Earlier this year Continental’s Micronesia division inaugurated non-stop service between Honolulu and Nadi, Fiji. Introductory fares from Los Angeles were $845 r/t (currently about $1200 r/t) so I decided to spend my spring break in Fiji. For a review...
New VDB Policy on United Airlines–$400 Travel Credit ONLY
According to reports on Flyertalk, United will implement a new voluntary denied boarding policy starting on Tuesday. The current VDB compensation on domestic flights is a choice between travel credits or a round-trip voucher good for any United-operated trip...
Continental Gate Agent: “These idiots have no idea what they are doing.”
Yesterday, I blogged about a weather delay in Philadelphia that would have made my connection in Newark very tight. Turns out, the fog dissipated and my 81-mile CO Connection (CommutAir) flight from PHL-EWR was moved up to depart at...
Fogged in at Philadelphia International
…and it looks like I’ll miss my connection to Orange County if my Continental to flight to Newark is delayed any longer. Right now, they’re telling me that EVERY SINGLE flight is full today on ALL carriers to SNA. Somehow...
US Airways Takes Offense to Jeff Smisek’s Poetic Flourish
The Wall Street Journal has been quite humorous this week in covering the UA-CO merger: Two years ago, Continental Airlines Inc. spurned United Airlines’ proposal to marry, believing the time wasn’t right. On Monday, Jeff Smisek, Continental’s chairman and chief executive,...
Glenn Tilton says bloggers have too much time on their hands
Glenn Tilton joined Richard Quest on CNN today to discuss the United-Continental merger. As reported on Flyertalk, The last question Quest had was: "On the internet bloggers are all over this merger. Flyertalkers are having a hard time determining...
CO/UA Merger: Disappointing Livery and a New Slogan: "Let’s Fly Together"
Check out the official United-Continental merger website. “Work hard. Fly right.” and “It’s time to fly” weren’t great slogans, but “Let’s Fly Together” is a lame and uninspired slogan of the new combined carrier. It’s not even cute. Even...
United Will Buy Continental for $3.2BN
Numerous media outlets are reporting that the UA-CO merger has been finalized. UAL Corp, parent of United Airlines, will buy Continental Airlines Inc. for $3.2 billion, forming the world’s largest carrier in a merger that further shrinks the embattled U.S. airline industry...
Does Houston Win Even if New UA-CO HQs is in Chicago?
We still don’t have an official announcement about a merger, but numerous news stories hint that an agreement has been reached and a formal announcement is imminent. Many in Houston are moaning about losing jobs if the new airline...
Los Angeles to Honolulu Hawaiian Service: Continental vs. United
vs. The two soon may be one, but I had a chance to try out Continental’s Hawaiian service recently from LAX-HNL and provide this report to compare their service to United’s on the same route. Continental 3 LAX-HNL...
United Records First Operating Profit since 2000
It’s been a decade since United reported a first quarter operating profit, but in a sign that the airline industry is recovering, UA reported a $58MN operating profit today. Still, UA lost $82MN or $0.49/share overall–a big improvement over...
New Obstacle in United-Continental Merger
With both CAL and UAUA rising (though United is rising more quickly), a new roadblock has arisen in merger talks: …The two sides disagree over the value of the share prices that would be used to calculate a stock...
Merge By May? United and Continental Talks Heat Up
“I WANT CO!” image courtesy Wall Street Journal We all knew the “talks” between US and UA were just a ruse: Negotiations between UAL Corp.’s United Airlines and Continental Airlines Inc. are picking up pace, with parties believing a merger...
Missed My First Upgrade in Two Years on United!
After going 8/8 with United’s new UDU program and not missing a requested upgrade in over two years (going back to my days a Premier Executive) I failed to clear on a SFO-PHL flight this afternoon. The transcon was...
Paperless Boarding Passes now Available on United Airlines
In a shocking move for UA’s crack IT department, you can now use your web-enabled mobile phone to check in for your flight and obtain a boarding pass. You can also check schedules, flight status, and flight availability on...
Hot Nuts Gone on United?
Two recent posts in the omnibus "Let’s Eat" thread on Flyertalk, where travelers post what meals they were served on UA, suggest that United may be phasing out hot nuts. A LAX-ORD and LAX-LIH flight last week featured a...
End of an Era: Continental to Eliminate Complimentary Food on Most North American Flights
An end of an era. Continental announced today that it will phase out complimentary meals in Economy on all North American flights under six hours. Continental Airlines Inc., the last big U.S. airline to operate catering kitchens and to serve...
Thanks for Flying StarTeam
I tried out Continental’s new LAX-HNL-NAN 737-800 route last week and really enjoyed the service. Later this week I will blog about crew and meals on the flights. For now, I just thought I’d share that the purser on...
Mayhem at Chicago O’Hare
My oversold 777 flight to SFO has been cancelled and it is not clear if I am going to get to LAX tonight. There’s hundreds of people in line at the Customer Service desk and a snowstorm is imminent....
Stuck in Newark because Continental decided to overbook the pilot!
To be fair, I am on Continental Express, operated by ExpressJet. But unlike UA, who usually blames it "on the contract carrier," the CO staff have not tried to cast blame on others–at least not yet. I’m sitting in...
