yet -- on any given day -- you can have a good or bad day on any carrier. But among the domestics, they've been the best for us.

I recently flew from Newark to Honolulu and back on Continental and was very pleased. The TV monitors at each seat made the trip seem much shorter. The flights both going and coming back were actually ahead of schedule. Going to Hawaii, we were fed twice. On the way back, we were fed a snack and a breakfast sandwich about an hour before we got to Newark (it was an overnight flight). I would definitely recommend Continental from Newark to Hawaii.

I have flown Continental, Southwest and Northwest all within a month, and I have to say Continental is giving SW a run for their money, and NW was a distant third place.

Also, if a pilot chooses to go around 'weather', then far be it for me to argue - he's the pilot - he knows things we don't know, so there must be a reason most of them choose to go around (or above) 'weather'.

I have not flown American in 10 years, but back in the 80's, I took one flight where the plane was a 727, and there were like 12 passengers, the crew just told us all to 'come on up to first class', and we had a grand ol party for about 3 hours. THAT will never happen again - ever.

Have to agree, the nonstop to HNL from EWR is looking more appealing now than connecting flights through IAH (Houston): http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/25/dyn...ane/index.html