MrAndy1369

I've asked this question on DL, AA, and USAir so bear with me if you keep seeing similiar posts. I'm just curious since I've missed out on alot.

What was the old CO like - pre-9/11, the 90's and earlier? Better meals, quality of customer service? To me, CO seems to be doing fairly well - still serving free meals, not too much nickel & diming. But I could be wrong.

Steve M

Interesting question. Obviously, there have been a lot of changes to the fare structure and the OnePass program. I joined OnePass in the early 90's, and really didn't follow things that closely other than the marketing message from the airline. So, I didn't know how close CO was to going out of business from a third bankruptcy, or the bad labor relations, and so on. I remember being told how great Continental Lite was going to be in the in-flight magazine, only to have it flop and be quickly removed and forgotten.

From my perspective, the things that have changed in the past 10 years have been relatively minor:

- Introduction of co-pay for BusinessFirst upgrades.
- EUA for automated complimentary domestic elite upgrades, and all the nuances associated with them.
- Expansion of int'l route structure, including addition of many secondary cities in Europe, as well as long-hauls to Tel Aviv, Tokyo, and Hong Kong from the US.
- Relatively minor adjustments (aka "cutbacks") to in-flight service, such as removal of magazines, and things like no more amenity kits and personal bottle of water on BusinessFirst routes from mainland US to Hawaii. But, compared to any other US carrier, the CO passenger has fared far better in terms of keeping the inflight experience relatively unchanged (well, perhaps WN passengers are in the same boat as far as not having cutbacks - they had very little before, and have very little now).
- Adjustment of fare structure for domestic routes to be much more reasonable, in response both to the LCC's and to things like Delta SimpliFares. For example, it used to cost $1800 rt in coach or $2200 in first to go IAH-LAX no matter how much in advance you booked, if you didn't include a Saturday night stay. Although there still are many situations where it's obvious that things cost more on certain routes just because there's no LCC competition, the situations that could have been classified as "gouging" are more or less gone from the fare structure, at least domestically.

Those are things that have changed that are most noticeable to me.

worldwidedreamer

dup post

phyllisnnj

I also did a lot of flying in the 90's .

The following were noticeable changes for me.

Actually this one was a big deal for me.
I use to pay for coach seating for me and my extended family members and use miles to upgrade everyone to BusinessFirst. Ever since the change, I stop using miles to upgrade to BusinessFirst. I either use miles for Coach or BusinessFirst seating.

As a non-elite with 300,000 lifetime miles, I don't know what I'll do once the new EasyPass rule become effective. I guess I'll have to wait and see how bad availability becomes.

LOL, I forgot about the midnight calls to secure my upgrade before automatic EUA became effective. Perhaps it's just me but it seemed easier to get an upgrade before automatic EUA. There were definitely negatives and positives with this change.

MBM3

Ahhhhhh yes, those midnight calls to the Elite Desk. I would love to hear some recordings from those days as I am sure most of the words were slurred......

jrzyshawn

you would have to call in to request an elite upgrade?

MBM3

Yes - upgrades were available by calling the Elite Desk at 00:00.01 on the day of travel. I can't tell you the games I went through to make sure I made those calls!

DanTravels

I was an admittedly infrequent flyer on CO (and... CO Connection, I think it was called? Twin-prop regionals?) from 1991-2000. Did PHL-EWR-BGR-PQI and back on connection in '91, and most of what I remember about the fliht was how few people were on BGR-PQI, and the FAs asking if I wanted more nuts and soda. Did PHL-IAH-LAX-HNL and back in '99, and HNL-EWR-ATL in 2000. My dad was working near EWR at the time, and I'm pretty sure I remember him being able to come to the gate area to meet me between flights!

I don't remember any changes in type or level of service. There was food; there still is. I never flew up front on CO; I still haven't. (This may change in coming years with the NW/DL merger and CO-*A move.)

jwrhn

I used to fly them in the 70's back when they were "the proud bird with the golden tail." They were my favorite airline back then. I remember flying domestically on mostly 727's

There were no frequent flyer programs, if you wanted to sit up front it was on a paid ticket. It seems to me there were fewer seats in first and business class had not even been invented yet. The seats in Y were absolutly spacious by todays standards

The planes were rarely more than half full with the middle seats almost always open unless you were flying with someone who was in that seat, although I do recall full flights into and out of MSY during Mardi Gras..but not during a Super Bowl in about 76...

I also recall the individual headsets that were basically plastic tubes. this was at a time when most of the competition did not have headsets. Some of the longer flights even had a movie.The flights I remember all had a meal service even a short hop from SAT to IAH.

There was not the hub system as known today. I remember going from the old Stapelton in Denver to MSY with stops in OKC, TUL, Odessa, SAT, Houston Hobby and maybe a few more fairly often.

Flying was fun back then, the attitude of both the passengers and the flight crew was vastly different from today. To me it was always a festive occasion with almost everyone having fun and enjoying the traveling experience.

I remember the old Continental with great fondness. By the time the nineties rolled around the airline was a mere shadow of that proud bird after the junk bond kings had stolen the gold.

I will be flying with them for the first time in about ten years next month to MNL I honestly can't say I'm looking forward to it as I guess I was spoiled by the experience of what a great american airline was in a different time and place..

cova

- Five Star dining
- Bar/lounges on flights to HNL for coach
- Soft comfortable seats - brown leather in first
- Three class of service for international
- Fresh flowers in international F
- No attitude FA and GA
- Major hub in HNL
- Major carrier to Australia and South Pacific
- The premier carrier over UA from DEN

DUKEswoosh

Here's a photo of what appears to be a circa-1970s CO aircraft from the header. Note how the people are dressed even though they are coach!

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Conti...next_id=NEXTID

PS. Cross-reference to "Clothing suggestions for being comfortable (and getting treated right!)" thread? We've come a long way from suits to track pants with "Juicy" spelled on the back.

airzim

Interesting that folks have such fond memories. For many passengers, Continental was the US Airways of the skies in the 90's.

During the 2nd bankruptcy the airline was a total mess.

-Newark North Terminal
-Newark Term B
-Selling First Class seats with no first class
-727's with no hot galleys
-catering trolleys that weren't compatible with every airplane
-hostile workforce
-unreliable aircraft
-etc.

good memories were the pub on the DC-10's for all passengers. When CO was HQ'ed in LA, they were the Hollywood airline. In fact the former CEO (Bob Six) was married to Ethel Merman.

In regards to Stapleton, CO definitely played second fiddle to United.

Billiken

Were those air vents on the seat backs (top right)?

snake

I was on a flight from IAH to IND in the 90's, that was not long after CO had eliminated meals on flights less then 2-1/2 hours. There was one FC passenger (paid, no less) on the flight who started from SNA on the "direct" flight to EWR . Yup, not one hop on that flight reached the magic 2:30!

The FA's were trying to tell this guy that his travel agent should have informed him that there wouldn't be any meal service on the flight.

There were a couple of uniformed CO employees sitting in F who probably wished that they were in the back of the bus rather then listening to this unhappy passenger.

When I left the plane the FA's were giving the hapless FC pax directions to the McD's in the terminal.

Funny how many segments were scheduled for 2:29 those days.

p.s. Somebody tell 'em about Cal Lite, and the Peanut Fares, the Jewel in the Crown of Continental Airlines.

sbm12

Yup. Easier to adjust than a vent in the high ceilings of the cabin.