Dublin Airport- Newark International Airport
CO23 - United Airlines (As Continental Airlines) , Boeing 757-200WL, Seat 35F, Economy Class (New United Colours)
3193 miles flown, 3193 miles earned
The pictures
I was welcomed aboard, and made my way down the back of the plane. Knowing the full length of what was ahead, I chucked the rucksack in the overhead bin, coat to the side, and settled in for the long flight. Eventually, I was joined by my two seatmates, and a quick look around the plane showed that every economy seat was accounted for.
Waiting
Looks like United made a few pennies on this route today – well not from me maybe, but that’s besides the point.
The safety video played again, and this time it seems Jeff Smiek is still walking around Chicago O’Hare with his staff, but is skipping anything to do with the United Mileage Plus Credit Card, rather just getting to the message of the video. It’s a welcome change considering UK people who consider Mileage Plus Credit cards get small beer in comparison to some of the US Credit Card deals. The safety video played (the same Continental video with Rhapsody in Blue dubbed over it) and soon enough, we were pushing back and under way.
We know who this is....
After allowing an Etihad A330 take off, and a BMI A319 land, it was our turn to take to the skies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLGe3OwE1Xg
The course of the flight was... odd to my thoughts. Rather than striking out west on a traditional Great Circle route, we struck south west for some considerable time before turning onto a great circle path that take us way south of Goose Bay, Newfoundland and make landfall over the Boston area, before taking a path to Newark International.
Flightpath - taken later during the flight
It seemed however I got the first taste of what would the hallmark of the outbound… and inbound flights, which was medium turbulence. It was easier to count the periods where the seat-belt sign was off rather than on.
Because of this, service was delay. Eventually, first service begun
Yes – drinks and pretzels. And it seems that the Continental side of United has copied an idea from TED – cups of drinks and not full cans. And this became more evident later during the flight when they ran out of actual cans Coca Cola (something I’ve never seen at all in all my flying). Yes, it’s a very small thing, but if they’re not overloading the Coca-Cola on a flight… what cuts are being made to the service? It’s a big question..
Maybe it’s that time of year, but there seems to be a lot of cuts to the Continental IFE system in terms of content. And we all know whilst a nice big screen and easy controls make for a great IFE system, ultimately - it’s content that matters. And it was lacking this time.
So we can all guess what I did next.
Yup. For days of airtravel long gone.
Second service arrived – now what catering wonders were to come? Could Dublin louse up a meal… or can the caters actually cook a meal? Admittedly, the last meal I had on the US Airways DUB-PHL trip a few years ago was inedible (Macaroni cheese is not my idea of a meal – sorry) , so I was quite surprised to hear the two options – Chicken or Beef (and no vegetarian option). I went for Chicken, which came with rice, salad, a chibatta style roll and a pre-packaged brownie.
Meal tray
Salad
Chicken and rice
The chicken was cutable and tasted of chicken, and the rice not soggy. Normally a good combination and it was in this case. The roll could had been used as a WMD, whilst the salad was fresh (again - the Continental “salad” seems to be better than “old” United’s Green leaves). The Pre packaged brownie however... was a joke.
Service cleardown was comparatively quick as we bumped across the pond. I took the opportunity to grab some sleep in the meantime.
And when I was not sleeping...
As we started closing in on Boston, the snack service commenced, with a pretty box and a hot product. The hot product was a chibatta bread roll with mystery meat and a sauce, whilst the box contained a packet of french crisps and a Lily O’Brians Chocolate. And when the drinks service commenced, I got something odd - a full can of Diet Coke!
Box'o'goodies
Inside the hot chibatta
The crew we seemingly friendly and engaging, but with a full load of a 757, were extremely busy through the flight.
Landfall
Somewhere over Massachusetts
With time slipping away, it was time to clear down and secure the plane as the pilot was expecting more bumps on the way down. And bumpy it was. A few turns and a while later, the plane was lining up for Newark International Airport
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkXR5seKRVE
The plane landed, and after a while the taxi begun to the 100 gates, docking at Gate 112. After a short wait, the plane was connected to the jetway, and after waiting for the sea of humanity to move, I made my own way off the plane.
Overall: I can see why they choose the 757 for this sort of mission, and the economics of it probably make it work. However, it is tight down the back of the plane – in width more than legroom. Still the service in comparison to “old United” was slightly better with the catering options good (unless you’re a veggie) and a friendly service. The preclearance to the USA is just the icing on the cake.
The plane had docked in C Concourse at Newark, and connected directly into the USA without any customs formalities (those long completed in Dublin, so the arrival was treated as a domestic arrival. Or to put it bluntly – no TSA to deal with. Those of you who know of my “love” of the Transportation Security Administration was relived not to deal with them after a 7 hour 30 flight.
Newark C Concourse
Instead, I headed straight to the monitors to find a delay had been posted on the LAX flight with a big gate change from 126 to 86. I wandered down to the lounge
Lounge Stop: United Club (Presidents Club) C Gates near the 80x range.
I took the lift upstairs, and checked in. I then found a perch to do some blogging with, as well as grab a couple of cups of coffee. The lounge was comparatively quiet in comparison to the last time I was here (bear in mind the last time I came through EWR, it was a Monday late afternoon/rush hour).
The WiFI appeared to work for once – which was nice. And unlike the Red Carpet Clubs – no need to use silly T-Mobile WiFi keys. Again a simple thing.
I kept an eye on the board and with 20 minutes to go before stated departure I headed down to the gate – to find boarding had not even begun yet. No rush. And with a 1:30 hour layover at LAX, no rush at all from me… or so I thought…
Next flight at the gate...