ZRH-EWR-ZRH / Continental to NYC - with pictures!
Sep 27, 2004, 3:35 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: GRZ, ZRH
Programs: LH FTL, Marriott Plat
Posts: 411
ZRH-EWR-ZRH / Continental to NYC - with pictures!
Hi!
I'm back! This time with a report about our (me and my parents) fabulous "NYC in late summer"-trip.
Some pictures: http://photos.yahoo.com/tomashi84
(just click on the ZRH-EWR album)
Introduction
Some of you (those who read my former reports) might wonder why Im able to travel again... Its a long story and it contains bad and good news. To keep it short: some doctor discovered that something is wrong with my eyes (something with the cornea) and therefore I was "released" from my 12-month long civil-service after only three months in mid-August. Which is nice, because I hated the job and the payment was a joke. But on the other hand Im worried about my eyes now and the whole situation with my education is chaotic! I started to study Art history at our local university while I waited for my civil-service job. But Im not that into it and now I want to change my main subject which is difficult and could cause financial complications. To be honest I also hate my small Austrian hometown. And I already planned to leave it for Germany or the US in 2005 to study at a better university.... but now I was released from my civil-services earlier than expected and I have to reconsider everything. Anyway! Life goes on and at least the months of few flights are finally over!
To celebrate my new "freedom" I decided to visit my favorite city again. I expected high airfares and expensive hotel-rates for this time of the year but when I turned on my computer I discovered both a flight on CO from Zurich as well as our beloved "Bentley Hotel" http://www.nychotels.com/bentley.html at a very reasonable price for the desired dates. Fare was 445 EUR including Tax. The hotel was priced at 139 US$ a night. I quickly signed us up for an OnePass account and booked the flights on the CO Hotline, which was done in about 15 minutes. Impressive! I heard many good things about COs international Economy class and couldnt wait to try them.
One day prior to our flight we took a train to Zurich from Bregenz (Austria) and spent a relaxing, warm and sunny day in Zurich. For the night we settled into the modern NH Airport Hotel in Glattbrugg. Our room was unusually big and featured some nice pieces of furniture, so I think we got a complimentary upgrade to a higher room category. I can highly recommend this hotel. The convenient free shuttle-service to the airport only takes about five minutes and was always on-time. Nice feature for airplane-enthusiasts: planes depart and land directly over the hotel. I saw almost the whole Swiss longhaul flight throughout the day and a Thai 747 inbound from Bangkok was our wake-up-call at 6 am the next morning!
Breakfast was not included in our cheap special-rate so we decided to take the 7:35am bus to the airport. The bus arrived on-time and we approached the CO check-in counters at "Check-In 2" just 15 minutes later. Nobody was there yet so everything (including the long and detailed questioning) was done within another 15 minutes or so. Boarding-passes in hand we walked over to the nice new food-court for a light breakfast consisting of fresh croissants from the bakery and coffee, tea and orange juice from McDonalds.
Security at the A-gates was hassle-free and the whole staff at ZRH airport seemed to be very friendly and helpful. As I walked through the terminal I could see that the construction-work for the new so called Airside-center (the new central area of ZRH; connecting the A,B and E gates) is almost done. After more than five years the complete refurbishment of the swiss-hub seems to come to an end! Hopefully! But IMO it was worth the money and effort. ZRH is a much nicer place now! Especially when you compare Zurich with the small, inconvenient and extremely overcrowded Vienna International Airport (my usual point of transfer to the US). Anyway!
We still had almost thirty minutes until boarding so Mom and Dad did some duty-free shopping and I walked from gate to gates and took pictures of different planes.
September 7, 2004
ZRH-EWR / CO79
Sched: 10:45-13:50
Push-back: 10:50
Take-Off: 11:21
Touchdown: 13:18
At Gate: 13:34
Boeing 767-200
N69154
Seat 31F
Soon they made the first boarding call for BusinessFirst and OnePass elite passengers, followed by an announcement for rows 30 to 37. As I walked through the cabin I was greeted by several friendly FAs and admired the Business-First seats (which were all occupied) and the general appearance of the cabin. The first thing I noticed was the modern and spacious 777-style interior with high curved "ceilings" and PTVs mounted in every seat. I stored my rollaboard in the overhead bin and took my comfortable aisle-seat 31F which featured much better legroom than on OS, LH or LX (although the LX seatpitch on the A-340s at least feels slightly better now). I could even cross my legs which for a guy of my size (5,9 / 180 cm) is not possible on most airlines in Economy-class nowadays.
Boarding was completed very soon, although at least 95% of the seats were occupied. Doors were closed, the captain welcomed us on board, the flight-time was announced (07:45) and push-back started at 10:50. Only 5 minutes behind schedule.
We taxied to our designated runway but didnt take off after another 20 minutes. I suppose they used the midfield runway at this time so we had to wait behind a Pulkovo Airlines Tupolev TU-154. Anyway! Our short take-off roll finally began at 11:21 and our little 767 climbed into the blue skies of Switzerland. Our routing that day: ZRH, Reims, Paris, Calais, Dover, London, Cardiff, Shannon, Atlantic ocean, Gander, Nova Scotia, Portland (Maine), Concord, Albany, Hudson Valley, EWR
Service started soon after we reached our final cruising altitude of 36.000 feet. Drinks (alcoholic beverages are 5US$ or 7CHF each) and peanuts were first, followed by the hot meal. Choices: Chicken or Beef. I only like beef of real good quality so I took the chicken which is generally the safest inflight-meal-option. The food was surprisingly good. The tasty grilled chicken - a light crust on the outside and tender inside... thats how I love it - was seasoned with rosemary and sage and accompanied by grilled vegetables and rice. I would have preferred potatoes but it still was one of the best airline-meals I had in the past few years. Well done ZRH-catering! I also liked the small salad and the cherry-cake. Unfortunately no warm bread was offered - just a pre-packaged Ciabatta; Which is really not very important when the food is edible!
While eating, I started to watch some stuff on the PTV but switched to Airshow after a while. Featured films and TV-shows on this flight: Troy, Harry Potter-The Prisoner of Askaban, Raising Helen, The Practice, C.S.I. (that tape was somehow broken) and some other stuff I cant remember.
After the meal trays were cleared, I wrote some comments on the flight in my journal, read the Continental magazine, some pages in a book (Haruki Murakami - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) and listened to some good audio-channels. As I like house-music I enjoyed the "Club Continental" channel, but I also relaxed with some high quality jazz-tunes, American classics (featuring some Sinatra-songs - IMO "New York, New York" is a must on all flights to NYC!) and the two Asian pop-music channels. As I listened to the J-Pop channel and read my Murakami-book, I decided that its time to revisit Japan in the near future, probably in February or March.
Time passed quickly and just three hours after lunch the little white airshow-plane already approached Newfoundland. One hour prior to our arrival they served a small snack-tray, which consisted of a nice warm turkey and melted cheese sandwich, Dijonaise-mustard, a fruit-cake and a cookie.
Descent into EWR started somewhere over the Hudson valley and we touched down on one of the parallel runways at 13:18. A short taxi to terminal C followed were we had to wait for some minutes until they towed us into the gate. Reason: our parking spot (C130) was sandwiched between the main terminal-building and a big 777 at gate C129;
Immigration took 20 minutes and our bag appeared on the belt just seconds later. The customs-officer collected the declaration form and we were on our way to the Airtrain. I knew there was a NJ Transit train, leaving at 14:28 from Newark International Airport station so we tried to catch the next possible people-mover from Terminal C. Getting the tickets from the vending-machine was easy and after a comfortable NJ-Transit ride we left Penn Station in Manhattan just 90 minutes after touchdown! The weather was better than predicted (a mix of sun and clouds, the typical high humidity and a temperature of 80 degrees / 27C) and we enjoyed the quick cab-ride to our hotel which is located on the other side of the island.
Hotel Bentley, 500 East 62nd Street
I stayed in this hotel on all my five former trips to NYC. Its a little gem and they also offer a complimentary breakfast (coffee/tea, OJ, bagels, cream cheese, butter and jam) in their rooftop-restaurant and lounge, now called Penthouse B. The view is awesome. As we are frequent guests we were upgraded to a suite on the 10th floor without any extra charges. The suite was nothing spectacular. The only difference to a regular room was the separate living room with a sofa-bed (which was mine during our 5-night stay). But Im not complaining! All in all our stay was a great experience... as its always the case.
New York City, September 07-12
I just LOVE New York. Its such a vibrant and inspiring place! Theres no world outside NYC. The worlds best art galleries, best shopping opportunities, best restaurants,... its all at your fingertips. Some highlights from our itinerary: Coney Island and Nathans famous hot-dogs, seeing Sarah Jessica Parker at a GAP-event on Fifth Avenue, the Ed Ruscha exhibition at the Whitney, lunch at an Asian restaurant called Kelley & Ping in SoHo, the BBQ-burger at our beloved "Ritz Diner" on First Avenue and 62nd (around the corner from our hotel), breakfast with a view on the top-floor of the Bentley hotel, the new Time Warner Center / Columbus Circle, Central Park, Upper West Side and Columbia University, ...
The weather was nice most of the time. Just some extremely heavy downpours on Wednesday (caused by Hurricane Frances). Temperatures always between 70 and 80 degrees (22-27C).
Too soon it was Sunday and time to fly back home. We spent the first half of the day in Midtown, mainly on Fifth Avenue, did some last-minute shopping and took the M31 bus back to the hotel at noon. Originally we had planned to take a cab to Newark but when we saw the horrible traffic-situation throughout the city (some Avenues were closed due to a parade) we changed our mind and decided to take a train from Penn Station. After a refreshing lunch of chicken breast salads at "Focaccia Fiorentina" (First Avenue / 64th Street) we walked back to our hotel, picked up our bags and Sam (the doorman) hailed a cab for us. The exhausting ride to Penn Station took almost 45 minutes as all crosstown-streets were completely jammed. It took us another 15 minutes to find the NJ Transit tracks in the maze which is called NY Pennsylvania Station. We managed to catch the 15:08 train to Newark and arrived in front of the Terminal C check-in desks at 15:45.
Five counters handled half of the European flights and some flights to Canada, but the whole Check-In process was surprisingly fast and we got our boarding-passes within ten minutes. Eventually we brought our two checked bags to the TSA-guys for screening. One suitcase was OK but we had to open the lock on the other bag for inspection. "No problem sir!". We then moved on to the crowded security checkpoint, took off our shoes and finally arrived at gate C74 in the older part of the terminal. Newark was full of life and the gates were occupied with countless CO-planes. Additionally I saw a BA 777, an Air India B747-400, two SAS A-330s and a Lufthansa A-340. There were about twenty minutes of time left so I explored the food-court and shop-areas and bought some magazines at a newsstand and a small afternoon-snack from Dunkin Donuts.
I'm back! This time with a report about our (me and my parents) fabulous "NYC in late summer"-trip.
Some pictures: http://photos.yahoo.com/tomashi84
(just click on the ZRH-EWR album)
Introduction
Some of you (those who read my former reports) might wonder why Im able to travel again... Its a long story and it contains bad and good news. To keep it short: some doctor discovered that something is wrong with my eyes (something with the cornea) and therefore I was "released" from my 12-month long civil-service after only three months in mid-August. Which is nice, because I hated the job and the payment was a joke. But on the other hand Im worried about my eyes now and the whole situation with my education is chaotic! I started to study Art history at our local university while I waited for my civil-service job. But Im not that into it and now I want to change my main subject which is difficult and could cause financial complications. To be honest I also hate my small Austrian hometown. And I already planned to leave it for Germany or the US in 2005 to study at a better university.... but now I was released from my civil-services earlier than expected and I have to reconsider everything. Anyway! Life goes on and at least the months of few flights are finally over!
To celebrate my new "freedom" I decided to visit my favorite city again. I expected high airfares and expensive hotel-rates for this time of the year but when I turned on my computer I discovered both a flight on CO from Zurich as well as our beloved "Bentley Hotel" http://www.nychotels.com/bentley.html at a very reasonable price for the desired dates. Fare was 445 EUR including Tax. The hotel was priced at 139 US$ a night. I quickly signed us up for an OnePass account and booked the flights on the CO Hotline, which was done in about 15 minutes. Impressive! I heard many good things about COs international Economy class and couldnt wait to try them.
One day prior to our flight we took a train to Zurich from Bregenz (Austria) and spent a relaxing, warm and sunny day in Zurich. For the night we settled into the modern NH Airport Hotel in Glattbrugg. Our room was unusually big and featured some nice pieces of furniture, so I think we got a complimentary upgrade to a higher room category. I can highly recommend this hotel. The convenient free shuttle-service to the airport only takes about five minutes and was always on-time. Nice feature for airplane-enthusiasts: planes depart and land directly over the hotel. I saw almost the whole Swiss longhaul flight throughout the day and a Thai 747 inbound from Bangkok was our wake-up-call at 6 am the next morning!
Breakfast was not included in our cheap special-rate so we decided to take the 7:35am bus to the airport. The bus arrived on-time and we approached the CO check-in counters at "Check-In 2" just 15 minutes later. Nobody was there yet so everything (including the long and detailed questioning) was done within another 15 minutes or so. Boarding-passes in hand we walked over to the nice new food-court for a light breakfast consisting of fresh croissants from the bakery and coffee, tea and orange juice from McDonalds.
Security at the A-gates was hassle-free and the whole staff at ZRH airport seemed to be very friendly and helpful. As I walked through the terminal I could see that the construction-work for the new so called Airside-center (the new central area of ZRH; connecting the A,B and E gates) is almost done. After more than five years the complete refurbishment of the swiss-hub seems to come to an end! Hopefully! But IMO it was worth the money and effort. ZRH is a much nicer place now! Especially when you compare Zurich with the small, inconvenient and extremely overcrowded Vienna International Airport (my usual point of transfer to the US). Anyway!
We still had almost thirty minutes until boarding so Mom and Dad did some duty-free shopping and I walked from gate to gates and took pictures of different planes.
September 7, 2004
ZRH-EWR / CO79
Sched: 10:45-13:50
Push-back: 10:50
Take-Off: 11:21
Touchdown: 13:18
At Gate: 13:34
Boeing 767-200
N69154
Seat 31F
Soon they made the first boarding call for BusinessFirst and OnePass elite passengers, followed by an announcement for rows 30 to 37. As I walked through the cabin I was greeted by several friendly FAs and admired the Business-First seats (which were all occupied) and the general appearance of the cabin. The first thing I noticed was the modern and spacious 777-style interior with high curved "ceilings" and PTVs mounted in every seat. I stored my rollaboard in the overhead bin and took my comfortable aisle-seat 31F which featured much better legroom than on OS, LH or LX (although the LX seatpitch on the A-340s at least feels slightly better now). I could even cross my legs which for a guy of my size (5,9 / 180 cm) is not possible on most airlines in Economy-class nowadays.
Boarding was completed very soon, although at least 95% of the seats were occupied. Doors were closed, the captain welcomed us on board, the flight-time was announced (07:45) and push-back started at 10:50. Only 5 minutes behind schedule.
We taxied to our designated runway but didnt take off after another 20 minutes. I suppose they used the midfield runway at this time so we had to wait behind a Pulkovo Airlines Tupolev TU-154. Anyway! Our short take-off roll finally began at 11:21 and our little 767 climbed into the blue skies of Switzerland. Our routing that day: ZRH, Reims, Paris, Calais, Dover, London, Cardiff, Shannon, Atlantic ocean, Gander, Nova Scotia, Portland (Maine), Concord, Albany, Hudson Valley, EWR
Service started soon after we reached our final cruising altitude of 36.000 feet. Drinks (alcoholic beverages are 5US$ or 7CHF each) and peanuts were first, followed by the hot meal. Choices: Chicken or Beef. I only like beef of real good quality so I took the chicken which is generally the safest inflight-meal-option. The food was surprisingly good. The tasty grilled chicken - a light crust on the outside and tender inside... thats how I love it - was seasoned with rosemary and sage and accompanied by grilled vegetables and rice. I would have preferred potatoes but it still was one of the best airline-meals I had in the past few years. Well done ZRH-catering! I also liked the small salad and the cherry-cake. Unfortunately no warm bread was offered - just a pre-packaged Ciabatta; Which is really not very important when the food is edible!
While eating, I started to watch some stuff on the PTV but switched to Airshow after a while. Featured films and TV-shows on this flight: Troy, Harry Potter-The Prisoner of Askaban, Raising Helen, The Practice, C.S.I. (that tape was somehow broken) and some other stuff I cant remember.
After the meal trays were cleared, I wrote some comments on the flight in my journal, read the Continental magazine, some pages in a book (Haruki Murakami - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) and listened to some good audio-channels. As I like house-music I enjoyed the "Club Continental" channel, but I also relaxed with some high quality jazz-tunes, American classics (featuring some Sinatra-songs - IMO "New York, New York" is a must on all flights to NYC!) and the two Asian pop-music channels. As I listened to the J-Pop channel and read my Murakami-book, I decided that its time to revisit Japan in the near future, probably in February or March.
Time passed quickly and just three hours after lunch the little white airshow-plane already approached Newfoundland. One hour prior to our arrival they served a small snack-tray, which consisted of a nice warm turkey and melted cheese sandwich, Dijonaise-mustard, a fruit-cake and a cookie.
Descent into EWR started somewhere over the Hudson valley and we touched down on one of the parallel runways at 13:18. A short taxi to terminal C followed were we had to wait for some minutes until they towed us into the gate. Reason: our parking spot (C130) was sandwiched between the main terminal-building and a big 777 at gate C129;
Immigration took 20 minutes and our bag appeared on the belt just seconds later. The customs-officer collected the declaration form and we were on our way to the Airtrain. I knew there was a NJ Transit train, leaving at 14:28 from Newark International Airport station so we tried to catch the next possible people-mover from Terminal C. Getting the tickets from the vending-machine was easy and after a comfortable NJ-Transit ride we left Penn Station in Manhattan just 90 minutes after touchdown! The weather was better than predicted (a mix of sun and clouds, the typical high humidity and a temperature of 80 degrees / 27C) and we enjoyed the quick cab-ride to our hotel which is located on the other side of the island.
Hotel Bentley, 500 East 62nd Street
I stayed in this hotel on all my five former trips to NYC. Its a little gem and they also offer a complimentary breakfast (coffee/tea, OJ, bagels, cream cheese, butter and jam) in their rooftop-restaurant and lounge, now called Penthouse B. The view is awesome. As we are frequent guests we were upgraded to a suite on the 10th floor without any extra charges. The suite was nothing spectacular. The only difference to a regular room was the separate living room with a sofa-bed (which was mine during our 5-night stay). But Im not complaining! All in all our stay was a great experience... as its always the case.
New York City, September 07-12
I just LOVE New York. Its such a vibrant and inspiring place! Theres no world outside NYC. The worlds best art galleries, best shopping opportunities, best restaurants,... its all at your fingertips. Some highlights from our itinerary: Coney Island and Nathans famous hot-dogs, seeing Sarah Jessica Parker at a GAP-event on Fifth Avenue, the Ed Ruscha exhibition at the Whitney, lunch at an Asian restaurant called Kelley & Ping in SoHo, the BBQ-burger at our beloved "Ritz Diner" on First Avenue and 62nd (around the corner from our hotel), breakfast with a view on the top-floor of the Bentley hotel, the new Time Warner Center / Columbus Circle, Central Park, Upper West Side and Columbia University, ...
The weather was nice most of the time. Just some extremely heavy downpours on Wednesday (caused by Hurricane Frances). Temperatures always between 70 and 80 degrees (22-27C).
Too soon it was Sunday and time to fly back home. We spent the first half of the day in Midtown, mainly on Fifth Avenue, did some last-minute shopping and took the M31 bus back to the hotel at noon. Originally we had planned to take a cab to Newark but when we saw the horrible traffic-situation throughout the city (some Avenues were closed due to a parade) we changed our mind and decided to take a train from Penn Station. After a refreshing lunch of chicken breast salads at "Focaccia Fiorentina" (First Avenue / 64th Street) we walked back to our hotel, picked up our bags and Sam (the doorman) hailed a cab for us. The exhausting ride to Penn Station took almost 45 minutes as all crosstown-streets were completely jammed. It took us another 15 minutes to find the NJ Transit tracks in the maze which is called NY Pennsylvania Station. We managed to catch the 15:08 train to Newark and arrived in front of the Terminal C check-in desks at 15:45.
Five counters handled half of the European flights and some flights to Canada, but the whole Check-In process was surprisingly fast and we got our boarding-passes within ten minutes. Eventually we brought our two checked bags to the TSA-guys for screening. One suitcase was OK but we had to open the lock on the other bag for inspection. "No problem sir!". We then moved on to the crowded security checkpoint, took off our shoes and finally arrived at gate C74 in the older part of the terminal. Newark was full of life and the gates were occupied with countless CO-planes. Additionally I saw a BA 777, an Air India B747-400, two SAS A-330s and a Lufthansa A-340. There were about twenty minutes of time left so I explored the food-court and shop-areas and bought some magazines at a newsstand and a small afternoon-snack from Dunkin Donuts.
Last edited by tomashi; Sep 29, 2004 at 4:12 am
Sep 27, 2004, 3:36 pm
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: GRZ, ZRH
Programs: LH FTL, Marriott Plat
Posts: 411
Part II
September 12, 2004
EWR-ZRH / CO78
Sched: 18:00-07:45
Push-back: 18:03
Take-Off: 18:30
Touchdown: 07:12
At Gate: 07:23
Boeing 767-200
N76156
Seat 28D
Boarding started at 17:20 and was again very orderly and civilized. We were in the third group to be announced and took our seats 28 D-E-F. Newspapers were available from a trolley in the Business-First cabin and I took the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and a Swiss newspaper. The load was again almost 100% in both classes but boarding was completed within twenty minutes.
The captain welcomed us on board and announced the flight time with six hours and fifty minutes. Push-back commenced on-time at 18:03 and what followed was a sort of zigzag around the tarmac to lineup for the runway. There were eight to ten planes in front of us in the take-off sequence and we finally lifted off at 18:30.
Route: EWR, Manhattan, south of Boston, Halifax, Newfoundland, Atlantic ocean, south of Ireland and the UK, France, Basel/Mulhouse, ZRH; Cruising altitude: 36.000 feet
Service started with drinks and pretzels. Dinner followed soon. The usual choice between chicken and beef was offered. Beef was Irish Stew, so I took the chicken. The meat as well as the rice was totally overcooked and completely tasteless. It was edible but compared with the catering on the inbound flight it was of poor quality! At least the small greek-salad with olives and the brownie were very good. Next time Ill try to get to the airport a little bit earlier to eat at one of the places in Terminal C!
Another drink service followed and the tables were cleared. I watched "Stepford Wives" and an episode of C.S.I. Miami on my PTV before I decided to take a nap. Remaining flight-time at this point of the night: 04:30!
Around one- and a half hour prior to our arrival the lights were turned on and the captain made his wake-up call. I checked our progress on Airshow and saw that we already had reached the French coastline. The small breakfast tray was distributed by the FAs very soon after that. It consisted of a warm croissant, butter and jam and some fresh fruits. Although its a little bit strange to eat breakfast at midnight NY-time, I enjoyed the snack. Tea, Coffee and juices were offered twice and before we realized it the approach into ZRH started somewhere near the French/Swiss-border. The weather in Zurich was OK, but not as nice as in New York earlier that day / the previous day. A temperature of 50 degrees (10C) and foggy conditions were announced from the cockpit.
We touched down at ZRH more than 30 minutes ahead of schedule and taxied to one of the A-gates, where we arrived just ten minutes later.
Immigration was a breeze and we just waited about five minutes for our bags. Customs was no problem at all and we walked over to the Food-court where we spent the next two hours. Our Eurocity-train to Bregenz left at 09:45 from the airport-train station and we finally arrived in front of our house in the Bregenzerwald-region of Vorarlberg (western Austria) at 12 noon.
Home sweet home...
(to be honest, I already miss New York!)
Conclusion
One of my best transatlantic trips ever! CO is a great airline and Economy-class service is above average. And their small 762s are just perfect. Nice modern and clean interior, good seatpitch, comfortable seats and a good entertainment-system (AVOD-update would be nice though!). Another small detail I like: IMO the CO safety-video is really charming! And I also love Newark and the whole Airtrain-thing. Such a nice experience after those problematic, delayed and annoying trips out of VIE on Austrian Airlines in the last few years!
Regards, Thomas
Comments and questions appreciated!
EWR-ZRH / CO78
Sched: 18:00-07:45
Push-back: 18:03
Take-Off: 18:30
Touchdown: 07:12
At Gate: 07:23
Boeing 767-200
N76156
Seat 28D
Boarding started at 17:20 and was again very orderly and civilized. We were in the third group to be announced and took our seats 28 D-E-F. Newspapers were available from a trolley in the Business-First cabin and I took the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and a Swiss newspaper. The load was again almost 100% in both classes but boarding was completed within twenty minutes.
The captain welcomed us on board and announced the flight time with six hours and fifty minutes. Push-back commenced on-time at 18:03 and what followed was a sort of zigzag around the tarmac to lineup for the runway. There were eight to ten planes in front of us in the take-off sequence and we finally lifted off at 18:30.
Route: EWR, Manhattan, south of Boston, Halifax, Newfoundland, Atlantic ocean, south of Ireland and the UK, France, Basel/Mulhouse, ZRH; Cruising altitude: 36.000 feet
Service started with drinks and pretzels. Dinner followed soon. The usual choice between chicken and beef was offered. Beef was Irish Stew, so I took the chicken. The meat as well as the rice was totally overcooked and completely tasteless. It was edible but compared with the catering on the inbound flight it was of poor quality! At least the small greek-salad with olives and the brownie were very good. Next time Ill try to get to the airport a little bit earlier to eat at one of the places in Terminal C!
Another drink service followed and the tables were cleared. I watched "Stepford Wives" and an episode of C.S.I. Miami on my PTV before I decided to take a nap. Remaining flight-time at this point of the night: 04:30!
Around one- and a half hour prior to our arrival the lights were turned on and the captain made his wake-up call. I checked our progress on Airshow and saw that we already had reached the French coastline. The small breakfast tray was distributed by the FAs very soon after that. It consisted of a warm croissant, butter and jam and some fresh fruits. Although its a little bit strange to eat breakfast at midnight NY-time, I enjoyed the snack. Tea, Coffee and juices were offered twice and before we realized it the approach into ZRH started somewhere near the French/Swiss-border. The weather in Zurich was OK, but not as nice as in New York earlier that day / the previous day. A temperature of 50 degrees (10C) and foggy conditions were announced from the cockpit.
We touched down at ZRH more than 30 minutes ahead of schedule and taxied to one of the A-gates, where we arrived just ten minutes later.
Immigration was a breeze and we just waited about five minutes for our bags. Customs was no problem at all and we walked over to the Food-court where we spent the next two hours. Our Eurocity-train to Bregenz left at 09:45 from the airport-train station and we finally arrived in front of our house in the Bregenzerwald-region of Vorarlberg (western Austria) at 12 noon.
Home sweet home...
(to be honest, I already miss New York!)
Conclusion
One of my best transatlantic trips ever! CO is a great airline and Economy-class service is above average. And their small 762s are just perfect. Nice modern and clean interior, good seatpitch, comfortable seats and a good entertainment-system (AVOD-update would be nice though!). Another small detail I like: IMO the CO safety-video is really charming! And I also love Newark and the whole Airtrain-thing. Such a nice experience after those problematic, delayed and annoying trips out of VIE on Austrian Airlines in the last few years!
Regards, Thomas
Comments and questions appreciated!
Last edited by tomashi; Sep 29, 2004 at 4:09 am
Sep 28, 2004, 12:06 pm
#4
Moderator: InterContinental Hotels and Germany
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 6,581
Hi Thomas,
sorry to hear about your eyes and I hope, that is it not serious at all. But it is nice to hear, that you are up in the air again and enjoyed your time in New York. Once again a fantastic trip report of you, detailled and brilliant as ever. ^ ^
Jan
sorry to hear about your eyes and I hope, that is it not serious at all. But it is nice to hear, that you are up in the air again and enjoyed your time in New York. Once again a fantastic trip report of you, detailled and brilliant as ever. ^ ^
Jan
