This year my family decided to take our first trip to California. Continental was, by far, the best deal on all three possible routes (JFK-SFO, JFK-OAK, EWR-SFO) and our trip was on CO348 going from EWR to SFO on August 7th and on CO649 going from SFO to EWR on August 16th.
CO348 was on a 757-300 aircraft, and I'd been wanting to fly on this particular aircraft for a while now and was very glad to finally get the chance. We checked in online and beat most of the lines at the airport, though the setup downstairs was a bit sluggish because there were only a few agents to take your bags after you had gone through the quick process on the kiosks. Our flight would be taking off from concourse 3, which is very nice and includes many stores and restaurants. It took a while, though, to get through security and as always the security staff didn't seem to be paying much attention to the x-ray monitors. When we got to the gate I was surprised to see a 767-400 at the gate, and immediately was suspicious. I then went over to the video monitor and found that our gate had been changed. I was a bit surprised the agent at check-in had not bothered to tell us that and when I told the agent at the new gate that she might want to make an announcement in case other passengers had not been redirected she gave me a really bad attitude. Anyway, now at the correct gate, the flight was delayed a couple times (in total about an hour 15 minutes) due to late arrival from South America and because it took a while to clean the plane (at least that was the constant excuse). Finally we boarded and began taxiing but were met with a very long line to the runway. The FA for my economy section was really nice though, and she was having nice conversations with the passengers. She also helped me when the head rest on my seat decided to break and fall off. Fortunately though after about 30 minutes of waiting we took off on, I think, runway 22R. I was surprised at the amount of legroom still available to coach passengers on CO, and as a tall person (6' 3") I still had room to almost stretch out completely. I was lucky though because the person in front of me on both trips didn't recline until about half way through the flight. Drinks and the meal service began almost immediately. The meal on this leg was a small pizza (which I thought was rather delicious) and a salad along with a small desert. I had an apple juice with my meal. I chose not to watch the movie, Spiderman 3, as I'd already seen it and been disappointed. Instead I chose to listen to music on my new noise canceling headphones and read a magazine. The view was really nice as we headed west, and we passed over some powerful (but beautiful) thunder clouds and lightning storms. As it got dark though, I tried to get some rest. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful. After the movie finished, a couple short shows were played but were equally uninteresting for me. We landed without delay at SFO doing a rather sudden approach over the bay (I say sudden because we descended a lot in a short amount of time, at least it felt that way). SFO was pretty deserted at our arrival, but it took a while for the bags to get unloaded and be retrieved. All-in-all, a very pleasant flight. Kind, helpful FAs along with a comfortable seat and filling meal made the flight very enjoyable.
CO649 was on a smaller 737-800 with winglets. This leg we were unable to check in online, but it actually took less time to check in and get our boarding passes printed than it did at EWR. But again it took a while for our bags to be tagged and put on the conveyor belt. Security was faster on this leg but it was a bit less orderly than at EWR. I did notice, however, that the TSA staff acted more professional and thorough. When we got to the gate, the plane wasn't there yet, and unsurprisingly we were also delayed on this leg, however the delay was short and it was obvious why once I got on the plane because the seat pockets were dirty and we didn't have a blanket or a pillow. Boarding turned out to be the killer on this flight. 75% of the passengers had elite access (which made it a bit less "elite" me thinks) so by the time general boarding started there were only about 20 people waiting, which was funny. Though the last laugh was on us, as once we got on the plane we were met with almost no overhead bin space. All through boarding the staff kept on nudging everyone along, making constant announcements for people to get out of the aisle so others could find their seats. Finally, once the door was closed, we were quickly on our way to the runway. I was surprised at the fast flight time of 4 hours 30 minutes but I guess that's all thanks to the jet stream. Like on the first leg of this journey, drinks and the meal were served once the plane reached its FL. The meal consisted off a chicken sandwich with a salad and a brownie for dessert. The chicken on mine tasted okay but the bread was completely overcooked and was hard as a rock, so I just ate the chicken by itself. The movie on this flight was Shrek 3, another movie I already saw, so I against read my magazines and listened to music. We were over the wing on this flight so I can't comment on the views, but it got dark fairly quickly anyway. We got into EWR around 12:00am and got our luggage very quickly. This flight was a bit less enjoyable than the previous one but it was still fine.
Sorry about the lack of pictures, but I hope the TR was a good read. :)
