Continental vs. Northwest to US

M

mommy sara

Registered User
I was wondering if anyone has any opinion about which airline to take to the US? Northwest has the best rates and shortest travel time to my destinations (Minneapolis and Detroit) but I have never taken such a long trip with them. I usually fly Continental and they're OK, so I wondered if Northwest is the same or worse? I'll be flying during the day with a two-year-old so individaul TVs that I can change the channel are a big help. Any tips would be apprecaited!
 
i flew northwest on the longest trip of my life(36 hours door-to-door)....i was by myself with a 2 year old and a newborn (5 weeks old).

flights were cheap and the price for the newborn on my lap was only $1800 less than if i bought her a seat, so i did. we had three seats in a four seat row. and on BOTH flights they put a single man in the fourth seat even though there were other empty seats around!!!! i was breastfeeding but thought, i hope he complains, and then they'll move him... no such luck!

the leg from japan to portland had individual tv's so that was FANTASTIC! they had about 6 or 7 different kids cartoons on. the only one i can remember though is happy feet. they had the same on the return flight, but there were so many, it wasn't a problem. they provided the earphones, but i found the 2 year old only played with them and was content to watch the tv without them.

the air hostesses were NO HELP whatsoever... they looked completely put upon when i asked them to just watch the sleeping baby while i took my 2 year old to the bathroom with me. (the only part of the trip that he cried was when i flushed the toilet!)

food was NOT appealing, especially to little one, so i packed lots of healthy and not so healthy snacks (including my bribery food: m & m's!). you just have to MAKE SURE that you finish or dump ALL fruit etc before you get off the plane! or you will be in big trouble!
 
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What class are you flying?
Wouldn't NW be worth a try since they go direct to your destination without passing through Newark first?
 
Probably flying economy unless I get a good deal on Business. It's not direct, through Tokyo instead of Chicago. The time is about the same either connection, but the spacing of the connection through Tokyo will help break up the day rather than coming at the end when I already feel like I want to scream. Believe me, I'd pay any amount of money for a direct flight! Mostly I'm just wondering how much bankruptcy has hurt Northwest vs. Continental (which I'm used to), especially since I'm now so spoiled by the asian airlines.
 
when i'm flying with 2 kids, i always fly northwest via tokyo to detroit. the reason is because i can't stand transiting in the US; i'd much rather transit in tokyo and then arrive in the US as my final destination. with all the security lines and what not, it's easier in tokyo. plus i find that northwest has enough flights out of tokyo that in case your first leg is delayed, you still have other choices so you're not forced to overnight in tokyo. last time our flight out of HK was delayed for 2 hours, so we missed our connection in tokyo, but was able to still make a later flight to detroit. i definitely agree that northwest service and food are pretty bad, and we must have had really old aircrafts because none of them had personal tvs. but we just brought our own portable dvd player.
 
I'm with you in that it is better to transit early than late. After flying for hours and hours I want to be home and not running through an airport.
Continental has been great, but in business class where they have more people to help. Economy is less than great, but we needed less help.
Never flown NW economy to the US. Or business for that matter. I have flown them to Tokyo and that was fine.
And the Asian airlines are better. Too bad you are headed to Detroit and not one of the coasts where the Asian airlines all go.
 
I once flew NW HK-> Tokyo -> Minneapolis -> Boston. It was not very good - long & horrible waits (extra 4 hours in Minneapolis) I swore never again.

But, I usually fly to New England, so the Continental direct Hong Kong -> to Newark is quite convenient. All the Continental seats (including economy, I've never flown them business class) have the mini TVs.

NW recently merged w/ Delta, so I don't know if that will be a plus or minus in the flying.
 
Continental is great, although usually incredibly expensive, in business class.
Right now the NW pilots are disgruntled, so the merger is probably a minus.

loupou--too many stops on that NW route. Could also fly Cathay to NYC or Toronto and then go to Boston.
 
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