As with the outbound flights the check-in was done online, this time there were a lot of seats left, even though I’d left it quite late as I almost forgot. I’m glad I remembered though as on the flight from Newark to Manchester we’d been allocated the seats next to the toilet, and when you’re trying to sleep it’s the worst seat possible, so that was quickly changed. On the first flight from Orlando to Newark, the only seats left together were the exit seat, so I had to book those.
Luckily we’d bought an extra holdall before we got to the airport, because the big case was 60lb and it has to be no more than 50lb (27kg and 23kg in proper money, or there abouts), so we had to move some stuff over and got it down to 52.5lb (24kg) which they allowed. Not sure why it’s so low, as I had no problem lifting the case in and out of the boot and carrying it to the airport!
Once through security we went to the gate and I went to ask the agent about the exit seats, because it had mentioned something about needing to be over 15 on the website (but I’d flicked over it too quick). The gate agent just muttered something about ‘it doesn’t matter, we’ve got the seats filled’, in other words she either didn’t listen or couldn’t care less. So of course when we got on the plane and sat in our seats the cabin crew said we had to move, which meant messing around finding 3 people who wanted to move.
This plane also had headrest TVs and there was just enough time to watch a film. Just enough time that is, as long as they don’t turn it off 25 minutes before landing, which they decided to do, so I missed the last 10 minutes of the film I was watching. To add insult to injury they had arrived early but hadn’t got a gate ready. So the plane sat on the tarmac about 10 minutes from the gates for about 20 minutes. So in the end we arrived 15 minutes later than advertised rather than earlier.
The only flight that went without a hitch was the final flight into Manchester; I just wish it had the same selection of films so I could have watched the final 10 minutes of the one I was watching.
So all in all I would never fly Continental again. Their planes should be working 100%, the staff should be a little more caring and professional, and the crew should be in the city they are flying from!