mpcz0

I'm contemplating a couple of carriers for an upcoming European trip, and CO has a relatively attractive main-cabin fare. The trans-atlantic leg of this is IAH-AMS on a 767.

I searched previous posts, but couldn't find any trip reports about this route. So...if anyone out there has flown it recently, I would like to know a little more about things such as:

...seats. SeatGuru shows a 32" pitch, which seems reasonable for the main cabin (worse than some, better than others). Accurate?
...meals. What can be expected? Reasonable?
...other amenities/goodies?

Any information would be helpful and welcome. Thanks!

gman67

I actually took KLM in July and was very happy, 747-400 from IAH free booze, food was pretty good. Space was a little tight (6'3" so not unusual) but seats were more comfortable than CO. Aircraft are generally older with TV in the Aisle.

A colleague went on the CO 767-400 and said it was "just like domestic" they went through after take off with a meal then were rarely seen again. (sat in the back reading etc.)
Also, no free booze or after dinner congac etc.
Of course, we were still etting 100% EQM's etc "in the good old days!"

Don't know if this helps!

CODC10

Never flown this route in coach, but have done it in BF on the 777 (once, AMS-IAH) and noticed a couple of things from sitting in the 2nd cabin and sometimes observing some Y activity:

-First meal is traditional CO transatlantic meal, two choices hot casserole with special meals available
-Mid-flight refreshment of some sort of snack, my particular flight it looked like maybe Dixie cups of ice cream, similar to the noodle service they do (or used to do) on the Asia-bound 777s.
-Second meal service looked like trays but I couldn't quite figure out what was on them. Probably sandwiches, I'd imagine.

There were beverage services before and after the main meal, before the mid-flight refreshment, and before and maybe after the second meal. On overnight flights you may see a flight attendant or two hand-run drinks to pax who are still awake at different points during the flight, while on a daytime flight like AMS-IAH you will probably see an additional cart drink service on top of what is offered with the meals.

Euroflyer

The only good thing about this route is that it saves you the time it takes to connect in Newark, and that the return is very late in the afternoon, arriving to an empty baggage hall in the evening. The flight itself is cramped. Bring your own food!

Bonehead

I flew IAH-AMS in November in coach on the 764. A couple of the guys near me mentioned how much better coach was on the CO 764 vs the KL 744...they HATED the lack of room on the 744. I am 6'3" and the pitch was OK...certainly better than on most other CO metal.

Hope this helps.

EmailKid

****, free booze !!!

But as was pointed out, no more full EQMs.

EmailKid

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I am NOT a tin elite! Then again, what the hell do I know?

dlen111

the "no" free booze sucks, but if you think about it, you can have ten drinks for $4 each (if you buy inflight currency) so youve really only paid $40 more for the flight. the individual TV's with games, make the flight go by much faster. id go CO over anybody (except virgin), coach international.

snake

Yeah, no free booze sucks, but don't forget that you get the enhanced salad or what-not.

See: Continental Airlines Announces Changes to Coach Service on International Flights

[This message has been edited by snake (edited Jan 27, 2004).]

kanebear

Not sure what the coach fare you're looking at is but if you want to fly up front, discount business (Z/I class) are available IAH-AMS on several carriers including CO, DL and KL. I've seen fares as cheap as $1600 (KLM codeshare on Northwest) but $2100 is the norm for that route. You may need to play with dates but if you can shift your travel around and don't mind spending the $$$ it's a heck of a lot better than riding in the back or playing the HoKeY lottery.

[This message has been edited by kanebear (edited Jan 27, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by kanebear (edited Jan 27, 2004).]