More specifically, thank you to the Delta agent who was manning gate D5 at Minneapolis airport on Sep 11, '09 at around 4.30 pm or so. Didn't get his name, unfortunately. As I said in my previous post, this is an account of Continental leaving me in the lurch while Delta came to my rescue. It was a somewhat bad weather day in New Jersey and Continental had cancelled the 6.25 pm flight to Newark - on which I was booked. The Continental call center and the airport agents basically said I'd need to come back next morning - and that they were only trying to accommodate passengers with connections onto Delta and other flights to the NYC area airports. I was in no mood to wait overnight, so I called Orbitz for business (our official travel facilitator) and got myself a one way ticket  to La Guardia (LGA) on a Delta flight for over $600. I then noticed that the 4pm Delta flight to Newark had still not left and decided to try my luck on that one (becase Newark works better for me than LGA).

So I sauntered to gate D5 where the Delta agent heard me out and I casually also mentioned that I was from the cancelled Continental flight. He saw that there were a few seats on the Newark flight. Instead of just transferring me from the Delta LGA flight onto it, he called Continental on his own, verified my details and got them to transfer me onto the Delta flight. This meant that my new Delta ticket was redundant. He further reminded me that Delta/Northwest had a policy allowing cancellation of a ticket within 24 hours with no penalty. Sure enough, I was able to cancel the ticket with no trouble and travel to Newark on Delta on the Continental ticket. In essence, the Delta agent did for me what the Continental guys didn't. And he saved me (or, in this case, my company) $600 and the trouble of traveling home from LGA. Now that was customer service that made a difference.

To be fair, Continental has been reasonably reliable and they do a pretty good job of updating flight status, their online experience is good and, yes, they do serve meaningful (free) food on their flights. But I don't particularly like the tiny Embraer 145s that they operate on EWR-MSP (Delta flies bigger Embraer 190 or Airbus) and, on this occasion, Delta beat Continental on the ground as well.

It is not hard to come to the conclusion that flying domestic in the US is a pretty plain vanilla affair and there isn't much to choose from among the airlines. Yet, when you fly frequently, you begin to discern differences as the laws of probablity kick in and events such as cancellations, aircraft changes, bad weather etc. occur. I have been flying between New York (Mostly from Newark) to Minneapolis on work for the last 12 weeks or so. I mostly fly Continental but have taken a few flights on Northwest/Delta.

When I started, Continental was using Boeing 737s on the early morning (from EWR) and late evening (from MSP) flights but they then abruptly switched to the Embraer 145 - a much smaller aircraft. With 2-1 seating and a very tiny overhead bin, this aircraft invariably requires me to check in my cabin bag at the gate - and reclaim at the gate on arrival. This adds about 10 minutes before you can be on your way, which matters when you fly every week. It is also a single class configuration, so there's no question of upgrades. Being "Elite" doesn't confer any significant advantange on this type of aircraft.

A bigger issue is that Continental seems to cancel flights at the drop of a hat when there are weather induced delays at Newark. They often cancel the originating flight, which means the return flight from Minneapolis is cancelled too. It is infuriating to see Northwest/Delta flights take off (albeit with delays) to the 3 New York area airports while Continental seemingly refuses to even try. This has happened twice in the recent past (will write another post on this and how Delta rescued me when Continental abdicated). NWA uses an Embraer 190 on the sector - which is more comfortable, can accommodate larger cabin bags and has a two class configuration.

The good thing about Continental is they actually supply some meaningful food complimentary. Cereal on the morning flight and a snack box with cheese, crackers, chocolates etc. on the evening one. 

So there it is - it isn't all plain vanilla. The "coffee, tea or me" days are long gone, but there is scope for differentiation still.

I usually work in our office in the Rockefeller center on Fridays. This Fri was no exception. Got of work just a little before 6 and walked to the subway at 6th Av. The brasserie below was doing brisk business and the gentle chatter and clink of white and red wine glasses momentarily seemed to drive recessionary thoughts away.

Brasserie

But soon I was staring at bicycles hugging lamposts on 49th Street between 5th and 6th Av under the shadows of Radio City and NBC? Just green riders or someone trying to avoid buying the metrocard? Does Brian Williams ride a bike to work or is it a dude who's seen a pay cut?

I still have my metrocard and don't plan on alternatives. So I rode home on the subway

A at Chambers

Then rode with friends in their car to Somerset NJ for a sumptuous south Indian dinner at Hoysala

To get there, you drive on the NJTP which, mercifully, had normal traffic conditions for the Friday evening. Saw an Australias shaped cloud (do you agree?) and the usual evening airplane traffic at Newark.

All in all, a very satisfying evening.

Business took me to Singapore twice in the recent past. The cheapest business class my travel desk could find was on EVA Air – an airline I had never heard of at that point. I was pushing them to book on Virgin Atlantic, but that was supposedly above the travel limit. I immediately checked out their website and reviews and was somewhat mollified to see mostly good reviews. While their website is not great from a user friendliness standpoint, it is adequate.

On the ground

So I showed up in Newark on a pleasant May evening for my flight to Singapore via Taipei. The departure was at 23.15. Check in was quick and smooth at the “Premium Laurel” (a rather odd name for business class) counter. EVA uses the BA Terraces lounge in Newark and it looked like all BA flights had left when I showed up there – there were only EVA passengers. The well stocked bar was open and there was an assortment of snack packets / crackers with Mandarin labels. I guess BA doesn’t allow other airlines the use of the entire lounge area, so the area we were in did get quite full.

In the air

EVA uses a B777 ER for the flight to Taipei. For some reason, the EWR – TPE flight has a stop at Anchorage while the return flight is non-stop. That, to me, seems like a technical rather than a commercial halt – perhaps something to do with jet stream, which requires the stop while flying to Asia but not on the return? Boarding was smooth. The airhostesses in smart dark green pinstripes were gracious and the cabin was cheerful. Premium laurel had two cabins of 18 each in 2-2-2 seating configuration. The seat pitch and width were definitely quite generous. Premium laurel seemed to have about 75% occupancy and the seat next to me was vacant. I was really comfortable.

We pushed back a few minutes before time and took off reasonably quickly – by Newark standards at least. The flying time to Anchorage was a little under 7 hours. Being a vegetarian and not knowing what to expect on a Taiwanese carrier, I had asked for an Indian vegetarian meal. Menu cards were handed for the regular dinner service. Dinner service was quick and efficient and the Indian meal was excellent. The airhostesses were clearly more comfortable in Mandarin (or was it Cantonese? I don’t know) but had adequate English language skills. Hot and cold towels came and went at appropriate intervals.

We touched down in Alaska around 2 am local time. We were asked to disembark and reboard 30 minutes later. EVA hasn’t arranged a lounge in Alaska for this purpose – something they should work on because we were out for nearly an hour. A new crew came on board. My copy of the Economist – which I had left in the seat back pocket – had found its way into the general magazines rack at the back of our cabin. No doubt the overzealous cleaning staff had failed to spot the difference between the airline copy and my personal copy – in spite of my name and address on the front! Minor irritations aside, I wasn’t complaining. I had anyway planned to stay awake until our Alaska departure so I could try getting into the Singapore time zone – while also chewing “No Jet Lag” tablets every 2 hours. I was quite terrified of the 12-hour time difference and the havoc it could potentially wreak on me. The EVA business class seat converts to flat bed but not a horizontal one – if you know what I mean. So I was sleeping flat but at an angle, so technically I could slide if I didn’t use the footrest correctly. I slept well on the Anchorage- Taipei leg. The starlit cabin lighting that EVA uses is a nice touch. We touched down a little before time in Taipei and the comfortable flight and No Jet lag tablets seemed to have had at least some salutary effect – My body clock seemed to be in sync with the time zone.

In Taipei

At Taipei, I went over to the Evergreen lounge after a security check. It is a fairly well appointed lounge with a business centre, game room and plentiful seating. There was a breakfast bar that had a reasonably good spread with an espresso machine and a selection of soft drinks. There is also a business centre and a game room. The 2-hour wait for the flight to Singapore passed before I realized it.

Taipei - Singapore

The flight to Singapore was on an A330 and was quite uneventful. Understandably, the seat width and pitch were less than in the 777. An authentic Indian breakfast was served to me and we were in Singapore bang on time. My bag showed up quickly and I was all set.

Return Flight to Newark – Hong Kong airport

Business also took me to Hong Kong, so I returned via HKG instead of SIN. On an extremely rainy day, I took a cab from my hotel in Central to the Airport Express stop. Roads were waterlogged and my cab driver – who only appeared to speak Cantonese – used non verbal communication to signal that he was taking a roundabout route as the normal route was waterlogged. The signs were pretty poor for anything resembling an on-time departure. I checked in at the single EVA counter at the Airport Express station. The lady at the counter started saying something about my bag being overweight, but then quickly apologetically smiled and said “oh beezness class, sorry sir” and handed out the boarding pass and lounge invitation. 30 minutes and a comfortable train ride later, I was in terminal 1 of HKIA. It was still raining cats and dogs and there were “Black rainstorm” (whatever that is) warnings displayed on various displays in the airport. I could hear a spate of gate change announcements which indicated that schedules were being impacted. Immigration and sec-check were quick and I made way to gate 60 as advised.  EVA uses the Virgin Atlantic lounge at HKIA – which was almost empty when I got there. Loud colors and funky furniture – trademark VS – livened up the lounge. Sandwiches, coffee and red wine kept me well fed while, as expected, flights were delayed.

Flight to Taipei and Newark

EVA uses big aircraft for the 1.5 hr service to Taipei from Hong Kong – ours was an Airbus 330 while the previous flight was a 747. We took off behind a China Airlines 747 which, I think, was also bound for Taipei. The flight was uneventful. I had a 4 hour wait for the Newark flight which I spent quite comfortably in the Evergreen lounge. The 777 to Newark pushed back bang on time. The premium laurel cabin was almost full. There was a drinks service within about 45 minutes of take off and the dinner service commenced after that. I had figured out that the only way to sleep well on the angled lie-flat seats is to sleep on the side. That got me several hours of uninterrupted sleep while the AVOD kept me busy for the rest. Another dinner service got underway about 3 hours before arrival. I like the fact that EVA restricts itself to 2 meal services on the 15 hour flight rather than trying to squeeze in a third. We arrived about 7 minutes early on a rainy evening in Newark. Immigration was terribly slow and took almost 1.5 hours– a shame really. There was no attempt to open up additional counters even though 3 flights – LOT, KLM an EVA – seemed to have been bunched together.

While the aviation world's attention is largely focused on the A-380 and the dreamliner,  I think the quiet revolution of the 15+ hour Asia to America non stops spawned by the 777-200 ER or its A340 equivalent has not got its due. So there I was at Newark Liberty International to experience my first such flight - to Mumbai, India on CO48. I had deliberately picked a Thu night departure hoping for a relatively light flight. I like Continental's on-line system, which lets you view seats even before booking. This means you can keep tabs on how full the flight is before you arrive at the airport. I thus knew that the seat next to me was vacant beforehand - which was nice to know.

Check in was smooth and security didn't take much time either. It was a long trek to gate C90 though I was there with more than 90 minutes to spare. CO asked all passengers to present their 'documents' much before they started boarding. The main purpose of this seemed to be to take off the I-94 cards of all US visa holders. That accomplished, they started boarding by 7.40 pm (for an 8.20 pm departure). One of the continental agents was doing a spitited job of keeping economy passengers off the boarding line that had the blue carpet (oversized doormat really) which was reserved for business class and elite access.

The aircraft itself - a 777 200 ER - was clean and looked pretty new.Once I settled down, I noticed that coach was about 75% full. The seat next to mine was indeed vacant which was a huge blessing on such a long flight. The IFE was in-seat and featured AVOD.

We didn't push back from the gate at 8.20. At 8.40 or so, the captain informed us of a problem with the PA system that they were trying to sort out and that it would be a "few more minutes". I had a train connection to make in Mumbai and I started getting worried. Continental technicians came on board and we were entertained by the debugging process - which involved tinkering with the internal systems including, finally, a comprehensive reboot (with lights turning off and emergency lights coming on). The IFE screen was filled with the output from a Linux log file - complete with the Linux penguin on the top - as the systems came up. Even the reboot didn't seem to work and the captain came on air and explained that another component needed to be replaced and it would take 30 minutes etc. etc. But within 5 minutes, he came back on and said the problem was fixed and we finally got underway at 9.50 pm. My train connection in Mumbai was at significant risk.

We finally took off at 10.40 pm and the dinner service began shortly thereafter. CO requires you to buy drinks even on intl flights, but they waived the charge for the first round because of the delay. That was a nice touch. I got myself some red wine and dug into the Indian dinner. They had handed out a menu card in advance (with a Hindi version  on the reverse). The dinner was good and I got a complementary second glass of wine as well. I then checked out the IFE - which had a pretty good selection. This was my first real experience of AVOD on a ultra long haul flight. I think  the AVOD made the long flight quite bearable. Matt Damon kept me entertained with the two Bourne flicks and I then switched to 'Omkara' a pretty interesting Hindi remake of Othello.

The cabin crew were reasonably attentive and I really had no complaints. The loos were in reasonably decent shape even towards the fag end of the flight.A light snack service came about 5 hours after dinner (banana, crackers, almond chocolate etc.). The breakfast service came an hour before landing and the swiss omlette was pretty good.

We made up some time and landed at 22.05 local time - just over an hour behind schedule. We were at the gate about 15 minutes later. Immigration, Customs and Luggage retrieval in Mumbai were all surprisingly quick and I was, finally, able to make the train connection (see that trip report)