Ran the Boston Marathon 4/18. Was to fly to Lima via EWR that night. CO 31 developed hydraulic problems and we returned to BOS. BOS agents did fine job of securing alternate aircraft and sent us on our was with the assurance all would make connections in Newark with the exeption of one passenger connecting to an Air France flight.

We arrived at our Newark gate shortly before 10 pm. My connecting 10pm flight to Lima, Peru (CO 1952) was 3 gates away and I could see it as I got off my plane and the jetway still against the plane as I got off.

It took me 2 minutes to run to the gate. I arrived at 10:02pm. One of the gate agents came out of the door from the jetway having just moved it. The scheduled departure was 10pm. There were four gate agents there. One obviously wanted to try to get me on but, without consulting anyone else, another said "Too late, go to the Service Center" and he started walking towards the front of the terminal. Obviously he was done with his shift and he wanted to go home. No apology, no consultation with the pilots or the ground crew. The plane had not pushed back.

I asked the remaining gate agents if they had been notified that we were going to be a few minutes late. They said yes. Again, no apology.

I find it unbelievable that Continental chose to strand 3 passengers, Including one BusinessFirst (me) passenger that were two minutes late because of a Continental mechanical problem on a connecting flight. I missed an extremely important meeting in Lima the next day because of Continental's decision. I know for a fact that the gate agents have flexibility in this regard. We had unfortunate timing to run into someone who couldn't be bothered because he wanted to go home. CO has only one flight a day to Lima from Newark so I had no other options but get screwed.

As long as I'm at it, the ten dollar meal voucher I was give doesn't buy a cheeseburger and a coke at the EWR Howard Johnson unless I stiff the waiter out of his tip. Again, I had no options becuase the eateries at the airport were closed at that time of night. How about making it $15? Or it Continental's intent to make the whole experience miserable?