jadenus

Hi all. I wanted to get people's opinions on the situation I'm going through with Continental at the moment. I hesitate to call it shenanigans because that word has a specific meaning here, but it is some sort of funny business. Anyway, here's the issue.

I purchased an award ticket for a coworker's son (he's 17). The outbound leg was uneventful. The return flight is where the issues came up. The leg was BTR-IAH on an ERJ. (Flight 2691 at 1:30 PM on 7/20). After everyone was boarded, the gate agent came aboard and asked for a volunteer for weight and balance issues. He offered a $250 travel certificate.

Because my friend's son's friend was on a later flight, he volunteered and was accepted. He deboarded the plane and had a seat at the gate. He called his mom who called me. I told her to tell him to make sure the agent gave him the voucher and that he or she could keep it because they were the ones being inconvenienced by it. She told him to talk to the GA.

The GA told him (the first time) that it would take a while to get it sorted out and to have a seat and he'd get it for him. 30 minutes later he asks again. Then the GA told him that he'd have to get someone else over to help him out with it. He's relaying this to his mom who's relaying it to me. I tell her something doesn't sound quite right and to tell him to keep on the agent for the voucher. The third time he asks, the GA tells him that because he wasn't able to be on the next flight out (2284 departing at 3:50), he wasn't entitled to anything.

At this point, it's 4:10 and I know he's getting the runaround. I call the elite desk and speak to an agent who pulls up the PNR and tells me that he hasn't even been rebooked. She rebooks him (2293 departing at 5:05, last flight of the day BTR-IAH). She can't do anything about the travel voucher on her end and the GA obviously isn't going to do anything for him.

At 8:30 that evening, I speak to the elite desk again. I explain the situation to the agent. He looks up the flight and says that the flight wasn't overbooked. I told him he was bumped for weight and balance, not for overbooking. The agent told me he filled out a form on the web and that I would receive some kind of contact within 24 hours.

On 7/25, I call into the elite desk because I haven't heard anything. The agent explained to me that I have to speak to customer care because it's past the date of travel. After quite a while on hold, I speak to an agent in customer care. I explain the situation to him, ensuring to tell him that the boy was bumped due to weight and balance. (Maybe off topic, but this guy is really thorough and empathetic.) He understands the situation and says he will have to do some research on the issue. He also says that the PNR notes that my friend's son was a no-show for his original flight. This is absolutely ridiculous and I explain that the passenger had a chaperone from LSU drop him off at the airport in plenty of time for the flight. He promises that either he or someone will call me back on Wednesday morning with a resolution -- they just need to talk to the GA in BTR to confirm.

Wednesday comes and goes with no contact. I get a letter in the mail today saying that the flight was not oversold and, as such, there was no reason for anyone to be bumped and no voucher is forthcoming. But, rest assured, this incident will be included in monthly status reports blah blah blah.

(Note: I have the names of the gate agent, elite desk agents, and customer care agents, as well as dates/times I spoke with them. I'm not disclosing them here for privacy issues.)

Here are my beefs with Continental at the moment.
1.) They promised a 17 year old kid a voucher, then (pardon my French) jerked him around, then doctored his PNR to say he was a no-show.

2.) I spoke with two Continental agents over the phone who promised return calls that were never delivered upon.

3.) I explained to several agents, multiple times, that he volunteered his seat for weight and balance, yet the correspondence I get back reflects an overbooking type bump.

This situation really reflects an endemic problem with Continental's support staff. They don't deliver on their promises and they don't pay attention to their customers.

My question is, where do I go from here? Give customer care another shot? PM UA Insider? DOT complaint? Small claims court?