Continental Airlines to and from Europe
Jan 3rd 2005, 6:11 am
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
Continental Airlines to and from Europe
First time in about ten years, but never again; I've learned my lesson.
I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
Of course, I missed my connecting flights, well actually I shouldn't
have, the connecting flight was parked at the gate but the door was
closed, so I got to spend five hours at the Newark airport waiting for
another flight to Houston. I got to Houston by 9:45 pm, too late to get
to El Paso, so I (and a bunch of other people) had to spend the night
in Houston, which makes n. New Jersey (socially-speaking) look like
paradise. And the adventures only increased as the night wore on. It
took a half hour for the shuttle to pick us up in Houston because...our
hotel was an half hour from the airport. When we got to the hotel about
10:45 pm, the night clerk didn't know how to process vouchures. We made
it into bed about 11:30 pm. Oh, they gave us vouchures to eat, but the
hotel didn't have a restaurant nor were there any restaurants nearby,
and it definitely didn't look like a place to be walking around at
night. In fact, it looked like we were not that hotel's usual type of
customer.
Now my wife's stuck in Madrid. Her flights were originally the same as
mine but on a later day. So she changed her flights so she'd have more
time to pass customs in Newark. Continental was trying to charge her a
penalty for their mistake in originally giving her only 30 minutes to
clear customs (the mistake cleverly doesn't appear in the itinerary),
and now they'd told her to show up at the airport on Sunday and hope
for a seat.
By the way, if you're traveling through Newark, take extra booze
through if you drink. I did, thinking I'd pay duty on the extra bottles
since I like certain Spanish liqueurs that aren't sold in the US. But
the customs systems was completely collapsed when I passed through, and
the immigration guy barely looked at my passport.
I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
Of course, I missed my connecting flights, well actually I shouldn't
have, the connecting flight was parked at the gate but the door was
closed, so I got to spend five hours at the Newark airport waiting for
another flight to Houston. I got to Houston by 9:45 pm, too late to get
to El Paso, so I (and a bunch of other people) had to spend the night
in Houston, which makes n. New Jersey (socially-speaking) look like
paradise. And the adventures only increased as the night wore on. It
took a half hour for the shuttle to pick us up in Houston because...our
hotel was an half hour from the airport. When we got to the hotel about
10:45 pm, the night clerk didn't know how to process vouchures. We made
it into bed about 11:30 pm. Oh, they gave us vouchures to eat, but the
hotel didn't have a restaurant nor were there any restaurants nearby,
and it definitely didn't look like a place to be walking around at
night. In fact, it looked like we were not that hotel's usual type of
customer.
Now my wife's stuck in Madrid. Her flights were originally the same as
mine but on a later day. So she changed her flights so she'd have more
time to pass customs in Newark. Continental was trying to charge her a
penalty for their mistake in originally giving her only 30 minutes to
clear customs (the mistake cleverly doesn't appear in the itinerary),
and now they'd told her to show up at the airport on Sunday and hope
for a seat.
By the way, if you're traveling through Newark, take extra booze
through if you drink. I did, thinking I'd pay duty on the extra bottles
since I like certain Spanish liqueurs that aren't sold in the US. But
the customs systems was completely collapsed when I passed through, and
the immigration guy barely looked at my passport.
Jan 3rd 2005, 7:43 am
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Continental Airlines to and from Europe
[email protected] wrote:
> First time in about ten years, but never again; I've learned my lesson.
> I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
> didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
It's annoying to miss a connecting flight. I have only flown twice on
Continental, a return domestic flight. I was impressed with their
operation. The seating was very comfortable, and their were perfectly on
schedule. I recall sitting in the departure lounge wondering where the heck
the plane was 15 minutes before departure time and no sign of it. A few
minutes later it rolled up to the gate, disembarking passengrs came through
and then we boarded and took off on time, made it to our connecting flight
in good time and arrived at our destination on time. The return flight was
equally efficient. It was quite a relief to us to have had them stick so
closely to schedule, since almost every previous flight I had been on had
run late.
> First time in about ten years, but never again; I've learned my lesson.
> I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
> didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
It's annoying to miss a connecting flight. I have only flown twice on
Continental, a return domestic flight. I was impressed with their
operation. The seating was very comfortable, and their were perfectly on
schedule. I recall sitting in the departure lounge wondering where the heck
the plane was 15 minutes before departure time and no sign of it. A few
minutes later it rolled up to the gate, disembarking passengrs came through
and then we boarded and took off on time, made it to our connecting flight
in good time and arrived at our destination on time. The return flight was
equally efficient. It was quite a relief to us to have had them stick so
closely to schedule, since almost every previous flight I had been on had
run late.
Jan 3rd 2005, 9:31 am
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Continental Airlines to and from Europe
[email protected] wrote:
> First time in about ten years, but never again; I've learned my lesson.
> I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
> didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
> Of course, I missed my connecting flights, well actually I shouldn't
> have, the connecting flight was parked at the gate but the door was
> closed, so I got to spend five hours at the Newark airport waiting for
> another flight to Houston.
That is why I NEVER choose an airline for an overseas trip
that has connecting flights in the USA - not for my return,
anyway! If the return involves changing flights, I make
sure my transfer point is in Europe, so I don't have to
clear customs until I arrive home at LAX. Not all air
terminals in the US are equipped for international travelers
(many process only domestic flights), so one must clear
customs in the international terminal wherever one's flight
from abroad touches down. (No "checking through" of your
luggage to the final destination, as you can on your flight
FROM the USA.) Because I'm more or less "home" at the end
of my flight, I've never paid much attention to how long it
takes to clear customs at LAX, but if you booked your entire
trip with Continental, they should have allowed you time for
customs at the point of arrival. Was your flight from
Europe late, or was it just carelessness on the part of the
booking agent?
> First time in about ten years, but never again; I've learned my lesson.
> I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
> didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
> Of course, I missed my connecting flights, well actually I shouldn't
> have, the connecting flight was parked at the gate but the door was
> closed, so I got to spend five hours at the Newark airport waiting for
> another flight to Houston.
That is why I NEVER choose an airline for an overseas trip
that has connecting flights in the USA - not for my return,
anyway! If the return involves changing flights, I make
sure my transfer point is in Europe, so I don't have to
clear customs until I arrive home at LAX. Not all air
terminals in the US are equipped for international travelers
(many process only domestic flights), so one must clear
customs in the international terminal wherever one's flight
from abroad touches down. (No "checking through" of your
luggage to the final destination, as you can on your flight
FROM the USA.) Because I'm more or less "home" at the end
of my flight, I've never paid much attention to how long it
takes to clear customs at LAX, but if you booked your entire
trip with Continental, they should have allowed you time for
customs at the point of arrival. Was your flight from
Europe late, or was it just carelessness on the part of the
booking agent?
Jan 3rd 2005, 2:04 pm
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Continental Airlines to and from Europe
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
> First time in about ten years, but never again; I've learned my lesson.
> I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
> didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
> Of course, I missed my connecting flights, well actually I shouldn't
> have, the connecting flight was parked at the gate but the door was
> closed, so I got to spend five hours at the Newark airport waiting for
> another flight to Houston.
Back in '97 I flew Continental back from Madrid via Newark. It was about
August 1st and everything coming out of Madrid was packed and delayed. On
top of this there was weather over the mid-Atlantic, which caused us to
route far to the north, delaying our arrival several hours. The next
available flight for New Orleans was in 5 hours. I was exhausted, sitting in
the "cattle pen" with 15 screaming brats, going slowly insane, when a small
angel landed on my shoulder and said, "Hey, stupid! Remember that domestic
upgrade coupon in your carry-on? Don't you think it's a good time to use
it?" 8-)
--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net
news:[email protected] oups.com...
> First time in about ten years, but never again; I've learned my lesson.
> I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
> didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
> Of course, I missed my connecting flights, well actually I shouldn't
> have, the connecting flight was parked at the gate but the door was
> closed, so I got to spend five hours at the Newark airport waiting for
> another flight to Houston.
Back in '97 I flew Continental back from Madrid via Newark. It was about
August 1st and everything coming out of Madrid was packed and delayed. On
top of this there was weather over the mid-Atlantic, which caused us to
route far to the north, delaying our arrival several hours. The next
available flight for New Orleans was in 5 hours. I was exhausted, sitting in
the "cattle pen" with 15 screaming brats, going slowly insane, when a small
angel landed on my shoulder and said, "Hey, stupid! Remember that domestic
upgrade coupon in your carry-on? Don't you think it's a good time to use
it?" 8-)
--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net
Jan 3rd 2005, 3:49 pm
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Continental Airlines to and from Europe
Hmm, I've never done a booking that did not show arrival time. We never
use Continental, but a quick check of their site indicates they do show
arrival times when there is a plane change on a route (I looked at
ZRH/ELP as an example). We normally allow about 3 hours between
connecting flights when we have to go through customs. You do have to
be careful though as we have found American's web site likes to only
schedule an hour or so between the arrival from Europe and the ELP
flight. Fortunately with AA there is a later ELP flight than the one
their web site usually tries to give you. It may take some fussing to
get the web site to give you flights with enough leeway between
connections.
Between ELP and Europe we use either United or American because their
flights offer better seat pitch. You do have to be careful as some
United flights are really codeshare Lufthansa flights with tight seat
spacing. An alternative if stuck in Houston is to go out through Love
Field using Southwest. Southwest has several flights a day to ELP,
although I believe they dropped their late night one.
--
wf.
[email protected] wrote:
>
> First time in about ten years, but never again; I've learned my lesson.
> I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
> didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
> Of course, I missed my connecting flights, well actually I shouldn't
> have, the connecting flight was parked at the gate but the door was
> closed, so I got to spend five hours at the Newark airport waiting for
> another flight to Houston. I got to Houston by 9:45 pm, too late to get
> to El Paso, so I (and a bunch of other people) had to spend the night
> in Houston, which makes n. New Jersey (socially-speaking) look like
> paradise. And the adventures only increased as the night wore on. It
> took a half hour for the shuttle to pick us up in Houston because...our
> hotel was an half hour from the airport.
use Continental, but a quick check of their site indicates they do show
arrival times when there is a plane change on a route (I looked at
ZRH/ELP as an example). We normally allow about 3 hours between
connecting flights when we have to go through customs. You do have to
be careful though as we have found American's web site likes to only
schedule an hour or so between the arrival from Europe and the ELP
flight. Fortunately with AA there is a later ELP flight than the one
their web site usually tries to give you. It may take some fussing to
get the web site to give you flights with enough leeway between
connections.
Between ELP and Europe we use either United or American because their
flights offer better seat pitch. You do have to be careful as some
United flights are really codeshare Lufthansa flights with tight seat
spacing. An alternative if stuck in Houston is to go out through Love
Field using Southwest. Southwest has several flights a day to ELP,
although I believe they dropped their late night one.
--
wf.
[email protected] wrote:
>
> First time in about ten years, but never again; I've learned my lesson.
> I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
> didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
> Of course, I missed my connecting flights, well actually I shouldn't
> have, the connecting flight was parked at the gate but the door was
> closed, so I got to spend five hours at the Newark airport waiting for
> another flight to Houston. I got to Houston by 9:45 pm, too late to get
> to El Paso, so I (and a bunch of other people) had to spend the night
> in Houston, which makes n. New Jersey (socially-speaking) look like
> paradise. And the adventures only increased as the night wore on. It
> took a half hour for the shuttle to pick us up in Houston because...our
> hotel was an half hour from the airport.
Jan 4th 2005, 3:17 pm
#6
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Continental Airlines to and from Europe
"randee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Between ELP and Europe we use either United or American because their
> flights offer better seat pitch. You do have to be careful as some
> United flights are really codeshare Lufthansa flights with tight seat
> spacing. An alternative if stuck in Houston is to go out through Love
> Field using Southwest. Southwest has several flights a day to ELP,
> although I believe they dropped their late night one.
If stuck in Houston, I think you mean Hobby Airport, which is where
Southwest flies, in Houston (for the most part... there are some IAH SW
flights). Love Field is in Dallas.
-Holly
news:[email protected]...
> Between ELP and Europe we use either United or American because their
> flights offer better seat pitch. You do have to be careful as some
> United flights are really codeshare Lufthansa flights with tight seat
> spacing. An alternative if stuck in Houston is to go out through Love
> Field using Southwest. Southwest has several flights a day to ELP,
> although I believe they dropped their late night one.
If stuck in Houston, I think you mean Hobby Airport, which is where
Southwest flies, in Houston (for the most part... there are some IAH SW
flights). Love Field is in Dallas.
-Holly
Jan 5th 2005, 3:14 am
#7
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Continental Airlines to and from Europe
[email protected] wrote:
> First time in about ten years, but never again; I've learned my lesson.
> I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
> didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
Selling impossible connections sounds like a Continental speciality.
A young student friend of ours took advantage of a special offer with
Continental to fly Mexico City-Houston-Newark-Amsterdam.
The connection in Houston allowed only 40 minutes between landing and
departure. Amazingly he made it in time.
T.
> Of course, I missed my connecting flights, well actually I shouldn't
> have, the connecting flight was parked at the gate but the door was
> closed, so I got to spend five hours at the Newark airport waiting for
> another flight to Houston. I got to Houston by 9:45 pm, too late to get
> to El Paso, so I (and a bunch of other people) had to spend the night
> in Houston, which makes n. New Jersey (socially-speaking) look like
> paradise. And the adventures only increased as the night wore on. It
> took a half hour for the shuttle to pick us up in Houston because...our
> hotel was an half hour from the airport. When we got to the hotel about
> 10:45 pm, the night clerk didn't know how to process vouchures. We made
> it into bed about 11:30 pm. Oh, they gave us vouchures to eat, but the
> hotel didn't have a restaurant nor were there any restaurants nearby,
> and it definitely didn't look like a place to be walking around at
> night. In fact, it looked like we were not that hotel's usual type of
> customer.
>
> Now my wife's stuck in Madrid. Her flights were originally the same as
> mine but on a later day. So she changed her flights so she'd have more
> time to pass customs in Newark. Continental was trying to charge her a
> penalty for their mistake in originally giving her only 30 minutes to
> clear customs (the mistake cleverly doesn't appear in the itinerary),
> and now they'd told her to show up at the airport on Sunday and hope
> for a seat.
>
> By the way, if you're traveling through Newark, take extra booze
> through if you drink. I did, thinking I'd pay duty on the extra bottles
> since I like certain Spanish liqueurs that aren't sold in the US. But
> the customs systems was completely collapsed when I passed through, and
> the immigration guy barely looked at my passport.
>
> First time in about ten years, but never again; I've learned my lesson.
> I had bookings to fly Madrid-Houston-El Paso, but what the itinerary
> didn't show is that I would have 30 minutes in Newark to clear customs.
Selling impossible connections sounds like a Continental speciality.
A young student friend of ours took advantage of a special offer with
Continental to fly Mexico City-Houston-Newark-Amsterdam.
The connection in Houston allowed only 40 minutes between landing and
departure. Amazingly he made it in time.
T.
> Of course, I missed my connecting flights, well actually I shouldn't
> have, the connecting flight was parked at the gate but the door was
> closed, so I got to spend five hours at the Newark airport waiting for
> another flight to Houston. I got to Houston by 9:45 pm, too late to get
> to El Paso, so I (and a bunch of other people) had to spend the night
> in Houston, which makes n. New Jersey (socially-speaking) look like
> paradise. And the adventures only increased as the night wore on. It
> took a half hour for the shuttle to pick us up in Houston because...our
> hotel was an half hour from the airport. When we got to the hotel about
> 10:45 pm, the night clerk didn't know how to process vouchures. We made
> it into bed about 11:30 pm. Oh, they gave us vouchures to eat, but the
> hotel didn't have a restaurant nor were there any restaurants nearby,
> and it definitely didn't look like a place to be walking around at
> night. In fact, it looked like we were not that hotel's usual type of
> customer.
>
> Now my wife's stuck in Madrid. Her flights were originally the same as
> mine but on a later day. So she changed her flights so she'd have more
> time to pass customs in Newark. Continental was trying to charge her a
> penalty for their mistake in originally giving her only 30 minutes to
> clear customs (the mistake cleverly doesn't appear in the itinerary),
> and now they'd told her to show up at the airport on Sunday and hope
> for a seat.
>
> By the way, if you're traveling through Newark, take extra booze
> through if you drink. I did, thinking I'd pay duty on the extra bottles
> since I like certain Spanish liqueurs that aren't sold in the US. But
> the customs systems was completely collapsed when I passed through, and
> the immigration guy barely looked at my passport.
>
Jan 5th 2005, 6:23 am
#8
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Continental Airlines to and from Europe
Sigh, brain fever. You are absolutely right of course. I've certainly
been through both of those more than I care to remember!
--
wf.
"Holly J. Sommer" wrote:
> If stuck in Houston, I think you mean Hobby Airport, which is where
> Southwest flies, in Houston (for the most part... there are some IAH SW
> flights). Love Field is in Dallas.
>
> -Holly
been through both of those more than I care to remember!
--
wf.
"Holly J. Sommer" wrote:
> If stuck in Houston, I think you mean Hobby Airport, which is where
> Southwest flies, in Houston (for the most part... there are some IAH SW
> flights). Love Field is in Dallas.
>
> -Holly
Jan 5th 2005, 8:57 am
#9
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Continental Airlines to and from Europe
No problem!! Even still, if someone is stuck at IAH in Houston, getting to
Hobby is a bit of an excursion. I wouldn't recommend getting down there for
an alternate SW flight unless there's at least a 6-hour delay. It would be
either one whopper of a cab fare, or odd navigating through the pretty poor
Metro bus system around town (unless you know someone who doesn't mind
driving from one side of town to the other). There may be shuttles, however
I am not sure how often they run or how much they cost.
Not a fan of either Love Field or Hobby myself. Those are the red-headed
stepchildren of airports in their respective cities... especially Hobby.
-Holly
"randee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Sigh, brain fever. You are absolutely right of course. I've certainly
> been through both of those more than I care to remember!
> --
> wf.
> "Holly J. Sommer" wrote:
>> If stuck in Houston, I think you mean Hobby Airport, which is where
>> Southwest flies, in Houston (for the most part... there are some IAH SW
>> flights). Love Field is in Dallas.
>> -Holly
Hobby is a bit of an excursion. I wouldn't recommend getting down there for
an alternate SW flight unless there's at least a 6-hour delay. It would be
either one whopper of a cab fare, or odd navigating through the pretty poor
Metro bus system around town (unless you know someone who doesn't mind
driving from one side of town to the other). There may be shuttles, however
I am not sure how often they run or how much they cost.
Not a fan of either Love Field or Hobby myself. Those are the red-headed
stepchildren of airports in their respective cities... especially Hobby.
-Holly
"randee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Sigh, brain fever. You are absolutely right of course. I've certainly
> been through both of those more than I care to remember!
> --
> wf.
> "Holly J. Sommer" wrote:
>> If stuck in Houston, I think you mean Hobby Airport, which is where
>> Southwest flies, in Houston (for the most part... there are some IAH SW
>> flights). Love Field is in Dallas.
>> -Holly
