Dublin to LA...For The Weekend (Part 2)

Normally a 6.09am departure would be a major pain in the rear but when your body clock is located in a time zone somewhere between Reykjavik and Labrador things are a bit easier. We were up bright and breezy at 2.45am and after a shower (and obligatory fight with the shower curtain – I hate those things!) we left the hotel and arrived at LAX’s Terminal 7 at 4am.

There were three flights ahead of us:

Los Angeles (LAX)-Denver (DEN)

Denver (DEN)-Newark (EWR)

Newark (EWR)-Dublin (DUB)

As mentioned in my previous blog the flights were booked through continental.com but as the first two flights were operated by United I could not check in on the Continental website. However, I could check-in on united.com but not for the final sector. Slightly annoying but them’s the breaks. The LAX-DEN segment was very full with no two seats together available so I ended up upgrading to Economy Plus. There were also very few seats available on the DEN-EWR flight but there was one set of two together – aisle and centre. Normally I prefer a window but again them’s the breaks.

Due to the lack of access to a printer at the hotel we decided to just pick up our boarding passes at the airport. We had no luggage to check-in but the self-service kiosk told us we needed to contact an agent nonetheless, presumably because we were travelling international on the final sector. We bided our time and eventually got ‘processed’ but we got boarding passes for the EWR-DUB so all’s well that ends well. There seemed to be an over-reliance on the self-service technology, i.e. not enough staff. A lot of people that had to check in luggage were losing their patience. But isn’t that easy at 4am?

We breezed through security and headed for a caffeine stop. We found a quaint little place called Starbucks – they must be up and coming…. Once we got the beverages I made a beeline for a bakery type place called La Brea. Two croissants cost over $8. “These better be good” I muttered to myself. They weren’t. Ironically La Brea is Irish for “bright day”. The place did play some pretty appropriate music though – “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses and “No More Mr Nice Guy” by Alice Cooper.

The B757-200 to DEN boarded and departed on time. There seemed to be quite a few passengers transferring from Hawaiian flights. I wonder how long their tans lasted in Colorado! The flight was uneventful but the extra legroom in Economy Plus was nice even if it was a relatively short flight.

Thanks to the winds blowing off the Rockies flying in and out of Denver was a bit like a mini rollercoaster - the sort of rollercoasters that wimps go on, the sort of rollercoasters I prefer. This was my first time at Denver Airport and it intrigued me. It is massive in land size and, with 51.2 million passengers, it was the tenth busiest airport in the world in 2008. However, there appeared to be no buildings or any sign of civilisation near the airport – landing, departing or when on the ground.

We were in Denver for just over an hour - enough time for my wife to insist that we upgrade to Economy Plus for the next flight at the United desk. After a few minutes of looking at a computer with a furrowed brow the United agent informed us there were seats in an Emergency Exit row. I'm not sure if this is Economy Plus but the legroom would be appreciated. That amounted to $54 each. $108 to potentially save people's lives. Nice.

Yet again our flight was on time. While the LAX-DEN flight was operated by a B757-200 in the ‘new’ United colours this flight was operated by a B757-200 in the old colours. It was overcast in Denver so the aircraft didn’t exactly brighten the place up!

I forgot about Channel 9 on United flights until my wife handed over her headphones and said "listen to this". Thumbs up to United for offering such a service. It was good to know what was going on especially with a weather system heading towards the East Coast from the west. Indeed 90 minutes out from Newark we experienced continuous light chop for about 45 minutes or more. As we approached Newark ATC informed our crew that due to the weather aircraft going into Newark were going to have to enter a holding pattern, starting with us. "I think you should start with the next guy" quipped our flight deck to ATC. In the end we held for about 15 minutes before being cleared to Newark and we descended through the murk. The cloud base was very low and we landed on a damp runway.

There was plenty of confusion for the passengers (including us) connecting from Terminal A to Terminal C. Firstly, people were escorted down something akin to an emergency exit and boarded on to a minibus that whisked them off to another part of Terminal A where people had to get off and get on a slightly larger bus to Terminal C. Then we were ushered up another emergency exit to the terminal. I was expecting to have to go through security but no we were straight into the airside part of the terminal. So from LA to Dublin we would only have our ID checked and bags x-rayed once despite taking three flights. As a passenger it's great but from a security point of view I'm not so sure.

Before taking the fifth and final flight of the trip there was time to have some pizza at Famous Famiglia Pizza. It was famously mediocre and boasted being the official pizza of the New York Yankees. “Figures” my Red Sox supporting wife said.

I found the terminal at Newark to be nice or am I just too used to Dublin Airport? We boarded and departed on time for “Dublin, Ireland”. It was re-assuring we weren’t going to Dublin, Ohio I suppose. The people that sat in front of us were the same people that sat in front of us on the outward DUB-EWR flight. Good to see we weren’t the only people that went to the US for the weekend!

I took some Tylenol PM shortly after boarding and passed out shortly after take off. It really speeds a transatlantic flight! I woke up a few times due to turbulence but quickly fell asleep on each occasion. We landed in “Dublin, Ireland” around 7am.

Overall, I enjoyed the Continental experience. In my experience they are streets ahead of the other US legacy carriers. Over the weekend we spent about 32 hours travelling, 16 hours sleeping and 22 hours out and about in LA. Would I do it again? You bet.

Dublin to LA...For the Weekend (Part 1 )

November in Dublin – grey, dark, gloomy. Longing for a trip to brighter climes and enticed by the low prices on continental.com I decided to book a January trip for the wife and me to California. Two nights in LA to be exact. Madness? Possibly. However, €261 (including taxes) per person for a return trip from Dublin to LA isn’t bad going. Viva off-peak season during a recession!

Not only would we get to see LA but the bright lights of Newark and Denver, the latter on the way back only. Sorry Greenpeace for all the flying but it’s good for my bmi Diamond Club balance (might as well make the most of it before Lufthansa impose their Scrooge-like Miles and More programme on us). The bmi points earned on this trip alone would be the equivalent of 1.5 trips from Dublin to London. Good work bmi and Star Alliance.

In addition to experiencing a bit of sun, I was going to use the trip as an opportunity to attend the LAX Airline Memorabilia Show and to put a newly acquired Canon EOS 50D to the test.

In the weeks building up to the trip my wife and I kept going on about how nice and sunny it would be in California and how it would be a welcome escape from the Irish wintry gloom. However, we departed Dublin on 23 January with clear skies and headed to LA where it had been raining heavily all week. Just look at the soggy Golden Globes the weekend before. After frequent consultations with a furrowed brow at weather.com it appeared the weather might be kind to us. Friday was supposed to be questionable with thunder showers possible but Saturday was to be sunny but a bit cooler than average (15c).

Ok, so back to Continental Airlines. Here are the major attractions to flying their service from Dublin to Newark:

- Pre-clearance of immigration at DUB
- 9am departure means an “am” arrival into Newark
- Lots of bmi Diamond Club points
- Good inflight entertainment (AVOD)

Many will say the main drawback of the Continental flight is the aircraft type – the B757-200. Yes, it’s a single-aisle aircraft but it’s all psychological when people think they need a widebody aircraft for longhaul flying. At the end of the day, you end up with the same legroom and seat width and service either way. In my opinion, the only advantage that Aer Lingus has over Continental on DUB-NYC is its 2-4-2 configuration on the A330 means you are less likely to have a stranger beside you when you are travelling as a couple.

As for the flight itself, all went to plan. Immigration at DUB was hassle-free, the flight left on time and arrived early. The flight seemed to be very close to being a full load. Then again with the fares being offered in recent times it wasn't surprising. We took a strange route out of DUB that saw us leave the Irish coast over Coleraine in Northern Ireland. The views of the Scottish islands were amazing, as were those of Greenland and Quebec (both covered in a blanket of white as you would expect at that time of year). I found it funny though that they served “lunch” shortly after take-off and about five hours before an 11.30am arrival into Newark!

Thanks to the immigration pre-clearance at DUB and the fact we were only carrying hand baggage we breezed through US customs and into Terminal C arrivals. We then went back upstairs and breezed through departures as again there were no queues. It was like being in a Carlsberg ad. There was time for a carb injection at McDonalds before boarding the LAX flight. I find it doesn’t matter what you eat after a long haul flight – it all tastes bland! Maybe it’s due to airline food destroying one’s taste buds... Who’s to say?

As departure time neared we just wanted to get on the next flight and get to our destination. After all we were just over halfway from DUB to LAX. We were to fly from Newark to LAX in another B757-200 but this one was adorned with the Star Alliance livery. SkyTeam will note that that didn't take long to apply. Personally I preferred the old school Star Alliance livery with all the airline logos along the aircraft fuselage but that was a nightmare for the airline and the alliance as its members changed so often (mainly through the addition of new members). Then there were the few inconsiderate members that changed their logos...

It seemed to take forever for us to be allowed to board. We watched as dozens of other passengers boarded ahead of us, nearly all with ridiculous sized hand luggage (thanks to the charging of passengers for checked baggage). Thankfully by the time we boarded there was still enough room in the overhead bins for our relatively small bags. Not long afterwards though, putting bags in the overheads became a game of Tetris for those unfortunate enough to board after us.

The flight left pretty much on time and again seemed to have a healthy load factor. The views of Manhattan on departure were amazing. Sure this was routine for the frequent fliers in and out of Newark but this was my first time passing through this airport. Then we turned left and headed for the west coast. For the first hour or so of the flight we experienced light chop but the air was even for most of the remainder of the trip. There wasn’t a whole lot to see out the window. There was no break in the clouds from the east coast until Kansas. Those irrigation-induced “crop circles” always intrigue me. Then the clouds came back, breaking briefly over Denver and then hiding the scenery below until southern Utah where the landscape was red and rocky. Then guess what… yes, the clouds returned again and as we approached LA the cloud grew darker and heavier.

As we came over the eastern suburbs there was light turbulence to accompany the darkening conditions. However, just a few miles out from LAX the sun broke through. It was almost like a sign. Shortly afterwards we touched down on Runway 24R by the In N Out Burger. This was to be followed a looooong taxi to Terminal 6. As we taxied the skies continued to clear to give way to a beautiful evening.

Again we breezed through our arrival airport and walked in a daze towards the airport courtesy bus stop. We had been up and about for nearly 20 hours at this point and it was only 4.15pm. There was only one course of action to take - drinks at the hotel bar!