Edinburgh Turnhouse -> Newark Liberty

By: Bmused55 - 16th September 2004 at 00:02

Ok folks... first of 6 seperate reports. Pretty long winded, but full of detail. :)

enjoy

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Flight Details:

Continental Airlines Flight 37
Edinburgh Turnhouse International to Newark Liberty International
Scheduled Departure Time EDI: 10:00 Local.
Scheduled Arrival Time EWR: 12:30 Local.
Actual time of departure EDI: 11:30 local.
Actual time of arrival EWR: 14:05 local.
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My day started at 5am. I was nervous. Today was the day of my first Trans-Atlantic flight in 10 years and only my second one, the previous being to Florida between June 10th and 23rd 1994. By 6am I was ready. I decided to head out to Edinburgh Airport. I packed my roller case (a small luggage bag with 2 wheels and pulling handle, like what you see F/A’s use) and briefcase. I double checked I had the confirmation print out for my Continental flights and Passport. Good, all accounted for. Money? in my wallet as I left it. All set. I put the keys in the ignition and started the car, I made sure all the lights were working and kicked the tires, a habit I got from my father and something I believe all drivers should practice.
Satisfied that my car wasn’t going to attract any attention I set off for the short journey.
It was still dark. I crossed the bridge and was soon entering the airport grounds, I chose the first long stay car park and parked up. It was foggy, wet and cool. Not boding well for the photos I has asked Joe to take I thought. I hoped it would clear. For most of that week it had been misty and cool in the early mornings and by 9am it usually cleared and was replaced by warmth and sunshine.
After a short ride on the courtesy car park shuttle I went to the Continental ticket desk, to find it was unoccupied. I decided to go purchase something to read and return. I grabbed the October edition of Airliners World and had a quick browse through. At 7am I decided to head back down to the ticket desk; this time it was occupied. As I walked towards it I passed the check in desk for my flight. Agents were busy preparing the First and Business class blue, “Continental First” logo embroidered, carpet. I handed over my confirmation sheets and the boarding passes for the 3 flights I would be taking that day were printed. They were:
CO97 – EDI-EWR
CO301 – EWR-FLL
CO9192 – FLL-NAS
The agent was very friendly and we discussed this service. She mentioned that it was very popular and was regularly full but that today I was lucky. Seat 31B was unoccupied affording myself in 31A and a fellow passenger in 31C some extra room. Later at boarding the plane I found it was one of only 3 empty seats. What luck! After getting the boarding passes printed I was told I could check in right away. Excellent I thought… there was only 2 other people there anyway. So off I went. I answered some security questions and then checked in. I must have mug painted on my face as I was picked for the random bag search which went quickly and nothing was found to be out of order which it shouldn’t have been anyway. After that and a quick chat with the agent performing the search I decided to head straight for the departure lounge. I wasn’t hungry, I had no one to say bye to so why not I thought.
The security checks were the normal tight procedures. A few folk in front of me kept beeping so they were frisked but I cleared the checks quickly and found myself sitting at gate 3 in no time.
A BMI baby flight arrived, boarded and left in the time I sat there. 10:00 am rolled about and the CO 757 was still not to be seen. By then a load of Americans were sitting about moaning. I can’t remember the exact time but the plane eventually parked up and deboarded. Caterers and other airport services swooped on the plane quickly. By 11am we were herded aboard, myself getting picked again for a random bag search as I passed the ticket inspection. I took my seat (31A) on it arranged neatly was a blanket, a cushion and a pair of earphones and settled down. As expected seat 31B was vacant, affording me space to place my cushion and blanket. The leg room was quite generous. I estimate 31-33 inches in pitch. I took a picture. (The water bottle I placed in the seat pocket makes it appear smaller) I was able to stretch my legs fully and quite comfortably. The headrest on the seat was vertically adjustable and the “wings” of it could be folded out to provide support and stop you getting a stiff neck. In the arm rest was the familiar 2 port headphone jack and a channel/volume control.

The entire boarding process was pretty quick. I’d say we were all aboard and seated in 20 minutes. Not bad for 230 odd people.
We pushed back while a safety video was played to us. Seems Continental don’t do live safety briefings. We taxied out to runway 06 and back tracked on the runway. The Captain explained that the aircraft was late due to an unscheduled equipment change the previous night in EWR. We turned around and as soon as we were straightened up take off power was applied. It felt like a de-rated take off, I wasn’t pushed back into by seat as I had usually been on previous 757 flights. We lifted off quickly none the less and soon entered the thick soup that never did quite clear up from the early morning. The layer of cloud was quite thin and within a few seconds we cleared it. Within 20 minutes of the wheels coming up. “The Tuxedo” began to play on the overhead LCD screens that folded down from underneath the overhead lockers. The service began with a drinks trolley. Soft drinks were free and alcohol was £1 per serving. Being a T totaler that didn’t bother me. A Sprite was my order and due I was server a clear plastic, Continental Airlines branded, cup.
Soon after the whole cabin was served with drinks the meal was served (pictured below).
Chicken Cor’don Bleu with rice (spl) with a side helping of a delicious salad with a pepper cream dressing, a white bread roll with butter and for desert a sort of marble cake with cream on top sprinkled with coco. All in all very tasty. The chicken was succulent, the rice nice and soft with a wonderful sauce mixed in. The peas and carrots mixed into the rice were moist and tasted pretty fresh too. The Salad was also very fresh and crisp. The roll was nice too.

Another drinks service made its way through the cabin while we ate, followed by another shortly after the empty dishes were collected. I ordered apple juice with no ice on both occasions.
All in all the service was very friendly and the attendants were on hand all the time seeing to our every need. If it wasn’t for the seating arrangements, I might as well have been in business class I thought to myself as I looked out of the window and watched the clouds go by.
Another film began playing soon after “The Tuxedo” finished. I forget its title. Something about a college/university and a bunch of guys wanting to set up a fraternity.

As we approached the Canadian coast, a snack was served that consisted of a hot turkey and cheese sandwich roll and a scone with small tub of jam and a portion of butter. The roll was tasty as was the scone. I find that often scones served in restaurants and other public places are dry and give you a sort of dry sensation on the tongue. But not this one.

Another drinks service was conducted before, during and after the snack. I really can’t complain. Well fed and watered. Danairboy will be right at home on a Continental flight!

The Captain announced that we would be arriving a total of 90 minutes late. It was then my thoughts turned away from the sitcom playing on the overhead video monitor and onto the connection flight I will now be missing. The idea of spending a night in the airport terminal was not appealing. I had been there and done that and it is not pleasant.
As we approached Newark Liberty airport we got to see some marvelous views of the suburban part of the New York area with Manhattan in the distance. As we got lower the flaps were extended in the usual fashion, the gear came down and we dropped even lower. It was when we were at about 500 feet that I saw the airport to the left of me. “Impossible!” I thought. We then banked left and pulled off a Kai Tak style approach. It seemed like the wings had only just leveled off when we crossed the runway threshold and thudded onto the tarmac. Spoilers popped up, reversers kicked in and the brakes came on. We taxied past countless Continental Express ERJ 145’s and a few triple sevens, also from CO. We parked up and deboarded quickly. I had expected a long wait at customs and immigration but despite a 764 arriving (from Glasgow I think due to the large amount of weegie accents that could be heard) and another 757 (possibly from Birmingham as I could make out a lot of english accents) at the same time.

After clearing immigration I collected my hold luggage (just that wheeled bag I mentioned at the beginning) and was told to go to a connection re booking desk. I was soon booked onto the next flight to West Palm Beach, slightly further south in Florida than my original connection point of Fort Lauderdale. From there I would connect to flight CO9291 to Nassau
I took a ride on a terminal buggy (A 6 seat golf cart) along with 6 other passengers and was deposited at gate C86. A little more than 45 mins later I boarded Continental flight 1854 to West Palm Beach. I was pleased to see a 757 sitting at the gate for me.

I’ll leave this for my next report. For now, enjoy the photos. Please forgive the lack of quality. They were taken with small fujifilm digicamera.

Photos:

1) My 757 sitting at Gate 3 @ EDI
2) The Legroom. Might not seem much but it was plenty!
3) A spotter (Is that you Joe?)
4) Lining up on the runway after back tracking
5) Leaving the Scottish coast
6) Lunch/Dinner
7) The Obligatory in flight window shot :D
8) The Pre-arrival hot roll snack - excuse the blur... we hit some turbulence.
9) While approaching Newark we passed over this airport. Seems a squadron of C-17s are parked up there. A National guard or USAF airfield?

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