Continental thru Newark

[CharAnn76]

Hi All,

Anyone ever fly continental thru Newark and on to Orlando/Tampa. I usually fly AC thru Toronto or Montreal but flights are really high now and I don't see a seat sale in sight. Starting to panic...booked Disney for late August and I usually have my flight booked a few months out. I assume you go through Customs in NY...am I right? Not sure how it all works but Continental's price is pretty reasonable out of Newfoundland...stressing out about it all.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

Many of us have flown Halifax to Newark to Orlando, but we preclear customs in Halifax. Newark is a dirty airport, but for the fare we got ... I would do it again!

Ted

 

[fan1080]

As Ted alluded to, where you clear Customs depends on if your departure airport has a US Customs Pre-Clearance. If your departure airport has it, you will not need to clear customs in Newark.

Also note, there are instances where you will have to go through Customs in Newark (again) if you are not careful about where you go while in the airport. For instance, if you have to change terminals in Newark, be sure not to take the Train, take the shuttle bus. Going by train takes you out of the security zone. The bus keeps you within the airport security zone.

ETA: Corrected Tom to Ted, sorry Ted.

 

[badiggio]

We flew back last week.Mco to newark and then to Ottawa.We had to take the bus shuttle to Terminal A to catch our flight to Ottawa.The continental plane we took from Orlando was huge and very spacey,but imo ,unless you're saving big bucks, AC ,all things considered beats out any American airline.

 

[Northstar]

We flew back last week.Mco to newark and then to Ottawa.We had to take the bus shuttle to Terminal A to catch our flight to Ottawa.The continental plane we took from Orlando was huge and very spacey,but imo ,unless you're saving big bucks, AC ,all things considered beats out any American airline.

Gotta disagree, badiggio, because of the issue of clearing customs. AC never offers direct flights from Halifax to MCO... that means, if we fly AC, we have to go first to either Montreal or Toronto, collect the bags, stand in lines to clear customs and immigration, throw the bags back on the conveyer belt, then race across the airport to our connecting flight (because by the time we get out of preclearance, we're always late and stressed).

On the other hand, if we fly Continental, we can preclear in Halifax. It certainly makes connecting flights less stressful because we don't have to see our checked bags again until Orlando.

Not having to clear customs and immigration before a connecting flight is huge for me. It's not AC's fault, but I would rather eat a live caterpillar than go through preclearance in Toronto.

 

[sympatico]

We like the Washington connection with United. Pre-clear customs in Halifax and just change gates in Washington. It's just one long corridor with gates and fast food/eateries. You stay within security.

 

[CharAnn76]

Unfortunately there's not much choice in airlines out of Newfoundland. You have AC, WJ and Continental...that's about it. Sunwing does not fly to Orlando out of St. John's; neither does Air Transat. So, please keep your fingers crossed for a seat sale very soon. I don't particularly like clearing customs either. Last time we barely made it off the plane from Orlando, picked up our bags, went through customs, dropped off our bags, went through security again and made it to the gate. The plane was already boarding. Yikes...then we were assigned seats in a row that was not even on the plane...our boarding passes were for row 37 or something and it only went up to 23 I think. The gate agent looked perplexed. Asked us to sit until everyone had boarded and then luckily the flight was not full and we got on. But what if it was full...not good. I find travelling so stressful but it's all worth it to finally get to WDW.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

CharAnn76

Search Continental's site often, but use their advanced search and set the currency to Canadian. They do have the best prices.

Ted

 

[badiggio]

Gotta disagree, badiggio, because of the issue of clearing customs. AC never offers direct flights from Halifax to MCO... that means, if we fly AC, we have to go first to either Montreal or Toronto, collect the bags, stand in lines to clear customs and immigration, throw the bags back on the conveyer belt, then race across the airport to our connecting flight (because by the time we get out of preclearance, we're always late and stressed).

On the other hand, if we fly Continental, we can preclear in Halifax. It certainly makes connecting flights less stressful because we don't have to see our checked bags again until Orlando.

Not having to clear customs and immigration before a connecting flight is huge for me. It's not AC's fault, but I would rather eat a live caterpillar than go through preclearance in Toronto.

I know what you're saying about customs,but in my experiences in toronto it's never been a problem.From the time you get your luggage to dropping it off again is minutes.
This last flight to orlando was originally booked United going and continental coming back,just to clear customs here in ottawa and be done with it,but 2 weeks before our flight United told us we had a choice to leave later in the day{no way when you've paid for your room at a resort} or AC,because their earlier flight to Washington was cancelled.
I like the luxury of watching what I want on my own screen too on Ac,which you don't get on the others.The biggest thing for me though is ,not once have I had a connecting flight on an America airline leave on time.Also have to add that if you don't check in early enough,sometimes you're on standby as they overbook their flights.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

We flew Continental from Moncton in January. We have no US customs here so were cleared customs in Newark.

We found our experience much better than flying AC or Westjet from Montreal or Toronto - we would certainly use Continental again as they are likely always going to be cheaper than the Canadian airlines

 

[CharAnn76]

May seem trivial, but Continental doesn't have individual seat back TVs??? This is the one think I love about AC. Is this correct?

 

[badiggio]

May seem trivial, but Continental doesn't have individual seat back TVs??? This is the one think I love about AC. Is this correct?

Not trivial to me,lol.The tv's are from the ceiling .One tv every 4 or 5 rows.I love having the choice of first run movies or even tv shows for that matter on the Ac flights and have always had plenty of time for connections if needed.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

May seem trivial, but Continental doesn't have individual seat back TVs??? This is the one think I love about AC. Is this correct?

Some planes have TV's ... but expect to pay $6 to watch a movie.

 

[gilsan]

Gotta disagree, badiggio, because of the issue of clearing customs. AC never offers direct flights from Halifax to MCO... that means, if we fly AC, we have to go first to either Montreal or Toronto, collect the bags, stand in lines to clear customs and immigration, throw the bags back on the conveyer belt, then race across the airport to our connecting flight (because by the time we get out of preclearance, we're always late and stressed).

On the other hand, if we fly Continental, we can preclear in Halifax. It certainly makes connecting flights less stressful because we don't have to see our checked bags again until Orlando.

Not having to clear customs and immigration before a connecting flight is huge for me. It's not AC's fault, but I would rather eat a live caterpillar than go through preclearance in Toronto.

Air Canada does offer direct flights from Halifax to Orlando starting in February until the first couple of weeks of May, on Thursdays and Sundays. We flew direct in April and it was great. It is disappointing they don't offer direct flights through out the year. Air Canada and Air Transat both offer direct flights in the Winter/Spring season and IMO offer the best direct flight times with the most choice. WestJet only flies Saturday direct Halifax to MCO.

When we went in September we flew with United and connected in the USA so we were able to clear customs in Halifax. While there was nothing wrong with the flight I do prefer to fly on a Canadian airline. United kept changing our flight times and I was worried that they could oversell the flight and possible bump us (I did check in the day 24 hours prior to the flight, but you never know).

 

[Ted in Halifax]

When we went in September we flew with United and connected in the USA so we were able to clear customs in Halifax. While there was nothing wrong with the flight I do prefer to fly on a Canadian airline. United kept changing our flight times and I was worried that they could oversell the flight and possible bump us (I did check in the day 24 hours prior to the flight, but you never know).

I experienced the oversell you referred to in Denver on the way to Chicago. Note: They are ending the free ticket compensation and replacing it with a $400 voucher ....

 

[DeniseinNS]

Gotta disagree, badiggio, because of the issue of clearing customs. AC never offers direct flights from Halifax to MCO... that means, if we fly AC, we have to go first to either Montreal or Toronto, collect the bags, stand in lines to clear customs and immigration, throw the bags back on the conveyer belt, then race across the airport to our connecting flight (because by the time we get out of preclearance, we're always late and stressed).

On the other hand, if we fly Continental, we can preclear in Halifax. It certainly makes connecting flights less stressful because we don't have to see our checked bags again until Orlando.

Not having to clear customs and immigration before a connecting flight is huge for me. It's not AC's fault, but I would rather eat a live caterpillar than go through preclearance in Toronto.

We flew AC in March and went Halifax-Montreal-Orlando. When we arrived in Montreal we did NOT have to collect our luggage before going through customs. It was a bit of a walk but we had plenty of time to catch our next flight.

 

[dennise]

does Continental have good seat sales? We are looking at April Halifax-Newark-Orlando? It just gets us there a little earlier in the evening and we don't have to touch our luggage until we get to Orlando. A bit concerned about lost luggage, although we have never had a problem before. Still waiting to see if Transat will offer direct flights through the week. We went direct on a Tuesday evening with them last March.

 

[MikeyNS]

We almost always fly direct with Air Canada, since we always seem to be going during winter. Now there's the option of flying USAir to Philadelphia. Lots of flights an connection options. You can also fly United through Washington, but its a little pricey. Boston is an option with Delta too (if memory serves!).