Transcon vs. Midcon - A Tale of Two Experiences
 

It's been a long time since I was on a true transcon flight, since all my west coast flights have been via IAH.

This weekend, I took a trip to SEA with the outbound via EWR and to ensure a nice experience, for the first time I used miles to upgrade.

I have to say, the difference between what I have been experiencing and what I experienced on Friday is night and day. If only the schedule worked out better for me, I would be a transcon man 100%, but I had to take a half vacation day to make this itinerary.

The crew was exceptionally professional and friendly upfront. Printed menus were handed out, the FA introduced himself and welcomed us aboard while taking the orders, and the food (at least my entree) was restaurant quality.

Warm nuts were provided with our drinks, and the drinks were refilled constantly - no asking, no waiting. Two crew members worked up front, one plating the meals, and the aforementioned FA who did the serving.

The meal consisted of an appetizer with two kinds of smoked salmon, a generous green salad, warm rolls, and the entree (a large and delicious white meat quarter chicken with vegetables).

After the main dinner was collected, our serving FA went to the back to help out and the galley FA took our orders for the sundae and beverage service.

Two movies were played, followed by the Comedy Channel (Mork and Mindy???).

Announcements were very professional, clean, and crisp with proper grammar and pronunciation - none of the rushing, mistakes, adlibs, gaps or giggles I experience on other flights that annoy and detract from the quality of the product. For the most part, the Delta crews do the best announcements of any airline in the US.

In general, Continental inflight service ranks pretty high for a major carrier in the US, but my transcon experience reminded me why CO consistently ranks number 1.

Good to hear! ^

It is even better on the EWR-LAX 752 routes(currently 16/65) where the seats are BF and have AVOD in FC.

Dan

Unfortunately your chances of getting a transcon EUA are very close to zero. That's one reason why many of us West Coast rabble are not very happy with CO.

Which is why I cashed in the 15K - I heard the EWR/SEA dinner flight was about the hardest EUA in the system

Depends on the route. I sat next to a Silver on EWR-SJC who was flying weekly, working his way to Plat, and had been upgraded every flight.

Then again, no jetway at SJC. It's a grass field. The information booth inside closes at 9pm when the electric generator shuts off, sort of like some islands I have visited.

Still, the $50 cab fare to the Fremont BART station (forget any other option) isn't a bad price for an upgrade.

Thanks for the info. My sister lives near EWR, and my office is 2 miles from the SJC airport (but I live in SF). I am actually trying the SJC-EWR round trip in June. I'll let you know how it goes. By the way, SJC is not SFO, but I think the SJC airport has changed a lot from back when silicon was still sand.

You are a smart man. I would have done the same thing ;)

It's particularly frustrating to contrast the service levels between the "true" transcons and, say, EWR-LAS, which is only about 200 miles shorter. I've been on EWR-LAS flights that have been sold out in F for over a week before departure, signaling that the paid FC yield is probably pretty high. I'm sure, on the whole, it's lower than EWR-LAX/SFO, but I can't imagine it's that much lower than the secondary transcon routes like PDX, SJC, SNA or even SAN.

The only EUA I have ever gotten into EWR was once on the redeye from SLC. The only one I've ever gotten out of EWR was once to SFO when some sucker most likely missed his connection. He was probably stuck in Terminal A awaiting the shuttle bus. His veal chop was delicious. :p

I got one last Monday on 1881 as a platinumon an O fare. Not nearly as hard as the SFO/LAX options.

hmm maybe it's the reverse flight that's harder? :) either way, my OP balance cup runneth over and it was a good idea to cash in and lock it in - although the miles earned with Plat bonus put me almost back to where I started balance wise :)

It's particularly frustrating to contrast the service levels between the "true" transcons and, say, EWR-LAS, which is only about 200 miles shorter.

I think I have been saying this for quite a while. CLE to LAX is also a "transcom" in terms of milage and time (45 min less than EWR) but our level of first class service is markedly degraded from what is delivered coast to coast. What is remarkable is that I will have done 3 of these in three weeks and have gotten no upgrades on the non-stops. This can only mean that CO is selling out the front of the plane and that means that people consider the toned down service to be worth the money when compared with the competition. I just wonder when the competition will wake up and realize that there is a subgroup of passengers willing to pay for a truely premium product.

this was talked about just a few weeks ago. CO has little, if no, competition out of CLE on non-stop routes, where as they are flooded with it on the NYC-west coast routes. they dont need to offer, on CLE routes, what they offer on the NYC routes.

same also for EWR-PHX/LAS routes. not much competition. you're not going to get printed menus and the like. youll get what they advertise. a choice or two, and sundaes.

they have AA FS/BC and UA PS service to compete with out of NYC so they offer service to compete with them. from what ive heard, CO still wins in inflight service transcon. NOT seating, just meal service and offering.

same holds true from iah. not much competition. flights from iah to the west coast are 3.5 hours and more, but recieve marginally better service than their 2.5 hour east coast counterparts (some northeast flights do get the marginally better service).

took this route(bwi-ewr-phx) in december when the snow storm shut down DEN. Got a 389 dollar A fare fully changeable and flexible. For that price, less than UA's coach and less than half their F fare I got an awesome experience with a delicous salad, beef stew, and a sundae. Though this isn't considered a transcon route, I was very impressed with CO and if it weren't for Global Services, and no redeye to BWI I think I'd switch.