Is Continental Airline financially sound?

[dchan865]

Hi Folks!

Sorry to hear that some of you had bad experience regarding Aloha airline going out of business. It sucks to find out days or weeks before your cruise or any vacation.

 

And with ATA airline filing for bankruptsy currently, anyone know if Continental is in good shape? I hate to find out if something goes bad(bankruptsy is more of a concern, flight cancellation due to aircraft maintenance) in June. Looking at the stock chart recent company news, I don't see any probelm with them.

 

And with the 4 airline getting in trouble with FAA, it just makes me more worrisome.

 

Sorry if I spoil anyone's parade or make you worry. These things are beyond our control but if there's anything we can do to manage the risk ahead of time, it would better to plan ahead instead of scrambling at the last minute.

 

Time to have Plan A and B in place.

[lambs2]

Although still a real bummer, do make sure you have trip cancellation insurance that includes your flights!

[MRF777]

Continental is probably in the best shape of any U.S carrier right now.

[Carnac767]

Hi Folks!

Sorry to hear that some of you had bad experience regarding Aloha airline going out of business. It sucks to find out days or weeks before your cruise or any vacation.

 

And with ATA airline filing for bankruptsy currently, anyone know if Continental is in good shape? I hate to find out if something goes bad(bankruptsy is more of a concern, flight cancellation due to aircraft maintenance) in June. Looking at the stock chart recent company news, I don't see any probelm with them.

 

And with the 4 airline getting in trouble with FAA, it just makes me more worrisome.

 

Sorry if I spoil anyone's parade or make you worry. These things are beyond our control but if there's anything we can do to manage the risk ahead of time, it would better to plan ahead instead of scrambling at the last minute.

 

Time to have Plan A and B in place.

 

You don't need to worry about Continental. They're in good shape. United and Delta have strong cash positions, also. As far as United taking their 777s out of service for a day, that was to do an inspection on the cargo compartment fire suppression system . . . an inspection that's not even in the Boeing 777 maintenance manual. It's been completed. The media loves to sensationalize anything to do with air travel. I'm a pilot for a major U.S. carrier and trust me, I'm never going to take an airplane that's unsafe.

[dchan865]

Thanks Carnac767!

Its reassuring. I noticed that Continental earned the title #1 World's Admired Airlines in 2007 from FORTUNE magazine. I guess you have to do a lot of right things to get this far as the 5th largest Airlline in the world.

[Carnac767]

You're welcome. Continental has come a very long way in the past 20 years. They went bankrupt a couple of times in the 1980s and were in really bad shape back then. It just shows the transitory nature of the airline industry.

[JJPNYC]

In my opinion, the key thing that drove Continental's turnaround in the '90s was their senior management team of Gordon Bethune (CEO) and Greg Breneman (President). They had the real business know-how and management skills to make it work (and something that is greatly lacking in most other airline CEOs today). Without these two guys flying the plane, I'm guessing that Continental would've been history by the mid-90s.

[stlrboo]

And I'm hoping Continental stays that way!...:) They still fly from ERI, tho' their prices are high! We can drive to CLE (Cleveland) in under 2 hours, and can then get a good flight to most anywhere in the States!..:D

 

Delta & US Airways have just about pulled out of the 'local' market.. Currently, Continental is the best thing going, and I enjoy 'flying with them'.. Have two flights booked with them at the moment, and another in the 'planning stages' once the itineraries/dates are released..!:p

[LuckyStar]

Frankly, I dread flying Continental - I fly a lot from DEN to IAH and they are always late. We got stranded in FTL a few years back and couldn't get our booked flight to Nassau until the next day. But I grit my teeth and continue to use them and hope that it's all a coincidence. Their flights and are so available from DEN and their prices are so good, it's so tempting to continue using them.

[ab0si]

Frankly, I dread flying Continental - I fly a lot from DEN to IAH and they are always late. We got stranded in FTL a few years back and couldn't get our booked flight to Nassau until the next day. But I grit my teeth and continue to use them and hope that it's all a coincidence. Their flights and are so available from DEN and their prices are so good, it's so tempting to continue using them.

 

 

For the 2 months ended 31 March, 2008 for the DEN -> IAH route:

All airlines: 72% on-time

Continental:75% on-time

United: 65% on-time (2nd to Continental in # of flights)

 

Since Continental has by far the most flights on this route, it is easy to get the impression that they are late the most often -- which they are in number of late flights, but not as a percentage.

 

Paul

[jaspercat]

Not sure if anyone can answer - but here goes! First off, I chose to fly Continental for my Grandeur Dec cruise (cruise air) versus Air Canada 'cause of flight times (departure and arrival). Have seen the stats on Continental's on time into Tampa and was a bit leary, but chose them anyway. Here's the question -- flight leaves Ottawa (Canada) and I will clear US Customs here, arrive in Cleveland in Terminal D and connect with the flight to Tampa in Terminal C --- exactly how far via the passenger tunnel/walkway are they apart? Supposedly I have a "legal" connect time of 35 minutes -- will I and my checked bag make it?

[MRF777]

Not sure if anyone can answer - but here goes! First off, I chose to fly Continental for my Grandeur Dec cruise (cruise air) versus Air Canada 'cause of flight times (departure and arrival). Have seen the stats on Continental's on time into Tampa and was a bit leary, but chose them anyway. Here's the question -- flight leaves Ottawa (Canada) and I will clear US Customs here, arrive in Cleveland in Terminal D and connect with the flight to Tampa in Terminal C --- exactly how far via the passenger tunnel/walkway are they apart? Supposedly I have a "legal" connect time of 35 minutes -- will I and my checked bag make it?

 

It will take you about 10mins max to get from Term D to Term C, You should have no problems CLE is a great airport to connect in and yes you're bag should make it too.

[jaspercat]

It will take you about 10mins max to get from Term D to Term C, You should have no problems CLE is a great airport to connect in and yes you're bag should make it too.

 

Thanks! I had visions that I was going to look like some crazy person pushing everyone out of my way while I made this mad-dash from one gate to the other:).

[klfrodo]

For the 2 months ended 31 March, 2008 for the DEN -> IAH route:

All airlines: 72% on-time

Continental:75% on-time

United: 65% on-time (2nd to Continental in # of flights)

 

Since Continental has by far the most flights on this route, it is easy to get the impression that they are late the most often -- which they are in number of late flights, but not as a percentage.

 

Paul

 

While I agree with your statement, 75% on time is not something an airline should be touting as a positive.

Imagine if you or your employees were on time for work only 75% of the time.

[chipmaster]

Not sure if anyone can answer - but here goes! First off, I chose to fly Continental for my Grandeur Dec cruise (cruise air) versus Air Canada 'cause of flight times (departure and arrival). Have seen the stats on Continental's on time into Tampa and was a bit leary, but chose them anyway. Here's the question -- flight leaves Ottawa (Canada) and I will clear US Customs here, arrive in Cleveland in Terminal D and connect with the flight to Tampa in Terminal C --- exactly how far via the passenger tunnel/walkway are they apart? Supposedly I have a "legal" connect time of 35 minutes -- will I and my checked bag make it?

 

 

Unless you are doing the first flight out I'd worry a bit. First flights out generally are really good about leaving and arriving on time. But if your flight is a mid-day flight I make sure your luggage has a direct check thru. I've never figured out if arrival time is landing or to gate, somehow I'm suspicious that on-time arrivals track landing and not gate time and adding taxing the "on-time" looks worst. The 75% or 72% is less relevant then how much they land within 5' for you. If you had an hour between flights then it would be a 30' window. On time is a useless statistic without specifying the window for that.

 

My general rule of thumb is I want no less then an hour, and I can't tell you how many times even that was tight at a place like Atlanta, Chicago, Salt Lake :eek:

 

Good luck with your connect

[JJPNYC]

Flight times are always listed from gate to gate from door close to door open.

[Globaliser]

While I agree with your statement, 75% on time is not something an airline should be touting as a positive.

The percentage of flights "on time" is not the whole picture, anyway. You also have to look at the average delay and the spread of delays to get the full story.

 

"On time" means at scheduled time or within 15 minutes afterwards. If the vast bulk of flights that are not on time are only a few minutes outside that window, then there is no real problem.

 

In any event, schedules are pretty elastic anyway because there is no law as to how long a flight should be scheduled to take. Airlines have plenty of incentives not to make their flights take longer than they need to. So in many senses, schedules are set on the basis of actual flying experience at a level that produces adequate on-time performance. Any airline could artificially boost its on-time performance by adding more padding to their schedules, but that would just make the schedules depart further from reality.

 

So when you're measuring flights between two big hub airports, one of which is inevitably going to have serious weather problems from time to time, 75% doesn't seem too bad to me.

[jaspercat]

Unless you are doing the first flight out I'd worry a bit. First flights out generally are really good about leaving and arriving on time. But if your flight is a mid-day flight I make sure your luggage has a direct check thru. I've never figured out if arrival time is landing or to gate, somehow I'm suspicious that on-time arrivals track landing and not gate time and adding taxing the "on-time" looks worst. The 75% or 72% is less relevant then how much they land within 5' for you. If you had an hour between flights then it would be a 30' window. On time is a useless statistic without specifying the window for that.

 

My general rule of thumb is I want no less then an hour, and I can't tell you how many times even that was tight at a place like Atlanta, Chicago, Salt Lake :eek:

 

Good luck with your connect

 

My outbound flight from Ottawa is one of Continental's first out that morning (they have a couple of others connecting via Newark that leave before me). If by chance I miss the connection in Cleveland, there are 2 other flights into Tampa later in the afternoon. Flying in 2-days prior to cruise so won't be panicking too much - but with our Canadian winter who knows:)