I have a few unrelated thoughts:
- A little confused by the last sentence in this story -- did this happen 4 months ago when you were traveling with a friend who is a PPlat, or did something else happen to him back then and you're just recounting it as an example of a time CO's customer service was unresponsive?
(My understanding is that if a Global Services passenger misconnects, UA guarantees them a seat on the next available flight, even if they have to force the flight oversold and VDB someone. If the PPlat passenger were traveling in this case, it's interesting to me that CO did not offer this amenity to someone at the GS-equivalent tier.)
- Regardless, that must have been the worst feeling in the world, being stuck in a long customs line and watching the clock tick by as it gradually became clear that you were going to misconnect.
I think you'll find that CO sells travel insurance, but if you didn't buy it, all their contract of carriage says that if you misconnect, you'll get a confirmed seat on the next available CO flight or at the very most a refund. Not much else they can do for you if long queues and bad luck (and, yes, poor capacity planning) conspire to keep you off a flight and there's no more room that night.
- Was flying to CRP really cheaper than a last-minute, one-way car rental?