<p>Over the past year the United / Continental merger is looking more and more like a UA takeover of Continental. I no longer enjoy flying but find Continental and American far more tolerable than flying on the other carriers. Im sad having to switch my frequent flier miles from CA to UA. I wish the Justice Dept had blocked this merger.</p>
<p>^^ not in San Francisco! We flew on UA last month and the operations of UA are mostly taken over by CA…</p>
<p>The new United has Continental’s logo and management team, but retains United’s headquarters. CO was changing well before it joined the Star Alliance.</p>
<p>You are so right on…</p>
<p>I just took a very long trip…flew United much of the way. It was fine. I’ve also flown “Continental” on some shorter legs. To be honest, I’m not sure I see any of this as a problem.</p>
<p>Makes it easier to get an all or mostly all United itinerary with the merger.</p>
<p>I’m platinum with Contintental (now 1K on combined basis) and my biggest post-merger gripe is that I’m now a second class citizen with all the United Global Services people in front of me on the upgrade list. I travel quite at bit for work and never seem to get upgraded on long flights anymore. Don’t even get me started on how worthless the ‘Space Available Upgrade’ certificates are…</p>
<p>I’ve also found that they flights to Newark from Europe have much earlier departures so people can make connecting flights to the West Coast. I used to always take a 1:30pm flight home from Amsterdam that got me home by 5pm, but allowed me a half day in the office. Now it’s a 9:30am flight, so I have to get up early and head right to the airport. Getting home at noon is not helpful.</p>
<p>Uniteds system of upgrading w/ miles is awful. I was hoping the combined/new mileage program would adopt COs method of confirming upgrade status at the time of booking. Uniteds method of placing you and 100+ other folks on an upgrade waitlist is disingenuous at best. I would rather know up front how much in $$ and miles will be needed for a guaranteed upgraded seat.</p>
<p>Do not get me started on this. I am a platinum with CA, and I feel like a second class citizen. I used to be able to get an upgrade 24 hours prior, now it is 1 hour. At every airport, where there used to be UA and CA, we now use the UA facility, and it really sucks big time. I fly out of Mexico City a lot. CA had terminal 2 (the new terminal), with AmEx loung, and all other good lounges, now we have to use terminal 1(UA facility) with no services, and to get out of immigration is just awful. CA used to have a very nice agreement with AmEx platinum card where we could use their lounge, now it is gone. </p>
<p>It is not a merger, it is a take over by UA. I just flew to LAX via Alaska Air because it was cheaper (50%), and it was no different than the new UA/CA. </p>
<p>UA wants to sale their first class until the last minute. It is only when no one wants to pay with $$ or points for a first class seat that they would give their platinum customers an upgrade. Part of the upgrade is to be able to use their lounge and better luggage check in allowance, by waiting until 1 hour prior, what is the point.</p>
<p>Unlike United, Continental doesn’t have economy plus internationally… major bummer for people with long legs but without the means to fly business…</p>
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<p>Try this.</p>
<p>I am waiting for my kids to get me a private jet. Flying commercial just sucks. You feel like a cattle.</p>
<p>My definition of rich is owning a NetJet card. Unfortunately even if I had the $, I’m too cheap to buy one!</p>
<p>
There’s a reason they call it “steerage.” :)</p>
<p>I googled and found Mr. Smisek´s email address (CEO of UA/CA). I emailed him few days ago, sent him this link. I just received a reply from their Executive Office for additional information. Lets see what happens. I probably will be banned from flying with them going forward.</p>
<p>The OP is probably the first time I have ever heard anyone way anything positive about Continental.</p>
<p>^^^^Only a discussion about commercial airlines would “tolerable” be viewed as a positive endorsement.<br>
So true, LOL.</p>
<p>AA is even worse. All old planes and audio/visual equipments are broken even in business class.</p>
<p>I’ve had better luck with Continental than with United. More than once, we’ve been bumped from United flights when they were overbooked. One of those times, my husband and son were delayed more than a day to start their week-long vacation together. I have tried to avoid UA as often as possible, but now I can’t. I’m hoping Southwest Airlines’ arrival in Maine happens SOON!</p>
<p>Just flew Continental from Rome to Newark. Older plane, business class seats were the kind that merely recline versus the kind that go flat. Not impressed. I much prefer United, which is my carrier of choice in general. I never thought much about Continental - always seemed like a second-class airline, though maybe that’s simply because I live in / travel to markets where Continental isn’t that big.</p>