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!
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!
No comments:
Post a Comment