Continental lives

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#1 Post by **Bob78164** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:43 pm

The <I>New York Times</I> is reporting that Continental Airlines has abandoned merger talks with United. So I guess mmff remains a Continental employee for the foreseeable future. --Bob

marrymeflyfree · #2 Post by **marrymeflyfree** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:05 pm

We are having a mini celebration here. WOO HOO!

We're in pretty decent shape, all things considered, and our culture and morale are very strong - especially when compared to the other guys. I guess it would be pretty foolish to tie ourselves to any of the other sinking ships at this point. YAY! My guess is that now my peeps will be waiting for someone to drown so they can buy up the pieces.

I'm just happy that I won't have to get new uniforms before I go back to work.

In other news....EOS declared bankruptcy today and will stop operating next week. That's airline #5 to go belly up in the last few weeks.

geoffil · #3 Post by **geoffil** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:50 pm

MMFF,

If the merger went thru, would you have to re-take the flight attendant training class? I helped write some of the United courses and I have seen the "hotel" where they put the trainees for the 2 month training. Be glad you it didn't go thru. Is Continental's training class 2 months too? Or would the United people have to take Continental training classes?

JBillyGirl · #4 Post by **JBillyGirl** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 8:05 pm

Continental is a much better airline than United, IMHO. Their long-distance planes are just as small (737s were meant for shorter flights), but at least they still serve meals. And they have the nicest terminal at Newark Airport. And they have a BB working for them.

TheConfessor · #5 Post by **TheConfessor** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:43 pm

MMFF, it looks like I'll probably be going to Oslo in late October for the World Quizzing Championships. If that happens, I'll definitely be interested in any tips and advice you can provide regarding travel and tourism in the region. From what I can tell, Continental has the best Austin to Oslo flights, through Houston. Do you do AOL chat? I won't bother you about this until things settle down with Cletus.

peacock2121 · #6 Post by **peacock2121** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:02 am

They don't fly out of Stewart, so I have little experience with them.

I am glad for MMFF.

marrymeflyfree · #7 Post by **marrymeflyfree** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:57 am

geoffil wrote: If the merger went thru, would you have to re-take the flight attendant training class?

No, thankfully! I'd have to do some training on any aircraft they have that we don't, and any other equipment differences. I imagine there would be some changes to both company's service standards, so perhaps there would be a little course on that. The powers that be at CO are pretty big on indoctrinating new employees to the company's culture...I wonder how they would handle that in a merger?

I helped write some of the United courses and I have seen the "hotel" where they put the trainees for the 2 month training. Be glad you it didn't go thru. Is Continental's training class 2 months too? Or would the United people have to take Continental training classes?

How did you end up getting involved in that? Our training dept pretty much does everything 'in house'...even the video production people are CO employees. Back when I did initial training, it was just over 7 weeks...but it is shorter now because we fly fewer different types of aircraft than we did then. The number of training hours are set by the FAA and a certain amt of time must be spent on various topics (as you probably know!) - so fewer plane types = shorter training. And luckily we stayed at real hotels...every training class was at a different hotel near the airport in Houston. I lucked out in that my class was at the Hyatt (now a Doubletree). They had the best happy hour of all the airport hotels. Still do, I've heard.

I guess it would depend on which company came out on top as to who does the training. If we kept the CO name and headquarters and all that, it would probably be CO training. But the integration is always so messy and long and drawn out in these mergers...who knows, really.

marrymeflyfree · #8 Post by **marrymeflyfree** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:02 am

JBillyGirl wrote:Continental is a much better airline than United, IMHO. Their long-distance planes are just as small (737s were meant for shorter flights), but at least they still serve meals. And they have the nicest terminal at Newark Airport. And they have a BB working for them.

Thanks for the props, JBG.

They have a few things we don't, and vice versa...but I wouldn't want to work for them, and the integration would be a nightmare. Yuck.

Did you mean the 757's?

marrymeflyfree · #9 Post by **marrymeflyfree** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:12 am

TheConfessor wrote:MMFF, it looks like I'll probably be going to Oslo in late October for the World Quizzing Championships. If that happens, I'll definitely be interested in any tips and advice you can provide regarding travel and tourism in the region. From what I can tell, Continental has the best Austin to Oslo flights, through Houston. Do you do AOL chat? I won't bother you about this until things settle down with Cletus.

Woo hoo! Glad to hear you'll be going.

I may be biased, but I love Norway and I hope you can see some of its charm.

And yeah, CO is the best bet for Oslo flights - we have the only non-stop between Norway and the US (out of EWR). I'd skip going through Houston if you can, though...get the AUS-EWR flight instead and you'll have just one stop on the whole trip.

And since the dollar will not likely be any better by then, you might want to start converting some dollars to Norwegian kroner now. The exchange rate is lower than anyone can remember. It was nearly 9NOK per dollar when I first started going there a few years ago, and now it is down to less than 5NOK:1USD. Norway is very expensive for Americans even with a really great exchange rate.

marrymeflyfree · #10 Post by **marrymeflyfree** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:13 am

peacock2121 wrote:They don't fly out of Stewart, so I have little experience with them.

I am glad for MMFF.

I had to land at Stewart once for fuel. Does that count??

geoffil · #11 Post by **geoffil** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:16 am

MMFF,

While United was in bankruptcy they were allowed to spend X dollars on developing training and contracted out since their training department was very small due to the bankruptcy and layoffs. My company bid on the contract and we had to come in on time and on budget. No additional money was allowed since the courts approved everything. We had very tight deadlines and had help from one flight attendant and some of their staff. The flight attendant was so smart we really didn't need any of their staff to help us. It was my favorite assignment I have had with my company. Fllight attendants are required to learn so much in such a short period of time. I don't think the average flier knows that.

marrymeflyfree · #12 Post by **marrymeflyfree** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:24 am

Sounds like an interesting challenge....and a cool job for you. I think it would be fun to get the 'behind the scenes' look at different venues like that.

And you're right about the training. I've always described it like that. It isn't brain surgery by any stretch, but it's a ton of info in a short amount of time - and it's almost all safety/security, so you're expected to retain 100% of it.

peacock2121 · #13 Post by **peacock2121** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:39 am

marrymeflyfree wrote:
peacock2121 wrote:They don't fly out of Stewart, so I have little experience with them.

I am glad for MMFF.

I had to land at Stewart once for fuel. Does that count??

Sure!

Did you wave to me as you passed over?

KillerTomato · #14 Post by **KillerTomato** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:40 pm

I'm glad to hear this, especially as I'm currently sitting in the Cleveland airport, waiting for a flight on Continental to Richmond.

Well, it's sorta on Continental...some commuter airline is the real flyer. FTR, Cleveland's airport doesn't suck as much asthe rest of the town.

Bob Juch · #15 Post by **Bob Juch** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:47 pm

Same here as my granddaughter, Brittany, her husband and son are all flying on CO from DEN to EWR Saturday.

marrymeflyfree · #16 Post by **marrymeflyfree** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:19 pm

KillerTomato wrote: FTR, Cleveland's airport doesn't suck as much asthe rest of the town.

Urrggghhhh....don't remind me. I am moving to Cleveland shortly after the kid's arrival. *yay* *fun* *woo*

TheConfessor · #17 Post by **TheConfessor** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:26 pm

marrymeflyfree wrote: Urrggghhhh....don't remind me. I am moving to Cleveland shortly after the kid's arrival. *yay* *fun* *woo*

That's news to me. Why are you moving? My condolences, if appropriate.

marrymeflyfree · #18 Post by **marrymeflyfree** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:33 pm

Moving because Cleveland's housing market sucks big rhinocerous balls. The Naughty Norwegian's old house has been vacant and up for sale for a year. We thought wrongly that it would be sold by now. We're not looking forward to it, but it won't be all bad. Great neighborhood, and we'll do some updating to make it more sellable, yadda yadda.

lilclyde54 · #19 Post by **lilclyde54** » Fri May 02, 2008 3:28 pm

Good. It seems like we wind up on Continental on 2 out of 3 of our trips involving flights. They make us happy for the most part.