I recently did a EWR-HKG R/T on a standard BF award and this is a (critical) review of Continental's "premium" product.

Disclaimer: I had a back-to-back flight on SQ on a FC award ticket to India from HKG via SIN and that may completely color my impressions.

As a bottom line, CO BF is a relatively comfortable product that will get you from point A to point B with decent food and comfort. Any BC/FC travel is better than coach (especially CO coach) and so this does the job in that respect. I experienced nothing serious to complain about nor did I find anything exemplary to commend. The following is a nit-picking discussion of things CO needs to do much better in to catch up with its hype and be a contender amongst world-class International airlines.

Cabin comfort: The biggest thing missing from the cabin is lack of noise-canceling headsets. A premium product should have one. Even the cheap Recotons SQ uses would be better than the $5 headsets CO provides. AA's Bose sets are excellent, especially when you land up with noisy neighbors.

CO's new BF seats are great for comfortable sitting. As for sleeping, they fall short. Nothing can beat a real flat reclinable chair. Even the 1980's style slumberette in SQ's megatop 747 FC is better for sleeping than the CO BC chairs. CO's chair has just enough countours and discontinuities in it to make sleeping on your side not very comfortable. The tilt from horizontal will also bother many. I found myself having to pull myself "up" everytime I moved and it was difficult to keep the knees bent while sleeping on my side because the tilt would keep swinging them down.

Another problem is that in the full reclining position, the overhead reading lights in the row behind you, if on, will shine on your face even with the �hood� pulled over. You use the eye shade or hope the people behind you use the snake lights.

The electronic controls are nice but a bit quirky. The three pre-set positions (completely upright, relaxing and flat) are nice but the relaxing position has a strange design in that you can vary all controls after getting to the pre-set position for personal customization except for the seat back recline. I don't know if this is a bug or a feature. Also on my inbound seat, I couldn't go from relaxing to flat directly. The seat mechanism would shudder a bit and quit. I had to go to the upright and then flat position.

Now what really makes CO BF fall short of being a contender in world-class travel are three things: One, the lack of attention to detail, two, the FA service, and three the fact that it is an US airline. Why the last one, you may ask.

Unfortunately, as a US airline, there is a greater chance of having some "ugly American" type tourist crowd as neighbors. A typical "ugly American" tourist is also parochial enough to only consider US airlines to travel giving non-US airlines a distinct competitive advantage in cabin ambience. Now, of course, this is not something CO (or any other US airline) can do anything about but nevertheless that is a factor.

On my return I had a couple of absolutely terrible specimens who seemed to think that anytime they were not sleeping, others wouldn't need to either. For the two couples, one next to me and the one behind me, that kept shuffling the cards loudly and calling numbers out loud and talking loudly to each other across the aisle about how they were not able to sleep during the lights-out period, are you so clueless about people trying to sleep around you? I had to use earplugs which brings us to the attention to detail part.

There are good earplugs and bad ear plugs. The good ones are the ones that you can twist and compress and shove it in your ear so that they expand and fill the contours of your ears. The bad ones are the ones that are just conical or cylindrical and unless you have a matching shape for the ear canal, will never seal the noise out. CO has the latter. AA and many others have the former. This lack of attention to detail extends to many things. Use of regular wine glasses for serving champagne, use of regular coffee mugs to serve espresso (although they do stock the espresso cups), etc. In the highly competitive world of international airlines, the attention to detail is what differentiates the good ones from the wannabees. The FAs can do a lot to compensate for such deficiencies which brings us to the FA service factor.

For those that primarily do domestic travel or only travel in US airlines, the CO BF FA service may appear very professional and efficient in comparison. For those that have used Asian airlines or European ones known for service, the contrast is like day and night. The CO FAs appear to be trained to go through their routines as quickly as possible and appear to do all they do because it is written in some book. Whether it is the obligatory round by the purser in the beginning, the menu selection rounds, the water service or food service, it appears very scripted and mechanical. The US airlines do better or worse depending on how good a script they have. But service in a premier product is more than just following the script.

People have written about the difference in the service between the front cabin and the smaller back cabin. I hope the back cabin is much better because the front cabin service was rather lacking especially if you are in the back starboard section (3/4 E/K/L). There just aren�t enough FAs to do both aisles simultaneously for many of the services. They also don�t seem to have the protocol mastered when both center section seats are occupied. Sometimes only the passenger in the serving aisle gets served and sometimes both but often the E seat passenger gets ignored when they come down the second aisle. Happened to me several times with different FAs.

They have an espresso machine on these 777s but everytime you ask for one, I got the distinct impression they didn�t really want to serve it (extra work?) at any time. I asked for an espresso when the �last request before kitchen is shut� came around and the senior FA literally rolled her eyes. How much the service script is a factor also became evident in getting coffee served outside the regular beverage hours. When they go through their beverage service, they are religious about placing the napkins out. It is part of the script. When I skipped my midflight snack so I could sleep and asked for a cappucino on waking up, the dourest looking FA I had the �pleasure� of being served by on both trips plunked a cup in front of me with quite a bit of coffee dripping outside. No napkins. When she removed the cup, she did nothing about the pool of coffee on the tray to my utter disbelief. Not even an offer of a napkin. I assume there is no CO script on how to do unscheduled service.

I woke up in the middle of my sleep due to the aforementioned noisy neighbors and found my amenities kit was missing the ear plugs. I asked the senior FA if I could have some earplugs. On better airlines that train FAs for service, the response would be something simple like �Of course, sir. Will be back in a moment�. Not on CO. She rifles through the amenities kit while I am waiting half asleep despite me telling her that it is not there. Says �Will have to see if I can find any� and to my disbelief �we are serving the midflight meal soon and you might as well stay awake� as if the request was an imposition. I was too groggy to explain to her that �I might want the ear plugs even if I wanted to stay awake or that I might want to skip the meal altogether�. I did skip the meal.

The BF service was pretty much �do the obligatory rounds� as efficiently as their individual capabilities allow. One doesn�t necessarily need the pampering from SQ FAs but the cabin service in a premium product ought to be more than just the �obligatory rounds�. While I am sure there are some FAs that are exceptionally good in this matter, it is obvious that it is entirely because of what they are personally and not part of the CO �culture� training.

The above is precisely why CO BF service seems like a poseur rather than a contender in the highly competitive world of international premium service. The standards are much higher than what CO has set for itself. It is a decent BC. The �First� part is unfortunately more marketing than reality.

A good, spot-on analysis.

I am wondering, since most of the airlines have improved departures and arrivals, that CO employees are NOT getting as many monthly bonuses for FIRST place. And further to dissappoint is the fact, that the second and third place bonuses were discontinued!


That could account for the less then 'happy' service! I will never forget the HUGH smile a FA got on her face, when I asked if she had gotten her monthly bonus earlier this year! She had just gotten it that day, and if I recall pulled it out to show me!!

That Happy face smile used to be put on every employee face on getting their checks.

[This message has been edited by classy (edited 11-29-2002).]

venk-

I will grade your essay an "A+". A very nice complete B/F analysis. When traveling I always carry a pair of comfortable industrial strength ear plugs, a comfortable eyeshade (on old DL one) and my own personal Sony NC-20 noise cancelling earphones whenever I travel on a bus (great for the Carey NYC-EWR trips), Amtrak, airlines etc.

Do note, noise cancelling headphones do not attentuate speech well, they are designed to reduce other frequencies.

MisterNice

Superb.

That marketing line about "intl. first class service at business class prices" is just cr*p. Many J class projects are way better (CX, SQ, BA)--let's not even talk about intl. first class.



[This message has been edited by Babu (edited 11-30-2002).]

I guess it's all a matter of opinion-- and I haven't flown in the new BF seat, but flew dozens of r/t's in BF in pervious years-- but I personally don't prefer CX or BA J-class' seating to CO's BF. I like the service and food better on CX, and CX's new J-class has it's charms, but I'd prefer a BF seat-- especially when it's crowded. F on any of these carriers, of course, is a different matter altogether.

I'd also agree strongly with MisterNice's points:
1. Conventional NC headphones do virtually nothing to attenuate loud passengers-- not what they were designed to do.
2. Bring your own NC headphones, earplugs and comfy eyeshade. I never travel without these items, despite that fact that they are always supplied in the F-class amenity kits.

Noisy, obnoxious neighbors can happen on any airline in any class, IMHO. In fact, QF F-class has supplied me with a couple of "we used ALL our miles to get here and are gonna' "enjoy" it to the fullest" once-in-a-lifetime types-- probably CO redeemers, not sophisticated OneWorld types . I'm talkin' about the loudest, dumbest, most selfish rubes you could possibly imagine. So, IMHO, just being on an international carrier does not guarantee well-behaved cabin mates.

Consider this thread, for example:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum85/HTML/001286.html
(not for the squeamish)

I am sorry that you had such poor service on your flight to Hong Kong. I hope that you know that this is not typical of Newark based international crews. It is true that morale is down somewhat, however that does not excuse the lack of basic etiquette.

The old amenity kit had the compressible earplugs. As a matter of fact, the current coach earplugs are better in that respect. Next time, ask them to get you a pair from coach.

I don't know if these new earplugs are part of some cost-cutting measure, but I doubt it, since coach still gets the better ones. So I think its more a lack of attention to detail (with which I agree completely, not just for CO, but in general for any US-based service provider of any kind) than anything else.

Disclaimer: I recently read reviews in the trip report forum and this a (critical) review of this review.

You probably received 3 food services and didnt talk in depth about the food at all. The food, seat, and service are usually the most important part of any B/F review...I'm sorry that you didnt go into the food more. Please do if you have some time.

As for the other parts of the review, I would tend to agree with you on the product's quality. The flight attendant's do not seem to understand that they need to match their service with the quality of the product they are delivering. Many times in BF CO offers excellent service components (the food, the seats, etc.), but the FA's go through the motions as if they were in the back. With prices in the range of $1000 an hour it is imperative that the FA's increase their service level to at least that of...ummm...maybe a Ritz Carlton reception desk employee (not the concierge...the airline would not be able to hire such persons at FA compensation levels).

However, comparing this product to SQ doesnt make much sense. They are not CO's primary competitors. If you were running CO I bet you wouldnt spend your precious few $$$ chasing SQ.

UAL, DAL, NWA, U, AMR and BA are the competitors and only BA can make a solid case against CO's J product. All in all I am happy with CO's J service vs. BA. As one in the side sleeper majority, the new seats have made quite a difference.




[This message has been edited by DrivingRain (edited 11-30-2002).]

Aside: DrivingRain, do you mind deleting the quote of my entire post from your post? You should be able to edit it even now. Thanks.

About the food:

An evaluation of the food depends on one's personal tastes and whether one normally dines at McDonalds, Mom&Pop Diner, or a home cooked gourmet meal.

I don't personally rave about any of the airline food whether it is SQ or anyone else. As long as they are not inedible.

Wine selection was decent. M&C for Champagne rather than DP as in SQ unfortunately . The Red Bordeaux was drinkable. It is always nice to have any Port after dinner.

All I can say is that the food on CO was decent enough to not distract for me. One highlight was the excellent ingredients for the Salad. Appetizer choice of Shrimp was disappointing. Shrimp turned out to be tough and dry.

The dim sum was ok.

The Grilled Chicken entree was good but not good enough for me to finish both pieces. The rice bowls were decent.

Bread selection was good all around.
They ought to provide olive oil as an alternative to Butter as SQ does.

The nuts were just Cashew nuts (also on SQ). I prefer a mix. Perhaps they are afraid of allergies.

Desert choice is really lacking. Just ice cream with toppings or cobbler with ice cream topping. They ought to provide more variety.

While I don't mind airlines substituting local products from the destination, they should never substitute chocolates with anything but from Europe. Chocolates from anywhere else just don't have enough Cocoa content and is dominated by Sugar and Vanillin. Hong Kong made pralines just don't cut it.

As far as competing with SQ is concerned, it is CO's business decision as to how they set the standard. You are right that they do not have to set the standards to SQ and such. Unfortunately, US airlines have a fairly low standard in service for international flights. So claims relative to those don't impress me much.

Only cashews...what a shame.

At that price, one has a right to expect more.

Wow....attitude from a EWR-based F/A. What a shock .
Perhaps this is part of the problem mentioned in the original post.

Most of my travels this year have been on NW, despite my status on CO. Why? Attitude. There are some GREAT CO employees. But many have an the attitude of "we are CO, we are great, you have no reason to complain". For that reason, my relatively extensive travel budget tends to be spent else where.


------------------
Friends don't let friends fly RJ's
I am not real smart, but I can lift heavy things.

Is that sarcasm I detect?

Cashews are indeed one of my favorites and are not cheap compared to peanuts and walnuts. However, as a gourmet ingredient, just eating a bunch of cashews by themselves is like eating a pile of caviar by itself or a slab of pate by itself. Gets boring very quick. Cashews are best used to garnish and complement other things. A well chosen mix of nuts with various tastes and textures is a lot more appetizing especially with a glass of champagne. Hence my preference...

Of course, if the choice is between a bag of peanuts and a cup of cashew nuts...

this is superb analysis that i hope you shared with Continental and not just us flyertalkers.