Avoiding EWR?
 

I am sure most of us that CO forces to connect thru EWR for TATL flights hate it! If only CO would fly non-stop IAH-MAD!
Have relatives flying MAD-IAH today Saturday & their flight CO145 (MAD-EWR) has been delayed 12 hours due to crew time out at EWR. Then they'll have about a four hour layover before boarding a flight to IAH.
Hopefully they can wait in the PC since they are flying BF.

Indeed, they can.

The crew rest thing is only a bit surprising given the weather issues out of EWR last night.

Any offer to rebook on the UA flight operated by EI?

You are assuming they will have tons of time left, a good portion of the four hours may be taken up by clearing immigration, waiting for the bags, customs, and security.

Though after a recent international to domestic connection at IAH, I will do everything I can never to fly through there again.

Same here.

Get Global Entry (if you're a US citizen). When I fly into EWR on an international flight and have only carryon, I average 10-12 minutes from walking off the plane to clearing customs. It makes all the difference in the world.

Also, Global Entry flyers can qualify for expedited screening through security at DTW, ATL, MIA, and DFW. Should be a huge benefit when it comes to EWR.

http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/escreening.shtm

I find EWR to be pretty good, don't know why there's all that hatred, there's many airports much worse.

Even with GOES customs clearance can throw a huge wrench in it. I've run into the back of a 747 from Seoul twice (LAX, JFK) and had to wait 20+ minutes for a customs officer in the nothing to declare line. If only more airports would adopt the one-stop option that IAH has for people with carry-on baggage only.

If you happen to arrive at EWR Terminal B there is a way to bypass the non GOES people and get right out. They definitely need something better for Terminal C.

Yes, there is a dedicated GOES customs line at B. When I had my interview at the Global Entry office, they told me that I could bypass the customs line, show the agent the sticker on the back of my passport and hand him/her the ticket from the kiosk. I've done that a couple times at Terminal C when there was a long line and had no problems (other than a strange look from the people at that head of that line).

I am a bit of a loss as to why you dislike EWR. I find it a much more pleasant airport to route through that IAD and certainly enjoy it more than IAH. Although I understand many prefer long non-stops, given the choice to fly IAH-Europe non-stop or connect on the coast, I'd always choose the connection to break the time in the aluminum tube up. Moreover, with a connection there is always greater chance of being able to pick up a DB certificate along the way.

That there was a flight crew rest issue certainly cannot be blamed on EWR; crew issues happen system wide. Certainly crews from IAH need to sleep too.

A four hour connection, moreover, doesn't seem that long. I am sure that those of us who do substantial flying have all had longer connections.

What would be interesting, however, to know would be what alternative itineraries were explored either by the passengers or by CO at MAD or elsewhere. How many passengers could have been offered to re-routed from MAD through either other European cities (BCN, LIS, CDG, LHR, BMX, DUB, etc.) or other US gateways (BOS, JFK, IAD, CLT, ATL, ORD, etc) to still arrive at EWR or their other destinations quicker than waiting out the delay at origin? Remember, originating out of EU, CO has both a legal and a financial interest in minimizing the delay.

While I agree with you that EWR is nice, I find IAH to be much, much, much better.


Plus, it's better to fly to all those so called "2nd, 3rd, and 4th tiered" cities straight from the US, instead of having to connect in the European he!! hole, FRA.

I think you overestimate CO's respect for the EU regs (2004/261?).

The bottom line is EWR does not handle weather issues well. Friday was a disaster. many flights were more then 6 hours late and lots of missed international connections. Some flights left after 1:00AM. There is really not much you don it's been like that for some time.

Considering that there were huge storms, and other airlines from places like PHL also had a lot of flights out at one, its not an EWR problem.