Continental Airlines, down hill all the way to catch United Airlines

Continental Airlines is United at last.

I make no bones about it, I was a fan of Continental Airlines. They had a policy (even on International Services) of operating into Regional Airports and although there was always a marginal premium to be paid, the benefits far outweighed the disadvantages.

I became a fan when they introduced a regular service into Bristol (BRS) from Newark NJ (EWR) in 2005. Although I frequently traveled between Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) and the UK using direct flights on American Airlines, British Airways and even British Caledonian and Braniff in earlier times the misery of the journey in the UK, to and from Gatwick (LGW) and later Heathrow (LHR) in both summer and winter were and still are too much.

So from 2005 I flew into and out of Bristol on Continental. Although that meant clearing Customs and Immigration at Newark, the flight was never more than seven hours, I never had to 'stack'  over central England and the journey to the airport took less than an hour in either direction, a basic win - win for me. Add to which Bristol Airport was of a human scale, the airplanes were half decent and Cabin Crews were generally friendly. But then along came 2008 and 2009. The World economy in meltdown, Continental went looking for merger candidates and to 'rationalize' it's routes. By 2010 Bristol was dropped from the schedules and United Airlines went from being the merger candidate to swallowing and digesting Continental Airlines.

Up to that point Continental Airlines (from a passenger's perspective) was a much better carrier with newer and more efficient airplanes. Long-haul airplanes had an integrated entertainment system so you could choose when and what you watched, listened to or played. Some of their older 737 (200)'s on US domestic routes were a bit spartan though being replaced by later models. but hot and cold beverages, pretzels and even cold and sometimes hot snacks were served on the longer routes. This brings me to the nub of my post.

On January 14th / 15th. my wife and I flew from Dallas to London via Houston. The domestic leg was on a regional jet  and uneventful but United's flight UA921 from Houston to London achieved (for me) a new all time low standard. The integration of of the two fleets has seen Continental's newer aircraft moved around the system so that Continental's 777s have been replaced by United's old 767s on this particular route. Starting in 2013 the crews I've flown with have been European (London) based, and frankly less than happy to be bumped off their old (prestigious?) London - Washington route, with the airplanes they are trained on.

So, UA921, January 14, 2014. was my first experience of the (new 2014?) standard for the Economy (cattle class) cabin. The first surprise was that the initial 'beverage service' consisted only of that, gone are the days of a little packet of pretzels for each passenger. Now it's tea coffee or a soft drink, anything else, get out your Credit Card (No cash allowed!).  Depending on wind, weather and direction of flight the time in the air varies from about 8 hours up to nearly 11 so a meal, a movie and a nap still leave you with plenty of spare time. And as they say; 'The little things mean a lot' when your tail bone starts to go numb, your feet start to swell up and your knees still won't fit in the 31 inches of seat pitch allocated to you and your seat.

On this flight the load factor was probably less than 70% in Economy so the Cabin Crew were not working under much pressure, however when I jokingly raised the subject of the disappearing pretzels the air in my part of the cabin became distinctly 'frosty' and it was implied that as long as United delivered me safe and sound at the other end that was all I should expect and I shouldn't complain.

I knew it was time for Dinner as the movie was about halfway through (no chance to pause on United) and we were over the Appalachians and (as frequently happens) being bounced around a bit. Traveling 'cattle class' means that Dinner Service consists primarily of leftovers. At our end of the airplane the choice for dinner was between Cannelloni  and what ever you were able to bring into the cabin (I guess the 'Meat Eaters' travel up front)! The food itself was the worst I have ever had to eat period. The Cannelloni was hard, the white stuff it was covered with (I'm loath to call it a sauce) was both tasteless and separating and the whole lot was just plain cold! .

Breakfast, before we landed, comes very late in cattle class. The only benefit I can identify is that the croissants, having been reheated and allowed to cool and go hard are well suited to the still frozen butter and strawberry jam and are a perfect match to the unripe melon, hard grapes and half a cup of lukewarm coffee. Be warned, if you should need more (lukewarm) coffee, be quick because what is left when the cart makes it back to the galley gets dumped then there is nothing until you get through Customs.

Finally, on a more recent trip on UA921, because of weather the poor old 767 had to fly at pretty much maximum altitude all the way from Houston so that by the time we crossed over Ireland there was only one of the four restrooms at the rear of the airplane still working (the rest had frozen). That made for some long lines and anxious faces in the cabin as we began our decent into Heathrow. I'm glad the landing was okay as there could have been issues had we flown on any harder.