wormulon.net

Continental Airlines left the Skyteam Alliance last year and joined the Star Alliance which I much prefer. Thanks to a common bug in the booking process I scored a cheap ticket on the direct Hamburg to Newark, New Jersey flight. I should earn my first frequent flyer miles in 2010 while also spending a weekend in New York City. At first I thought of booking a continuation flight to Washington as I haven't been there for years. When I found out that a group of Flyertalkers meet in New York that particular weekend it was a sealed deal. Another $35 later for a decent hotel room on the Upper Westside I had everything laid out perfectly.

I left quite early Saturday morning as road conditions with lots of snow were unpredictable the night before. In addition the added security meant two security checks instead of one. I made it in time and asked how much a cash upgrade to BusinessFirst (the Continental Business class product - there is no First) would be. I declined when I heard the offer of $1500.

The flight was rather uneventful albeit my Inflight Entertainment system started rebooting constantly after around 90 minutes. Service and food were on-par with Lufthansa and really good compared to my previous experiences on that route.



Although we left with 45 minutes delay the captain managed to get us to Newark on time. I rushed through immigration, picked up my bags and got through customs within 15 minutes. The immigration officer understood the concept of meeting with friends, having steak and earning frequent flyer miles and wasn't bothering me at all. Instead of the slightly cheaper train connection I opted for the bus which would allow me to directly connect to the train (MTA subway) at Port Authority Bus Terminal on 42nd street. When I got to the subway/train station I had to discover that this weekend some trains would not run at all due to constructions and others took different stops. So my carefully laid out plan went AWOL and I had to connect.
Less than 90 minutes after landing I left my hotel - sans baggage - bound to Penn Station to meet with a Flyertalker. The time to kill before the Flyertalk DO (a meeting where people DO stuff) was spent at Times Square. A quick stop at the huge Macy's at 34th and I could confirm that they had indeed the cloths I wanted to buy the next day.



The Long Island Rail Road and JFK Airtrain via Jamaica station took about an hour to get me to the meeting point at JFK - I was more than glad I fueled up on drinks and a Taco Bell taco. Note: The Penn Station food court has a brilliant selection of those greasy fast food joints you would otherwise not find in Manhattan.

At JFK I met lots of Flyertalkers while checking in for our fake flight to Butte, Montana. American Airlines was a brilliant host for the gathering and created a flight just for us. We all received real boarding passes which we used to pass security. An American Airlines official met us and a short elevator ride later we were inside the control tower where live operations are happening. It was amazingly calm before we got there and there was a total of six people working the entire JFK American Airlines operations. Everything from baggage scanning, flight and ramp operations to mis-connecting passengers were taken care of up there.



After a short snack stop outside the lounge we all boarded trains back to Manhattan heading to The Palm Tribeca where the organizer reserved a private room earlier including free flowing drinks. The meeting had a strong American Airlines background and most of the attendees hold status on American Airlines but they all know a few interesting things here and there beyond their own frequent traveler program. The feast of amazing food started with a Caesar's salad. The 9oz medium-rare filet mignon that followed was spot on but small enough to let some room for the Key Lime pie. The pie was less sweet than the one I had in Key West three weeks earlier which was well appreciated. I did not win anything during the AA trivia that followed. I did not try hard, though.

After dinner we were chatting away and I got to know a few interesting personalities which I would love to meet again. Shortly before midnight I called it a day and hailed a cab back to the hotel - after all I was up for 24+ hours.

I had the offer to see Ground Zero from the 29th floor of an adjacent office building but due to limited time I will probably take up the offer during my next visit. Instead I left my hotel at around 9AM, had some breakfast in the Upper Westside (lots of good joints there on Columbus Ave) and went to the Marriott on Times Square. Why the Marriott? I went to the bell desk and asked them to hold on to my luggage for a few hours until I check in. Of course I never checked in but it was a safe and cheap ($2 in tips) way to store a piece of luggage.

The day was spent walking through SOHO. Shortly after a cheap chinese lunch I went to Macy's for my cloths and the Marriott for my luggage. My 29 hours on the ground in the US were about to end thus I boarded the bus back to Newark where I spent about an hour before boarding my flight home. I picked up a $35 bottle of 15 year old Ron Zacapa which appeared to be a steal. I again declined the cash upgrade offer. Continental was asking $5200 (that is US Dollars and not Argentine Pesos) to upgrade to BusinessFirst on a 7 hour flight.




Monday morning I landed in Hamburg with a bit of delay but was at work before 10AM. I would do this again if I had the chance. The direct flight is much more convenient than the connecting options on Lufthansa. I hope United will keep the route open once the Continental merger goes through.