I was booked on EWR-OSL on Fri night and due to horrible traffic conditions from Manhattan to EWR I arrived THREE MINUTES late for check-in and was not allowed to check in. The lady at the check-in counter called the gate and asked: "I can't check in anybody else on the flight now, right?" I couldn't believe it. I asked a couple of the "red jackets' to help as well, but their responses were pretty much "I'm busy now.", "I'm about to get off so I can't help you.", "That's not anything I can help you with."

I was made to come back at 8 AM the next day to go standby on the same flight, which was oversold. I was lucky since the number of VDBs allowed me the last seat on the plane (in a middle seat next to an overweight guy with a kid on his lap!!!). Obviously this kind of thing happens often with CO as the staff all seemed to think it was normal and fine for me not to get on the original flight since I was late to check-in and told me that it was pretty much my problem, not theirs. I tried calling their 800-number a few times as well, but didn't receive any more assistance there. This whole situation caused me to miss out on my 25th high school reunion which was the purpose of the whole trip. Although I realize that the CO staff don't really care about that, in a situation like this it would have been nice to hear "I'm sorry" in a tone that could lead me to believe they cared at least 10%. Needless to say, I'm forever done with CO. I have never been this poorly treated on any other airline by so many different employees in a row.

I also have to say that UA and AA beat CO hands down in all aspects of the actual flying experience as well (food, servie, seat comfort, IFE, etc.). Now I'm sitting at SK lounge in OSL waiting for my connection, but in the meantime enjoying being treated as if my business is appreciated. Just a note to all you CO flyers: You don't have to put up with it. There are better airlines out there! OK, I'm off my soap box for now. I just hope someone from CO reads this and does something to correct the way their staff handles customer concerns.