NWgoldelite

Our itinerary: Jul. 22nd CO#439 MIA-EWR depart: 1:00pm arrive 4:00pm
Jul. 22nd CO#18 EWR-LGW depart: 6:35 pm arrive 6:25 am

CO#439 MIA-EWR First Class 3A, 3B 737-800:

We left for our 1:00 pm departure. We arrived at about 11:45 am at Miami and proceeded to the first-class counter. Thats when problems started. When we walked up to the agent he looked up at us and said, i'm closed. We walked away and stood in-line. If he's closed, i said to myself, whose running the firstclass check-in. The answer? No one! We were waiting and then he disappeared. We waited about 20 minutes. We were not the only ones getting mad. A passenger behind us started to complain as well. Finally, a rude agent from the coach class check-in offered to process us. No apologies either. After all the paper work and document check we were given our seats which were pre-assigned. It was 3A and 3B on the MIA-EWR, and 4D and 4E from EWR-LGW.

Continental does not have a Presidents club in Miami, which i dont understand, and either does Northwest so we had to wait at the gate. We were departing out of gate G8. Boarding commenced at about 12:35 pm. We boarded the 737-800 with pre-boarding and found our seats. After the rude ground staff(I expected that though since we were at Miami, and i highly recommend leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale instead) I was looking forward to some nice flight attendants. We were welcomed aboard by a nice flight attendant. She offered to take our jackets and get us a drink before take off. No menus handed out. I ordered a coke and settled into Continental's First Class seat.

The 737-800 had 4 rows of firstclass with a 2x2 configuration. The flight checked out full in first class. After pushback we taxied and took off. The flight attendant came out of the galley without a meal cart (like on NW) and took passengers lunch orders. The choices were a hamburger with swiss cheese and a bowl of lobster bisque soup or a shrimp salad with a bowl of lobster bisque soup. I had never had these meal choices on this route even though I have flown it before so i was looking forward to it. I ordered the burger. Linens were handed out. Then the food was served on a tray with a bowl of soup a burger and a piece of cheesecake with silverware. A plastic knife of course. I started with the soup. It tasted delightful. I was really surprised of the big size of the burger. It also was very good and filling. The dessert was another story. I took a bit and it didnt taste very good. I didnt bother to finish it. The flight attendants were very nice and topped off drinks through out the flight.

After, I reclined my seat and decided to watch, Continental visions. I got bored with it so I decided to get some shut-eye. The domestic firstclass seat on continental is good. It's a black leather seat that is pretty spacious with average recline. It could use a little more legroom though. After some reading and sleep we landed in Newark on-time.

Since we were in BusinessFirst, we were allowed access to the Presidents Club. We headed for the club and I was looking forward to this because I had never been in a airport lounge before. We arrived at the Presidents Club near the 100 gates. When we opened the wood doors the layout was very nice. The floors were tile and their was a desk with agents to help with reservations. After moving in a little closer there was a room filled with chairs and a TV, to the right of this some showers. and to the left of the TV room many office spaces. Behind the TV room there was a buffet area with some tables. I also noticed, that although the club was big, there were alot of people in the club and it felt a little cramped. There was also a huge glass window overlooking the tarmac. When I looked over the buffet I noticed there really wasnt anything in there. Some chips,crackers,cheese,and cookies. Nothing really to exciting. Also, if you want something to drink besides water or tea you have to go to the bar and this can be a hassle. Their really isnt anything to do in the Newark lounge except read,watch tv,and sit. I dont see why you can't do this in the terminal area. I think that buying a membership to lounges like this is a waste of money. After relaxing in the chairs we had to go to our connection.

CO#18 EWR-LGW BusinessFirst 4D,4E 777-200

We got to the gate, C134, and boarding had not begun yet. Their was a slight delay due to the fact that they had to cater and clean the BusinessFirst cabin. After a while the gate agent decided to board coach since BusinessFirst was not ready. She did apologize however. All the BusinessFirst passengers stepped aside, and the back of coach began to board before us. Shortly after BusinessFirst was ready to board the 777-200. We boarded and was not offered any help finding our seats. We found our seats, 4D, and 4E, in the center. The 777 had 10 rows of BusinessFirst with a configuration of 2x2x2. There are 2 cabins of Businessfirst on the 777. The first one, which we were in, was full. The one behind us was nearly empty. We were in luck because the cabin had the new BusinessFirst seats installed. I had to use the tiolet before take-off(this will come into play later). After getting settled in a pre-take off drink was offered to us. Menus were handed out, amenity kits, and passes to speed through customs in london. The pursor of the flight came around to introduce herself when she gave out the passes for customs. The amenity kit had socks, toothbrush, comb, toothpaste, body lotion, pen, eye shade, ear plugs, and chapstick in it. This was the menu:

Warm roasted nuts served with cocktail / beverage


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Herbed and peppered smoked salmon loin

accompanied by creamy horseradish sauce

or

Prosciutto-style beef with melon


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Fresh garden greens including romaine and Boston lettuce and radicchio garnished with cucumber and tomato slices

with choice of balsamic vinaigrette or buttermilk ranch dressing


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Freshly baked bread and assorted rolls with butter


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Breast of free-range chicken complemented by lemon butter sauce, served with a ragout of artichoke, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and capers Toasted polenta Asparagus spears

or

Grilled sirloin steak enhanced by mushroom sauce and roasted garlic, accompanied by mashed potatoes with minced black truffle, Sauteed spinach with buttergrilled cherry tomatoes

or

Red Snapper Fillet of snapper with a potato crust, accented by lemon herb sauce, offered with chargrilled jumbo shrimp and sauteed Fine green bean, red bell pepper and carrot julienne

or

Ravioli filled with mushrooms and goat cheese complemented by piquant eggplant arabbiatta sauce with toasted pine nuts and pesto sauce


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Select American and imported cheeses accompanied by

fresh seasonal fruit, assorted gourmet crackers and

bread, served with Port wine


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Mark Alexander Country Fresh vanilla ice cream

offered with choice of toppings

or

Warm fruit cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream


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Italian Blend Gourmet Coffee

Decaffeinated Coffee

Selection of teas

Hot chocolate

Timothys Italian Blend Espresso

or Cappuccino available


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A selection of light snacks and refreshments available.

The breakfast service:

Selection of juices

Fresh seasonal fruit

Assorted breads including muffins freshly baked onboard,

warm croissants and crusty rolls

Cereal Served with milk - Banana and fruit yogurt

Freshly brewed Coffee

Selection of teas

Hot chocolate


I got hungry just looking at it. The F/A's then came to take our order. I ordered the steak. We pushed back from the gate and took-off. After take-off I had to go to the bathroom again. When I came out of it the flight attendant looked at me and said, "did you flush it this time in a rude manner" I said oh i'm sorry i think i forgot and went back in. Then when i had to walk through the galley to go back to my seat, and walked by another flight attendant the rude one said,"say excuse me when you walk over people like that". What a rude lady. She should be nicer to passengers especially passengers in BusinessFirst. Thankfully for me she was not the flight attendant working my side of the plane. Instead, for me, it was a nice asian woman.

After I went back to my seat and decided to check out the PTV screen. It's to bad that Continental doesnt have on-demand movies, meaning you cant control when the movies start and stop. I decided to watch, It's all in the benjamins. The TV is used by a controller in your armrest. The TV also has games which really helps pass the time. The appetizer cart came around. I decided to try a little of the salmon and beef. The salmon was great in the sauce but the beef tasted like wax. The salad was also ok and not that great. It took quite a while for the steak to come but when it did it was delicious. It was large sized and the spinach and mashed potatoes went well with it. The truffles on top also added a good flavor. I decided to skip the fruit and cheese and go straight for dessert. The cobbler was warm and moist with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. The catering was very good. Although I wasnt hungry, I didnt see any "skysnacks", as they call it on the menu, avaliable throughout the flight.

After dinner I really wanted to try to sleep. The seat is all electronic and is made up of blue cloth material. The PTV comes out of the armrest. Legroom is more than enough and it's very spacious. The new seat has buttons on the armrest to control, lumbar,footrest, and recline. The new seat also has instant seat positioning. What does this mean? There a little buttons with pictures of your seat. One shows your seat in the reclined position, and the other shows your seat in the sleeper position. If you press one of these your seat automaticlly transforms into the position showen on the button. You can do it manually if you'd like. The seat was very comfortable and it had large bed pillows to go with it too. I slept alot.

I decided to skip breakfast and just have a little cinnamon roll. It was freshly baked and was warm.

Arrival in London was early and we taxied to the gate. London/Gatwick is a weird airport and it was a very long walk from the gate to the customs area. It was then another confusing and long walk from there to the Presidents Club. We had to ask 3 people to get to the Presidents Club. We had to take an elevator down to a lower level and into the club. The club was kinda small and had only about 3 work stations. They had about 5 showers though. The buffet was also bigger and better than Newark's. The one in London had muffins,chips,cereal,and soda and alchohol. Everything was in one place which was convient. The selection was also very nice. A good flight except for the ground staff in Miami and the rude flight attendant. Besides all that it was wonderful!

pallensf

FANTASTIC CO BusinessFirst report -whew, and acrosss the pond too. Congrats on a great trip.

Sorry about the rude FA though. :-(

Safe travels for your future trips. :-)

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Patrick A. Inouye, CMT
volunteer trip reports moderator

pallensf

ps- WELCOME TO FLYER TALK. :-)

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Patrick A. Inouye, CMT
volunteer trip reports moderator

Wiirachay

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the service and also slept a lot. Wish I had a chance to regularly travel up front when I was your age. Sorry to hear about the rude F/A you encountered. I'm quite a fan of CO BusinessFirst product as highlighted by my past (super lengthy) trip reports.

Looks like you're the youngest (gold) elite here! Welcome to FT!

- Pat

PradaFA

Just curious - why don't you flush? Think of it as a common courtesy to the next passenger.

NWgoldelite

I'm sorry if I forgot to flush. Is that a crime? I guess since I forgot to flush I should be treated terribly by the flight attendant, right? People make mistakes, they shouldn't be yelled at, but should be corrected in a professional and courteous manner. The RUDE F/A could have said it ALOT nicer than she did.

yevlesh2

I think the whole point is that I highly doubt that the FA would have dared to a say "did you flush it this time" to a 40 year old man coming out of the toilet.

Why then should she treat one passenger different then other?

PradaFA

It isn't a crime to forget to flush the toilet. But it is disgusting for the next passenger who has to use the lav after you. I've seen many of FAs asking kids have they washed hands/flushed toilets after they've finished. You'd think the parents would be somewhat happy that we are reminding them to be sanitary after using the lav. Its so many nasty germs in there.

dave_261

Not to dwell on it (because it was a great trip report), but it sounds like you forgot to flush the toilet not once, but twice. Frankly, that is a little bit disgusting, as I think that's one of those things that seems like it should be tough to forget to do. Putting the seat down, well, that's just something women need to teach men to do. But flushing... that's another story.

gabbysz

I thought that all London flights left from Terminal B...when did it change back to Terminal C?

Wiirachay

Looks like it's been a while for you.

When CO opened their new terminal C-3, CO moved all their CO flights departing to LGW back to terminal C.

Hope you're not complaining about that. Fortunately, I only had to experience it once switching from terminal C to terminal B to catch a flight to LGW.

- Pat

aisleorwindow

NWgoldelite-
Whether you flush or not , you write very well for your age, and I enjoy your reports.
Keep up the good work.


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"I just wanna wish you good luck, we're all counting on you"
-Dr. Rumack

NWgoldelite

As far as the flushing tiolet goes, quite frankly, I forgot. As I see it, their really is no need to flush a tiolet on an airplane. I don't know if you've gone in an airline tiolet before but it all sort of goes down the hole without flushing. And I forgot to flush it. A friendly reminder would have been nice. But when the request is given in a rude tone, that is not ok.

I LOVE EWR

You are being foolish. There is a HUGE need to flush the toilet on an airplane. Not only is it curteous to your fellow passengers and is the CIVILIZED thing to do but it is a heath concern. It doesn't all sort of go down the hole without flushing. When I enter the bathroom on an airplane I don't want to have to flush anyone else's stuff. Remember for something you don't do someone else has to. I don't think the FA was being rude either if that is your attitude. Don't damage an excellent trip report by saying foolish things like that.

NWgoldelite

I'm not saying that you SHOULDN'T flush a tiolet on an airplane. But the fact that the F/A was rude still remains. She did not say it in a friendly or even cheery tone. It was cold and rude. After that, she yelled at me for walking through the galley. This was, without a doubt, a rude flight attendant. I'm sorry for not flushing the tiolet. I usually do flush the tiolet, I guess I was just excited about the BusinessFirst seat and I wanted to get back.