CONTINENTAL AIRLINES  Customer Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  18 November 2009 : by Paul Smith   (USA)

EWR-EDI roundtrip single aisle 757. Check in Newark was pretty quick and security wasn't totally mobbed. Seats a little tight but comfortable, flight crew pleasant. Meal and snack served. Video on demand both ways. For the price, no complaints here.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  18 November 2009 : by L Whitmore   (UK)

BHX-EWR in economy on a 1 way trip before boarding the QM2 back to Southampton. There were 6 of us travelling and checked in on line 24hrs before. Layout 3x3 so had two rows of 3 reserved. As we were third to check in, 2 of us opted for exit row on 16BC. Boarded quickly and was surprised to see how close the exit row was to the row in front after travelling mostly on wide bodies where the exit rows are huge. The seat pitch was probably about 36" and narrow width but compared to 31" for the rest of economy was obviously much better. The FAs mentioned before take off there were a couple of empty rows so if people wanted to move they could do so. A drinks round quickly followed after take off (free soft drinks and $5 for an alcoholic miniature) and a packet of nuts. AVOD system was turned on and headphoned distributed. Meals either chicken, beef or veggie options. Close to landing, a snack box was issued. FAs were very good and did numerous water runs - helpful as this was only a single aisle plane it was difficult to move around due to trolleys blocking the aisles. Personally for long haul I prefer a wide body with 2 aisles rather than a 757-200 single aisle plane.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  15 November 2009 : by Alexandre Burnat   (Switzerland)

GVA-EWR-GVA on B767-400, crew ok but not overfriendly, food disgusting but I do not care as I slept both ways. PTV poor selection but was aware of that - overall you should not expect too much from American carriers in terms of service and food. Only positive thing on flying with them is the seat pitch which is generous.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  8 November 2009 : by C Cissel   (UK)

MAN-EWR-MAN. Grim from start to finish. Had a very difficult time booking the flights - had to plead with a reservations agent to try my UK credit card. Staff on board surly and unpleasant. Plane very cramped. Staff kept plying a (mercifully quiet) drunk passenger with alcohol, who had to be carried off by security at EWR, despite being alerted to his state by many passengers. EWR airport was horrendous - beware the silly monorail system - you can't take luggage trolleys on (and it broke down on our visit - having first trapped the kids in the automatic doors). Flight home delayed by 4 hrs - stuck on plane. Handled very badly by staff. No drinks. Very little information. Never again. Use BA if you have a choice, even if it means a transfer.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  8 November 2009 : by D Gill   (UK)

MAN-EWR. When checking in online, the website crashed. Having phoned the customer service line, half an hour later on a premium phone line, I was told the seats were reserved, only to find at the airport nobody's seat was reserved due to a systems failure. Their communication is terrible (saying they emailed me about a cancelled flight when they didn't, so I was early for a cancelled flight). Charging for checked luggage is a policy I don't agree with if a full price ticket has been paid for. The check-in staff are surly and don't know what they're doing. They reluctantly put me on another flight after a lot of arguing. The complaints procedure is pointless and ineffective.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  6 November 2009 : by A Asprakis   (USA)

PHL-IAH and return. Although Continental cheapens the experience by charging for all checked baggage, headphones and alcohol, planes both ways were clean and relatively new 737-900s, flight attendants polite, and they served a free meal (I think they are the only ones that do this domestically anymore). One point is the militancy of the IAH ground staff in terms of baggage weight - I was asked to adjust my checked bag to lose 2 pounds, as the limit was a non-negotiable 50 pounds. This made no sense to me, as I simply packed more stuff into my cary-on, thus taking the same amount of weight onto the plane.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  5 November 2009 : by H Davidson   (UK)

Glasgow - Newark Flight. I find it surprising an American airline can offer such poor service on board a flight, however the staff at Continental don't appear to care how badly they treat passengers. On both my outbound and return flights I requested a vegetarian meal and on both occasions was offered the response, "no vegetarian". Although I had specifically reserved a vegetarian meal, no apology was given.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  4 November 2009 : by Jeff Lemon   (USA)

SEA-IAH-MSY. SEA-IAH B737-900 appeared to be new, equipped with DirectTV system - I could not find any music only channels. The first class leather seat was comfortable overall. However, no pillows or blankets were offered, no choice of meal as they immediately ran out of the other entree. The meal was okay, service was attentive. Connecting flight a B737-800 with a clean interior. No service was offered on this flight.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  3 November 2009 : by R Forshaw   (UK)

Newark to Manchester on 30th Oct- or at least we were supposed to. 20 minutes before our flight we were told that Continental had overbooked and 3 of our party of 8 had no seats and could not fly till the following day (of the 3 without seats, 2 were children aged 6 and 12). We had done nothing wrong - booked tickets 10 months in advance and arrived early for check- in. Not only this but one member of staff at Newark was rude and uncaring. Please be aware of this policy of Continental Airlines as I gather that it is fairly common. They will only compensate you with travel passes and a meagre allowance for food and board until they get you another plane.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  3 November 2009 : by S Koenig   (Brazil)

Miami-Ottawa, with change of planes in Newark. Economy class. On the first flight, we were served a meal, not just a snack. When we arrived in Newark, on a rainy afternoon, attendant at the gate said our flight to Ottawa had been canceled and we were booked on a flight for the next morning. Attendant at the "customer service" counter said we would be on our own for a hotel since the cancellation was weather-related (while there were flight delays, likely due to planes not arriving from other locations, there were very few actual cancellations). When I said that was not acceptable, he said we could take it or leave it and finally just left, saying he didn't want to talk with me anymore. We went to other service counters and got one of us confirmed on a flight for that night, but no offer to find another routing, even with a connection (when I asked about flying from another area airport they said we could go to Laguardia by our own means and take an Air Canada flight but they could give no info on getting to Laguardia and said we might get bumped from the AC flight). When I went to the customer service desk again later, we both managed to get booked on a 9 p.m. flight (which finally left at midnight).

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  2 November 2009 : by E Smith   (UK)

EDI-EWR-EDI flight was perfectly fine. Only irritations were that despite doing the ESTA thing before checking in online, I then had to do it again when doing the online check-in, and then found out that I'd wasted my time as the check-in girl did it yet again at the airport. Also, despite checking in on the stroke of 24 hours in advance, I couldn't change our allocated seats. Outward was on time and the food was perfectly decent. The staff seemed pleasant enough. Coming back, couldn't get seats together when checking in 24 hours in advance, which I found hard to believe. The way back was delayed 3 hours due to lightning, but other than that it was fine, again with nice enough staff. Maybe we were lucky, but on this showing, I would be happy enough to travel with them again.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  26 October 2009 : by Alexandre Todorov   (USA)

Saint Louis-Newark-Geneva. Very friendly and helpful staff at STL check in. Quickly downhill from there. Dirty planes (all legs of trip), damaged seat with no possibility of change. Flight late leaving STL after waiting one hour on tarmac. Totally unhelpful staff in Newark, despite promises of assistance to passengers with tight connections (due to airline's own lateness). Makes CDG look good. And thanks for the warning I could miss my Newark-Geneva connection, received while I was on my way to Newark. On arrival in Newark, rushed through airport (despite promises of assistance), but found plane doors closed (despite promises, etc, etc.). "Lucky" enough to catch connection because plane departure delayed due to a clogged toilet. Seat assignment changed without notice despite early reservation and checking in two hours before departure in STL. On Newark-Geneva leg, dealt with attendants thinking they are cool and hip, but were just plain rude. Returning on same airline two days from now and frankly not looking forward to it. Current opinion is avoid this airline if you can. Or as they say, "we realize you have a choice..."

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  24 October 2009 : by Steve Wurtz   (USA)

Newark-Tokyo and back. The plane was newish B777 with a good inflight entertainment system with AVOD. The flight to Tokyo was good. About half the crew were Japanese/Asian and they were efficient and didn't have any sort of attitude. The food was decent. Everything was the same on the flight back, except for one or two of the flight attendant who I saw exhibit very haughty attitudes towards the passengers.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  22 October 2009 : by S Leal   (UK)

On a long haul flight we had no choice of meal and you had to pay if you wanted an alcoholic drink. Also, despite booking flights at same time my husband and I were not allocated seats together. This was the case for other passengers too. Some of the FA's were surly and quite rude in the way they spoke to passengers.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  19 October 2009 : by Glenn Dy   (China)

Flew Continental Airlines from Seattle to Orlando via Houston, Texas. Meal service was thankfully provided as it was an early flight out of Seattle and a bite was more than welcome that time. Crew was professional, chatty at times even when the closest passenger seated near the galley was trying to get some sleep. Their IFE was outstanding, didn't expect that they have it. From Houston, while waiting for some passengers inside the plane, the temperature inside the plane was getting to be unbearably hot as I believe the airconditioning wasn't really turned to balance the heat from outside and I heard people complaining already. Despite this inconvenience, I would still fly Continental especially if the continue to offer competitive rates. I still think though that they maintain eye contact with their passengers especially when they are directly talking to them to show their interest.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  19 October 2009 : by David Worcester   (UK)

Tampa to Houston to Seattle in First. No lounge access because not on an international flight but apart from that the service was excellent. A meal and drink was served to both Houston and Seattle and on the return from Seattle breakfast was served. Also they served a cookie and milk before landing in Houston. Just drinks to Tampa but all the crew were friendly and the flights were on time.

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES customer review :  16 October 2009 : by E Conrow   (USA)

Jacksonville Fl. to Manchester UK via Newark, and the most horrible flight experience. The planes were all very dirty inside. The only redeeming feature was the entertainment screen for each seat, and that worked fine on the outbound flight but failed on the way back (though it was working fine at first until the stewardess decided to reboot the whole system because a few were having problems, which of course crashed the whole system.). Also the food was terrible. I'll gladly spend a little more next time to have a better experience. Only fly this airline if you get a very good deal and expect to have a bad experience then you'll be OK. Otherwise spend a little more for a better experience on another airline.