I haven’t flown much on Continental, with the occasional exception of trips to Newark (which I try to avoid as much as possible). In both Atlanta and Huntsville, CO had service but it was far inferior to Delta’s; now I live in Toledo, which CO doesn’t serve at all. However, they had, by far, the best deal on flights between Shreveport and Seattle, so I booked my trip on them: SHV-IAH and IAH-SHV on Embraer regional jets, IAH-SEA on a 737-800, and SEA-IAH on a 757-200. Since CO and NW have an alliance, I can earn NW miles (and get upgraded) on CO metal.
I got to SHV at 1345 to stand by for a 1540 flight (as opposed to my original booking at 1700). Check-in was smooth, and the ticket agent suggested checking out Pappacito’s in CO’s new Terminal E in IAH. (I didn’t, but more on that in a minute). When I got to the security checkpoint, a surly airport employee snarked that I couldn’t take two carry-ons plus my laptop. I disagreed, since (like DL and UA) NW/CO allow elite members to take two carryons plus a “personal item”, but he wasn’t budging. When I went back to the ticket counter to ask them to tell the guy that it was OK, they said that the “security directive” that was in force limited me to one carry-on. Go figure. So, I packed bag #2 inside of bag #1, waltzed through the checkpoint, and unpacked them again. Bah.
The weather in Texas was poor on my depature day, so the aircraft that was supposed to arrive for the 1540 couldn’t get out of Beaumont. I ended up on my original flight. The SHV staff did a decent job with the IROPs, although the GA was apparently pretty new– he had to import some help from the ticket counter to get everyone processed. The flight? Well, it’s an RJ, but the flight time is 47 minutes gate-to-gate. Enough said about that. At least it wasn’t the 1:50 flights I have coming up from SHV-ATL and ATL-TOL to get home again.
Terminal E in IAH is quite nice; while looking for Pappacito’s, I ended up at Pappadeaux instead, where I had a terrific crawfish bisque and some very nice broiled catfish with a side of dirty rice (which wasn’t quite spicy but still had a nice meaty flavor). Sarah B, my server, was extremely helpful, pleasant, and efficient, the portion size was great, and the restaurant was uncrowded. Not too many folks are trekking out to E yet since it’s not fully open. Go there to eat and you’ll be glad you did.
IAH-SEA was on a shiny new 737-800, with the adjustable-wing headrests in F. The cabin crew was above average; they get bonus points for not waking me up. Dinner was a cold plate, which I declined thanks to my full load of Cajun food. We got to SEA on time; I headed for the Doubletree Seattle Airport, where I’d booked a room on Priceline. It’s apparently the contract hotel for NW and DL, judging by the number of flight crew I saw in the lobby. Despite that, I won’t stay there again; for the price, the Wyndham next door is much nicer. The Doubletree charges $12/day to park your car, the work [sic] area is fiendishly uncomfortable, there’s no high-speed Internet, the TV was unwatchably wavy (some RF filters would help) and the inner shower curtain was inexplicably missing from my room.
While I was in Seattle, everything went terrific– I got a ton of work done for my big lab project, got to eat at Ooba‘s (a terrific Mexican takeout) not once but twice, learned how to play Crimson Skies, and did laundry. There were some major snafus with the SEA security checkpoints and that darn shuttle train. I was expecting hassles, but when I arrived (0520 for a 0615 flight), security went smoothly, and CO departs from concourse B– no train required. Like a dummy, since my ticket had an NW flight number, I went to the NW counter to check bags, where I was angrily told to go to the CO counter. NW laid off about a dozen ticket/gate agents a few weeks ago, and I think they’re still short-handed. Check-in and bag-check at the CO counter went smoothly, I sailed through the elite line at security, and boarded my flight.
Breakfast in F was quite nice: a fruit plate and choice of bread, followed by an acceptable omelet with potatoes and a ham steak. Then it was time to work, eventually using up my internal battery and drawing some sustenance from the Tim Taylor “more power” battery.. Nice touch: after the feature movie (Kangaroo Jack– where the heck do they get these things?), they showed a second movie (Daredevil) instead of the crappy sitcom reruns and featurettes on Delta. (Of course, NW doesn’t have any in-flight entertainment on most domestic flights, so I probably shouldn’t complain).
When I arrived at IAH, I made a beeline for terminal E again and had a terrific lunch at Pappadeaux again. $7.57 for an all-you-can eat buffet (I had broiled and fried catfish, some really, really good gumbo, and some dirty rice). That’s what it costs to eat at Burger King at MCO or LAS. The flight back to SHV was uneventful, just the way I like them.
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