CO certainly could have, but chose not too, accommodate this customer. For example, they could have designated a liason at the Onepass service center for this customer to work with. Said CO agent could document the record (PNR) indicating that the pax was authorized a complimentary stand-by upgrade 2 hrs prior to departure at the ATO. This would have provided the pax with essentially the same possibility of benefit as the paper cert. Then the rep could figure out if the pax upgraded, and thus how many certs are left, by looking at the pax pnr to see if they flew in F. Another posibility is they could have looked at the Onepass account to see what class of svc the flights posted in. Onepass also could have sent out additional upgrade certs (e.g. goodwill upgrades) to give the pax a chance to upgrade in the near term. CO could have shipped these overnight to the pax. Once my pack got delayed, and they sent me some extra goodwill upgrades to use before my package arrived. Also my priority Gold pack for US was going to arrive late, so the agent agreed to document my record for the upgrades, with the method I noted above, and then told me to send in my certs once they arrived at my home.

CO clearly had an opportunity to provide this pax with customer service, and its staff and management has expressly chosen to fail to provide a service level that would have made the passenger whole. I would recommend that the pax send one more letter, to CO customer care or their CEO/COO, detailing the incident, and detailing the business CO lost as a result of its abidsmal customer service. If you spend a lot of money in a year on air fare, I would also mention this. E.g. "As a result of your not addressing my customer service concern, you (Continental) lost out on about $18,719.71 of revenue in 2001." If you really want to get creative, then CC your letter to CO's board of directors, stockholders, etc. You can also contact the Department Of Transportation, and CC your elected officials who continue to investigate passenger bill of rights. Somehow I think these letters will get a bit more attention than your previous emails and calls with unhelpful agents, who through management, have probably not been either directed or empowered to solve customer problems beyond the most basic and routine things (like changing an address of record), etc. I've also had other issues with the service center myself.

When NJ David posts his web site, you might also post your story on that forum, if there is a facility to discuss individual situations.

If you do nothing, you are sending Continental Airlines, Inc. (and the industry) a very loud clear and unambiguous message that it is ok to provide substandard customer service. By doing nothing you tell the industry you will tollerate this situation, and you possibly infer that you would even tollerate poorer service.