British Airways vs. Continental? Advice Please!

[scottishgirl87]

Sorry for posting a new thread but I have the following options for flights, and there's only about £10/20 total difference between the two so what would you guys recommend??

Continental are the cheaper of the two but for the sake of £20 I'd rather have the "better" flight.

British Airways: GLA - LGW (Gatwick) - MCO (arriving 3.30pm)
Continental: GLA - EWR (Newark) - MCO (arriving 4.15pm)

Any advice from people who've used either and any information on luggage allowances, in-flight entertainment, etc. greatly appreciated

 

[cherjp]

not from experience but from what i have read on here if you do the continental one you clear customs and immigration at newark so when you arrive at orlando you just grab your bags and go.

On the other hand if you go BA your buying British and keeping our economy going(though thats a whole different argument).

 

[scottishgirl87]

On the other hand if you go BA your buying British and keeping our economy going(though thats a whole different argument).

LOL I never thought of it that way! I am slightly wary of booking BA with all the troubles they're reportedly having, but I really don't see them going under, but you never know in this economy.

Part of me thinks it'd be easier changing in the UK, I did this last year did Glasgow to Heathrow to LAX and it was pretty straight forward. However, the fact of clearing customs in the US sounds good too, but in actuality I don't think it'd save THAT much time.

 

[wayneg]

A few years since we have flown with either
BA Man~NY was worst transatlantic flight we have done. No problems with Continental. Would certainly prefer to do Immigration in US makes it easier on arrival in Orlando.
So I would sway towards Continental but I have no idea which planes are on your route, maybe look at On board entertainment and seat pitch etc, see if one is better than other.

 

[scottishgirl87]

Thanks Wayne! I know you're a bit of an expert on these things so it's really appreciated

British Airways tell me I get this on the LGW - MCO part:

• 31in seat pitch (78cm), lumbar support and adjustable headrest
• Non-stop entertainment: blockbuster movies, TV and audio channels
• Complimentary 3 course meal and drinks
• Easier check-in online or using Self-Service Check-in kiosks

Can't find the seat pitch on Continental or baggage allowance, but says I'd get this:

• Complimentary meals at designated meal times for flights greater than two hours
• Live television programming with more than 75 channels of DIRECTV® and 8 channels of premium movies, sitcoms, dramas and more available on select flights. A nominal feel applies

 

[starrysky]

https://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/travel/baggage/check.aspx

this is the link for the Baggage allowance for continental to be honest I can make no sense of it.

With BA we are going from Aberdeen to LHR and then LGW to Orlando as we only have to worry about changing planes once. Never had bad service from BA and the staff were always nice and friendly. Never flown with Continental so can't comment on them.

I know with BA we get two bags at 23kg each for free. Even on the flight from Aberdeen as we are connecting in london.

 

[scottishgirl87]

Yeah the Continental baggage allowance makes no sense to me either! But I guess with that it'll end up more expensive, or even the same as BA, we'd only have 2 suitcases between us anyway.

I do like the luggage allowance on BA.

 

[wayneg]

Looks like
Economy Class - International - Europe, Micronesia, Middle East and Asia
2 Checked Bags - no charge
Each bag at a maximum 50 lbs (23 kg)

carry-on bag is 40 pounds (18 kg)

 

[StarWarsJez]

IMO BA is a SIGNIFICANTLY better airline than Continental with regard to the service and "overall package".

However I have 2 caveats

1) Continental is usually a lot cheaper than BA. If they were 1:1 same price I'd always go BA

2) Some continental flights (such as the LGM-MCO) are actualy provided by Virgin, so you get the Virgin aircraft, flight crew and service. I personaly rate Virgin and BA as about the same

just my 2c

Cheers

Jez

 

[scottishgirl87]

Thanks for the replies, keep them coming guys!

I don't think the Continental flight is a Virgin codeshare as it's not going through Gatwick.

If anyone has any addition info re. in-flight entertainment etc. then I'd be really interested to hear it!

Keep the votes coming anyway! BA so far winning

 

[disneyangel]

I have flown continental from EDI-Newark (then on to Kansas city -for work ). It's a similar length of flight as the GLA-Newark one and there was not a lot of in flight entertainment. (loads to eat though - they kept feeding us )

The flight was fine ,although my experience at immigration there was a bit scary as I had the same name and date of birth as someone who was wanted in North Carolina

I think without that hold up clearing immigration would have been very quick.

I'm tempted to book the BA flights from EDI though.(Hoping for a Christmas trip) The prices are great so thanks for the heads up

 

[jockey]

Used both this year continental in Jan and BA in May and Continental offered a much better service. The food was great staff brill and we liked getting off to stretch our legs after 7 hours! We were travelling with a 10mth old and a 3 year old, only had 1.5 hrs to clear immigration and everything was fine!

With BA we found the food OK, staff again just OK nothing special.

 

[pixiepower04]

Never flown BA but flew Continental in October from Edinburgh via Newark and will be doing so again next October.

I'm a big girl and the seat pitch held my ample 'everything', staff were attentive, meals were good although I have nothing to compare them to

Luggage is 2 bags at 23kg per person so we could have come home with 8 bags and alot of allowance, no wait we did

In-flight entertainment was great, when we booked a year earlier we weren't expected to have in-flight stuff so it was a very pleasant surprise and kept the kids occupied for the whole trip. They watched films, cartoons and played games and there was no fee.

The plane from Newark to Orlando doesn't have seat back tv's but it's only a 2.5 hour flight and it goes fairly quickly.

Immigration was a doddle but we were at the back of the plane so last off and therefore at the back of the queue for imigration so we missed our 1.5 hour connection and had to wait 7 hours for the next one!

Once we were in Orlando we just collected our car and off we went!

I'm so anxious to get my flights booked for next year but have to wait until October/November

 

[scottishgirl87]

5/4 still not alot in it! Considering Continental for an 8 hour stopover in Newark and a quick tour of Manhattan.

Although pixiepower the fact you missed your connecting flight worries me ever so slightly! LOL

About to weigh everything up with the OH so I will let you know how I get on

Keep the votes coming still!

 

[Lisa_C]

I've always flown continental and will always use them again. I went over on a 777 last time and the entertainment was second to none. We had a stop over at Newark of only an hour and made it through immigration just like that. If you tell them you have a connecting flight they are only to happy to let you go through as quickly as possible.

The food is ok, nothing special, but they gave drinks when you wanted them. My two kids (11 and 3 at the time) slept well too as the seats are roomy (though DS fell off his chair which was quite funny) and the touch screens on board are good fun. I did suduko for three hours non stop and DD watched Disney films while DS laughed out loud to Rush Hour 3

I personally like the fact you can get out, on the way back we usually go via texas so we can meet friends at the airport and get a hug

 

[Lizzybear]

Haven't flown with BA but have flown Continental and Virgin and felt they were about the same in terms of service, Virgin's food was slightly better not something i'd pay extra for! Continental's seatback entertainment system is great (better than the Virgin planes from Manchester certainly) but not all flights have it: Anywhere in the UK to Newark and vice versa usually does but if a plane goes tech they may subsitute it with one that has only communal screens, as happened to us on the way back (didn't bother us as we always bring other stuff to do on the flight anyway) US internal flights have the communal screens. We flew Manchester-Newark-San Francisco outbound and has an almost 3 hour connection which was more than adequate, though i'd rather be twiddling my thumbs than having to rush or miss my flight due to a tight connection. Newark is a really good airport with plenty of shops/restaurants to kill the time before the next flight We thought the immigration was much less scary than Orlando too, the guy we had was asking us about WDW We're flying with Continental again this year, into Newark and out of Orlando and I imagine it won't be the last time we use them!

 

[pixiepower04]

5/4 still not alot in it! Considering Continental for an 8 hour stopover in Newark and a quick tour of Manhattan.

Although pixiepower the fact you missed your connecting flight worries me ever so slightly! LOL

About to weigh everything up with the OH so I will let you know how I get on

Keep the votes coming still!

Our connecting flight was 1.5 hours but we'd never done this before so it was partly our fault as we didn't know where we were going or what we were doing. Our bags left on the correct flight though so they were waiting for us 10 hours later before everyone else got theirs!

Next time we will choose the 3 hour connection time and Lizzybear is right there are alot of shops and eateries so plenty to pass the time with.

I know others have only had 1.5 hours and they made it just fine so it was just us!

 

[disneyholic family]

i'm surprised you were permitted a 1.5 hour layover - usually the airlines themselves demand more (some systems block you from booking a reservation with that little time in between)..

there's no way of knowing how quick anything will be - how quickly you'll get through immigration, how quickly your luggage will get to you, how quickly you'll get through customs..

we always leave 3 hours between flights (and even with that, we missed a connection once when the plane's cargo door wouldn't open )...

the only time i book less is connecting in amsterdam - i have a one hour connection......it's a mad dash from one side of schiphol to the other....though i haven't missed one yet.....but that's without immigration or customs....just running from one plane to the next.....

newark is one of the faster airports in terms of entering the US, but still, you never know...

my daughter traveled with a girlfriend of hers last year....DD got out of immigration in about 5 minutes (we're americans so she crosses through the US citizen line), her friend took a full hour!!! and during that time, DD didn't know what was going on, since she was already through....apparently it was just a case of really really long lines on the 'alien' side.....and very few immigration officers...
scared DD half to death thinking her friend had been deported...

 

[gemmybear83]

Personally I would rather fly BA - the delays at Newark would make me anxious. I fly BA to MCO last Jan - and they were great, no complaints at all

 

[kristieuk]

My vote is BA - I find the British carriers a little better than the US ones - and all your drinks alcoholic or not will be complimentary, so it evens out the price a little more. BA aren't brilliant these days, but better than Continental imho.