CO F EWR-SEA-EWR + AS F SEA-LAX-SEA
Sep 24, 2003, 1:43 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: New York
Posts: 7,352
CO F EWR-SEA-EWR + AS F SEA-LAX-SEA
Hi all,
Here is my second September report on my mileage run on Continental in order to qualify for Platinum status next year (I took part of the 3 RT deal). Although I may have doubt about the significance of getting the Platinum status for the following year, this ticket was bought earlier this month with upgrades using miles – I really hate that upgrade games. Then I add a three segment RT from SEA to LAX for my series of 35 segments on AS/QX. Continental’s transcontinental service remains in the top of the US domestic market. If Gordon is proud of one thing, he should be proud of its transcontinental service – excellence and the F/As were pretty good on both segments. I also want to note the excellent ground service provided by Seattle regarding my lost and later recovered camera.
September 20, 2003
CO 1281 EWR-SEA Lv1210 Arr1501
Boeing 737-800 N33262 (262) with mid lavatory
Check in was done quickly with the kiosk. I immediately noticed the elite access label everywhere. To be honest, I don’t find the elite access service any special except these new elite access sign on my boarding card, new elite access signs, and new blue elite access cards at Newark airport (not at the out stations… I assume only at the hub airports). If you ask me, it is a waste of money and I don’t know what is the purpose! The priority line has existed before and elites have always been asked to board first. Sure, you can supposedly cut line now by standing at the elite access line. Nevertheless, most passengers seem to be confused about these new signs and on my outbound flight, everyone just followed the elites. Well, boarding started on time at 11:40am and a full beverage service was offered as usual, followed by menus and headsets. We pushed back on time and our flight was pretty full both up front and back. Due to the single runway arrangement, we had to wait twenty-four minutes before taking off from Runway 22L at 12:44pm. Flying time was five hours and seventeen minutes and we climbed to 35,000ft. Due to the extremely brief showing of the Sky map, we flew past Thunder Bay and Winnipeg… I am pretty sure that the routing is typical.
Seat belt sign was turned off at 1:08pm and lunch began shortly afterward. The steps are pretty standard. First, there is the hot towel, and then the linen to place on your table, and then the warmed bowl of cocktail nuts, and then appetizer tray, then breads, and then salad, and then main courses, followed by ice cream and tea/coffee orders. Here is the menu transcript, which applies to all transcontinental flights this month (EWR-LAX/PDX/SFO/SEA/OAK/SNA).
To Begin
Warm roasted nuts served with your preferred cocktail or beverage
Appetizer
Lump crabmeat topped with shrimp accompanied by cocktail sauce
I really love these menu writers. They manage to make these rather ordinary food looks magical. Well, two small pieces of crabmeats were served with two pieces of cocktail shrimps (as featured on a number of CO’s hors d’oeuvre plates). Nothing too magical, but at least Continental was serving an appetizer.
Salad
Boston and Romaine lettuce with Roma tomatoes, English cucumbers, orange, chopped walnuts, and a Kalamata olive, offered with your choice of Cabernet Sauvignon vinaigrette or Parmesan peppercorn dressing
Freshly baked sourdough bread and assorted rolls with butter
A nice fresh salad with nice vinaigrette – bread basket features French rolls, wheat rolls, pretzel breads and fresh sourdough loaves.
Main Courses
Grilled Steak
Sterling Silver New York strip steak with a pepper rub, complemented by Port wine sauce
Sliced, oven-roasted red and sweet potatoes with herbs
Fine green beans, turned carrots, and pearl onions
Or
Breast of Duck
Roasted breast of duck accented by balsamic cherry sauce, offered with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed baby spinach, medley of vegetables including bak choy, corn, carrots, and yellow sunburst squash
Or
Seared Salmon
Complemented by shellfish sauce, served with a three grain mix of rice, orzo, and lentils with carrots, onions and roasted red tomato, topped with grilled green asparagus, and cherry tomatoes
I chose this entrée, which was pretty decent. The salmon was freshly grilled and did not become hard, but Alaska seems to handle the salmon entrée better than Continental’s chefs.
Or
Pasta Bowl
Tricolor penne pasta enhanced by puttanesca sauce with grilled red pepper, artichoke hearts and Kalamative Olives
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese will be offered with your pasta.
Dessert
Vanilla Ice cream offered with your choice of toppings
During the lunch service, the movie, How to Lose a Guy in Ten days, was shown. Okay, CO is charging folks $5 for the headsets and can CO show some more recent movies. I watched this movie at AA and various international airlines in July. Domestic US flights usually see more recent movies. Well, after the movie, we had the infamous Continental’s vision. Well, I feel asleep after the dessert and did not wake up till the final water service. Descent began at 5:35pm EST and then we landed on Seattle’s Runway 34R at 3:01pm (SEA was three hours behind from EWR). We parked at gate B14 a couple minutes later.
After I deplaned, I headed towards Alaska for check in and then headed to the Alaska lounge. Just as I was setting up my laptop, I suddenly realized that I lost my camera at my Continental’s flights. I immediately headed back towards the Continental’s ticketing area. They called ramp and could not find anything. Then I was sent to the baggage claim area and then given the numbers to call small article recovery center and filed a report. The staff was friendly enough and I was told to check again before I headed back to EWR the following afternoon. Thankfully, when I checked in the following day, the nice baggage agent asked me to descript the camera and then she remembered it. She was just about to send them off to the Houston headquarter. She opened the package and returned the camera to me. It was certainly good service. Sadly, Continental changes things so dramatically that flying CO is not a possibility in the near future.
AS 552 SEA-LAX Lv1753 Arr2026
MD-80 N944AS
Well, after the Continental’s episode, I returned to the Alaska Board room. I was surprised that free wireless service was available at the Board Room… so much for enrolling in the Wayport program. The usual arrays of snacks and drinks were available but the usual supplies of AS and QX magazines disappear. From the BR, I saw my MD-80 arriving on time from San Jose. It was parked at gate C3. The flight seemed fairly full for a Saturday evening. Boarding began at 5:23pm. As most MD-80s, overhead spaces were hard to find. Most passengers were having a hard time in storing all their bags. Some passengers in F were forced to the valet service, and some late arriving folks in Y had to check their bags. Catering came a bit later than expected, but water bottles were passed out shortly after. Door was closed at 5:47pm and we pushed back four minutes later. We headed to Runway 34R soon after and passed by two European airliners – BA’s 744 G-CIVW in the union flag livery and SK’s A340 (OY-KBA) preparing for their evening departures to London and Copenhagen respectively. We took off at 5:59pm – a beautiful evening at Seattle and we passed by Mt. Rainer again.
Dinner was served on this short two hours and a minute flight to LA. For Y, there was a sandwich service, but in F, a more elaborate dinner was served – no more glass salt and peppershakers, but paper packets. Then there was the new blue and white checkers cheap linen cover, but metal knives had made their grand return. There was no longer a separate beverage and packaged nut service. The service started with beverage and salad. Here is the menu transcript –
Salad
A rather disappointing and extremely small salad – literally there was a single big lettuce leave with two endives, three thin slices of radishes, two tomato wedges and one single olive with Naturally Fresh’s Caesar dressing. Well, AS is making F class more “expensive,” but also making the service worst. That is just not right. Thankfully, it is only salad that suffered. A warmed white roll accompanied the salad.
Entrées
Turkey Tenderloin with a tangy BBQ sauce and glazed onions
Or
Sliced pork tenderloins with a lime ginger soy sauce on top of a bed of noodles garnished with shiitake mushrooms.
I had the pork entrée, which was better than it sounded. Not my favorite dinner entrée, but the pork slices were not dried up as previously served at AS. A pretty decent entrée! But the sauce could be lighter.
Dessert
Apple Pie on a caramel sauce
Best part of dinner, but sadly, not many takers – it was also interesting that it was full sized.
Descent began at 7:39pm and we soon landed on R/W24R at 8pm. We traveled to gate 31B – a nice evening at California. I stayed at the LA Hilton, which was not too bad. I was so tired and was so glad to see a big bed. I tucked in early.
September 21, 2003
AS 411 LAX-PDX Lv0945 Arr1202
MD-80 N944AS
I arrived at LAX early at 8:30pm. There was already a long line. I strongly advice Y passengers to arrive early for the morning rush, especially there were this bank of Mexican flights flying off around the same time. The security line was too bad, as three lines were opened. I went straight to the gate with my itinerary printouts. I used the kiosks inside the security area, but I really appreciate if AS can soon installed a few kiosks for passengers with no bags at the check in area soon. I went to the AS lounge, which was very nice. Now AS owned this lounge exclusively. I sat by the window and not much traffic on this Sunday morning.
No surprise, the same aircraft brought me to LA yesterday was parked at gate 31B and was taking me back to Portland. Boarding time began at 9:15am and there were the usual water bottles at the seat consoles. I boarded the plane rather late, since I only had a small bag with me. The flight was much fuller than expected, since AS cancelled one of its morning SEA flights and was transferring pax to this Portland flight. Door was closed at 9:56am and the pilot told us that we should still be on time if not a few minutes earlier due to tail wind. We took off from Runway 24L at 10:08am. We climbed to 31,000ft and flying time was an hour and fifty-two minutes.
Well, coach got a beverage service and first class got the usual fruit plate with scone. Today, the fruit plate featured two slices of cantaloupes, two slices of kiwi, orange segment, and 1/2 strawberry, and today’s featured scone is an orange scone. A very nice snack for the morning!
Descent began at 11:39am and we landed on Runway 28L at 12pm and headed towards gate C1. This plane would return to LA forty-five minutes later.
QX 2452 PDX-SEA Lv1330 Arr1418
CRJ-700 N615QX
I went to the Portland Airport boardroom, which was nice and I had some Washington States’ chips and a glass of Minute Maid orange juice, much better than those Citrus Valley orange juice served on board. Well, I read a bit and headed towards the A gate area. Our flight arrived early from Santa Barbara (continuing flight), but due to a dent at the front door, we did not board till 1:11pm. Thankfully, the problem was nothing major.
Door was closed at 1:28pm and soon we were off to Runway 28L. After an AA’s MD-80 landed, we took off at 1:39pm. Flying time was twenty-six minutes. Service began shortly. Due to the larger aircraft type, we had an express beverage service with bottled water, apple juice (very small), beer and wines. Featured snack is a disappointing choice of Rold Gold’s pretzels – disappointing. I took a bottle of water. Descent began shortly at 1:51pm, and soon we landed on Runway 34L at 2:05pm. We parked at gate C15 shortly. A rather average Horizon Air’s flight! There would be more of these flights within the next few months.
CO 1780 SEA-EWR Lv1555 Arr2349
Boeing 737-700 N23708
Nothing much to report! Check in was efficient with the kiosks. I used the elite line but still needed to wait a bit. I went to the President’s Club and found a nice refuge there. I checked my email using my Wayport membership (not a smart investment… but nothing could change… so why not use it then). In terms of plane-spotting, there was nothing special other than EVA Air’s Boeing 747-400 Combi with the new livery (B-16483). Our aircraft arrived early from Newark and boarding began on time at 3:25pm. This Baby Boeing was certainly smaller than the –800s. There were twelve F class seats and only one F/A was in charge of F class. Sure the service was still efficient and nice. The usual menus and headsets were passed out, and pre-takeoff beverage was served as well. Door was closed at 3:54pm. We took off on time at 4:14pm from Runway 34R. There was no ground hold of any sort.
Another beautiful afternoon at the Pacific Northwest! Mt. Rainer looked as nice as ever. Hot towels were passed out, followed by nuts – an interesting mixed nuts with few pretzel sticks mixed in. Ginger Ale was my beverage choice for the evening and the F/A provided a superb service and my glass was constanly refilled. A pretty extraordinary Continental flight – a great way to end my CO flying! Here is the menu transcript!
To Begin
Warm roasted nuts served with your preferred cocktail or beverage
Appetizer
Smoked, peppered salmon and a salmon roulade with cream cheese and herbs, accompanied by creamed horseradish
Just as described – not as good as the crabmeat and shrimp combination!
Salad
Mesclun green frisee with buffalo mozzarella cheese, red tomato slices, chopped chives, and a Kalamata olive
Offered with your choice of Balsamic Vinaigrette or buttermilk ranch dressing
A fresh salad with three slices of tomatoes and two slices of mozzarella cheese – great job and the F/A put the salad dressing on a small cup for me to add myself.
Freshly baked sourdough bread and assorted rolls with butter
Breadbasket featured dinner rolls, pretzel breads and sourdough bread loaves.
Main Courses
Grilled Sterling Silver Steak
Tenderloin steak marinated in chimichurri sauce, complemented by bell pepper, onion, and mushroom sauce
Buttered Broccoli florets and carrots
Roasted garlic mashed potatoes
I had the steak, which was nice. It was not overcooked or anything liked that. The sauce was the highlight of the meal. The broccoli was cold, but the rest of the meal was perfectly heated.
Or
Breast of Chicken
Herbed breast of chicken enhanced by morel mushroom sauce
Italian couscous with tomatoes and herbs
Buttered green asparagus
Or
Halibut
Halibut served with herbs and fennel, accented by Café de Paris butter
Shiitake Mushroom with salsify and cherry tomatoes
Saffron risotto
Green asparagus
Or
Pasta Bowl
Pasta shells filled with goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, complemented by spicy arrabbiata sauce
Baby spinach sautéed with garlic
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese will be offered with your pasta.
Dessert
Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice-cream offered with your choice of toppings
Another B-class movie, K-19: the Widowmaker, was shown and followed by Continental Vision. I read for the rest of the flight and enjoyed my ginger ale. Soon we began our descent at 8:14pm Seattle time and landed on Runway 4R at 11:43pm… wow, we landed early! Not expected at the chaotic situation at EWR. Well, we were parked at the furthest gate on the C-Concourse C-139… well we were at least on time. I headed to the Air Train terminal, which took a long wait because it was switching to single-track service at midnight. If you ask me, it was a rather poor design. Fortunately, I had to wait forty minutes for the next train into Penn Station.
Continental had a great product, and it was sad to see these upcoming elite changes.
Carfield
Next week, it was an AS transcon trip – I just wish that delays in Newark would be reasonable, especially the return.
Here is my second September report on my mileage run on Continental in order to qualify for Platinum status next year (I took part of the 3 RT deal). Although I may have doubt about the significance of getting the Platinum status for the following year, this ticket was bought earlier this month with upgrades using miles – I really hate that upgrade games. Then I add a three segment RT from SEA to LAX for my series of 35 segments on AS/QX. Continental’s transcontinental service remains in the top of the US domestic market. If Gordon is proud of one thing, he should be proud of its transcontinental service – excellence and the F/As were pretty good on both segments. I also want to note the excellent ground service provided by Seattle regarding my lost and later recovered camera.
September 20, 2003
CO 1281 EWR-SEA Lv1210 Arr1501
Boeing 737-800 N33262 (262) with mid lavatory
Check in was done quickly with the kiosk. I immediately noticed the elite access label everywhere. To be honest, I don’t find the elite access service any special except these new elite access sign on my boarding card, new elite access signs, and new blue elite access cards at Newark airport (not at the out stations… I assume only at the hub airports). If you ask me, it is a waste of money and I don’t know what is the purpose! The priority line has existed before and elites have always been asked to board first. Sure, you can supposedly cut line now by standing at the elite access line. Nevertheless, most passengers seem to be confused about these new signs and on my outbound flight, everyone just followed the elites. Well, boarding started on time at 11:40am and a full beverage service was offered as usual, followed by menus and headsets. We pushed back on time and our flight was pretty full both up front and back. Due to the single runway arrangement, we had to wait twenty-four minutes before taking off from Runway 22L at 12:44pm. Flying time was five hours and seventeen minutes and we climbed to 35,000ft. Due to the extremely brief showing of the Sky map, we flew past Thunder Bay and Winnipeg… I am pretty sure that the routing is typical.
Seat belt sign was turned off at 1:08pm and lunch began shortly afterward. The steps are pretty standard. First, there is the hot towel, and then the linen to place on your table, and then the warmed bowl of cocktail nuts, and then appetizer tray, then breads, and then salad, and then main courses, followed by ice cream and tea/coffee orders. Here is the menu transcript, which applies to all transcontinental flights this month (EWR-LAX/PDX/SFO/SEA/OAK/SNA).
To Begin
Warm roasted nuts served with your preferred cocktail or beverage
Appetizer
Lump crabmeat topped with shrimp accompanied by cocktail sauce
I really love these menu writers. They manage to make these rather ordinary food looks magical. Well, two small pieces of crabmeats were served with two pieces of cocktail shrimps (as featured on a number of CO’s hors d’oeuvre plates). Nothing too magical, but at least Continental was serving an appetizer.
Salad
Boston and Romaine lettuce with Roma tomatoes, English cucumbers, orange, chopped walnuts, and a Kalamata olive, offered with your choice of Cabernet Sauvignon vinaigrette or Parmesan peppercorn dressing
Freshly baked sourdough bread and assorted rolls with butter
A nice fresh salad with nice vinaigrette – bread basket features French rolls, wheat rolls, pretzel breads and fresh sourdough loaves.
Main Courses
Grilled Steak
Sterling Silver New York strip steak with a pepper rub, complemented by Port wine sauce
Sliced, oven-roasted red and sweet potatoes with herbs
Fine green beans, turned carrots, and pearl onions
Or
Breast of Duck
Roasted breast of duck accented by balsamic cherry sauce, offered with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed baby spinach, medley of vegetables including bak choy, corn, carrots, and yellow sunburst squash
Or
Seared Salmon
Complemented by shellfish sauce, served with a three grain mix of rice, orzo, and lentils with carrots, onions and roasted red tomato, topped with grilled green asparagus, and cherry tomatoes
I chose this entrée, which was pretty decent. The salmon was freshly grilled and did not become hard, but Alaska seems to handle the salmon entrée better than Continental’s chefs.
Or
Pasta Bowl
Tricolor penne pasta enhanced by puttanesca sauce with grilled red pepper, artichoke hearts and Kalamative Olives
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese will be offered with your pasta.
Dessert
Vanilla Ice cream offered with your choice of toppings
During the lunch service, the movie, How to Lose a Guy in Ten days, was shown. Okay, CO is charging folks $5 for the headsets and can CO show some more recent movies. I watched this movie at AA and various international airlines in July. Domestic US flights usually see more recent movies. Well, after the movie, we had the infamous Continental’s vision. Well, I feel asleep after the dessert and did not wake up till the final water service. Descent began at 5:35pm EST and then we landed on Seattle’s Runway 34R at 3:01pm (SEA was three hours behind from EWR). We parked at gate B14 a couple minutes later.
After I deplaned, I headed towards Alaska for check in and then headed to the Alaska lounge. Just as I was setting up my laptop, I suddenly realized that I lost my camera at my Continental’s flights. I immediately headed back towards the Continental’s ticketing area. They called ramp and could not find anything. Then I was sent to the baggage claim area and then given the numbers to call small article recovery center and filed a report. The staff was friendly enough and I was told to check again before I headed back to EWR the following afternoon. Thankfully, when I checked in the following day, the nice baggage agent asked me to descript the camera and then she remembered it. She was just about to send them off to the Houston headquarter. She opened the package and returned the camera to me. It was certainly good service. Sadly, Continental changes things so dramatically that flying CO is not a possibility in the near future.
AS 552 SEA-LAX Lv1753 Arr2026
MD-80 N944AS
Well, after the Continental’s episode, I returned to the Alaska Board room. I was surprised that free wireless service was available at the Board Room… so much for enrolling in the Wayport program. The usual arrays of snacks and drinks were available but the usual supplies of AS and QX magazines disappear. From the BR, I saw my MD-80 arriving on time from San Jose. It was parked at gate C3. The flight seemed fairly full for a Saturday evening. Boarding began at 5:23pm. As most MD-80s, overhead spaces were hard to find. Most passengers were having a hard time in storing all their bags. Some passengers in F were forced to the valet service, and some late arriving folks in Y had to check their bags. Catering came a bit later than expected, but water bottles were passed out shortly after. Door was closed at 5:47pm and we pushed back four minutes later. We headed to Runway 34R soon after and passed by two European airliners – BA’s 744 G-CIVW in the union flag livery and SK’s A340 (OY-KBA) preparing for their evening departures to London and Copenhagen respectively. We took off at 5:59pm – a beautiful evening at Seattle and we passed by Mt. Rainer again.
Dinner was served on this short two hours and a minute flight to LA. For Y, there was a sandwich service, but in F, a more elaborate dinner was served – no more glass salt and peppershakers, but paper packets. Then there was the new blue and white checkers cheap linen cover, but metal knives had made their grand return. There was no longer a separate beverage and packaged nut service. The service started with beverage and salad. Here is the menu transcript –
Salad
A rather disappointing and extremely small salad – literally there was a single big lettuce leave with two endives, three thin slices of radishes, two tomato wedges and one single olive with Naturally Fresh’s Caesar dressing. Well, AS is making F class more “expensive,” but also making the service worst. That is just not right. Thankfully, it is only salad that suffered. A warmed white roll accompanied the salad.
Entrées
Turkey Tenderloin with a tangy BBQ sauce and glazed onions
Or
Sliced pork tenderloins with a lime ginger soy sauce on top of a bed of noodles garnished with shiitake mushrooms.
I had the pork entrée, which was better than it sounded. Not my favorite dinner entrée, but the pork slices were not dried up as previously served at AS. A pretty decent entrée! But the sauce could be lighter.
Dessert
Apple Pie on a caramel sauce
Best part of dinner, but sadly, not many takers – it was also interesting that it was full sized.
Descent began at 7:39pm and we soon landed on R/W24R at 8pm. We traveled to gate 31B – a nice evening at California. I stayed at the LA Hilton, which was not too bad. I was so tired and was so glad to see a big bed. I tucked in early.
September 21, 2003
AS 411 LAX-PDX Lv0945 Arr1202
MD-80 N944AS
I arrived at LAX early at 8:30pm. There was already a long line. I strongly advice Y passengers to arrive early for the morning rush, especially there were this bank of Mexican flights flying off around the same time. The security line was too bad, as three lines were opened. I went straight to the gate with my itinerary printouts. I used the kiosks inside the security area, but I really appreciate if AS can soon installed a few kiosks for passengers with no bags at the check in area soon. I went to the AS lounge, which was very nice. Now AS owned this lounge exclusively. I sat by the window and not much traffic on this Sunday morning.
No surprise, the same aircraft brought me to LA yesterday was parked at gate 31B and was taking me back to Portland. Boarding time began at 9:15am and there were the usual water bottles at the seat consoles. I boarded the plane rather late, since I only had a small bag with me. The flight was much fuller than expected, since AS cancelled one of its morning SEA flights and was transferring pax to this Portland flight. Door was closed at 9:56am and the pilot told us that we should still be on time if not a few minutes earlier due to tail wind. We took off from Runway 24L at 10:08am. We climbed to 31,000ft and flying time was an hour and fifty-two minutes.
Well, coach got a beverage service and first class got the usual fruit plate with scone. Today, the fruit plate featured two slices of cantaloupes, two slices of kiwi, orange segment, and 1/2 strawberry, and today’s featured scone is an orange scone. A very nice snack for the morning!
Descent began at 11:39am and we landed on Runway 28L at 12pm and headed towards gate C1. This plane would return to LA forty-five minutes later.
QX 2452 PDX-SEA Lv1330 Arr1418
CRJ-700 N615QX
I went to the Portland Airport boardroom, which was nice and I had some Washington States’ chips and a glass of Minute Maid orange juice, much better than those Citrus Valley orange juice served on board. Well, I read a bit and headed towards the A gate area. Our flight arrived early from Santa Barbara (continuing flight), but due to a dent at the front door, we did not board till 1:11pm. Thankfully, the problem was nothing major.
Door was closed at 1:28pm and soon we were off to Runway 28L. After an AA’s MD-80 landed, we took off at 1:39pm. Flying time was twenty-six minutes. Service began shortly. Due to the larger aircraft type, we had an express beverage service with bottled water, apple juice (very small), beer and wines. Featured snack is a disappointing choice of Rold Gold’s pretzels – disappointing. I took a bottle of water. Descent began shortly at 1:51pm, and soon we landed on Runway 34L at 2:05pm. We parked at gate C15 shortly. A rather average Horizon Air’s flight! There would be more of these flights within the next few months.
CO 1780 SEA-EWR Lv1555 Arr2349
Boeing 737-700 N23708
Nothing much to report! Check in was efficient with the kiosks. I used the elite line but still needed to wait a bit. I went to the President’s Club and found a nice refuge there. I checked my email using my Wayport membership (not a smart investment… but nothing could change… so why not use it then). In terms of plane-spotting, there was nothing special other than EVA Air’s Boeing 747-400 Combi with the new livery (B-16483). Our aircraft arrived early from Newark and boarding began on time at 3:25pm. This Baby Boeing was certainly smaller than the –800s. There were twelve F class seats and only one F/A was in charge of F class. Sure the service was still efficient and nice. The usual menus and headsets were passed out, and pre-takeoff beverage was served as well. Door was closed at 3:54pm. We took off on time at 4:14pm from Runway 34R. There was no ground hold of any sort.
Another beautiful afternoon at the Pacific Northwest! Mt. Rainer looked as nice as ever. Hot towels were passed out, followed by nuts – an interesting mixed nuts with few pretzel sticks mixed in. Ginger Ale was my beverage choice for the evening and the F/A provided a superb service and my glass was constanly refilled. A pretty extraordinary Continental flight – a great way to end my CO flying! Here is the menu transcript!
To Begin
Warm roasted nuts served with your preferred cocktail or beverage
Appetizer
Smoked, peppered salmon and a salmon roulade with cream cheese and herbs, accompanied by creamed horseradish
Just as described – not as good as the crabmeat and shrimp combination!
Salad
Mesclun green frisee with buffalo mozzarella cheese, red tomato slices, chopped chives, and a Kalamata olive
Offered with your choice of Balsamic Vinaigrette or buttermilk ranch dressing
A fresh salad with three slices of tomatoes and two slices of mozzarella cheese – great job and the F/A put the salad dressing on a small cup for me to add myself.
Freshly baked sourdough bread and assorted rolls with butter
Breadbasket featured dinner rolls, pretzel breads and sourdough bread loaves.
Main Courses
Grilled Sterling Silver Steak
Tenderloin steak marinated in chimichurri sauce, complemented by bell pepper, onion, and mushroom sauce
Buttered Broccoli florets and carrots
Roasted garlic mashed potatoes
I had the steak, which was nice. It was not overcooked or anything liked that. The sauce was the highlight of the meal. The broccoli was cold, but the rest of the meal was perfectly heated.
Or
Breast of Chicken
Herbed breast of chicken enhanced by morel mushroom sauce
Italian couscous with tomatoes and herbs
Buttered green asparagus
Or
Halibut
Halibut served with herbs and fennel, accented by Café de Paris butter
Shiitake Mushroom with salsify and cherry tomatoes
Saffron risotto
Green asparagus
Or
Pasta Bowl
Pasta shells filled with goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, complemented by spicy arrabbiata sauce
Baby spinach sautéed with garlic
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese will be offered with your pasta.
Dessert
Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice-cream offered with your choice of toppings
Another B-class movie, K-19: the Widowmaker, was shown and followed by Continental Vision. I read for the rest of the flight and enjoyed my ginger ale. Soon we began our descent at 8:14pm Seattle time and landed on Runway 4R at 11:43pm… wow, we landed early! Not expected at the chaotic situation at EWR. Well, we were parked at the furthest gate on the C-Concourse C-139… well we were at least on time. I headed to the Air Train terminal, which took a long wait because it was switching to single-track service at midnight. If you ask me, it was a rather poor design. Fortunately, I had to wait forty minutes for the next train into Penn Station.
Continental had a great product, and it was sad to see these upcoming elite changes.
Carfield
Next week, it was an AS transcon trip – I just wish that delays in Newark would be reasonable, especially the return.
Sep 24, 2003, 11:16 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: East Ester, Alaska
Programs: Alaska Million Miler, United Million Miler, Wyndham Rewards Diamond, Choice Hotels Diamond
Posts: 12,148
Thank you, Carfield, for yet another stellar report! I (and I'm sure many others) always appreciate the time you take to describe the meal service. Continental's trans-con looks excellent! It sure would be nice if Alaska would match CO's service up front but I suspect that since most of Alaska's Mileage Plan members aren't bothered enough by (much less even aware of) the lack of culinary amenities to raise a ruckus, things will remain as they are.
I will be flying Alaska's longest trans-con, MIA-SEA, in First in a couple of days. It will be interesting to see how it compares.
I will be flying Alaska's longest trans-con, MIA-SEA, in First in a couple of days. It will be interesting to see how it compares.
Oct 5, 2003, 2:20 am
#4
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: either on a trans-Pac, or on an Amtrak
Programs: Amtrak (AGR) Select, AA Plat, DL Gold, Shangri-La Golden Circle Jade, HHonors Silver, BonVoy Gold
Posts: 67
Carfield --
Great report as always. I loved it!
CO ground service at SEA is excellent indeed. After deplaning from an IAH-SEA in June, I realized I had left my cell phone onboard. I notified the CO folks, who found it and returned it to me within a few hours.
Great report as always. I loved it!
CO ground service at SEA is excellent indeed. After deplaning from an IAH-SEA in June, I realized I had left my cell phone onboard. I notified the CO folks, who found it and returned it to me within a few hours.
Oct 6, 2003, 3:26 pm
#5
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: BOS
Programs: JetBlue Mosaic, WN A List Preferred, Hyatt Globalest, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum, IHG Spire
Posts: 3,966
I was CO Plat in my day with them, and have since defected to US. However, it does seem today that CO has the best domestic F service, and I am even thinking of switching business to them a bit. US has to have the worse domestic F, with plastic cups on all segments except transcon, and they serve the same in flight meal as is sold in Y, but you get a little less. Although again on some transcon flights you apparently still get a full meal. Enjoy the report.