FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Long Way Home - A Y Class Spectacular with UA and CO
Old Mar 22, 2010, 3:44 pm
  #8  
Kevincm
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Birmingham, West Midlands, UK
Programs: Mucci, BMI*G, M&M SEN, FB Gold, PC Plat, Father of GhettoIFE
Posts: 3,972
Part V - EWR, EWR-LHR and Home.

Newark International


Random pictures
By the time I got to the gate it was the best part of 15:15 - and my plans for the day in complete disarray. What happened to be a nice idea to head over to the Top of the Rock had relied on me being on time. The fact that the spare hour and the rest of the time was gone that I had budgeted into my connection had thrown the day.

Perhaps someone is trying to tell me something, but it's looking more and more like New York and me isn't going to ever mix together going on my previous trips to NY normally ending with short connections and things never working out...

Hardly worth going out - and instead get tiddly on Vodka and Cola.

So with 4 hours or so before the next flight, I took full advantage of the two Presidents Clubs instead. With the time to get from concourse to concourse, another 30 minutes had gone.


Off to Vodka and coke land!

Now, I'm going to lump the reviews of the two clubs together, because whilst the snack selection was no better than a United Red Carpet Club, the "free bar" is a welcome change.

However, the most striking thing in both of these clubs is the sheer amount of people in the clubs. Attempting to find an empty seat in that place was trying to find a needle in a haystack. In addition, whilst WiFi was free within the club, the gateway was taking about 5 minutes to register a computer onto the LAN. Annoying, but still a bit more instant response would had been nicer.


Busy Busy

Eventually, I decided to hike down to A126 to see what boarding was doing. And surprise - yet another mass of people, with the CDG flight boarding next door.


Boarding Meele

As departure time approached, there was still no movement as the plane had arrived late from China and thus BusinessFirst was nowhere near ready, and Economy was barley ready for passengers. Half an hour after boarding was meant to begin, BusinessFirst passengers were held, and Star Golds were allowed to board.

Continental Airlines28/United 3273 - Newark International - London Heathrow Airport
Boeing 777-200ER, Seat 17A
Operated by Continental Airlines


The pictures

After boarding, I was greeted and pointed in which direction my seat was in.

Being darned near enough first on board, I stowed my rucksack, set the camera up, and then waited for the plane to pack out.

Seating is still nine abreast, in a more "standard" 3 x 3 x 3 layout as opposed to United's 2 x 5 x 2. Whist not as tight as as it could possibly be (for example those who have squeezed a 3 x 4 x 3 configuration into a 777), it's still a pain if you need to get up in flight if you're trapped in a window.


Seating

Soon enough, my seatmates arrived and IFE was activated.

20 minutes late, the plane eventually pushed back and slotted itself into the long takeoff queue. Another 30 minutes, the plane turned onto the active runway and pushed into the night.


Turning onto the active


and off we go!

When air born, I preped the GhettoIFE unit, only this is a nice little IFE unit... after it rebooted.


Rebooting IFE System


Based on the Panasonic eX2, this is a wonderful interactive resource, that 1) actually has a very good moving map (yes - sad), but the core thing that makes any IFE system work - CONTENT.

So for one of the rare times, I put the iPhone away and actually watched content on it...


The more things change...

A drinks run was completed, with... well. I had Continental booze vouchers - it would had been rude to say no....


All of you should know this by now.

A food run (with an additional bar run) occurred. I went for the chicken.

Well, the chicken was edible, the rice wasn't bad (so two good marks), the beans.... insta-mash, the salad was crisp and was not just lettuce leaf, but the desert - a cookie. Oh dear.

But there was something I haven't seen in an economy flight for years.




METAL CUTLERY!

Trays were collected in and the cabin went into darkness for this short hop back to the UK, where I dozed off against the bulkhead, only to be woken when the lights were switched on 1 1/2 hours when breakfast was being served.

Whilst the fruit was cold and fresh, pastry... oh dear. I'm still working out exactly what it is...


If you can work out what this pastry thing is, write to ....

Again, a drinks run was done, and the plane was cleared down as we begun our approach over Heathrow.


Morning skies


Being late of course, we did a turn in the stack, coming in over South London, and finally landing at Heathrow, before beginning the long taxi to T4 (as that's where Continental is based at Heathrow - nearer its old SkyTeam partners as opposed to its friends at T1 and T3.


South of the river


and thank you..

The plane parked up at the gate, I thanked the crew and left the plane. IRIS was active, and I proceeded through the UK border and onto the chaos that was Baggage Claim. As far as I could tell, the use of two belts confused things, and to top it off, the lack of priority luggage handling was in full effect as my bags were pretty much last out onto the belt. A quick grr, and it was a push through to Heathrow Connect for a connection to T1/3, and up to the Central Bus station to find my bus had LONG gone without me thanks to the late arrival, and the appalling luggage delivery.



Another £6.20, and I had a valid ticket for the next bus ride... and 40 minutes at the CBS.


Heathrow Bus Station

National Express 210 Heathrow Airport - Birmingham

What can I say? On time, with a driver taking his time and arriving on schedule at Digbeth. The driver helped with unloading luggage, and soon enough, I was in a taxi heading back to my front door


and back home again.

Last edited by Kevincm; Mar 22, 2010 at 3:57 pm
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