Travel: Airport Experience - Newark Liberty

Over the last 10 years I've travelled on a regular basis for work or please. During my time of living in Europe I was a frequent traveller for a while to Sweden, I went for holidays on the continent and also travelled further afield on occasion. The usual airlines I frequent where SAS, Ryan Air and Emirates with the occasional British Airways airline. Typically I'd fly from Stanstead or London Heathrow.


My move to Australia saw me travel more frequently on International long haul flights. Over the 4 years I was in Australia I travelled sufficiently with Qantas to become Platinum on their frequent flyer scheme. This allowed me to use the Qantas first class lounge which remains one of my favourite airline lounges. The service, the food, the view and the atmosphere was sufficient that I'd arrive at the airport early to ensure I could relax in the lounge for a few hours.

Now I'm in the USA I typically fly with Continental and occasionally with Virgin. New Liberty airport is very convenient to travel from however the experience always leaves me wishing I was back in Sydney airport. I'll post later on the experience in the air however this is my summary of the Airport, check-in and Elite Access lounge.

Check-In

Continental are trying to cut costs and have moved to an almost exclusive self-service kiosk operation. I don't mind the self-service kiosks as they can be useful when travelling light, however Continental have taken the kiosk philosophy too far. I typically check-in on-line and Continental allow this, however for countries where I need a visa I still need to go to the check-in desk to show my documents.

Today there wasn't a queue at check-in, however even in the Elite Access area the check-in is via kiosks, there are very few staff so when the check-in responds to wait for a representative you're left to wait, and wait. There is no friendly face to great you at check-in and check that everything is fine like you typically find with Virgin, Qantas and other airlines I've flown. The representative who came to check my passport didn't seem to confident on what to check for. Considering I'm flying BusinessFirst with Continental it just starts the journey on a low note.

The other advantage of having staff at the check-in desks is they are more likely to notice odd behaviour which in the security conscious world we find ourselves in at present would probably be a good thing.

My plea to Continental is please don't cut service quality when you're cutting costs. I understand the airline industry, particularly in the USA, is struggling however the experience in the airport and the plane is important if you want to keep your customers on the routes where there is a choice.

Experience 3/10.

Suggestion to improve experience: Have staff at each check-in desk (at least for Business/First class) like the good old days. Improve the attitude and training of some of the staff so it comes across as if the customer is important to the airline.

Security Check

These days Security Checks at the airports are a necessary thing. So while it may be frustrating to go through the process it does hopefully save lives. I'm unsure whether there are any accurate statistics available to the public as to the number of weapons, individuals that are found during the security checks however I'm assuming that they do work. I've never seen anyone arrested or airport security swarm around in all the years I have travelled. I'm hoping that this is because the security checks do work as a deterrent in the majority of situations.

So how does the Newark (and other USA airports) experience compare. The first difference you notice in the USA is that you have to remove your shoes and put them through the x-ray machine. This is a real inconvenience however considering the bomb attempts with bombs hidden in shoes I'm happy to have this experience if it makes the flight safer. What is frustrating however is the lack of places to sit straight after security in order to put your shoes back on. I'm fairly fit and young so I can manage, however I'd prefer a seat.. however what about all the unfit and older people who travel?

There's not much else to comment on the security checks, it's much of a muchness. They do a more thorough check of the passport and boarding pass, at least they scribble over the boarding pass and do some basic checks on the passport to validate it is real.

Lounge

When flying domestic business class I've always found I can use an airport lounge and the lounges are reasonable e.g. Sydney/Melbourne which was one of my more frequent domestic routes. My experience so far from the USA is that for domestic there are no business class lounges. If you have a sufficiently high frequent flier tier then you can use the lounge otherwise it is a $40-$50 charge. This just seems odd however from what I can tell is common practice in the USA. If the European or Asian airlines set up here and brought the level of service they provide back home to the USA I think the US airline industry would be in for a big surprise.

When flying International you can use the lounges. At Newark Liberty I've used both the Virgin lounge and the Continental Lounge.

The Virgin lounge is ok, not great, however it is positioned prior to the security check-in which is a real pain. This means you can't go straight from the lounge to the gate when the flight is boarding, instead you need to go through the security check, x-ray etc. I'm assuming that Virgin's lounge is located here due to space issues, however it is a detractor and doesn't help start a long haul flight in the right frame of mind.

If you compare this Virgin lounge to the one in Heathrow then there is no comparison. The Heathrow Virgin lounge gets a 9/10 score and is well worth going to.

Suggestion to improve experience: Move lounge to be after the security checks. Appreciate this may be difficult. Try to add some of the experience/ambiance from the Heathrow lounge.

Experience 5/10

The Continental lounge is after the security check-in however. It has a reasonable amount of seating so I've always been able to find a seat. There is a bar and if you want premium wines you need to pay. The wi-fi is free. There seems limited food and overall it is in the lower end of the primary business class lounges. By primary I mean one of the main lounges for a main airline rather than a small satellite lounge in a small airport. I would prefer the lounge more if they had more self-service food available.

On the plus side the cleaning staff were frequently walking around while I was in the airport and taking away the used plates, cups etc.

Suggestion to improve experience: More self-serve food available. Fresh sliced fruit (more than just apples), self serve fruit juice, beer etc

Experience 5/10

Summary

Compared to Dubai (UAE), Sydney (Australia), and the Virgin terminal in Heathrow the Newark Experience can best be rated as average (5/10). One big difference I notice between the staff in the USA and elsewhere is that the staff in Sydney, Dubai and other locations come across as more friendly and willing to help. An interesting observation perhaps...