The Cranky Flier » Continental

The Final Days of the Continental Name (but Continental Itself Lives On)

CF — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:45:32 +0000

There are a lot of different milestones that can be used to determine when a merger is truly complete. The one I always use is when you can no longer book a flight on both airlines. For United and Continental, that day comes this Saturday.

In the wee hours of early Saturday morning, United’s Apollo reservations system will be shut down in favor of Continental’s SHARES system. In fact, we’ll see a lot kept from the Continental side, even though the United name will reign supreme.

Beginning on Saturday, you will no longer be able to book a flight on Continental – they’ll all be on United. This is great news . . . not that the Continental name is disappearing but rather that there is only one airline to deal with. This means no more problems of working with two different airlines even though they’re really one.

Considering I spent over an hour trying to use a Mileage Plus member’s miles to upgrade a Continental flight last week, this piece of the merger couldn’t come soon enough.

Of course, the transition won’t be easy. It never is. The United reservations folks will now be forced to use an unfamiliar system. Training undoubtedly helps, but it’s still a big change. And then there’s the physical switch itself.

It is no small task taking all that reservation data, putting it into a new system, and then hoping it all works as planned. It’s never a perfect transition. Remember when US Airways and America West flipped the switch? There were a lot of problems.

So, if you’re flying United for the week beginning this Saturday, give yourself some extra time at the airport just in case. Here are some other things to keep in mind.

Reservations
Since the airlines are moving to Continental’s reservation system, it’s those record locators (confirmation numbers) that will survive. If you booked on United before the system switch, I would assume that there will be a mechanism for the new system to still recognize those old numbers when you try to use them. But if you had a split reservation with both United and Continental flights, you’ll be fine just remembering the Continental number going forward.

UPDATE: I just received clarification from someone at United that this is not quite what’s happening. Both United reservations and Continental reservations will be transferred into a new SHARES system, so there will be a new reservation number assigned to each reservation. If you have a reservation with both United and Continental flights, you will have three record locators: the old United one, the old Continental one, and the new combined United one. The key point? Any of them will work when you try to pull up your reservation.

The Website
If you’re one of the few people who love the not-so-affectionately nicknamed United.bomb website, then you’ll be sad to know that the Continental website is the survivor.

It’s really going to be a carbon copy of the current Continental website. For a pre-production version of the new site, head over to pss.united.com and you can play around.

MileagePlus
March 3 also will be the effective date of the new MileagePlus combined frequent flier program. If you have a Continental OnePass number, that will be your Mileage Plus number. If you have a current Mileage Plus number from United, then that’s toast.

If you had both and linked them, then you’ll just consolidate under the Continental number. If you never had a OnePass number, you’ll be getting a new one from United.

Patience is the key in the next couple weeks. If you’re flying United, it could be rough going as the systems combine, but in the end, it will be a much better experience since the airlines will operate as one.

There are more things to be merged, but most of those aren’t as visible to travelers. This is the big weekend.

Topic of the Week: Milestones for Continental and America West

CF — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:45:12 +0000

There were a couple of somewhat minor milestones in the eyes of travelers this week, but I thought it was worth sharing.

First, Continental and United started operating on a single operating certificate. Even though they’re using the old Continental certificate, the United call sign is surviving. If you’re listening to air traffic control, you will no longer hear “Continental” being used. For travelers, this means nothing since the passenger cutover isn’t until March. But it’s still one more step in the integration.

Also this week, US Airways operated the last flight with former America West 737s. Flight 48 arrived in Phoenix from Vegas early on November 29 at 144p. This also marked what I consider the official death of the already dramatically reduced Vegas hub with the end of flights to LA and other places.

If you want to get all misty-eyed and reminisce, go for it in the comments.

Cranky on the Web (November 7 – 11)

CF — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:45:25 +0000

Airline Wi-Fi Check: Which Have It? – Conde Nast Daily Traveler
In light of United’s announcement that it was putting wifi on its whole mainline fleet, it seemed like a good time to do a wifi roundup to see who has it and where.

United and Continental Merger Will Make Flying to Europe Easier – Conde Nast Daily Traveler
United is doing some interesting things with its new combined fleet, and that means new destinations from Dulles that couldn’t be served before.

United Releases a Few Good Product Enhancements Amidst a Lot of Old News

CF — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:45:47 +0000

This week is the GBTA Convention (formerly known as NBTA until it decided to go “global,” or something like that), and the new United is taking a page from the old Continental playbook by making a bunch of announcements. See, GBTA is the big event for corporate/business travel, and Continental has long treated it as important. It rolled out its flat beds in business class there a few years ago, and now it’s focusing on other product enhancements. What’s the verdict?

There are a few good nuggets of info in here, but there’s also a lot of repeat announcements. One you get through the noise, the announcements are mostly great news. The team is finally fixing up the United fleet while bringing over some old favorites to Continental. Let’s go over them. (I’ve saved my favorite for last.)

New: United Will Convert Interiors on 14 Previously-Domestic 767s
United has long had a sizable fleet of 767-300s that it split in two. Some were outfitted with three-cabins and flew internationally while the others were domestic birds with a domestic-style first class and a sea of coach. Now the 14 previously domestic birds will get a hybrid international configuration with only two classes (actually 30 in biz, 49 in Economy Plus, and 135 in coach), but they’ll get the well-liked Continental flat bed up front. New seats will be put in, but it’s unclear if the old, tiny overhead bins will be replaced. I like this – gives some flexibility to the United fleet, but it will be interesting to see what airplanes replace that capacity on the domestic runs.

Old: United Will Put Flat Beds on Continental 767-400 Fleet
This was supposed to be done by next summer anyway, and now it’s apparently being reaffirmed. The twelve 767-400s in the Continental fleet will get flat beds. No surprise there. Here’s the chart of what the fleet does and will look like. United says it will have 185 birds with flat beds, but I count 193. Are there some retirements that I’m missing?

Aircraft	Flat Beds Current	Flat Beds Planned	Pct Complete
CO 757-200	41	41	100%
CO 767-200	0	0	100%
CO 767-400	0	12	0%
CO 777-200	22	22	100%
UA 757-200 p.s.	0	13	0%
UA 767-300	21	35	60%
UA 777-200	17	46	37%
UA 747-400	24	24	100%

Old: United 777s Will Keep Getting Flat Beds
United was painfully slow at putting flat beds on its 777s, and now it’s only at 17 of the 46 in the international fleet. Sounds like the process is starting up again, and I’ve confirmed that these airplanes will all get the current United flat bed, not the Continental one.

Old: Continental Fleet Will Get Economy Plus
This is old news, but I guess it gives a little more color on the timing. Economy Plus will start being installed on Continental airplanes this fall with 38 done by year-end and 100 by the end of March next year. Economy Plus seats will come from current coach seating while premium cabins will remain unchanged in size. It’s not just mainline but also any aircraft with more than 50 seats, per the United standard. That means the Q400 props will get Economy Plus and First Class. We had a Twitter discussion on this awhile ago trying to remember the last prop that had First Class. It’s been awhile.

New: United Will Expand Overhead Bins and “Refresh” Interiors on the Airbus Fleet
Try boarding a United A319 and you’ll probably run out of bin space before general boarding even begins. So, the new United is nearly doubling the size of the bins to make them more functional. This will help the onboard experience, probably to the dismay of those who thought that problem was bad enough that it would convince United not to keep charging bag fees. Plus, the new United will “refresh” the interiors to give them a better appearance. This is long overdue on much of that fleet.

New: Streaming Movies on 747-400s
It wasn’t long ago that CEO Jeff Smisek said the product on the 747s wasn’t acceptable. To fix it, he’s committing to put a wireless streaming offering on the airplane. It’s like what American is doing on its 767-200s today with Gogo. You can log on and pay to watch movies or TV shows, etc on your own device. That’s great, but there’s one problem. This wasn’t accompanied by an announcement about putting power outlets in coach. Considering the long haul flights that the 747s operate, without power, this is useless. Let’s hope that announcement comes soon.

Old: United Will Put Wifi on the Legacy Continental Fleet
Those airplanes that have LiveTV on them (old Continental domestic planes) will also get wifi eventually. The timeline says next year, but I’ll believe it when I see it. This is old news.

Old and New: United Will Redo p.s. Airplanes
Jeff said before that United’s p.s. fleet that flies between LA/SF and JFK will get flat beds. This repeats that claim, but there’s more. p.s. will have 26 of the current Continental flat beds installed along with 70 Economy Plus seats, 44 in coach, power in every row, on demand audio/video and wifi. That means it won’t be the same configuration that Continental has on its 757s today. Continental today has only 16 beds on its 757s, so this will continue to be a separate fleet.

New: Channel 9 Will Be Offered on Continental Aircraft
I saved my favorite piece of news for last. Channel 9 will not only be kept on the United fleet, as previously stated, but it will be expanded to the Continental fleet. This is great news for those of us who like to listen to the conversation between the cockpit and air traffic control.

That’s it for now. As you can see, it was an announcement full of a lot of things we’ve heard before, but there are some encouraging nuggets of awesomeness (like Channel 9) in there as well. In short, Continental is fixing up the neglected United fleet while bringing over some old favorites to the Continental fleet. These are all great things, and the direction of the announcements is quite promising. It’s good to see some real investment in the passenger experience for everyone instead of just the premium travelers as had been United’s sole focus before the merger.

United’s “Customer Day One” Doesn’t See Many Changes

CF — Thu, 19 May 2011 10:45:03 +0000

I’m not quite sure how this was decided, but yesterday was “Customer Day One” for the combined Continental and United.. That doesn’t really make sense to me, because not much actually seemed to change and there’s plenty of work left to do. Let’s review where we stand.

Better Website Integration
Work has apparently been done which will allow customers on either the Continental or United website to shop for flights and check flight status on each other’s website. This, of course, is a temporary fix until there is only one website. I would think the day that one website is used is closer to being “day one” of the merged airline than this.

Renaming Elite Benefits to Premier Access
Just as Delta has done with Sky Priority, United is putting its suite of elite/premium cabin benefits under the name Premier Access. I suppose that means the new United will be keeping the “Premier” terminology used by the old United for its elite program, but the offerings don’t seem to be much different than what elites got before – just a different name. They’ll still get priority check-in, priority security, priority boarding, and priority baggage handling. I’m not sure if the last one is a new benefit, but in general, this is mostly a branding move. But there’s a catch.

Premier Access will become available to elite travelers at all of our airports over the next several months. In airports where Premier Access is not yet in place, eligible customers have access to United’s premium airport services and Continental’s EliteAccess benefits.

So this really isn’t available throughout the system and it’s going to take months.

Mileage Plus and OnePass Grow Closer
It’s being announced now that members in both programs can move miles back and forth at will and elite members will receive similar treatment. This has been out there for awhile, I believe. It’s also another temporary step until there is a single mileage program later this year if not beyond.

Check-in Times and Boarding Are Standardized
Check-in times should now be standardized throughout the two airlines, and boarding is as well. (There are a bunch of other policies that have been standardized as well.) The Continental boarding method which gives priority to military members, then elites/premium passengers, and lastly families has won the day. The rest of the boarding process will be be rows starting in the back. There appears to be some standardized lounge benefits as well including free wifi and booze, but I think that happened months ago.

Standardized Food, Sort Of
Meals (including buy-on-board) will now be the same regardless of whether you’re flying Continental or United. But not everything is perfect right now. Beverages won’t be standardized until the end of the summer. But you coffee drinkers can rejoice. Get ready for “a flavorful new custom blend.” Whew, and here I was worried it would be flavorless.

New Airport Branding
Yesterday, the signage for the new United went up at Chicago/O’Hare. (I wonder if they caught the ages old logo in the tunnel on the way to the El.) The tulip is dead, but it’s only dead in Chicago. San Francisco and Washington/Dulles are next, and the rest will take months. So, the Chicago people can see some real change but elsewhere, not yet.

Twitter and Facebook Join the Merger
Separate Twitter accounts and Facebook pages are gone. Now it’s just @United on Twitter (much better than the character-wasting @UnitedAirlines that was previously used). And there’s a new Facebook page as well.

So that’s customer day one? It just seems like another day of progress along the road, but it’s not a major change for most people. I’m not trying to diminish the number of changes made so far. It’s a daunting task that is very difficult, but I have no clue why they’re calling it Customer Day One with so much more to do.

United Announces Onboard Wifi, But It’s Hardly a Ringing Endorsement

CF — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:45:55 +0000

Earlier this week, United announced that it will finally put wifi onboard about 200 of its airplanes. You would think that this would finally resolve the wifi question at the new world’s largest airline, but it doesn’t. I imagine this was just a great deal that they couldn’t pass up.

The announcement said that United had signed a letter of intent with LiveTV to put wifi onboard more than 200 Continental airplanes. This deal is for Ka band satellite, the super fancy, cheap, and fast version of satellite internet that JetBlue said it would install last year, though it’s not yet operational anywhere. In the past, neither United nor Continental had seen it worthwhile to put internet onboard except on United’s tiny fleet of p.s. airplanes that fly between JFK and both LA and San Francisco. So what’s changed?

Continental signed up long ago to put LiveTV on most of its domestic fleet. There are already 165 airplanes with this onboard and another 53 scheduled to get it. That means a total of 218 airplanes, or the “more than 200″ that will get wifi per the announcement. I assume every airplane with LiveTV will end up with wifi as part of this deal.

So has United seen the light and decided that, like Delta, it thinks wifi is important for the future? I’m not so sure. One of the big questions surrounding this merger is what will happen to the onboard product on the domestic fleet. It seems that the TVs on the Continental fleet are safe for now, but did LiveTV have to pony up to make that happen? While JetBlue has signed up for this internet offering already (as it should since it owns LiveTV), it’s not operational anywhere yet. But LiveTV is high on this, and it was also probably quite concerned about the possibility of losing its TV contract with the new United.

So did LiveTV give United a sweetheart deal on internet to a) keep its TVs onboard and b) help build the buzz around the internet offering? It seems quite possible to me. And that’s probably a smart business move on LiveTV’s part. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that United is sold on internet. If it was, I imagine that we would have seen a complete announcement about the domestic fleet and not just a partial one.

What does this mean for the future of entertainment on United? It does seem clear that TV is going to stay for now, but whether it will be expanded or not is entirely unclear. The incompleteness of this announcement is why I figure that LiveTV made United and offer it couldn’t refuse. And since this is an LOI, there’s no guarantee that even this will happen. Hopefully the coming months will bring us more on the direction that United is going to take.

Why United Can’t Use Its Own 757s to Fly to Europe

CF — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:45:36 +0000

It was just announced that the new United will start flying 757s from Washington to Europe for the first time when it adds a second daily flight to Paris. This has a lot of people wondering why United never bothered doing this before. After all, pre-merger United had around 100 of those airplanes and never flew them over the Atlantic. It’s actually because not all 757s are created the same, and United simply didn’t want to invest in making its airplanes worthy of flying across the Pond. With Continental management in charge, this will certainly change.

The new plan has a Continental 757 starting that second daily Dulles-Paris flight on June 9. During the leaner off-peak season, the Washington-Amsterdam flight will become a 757 (Sep 1) and the first daily flight to Paris will also go on a 757 (Sep 29). Some United widebodies will move up to Newark for a couple flights to balance things out. Pre-merger United passengers are probably dreading this move, but they shouldn’t. The onboard experience on a Continental 757 is nothing like a United 757.

By this summer, every Continental 757 will have the same flat beds in business class that Continental is installing on its widebody fleet. There will be 16 of those and 159 coach seats, all of which have full audio/video on demand and power ports that don’t require an adapter. In other words, the seat experience on these airplanes is better than what you’ll find on United except for the lack of Economy Plus.

The 757 is a great airplane for the North Atlantic for a couple reasons. First, it allows airlines to fly more frequently between cities that can’t support multiple flights on a widebody. Washington to Paris is a perfect example. Right now, that’s flown once a day with a 777 that has (or will have once the flat beds are installed) 48 Business and First class seats along with 221 in coach. Now, the airline will be able to run two 757s which combined have 32 Business and 318 seats in coach. This is great for markets with less premium cabin demand that could potentially be boosted by having more frequency. In this case, it helps to compete with Air France’s double daily flights.

Second, this airplane is great for opening up markets that don’t have enough demand to support even one widebody. Continental has been able to fly routes like Newark to Hamburg because of this airplane.

So why didn’t United bother doing this before? The answer? It was too cheap to do it. Maybe that’s not fair. I’m sure somebody did a cost-benefit analysis. They just came to different conclusions than the Continental folks. Here’s the difference.

Aircraft Maximum Takeoff Weight
Continental ordered its 757s with a maximum takeoff weight of 255,000 pounds while United’s are only 240,000. Why does this matter? Because Continental can pack on an additional 15,000 pounds of fuel over a United airplane with a similar passenger load. And you need that fuel to get across the Pond. Could United have changed this? Yes. It’s my understanding that a higher weight is a paperwork issue. They would have had to pay to have the plane re-certified but that’s all they’d have to do. There’s another cost here. Airports base landing fees on max takeoff weight, so better need that extra weight if you’re going to bother having it.

Engine Thrust
Continental has Rolls Royce RB211-535 engines with 42,540 pounds of thrust. United has Pratt & Whitney PW2037 engines on its birds with 37,000 pounds of thrust. More thrust is a good thing, and United doesn’t have it. Now, United could upgrade its engines to PW2040 or PW2043 engines with more thrust with ease, but it chose not to do so. Again, the airline didn’t want to pay for what’s an easy technical upgrade.

Crew Rest
This might be the stickiest area. FAA rules require a relief pilot on flights over 8 hours and the westbound flights tend to be over that amount thanks to headwinds. But each airline has a different contract with its pilots stating what facilities are required for crew rest. For Continental, I believe it’s just a blocked biz class seat on a 757 for pilots. Flight attendants also have their own requirements. United’s union contracts tend to provide more, but I don’t believe the 757 is addressed directly right now. So, there would have to be some negotiation on what a rest facility on the 757 would look like, and it’s unclear how difficult that may or may not be. This will undoubtedly be one of the areas of discussion on the new combined pilot contract.

So that’s why United’s 757s don’t fly over the Pond and Continental’s do. I would assume we’re going to see more of this from Washington as time goes by because it’s something that Continental has used very successfully from Newark over the years.

United Looks to Improve the International Travel Experience . . . in Coach

CF — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:45:07 +0000

One of the things that bothers me the most about United is its widely varying international travel experience in coach depending upon the airplane. The ultimate insult is coach on the 747, and new CEO Jeff Smisek knows it. He is apparently committing to fixing the product and bringing it up to this century’s standards.

The best international experience you can have in coach on United is if you get on one of the handful of 777s that have been reconfigured. These airplanes have brand new seats with full audio/video on demand for each person. It’s probably not much different than what you would expect on most airlines today. The old 777s and the 767s are a step down. The older seats do have personal screens but the movies are just looping and not on-demand. That’s not great and certainly not up to current standards, but it’s not awful either.

Then there’s the 747.

It’s probably not fair to use this picture from my 747 flight a couple weeks ago because even that old interior is outdated compared to what United has done on all its other 747s. (This particular airplane just made its last flight for United back to the desert.) But things aren’t that much better. United still only has overhead screens on this airplane, which it uses on some of the longest routes in its network. Want to fly for 14 hours to Sydney from LA? This is what you’ll get. It’s barebones, and it’s really the kind of product you would expect on a third world airline and nobody else these days. So how is it still flying?

United likes to put the 747 on its longest routes that have a lot of low fare demand. If you’re flying in a premium cabin, you’ll get a nice new flat bed, but it’s the back of the bus where United packs people in for cheap. The result is that coach passengers are rarely pleased with the product and it makes the airline a choice of last resort for people flying somewhere United uses a 747, if they know better.

Fortunately, Smisek knows this is true and he’s going to fix it. He told Australian Business Traveller that United would upgrade its 747s one way or another.

The back of the product on the 747 that United flies to Australia is not an acceptable level of product. And I know that, I recognise that. But United on its own didn’t have the money to invest in that product. Now (with the United-Continental merger) it does, and we will.

Oh man, that’s good to hear. Maybe we’ll finally get a consistently good hard product in the back of the bus on United’s international flights. That would be excellent, though I guess I should wait until I actually see it before giving too much praise. At least they’re talking the talk finally. It’s good to see that someone understands the importance of consistency over there. (And not consistently bad.)

Cranky on the Web (January 3-7)

CF — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 11:45:36 +0000

Expedia Drops American Airlines — Right After Orbitz Battle – BNET Headwinds
Expedia has now joined the fight against American, which seems ironic since it just gained an advantage after AA pulled out of Orbitz. This is much bigger than that, however.

Continental-United Merger: How the Airline Emboldened Its Pilots – BNET Headwinds
United lost its bid to put a Continental code on 70 seat jets in Continental hubs. That’s good news for pilots.

Southwest’s Muddled Attack on Change Fees May Backfire – BNET Headwinds
Southwest has released its new change fee ads, and the message isn’t nearly as clear as “Bags Fly Free.” In fact, this could backfire.

In the Trenches: Learning in the Aftermath – Intuit Small Business Blog
Now that the big winter storms during the holidays have passed, it’s time to revisit what worked and what didn’t. We do need to make some changes.

As Sabre Enters War Over Flight Bookings, American Has to Find New Strategies – BNET Headwinds
The distribution war that American started is reaching a boiling point, and now the question is whether American will be able to find a way to survive without the GDSes.

Sabre Makes the Wrong Choice By Removing American Airlines – BNET Headwinds
Now looking at it from the other side, Sabre is not making the right choice here.

Continental’s Willingness to Work Quickly Will Be a Welcome Addition at United

CF — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:45:23 +0000

While there are a lot of things that are bound to change in the United/Continental merger, one of the most welcome changes will be a shift in how quickly things get done at the combined airline. See, United is shockingly slow at finishing what it starts while Continental gets things done relatively quickly. It all goes back to Gordon Bethune.

When Gordon Bethune took over at Continental in the mid-1990s, he found an airline in complete disarray. The onboard product was miserable and inconsistent, employees were unhappy, and I believe that each airplane had a different paint job.* (*Ever-so-slight exaggeration) So one of the things Gordon did was ensure that the airline was presenting itself in a uniform fashion. Even though the airline had almost no money left, he started painting the airplanes. And in a short period, the entire fleet was done. This may not seem important, but it does mean a lot to employees and helps act as the foundation for a single brand image.

United isn’t quite in the same position as Continental was back then, but the fleet looks like that of a bankrupt airline. While all Continental airplanes are painted in the airline’s livery (except for those that have received new United titles), United only has about half its fleet in the current pre-merger colors. The other half is still in the old battleship gray (aka Malevolent Skies) colors. You know when that livery went away? It was nearly 7 years ago, on February 18, 2004. And half the fleet still wears those outdated colors.

The result is something like this (via Flickr user Ack Ook):

There are a ton of dirty, faded airplanes out there. This may not be a safety issue but that doesn’t mean passengers won’t interpret it as a safety issue. It also confuses the already unclear brand. But really, this should be the least of United’s problems. The inside is probably a bigger issue.

On the domestic fleet, United has theoretically been installing new, slimline leather seats on its airplanes but so far just shy of one third of the airplanes have received the makeover. And internationally, United has been putting new flat bed Business Class seats onboard along with a refreshed First Class. This is a particularly interesting project to compare since Continental has been doing the same thing.

In July 2008, Continental announced it would start installing flat beds in business class. The first one went into service in November 2009, as planned, and Continental has just announced that all of the 777s are finished. The 757s are about two-thirds of the way there and the 767s haven’t started yet, also as planned. So in about a year, Continental has outfitted just shy of 50 airplanes and has lived up to most expectations.

Contrast that with United. That airline announced its new business class seat in July 2007, one year earlier than Continental. It said at the time that the entire international fleet would be done by the end of 2009. The first airplane didn’t get done until April 2008, and the 767s were finished about one year after that, a similar path as Continental has taken. But here we are one year after the original deadline and there are still forty 777s flying around with the old seats. The 777s weren’t even started until early 2010, after they were all supposed to be done.

Don’t even get me started on inflight entertainment. Every traveler on the Continental international fleet has a personal screen with nearly all of them having audio/video on demand. (The 767s that don’t will be updated.) United will have audio/video on demand in the premium cabins when the upgrade work is done, but the back is all of the place. In coach, the 777s will have audio/video on demand, the 767s will have personal screens with looping movies, and the 747s will still have the overhead video screens that are exceedingly rare these days.

I imagine that under Continental’s leadership, this process to bring toward a consistent product will speed up dramatically. That will go a long way in the airline’s effort to present a single brand, because right now, United presents a whole lot of different ones.