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Contents 1 Continental Airlines 1.1 Frequent Flyer Programme 1.2 Lounges 1.3 Flying Continental 1.4 Aircraft

[edit] Continental Airlines

Continental Airlines (IATA Code: CO) is a U.S. airline based in Houston, TX. It operates domestic hubs at Cleveland (CLE), Houston International Airport (IAH), and Newark International Airport (EWR)

Continental has international service to Latin America from Houston, and to Europe from Newark. Continental has Asia/Pacific service from Newark to Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo/Narita.

As a result of the Delta/Northwest airline merger in 2008, Continental is leaving the SkyTeam airline alliance during the summer of 2009, and will join the Star Alliance in October/November of 2009.

Continental has announced plans for airport lounge reciprocity and extensive flight code-sharing with United, to begin after Continental joins the Star Alliance. As of June 2009, some Continental flights at Chicago/O'Hare Airport (ORD) are operating out of the United gates in Concourse B and Concourse C.

Continental's Micronesia Division is based in Guam and provides service throughout the islands of Micronesia, and also to Hawaii. Continental also has a very close partnership with Panama-based "COPA Airlines" which provides service throughout Central America and to parts of South America.

The Continental website is a key source of information about flying CO. Unfortunately, information can be a bit difficult to find at times.

[edit] Frequent Flyer Programme

Continental's "One Pass" program has 3 tiers and can be achieved by flying the required miles and earning Elite Qualifing Miles (EQMs). Flights booked on Continental.com credit 100% for EQM.

• Silver 25,000 EQM
• Gold 50,000 EQM
• Platinium 75,000 EQM

Additionally, the FT forum on OnePass (CO's frequent flyer program) is a wonderful source about how things actually work. (For example, if one asks the OnePass Service Center about what happens when one is on the waitlist for a mileage upgrade and then becomes eligible for an Elite Upgrade Award (EUA), one will get a non-deterministic answer. The OnePass forum seems to have pretty well sorted out that you'd better have good evidence that you got an EUA or else you'll lose the miles.)

(Also see the more extensive set of articles on "One Pass" that are linked to the bottom of this page.)

[edit] Lounges

Continental's "President's Club" lounges are located in Atlanta (ATL), Austin (AUS), Boston/O'Hare (BOS), Cleveland (CLE), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Denver (DEN), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Guam (GUM), Honolulu (HNL), Houston International (IAH), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), New York/La Guardia (LGA), Newark (EWR), Panama City (PTY), San Antonio (SAT), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), and Washington/National (DCA).

Because Houston (IAH) and Newark (EWR) are Continental's major hubs, they have multiple lounges at those airports.

Once Continental has joined "Star Alliance", then it will probably have reciprocity with a range of Star Alliance partner lounges around the globe.

[edit] Flying Continental

Continental offers only 2 classes of service on its international routes. The front cabin, confusingly called BusinessFirst, usually offers a 156 degree recliner seat (170 degree on B-777 aircraft) and is comparable to Business Class on most major international airlines.

Continental has in recent years found out that there is a great market for non-stop services from the US (usually EWR) to underserved non-gateway cities in Europe; Belfast, Bristol (BRS) , Berlin/Tegel (TXL), Edinburgh (EDI), Glasgow (GLA), and Berlin/Tegel (TXL) are examples. These are flown with smaller aircraft (usually 757-200), offering a good BF (Business First class), and a substandard coach cabin.

Continental's non-stop 777 service between Newark and Hong Kong has attracted many people in recent years, as no other US-flag airline offers any non-stop service to Hong Kong from the US east coast.

[edit] Aircraft

Continental Airlines:

• 787: 25 are on order with Boeing.
• 777-200ER 20 in service; 8 more on order with Boeing.
• 767-400ER 12 in service.
• 767-200ER 10 in service.
• 757-300 17 in service.
• 757-200 41 in service.
• 737-900 33 in service.
• 737-800 108 in service; 54 more on order with Boeing.
• 737-700 36 in service.

All of these have a 2-cabin seating configuration.

Continental Express:

• CRJ-200 17 in service.
• ERJ-145 234 in service.
• Q-400 14 in service.

All of these only have Economy seating.