KeithD

I'll set the situation up as this. This is the second cancellation I've had on the same ticket I'm flying next week.

First problem was, they cancelled the flight I was on and wanted to put me on the first flight out of FLL that day. I would be leaving my house at 4am. For leisure travel this is a BIG problem. After over an hour on the phone with the Elite line, the morons finally moved me to another flight leaving approximately the same time as the original ticket going from FLL to IAH to CLE to BDL. I'm flying from 9:15a to 7:11p. I'm not so pissed about the routing as I can put a spin of getting some additional miles on it, but why did it take me over an hour of talking to reps and supervisors to acomplish this.

Go on E-service today to verify everything is ok. Get the dreaded "no segments" message, which means call CO so you can find how they are going to screw you over today. I call and find out now they have cancelled one of my return flights which left at 11am out of BDL and put me on a 6pm flight out of BDL instead of the 2:30pm flight (which was available last week when they were screwing me over before) because it was sold out. This is a HUGE problem now as I'm basically transporting everyone across the state of CT in the morning back to the airport. We all had flights leaving about the same time. I'd leave for the airport at 6am and get back to FLL at MIDNIGHT. So they check their computers and can put me on an earlier flight (9:40), but now I have to leave the hotel across CT even earlier.

I settle down again and politely ask if they could upgrade me to 1st on the CLE to FLL flight (done the same thing for me before). She told me that she couldn't do this anymore because of "planes crashing into the world trade center." I asked how this had an impact on CO policies and customer service, so she tells me the "story" about everything going on (DO I LIVE UNDER A ROCK?). And says how its driving the airlines out of business and how I should feel sorry for poor Continental. Also she said that they can't upgrade my lowly T fare ticket to First (even though there is a good chance of an EUA), because its too cheap of a ticket. When I questioned her on this the dance continued!

NOW I'M FURIOUS. You don't use the tragedy of terrorism as an excuse to provide poor customer service. In all my dealings with CO I've never encountered anyone as condescending as this. It almost sounded if she was reading from prompts on a screen. If this stuff is CO's company line to all of their customers then they have bigger problems then the downturn in airtravel because they will not have any other customers left to serve!

If you can't accomadate my request fine, but don't try and make me feel sorry for poor CO. I don't and I won't. I will accept it because I have to, not because I feel sorry for CO.

They agreed to give me a refund (if I wanted), and I found I can fly Delta for a about 10 less with more direct routings. I'm half tempted to call Delta do it for the principal of the matter. Do you guys think its worth it to try and call the 800 we-dont care-line, or should I just get a refund or sit tight?

BTW: None of the other people attending this wedding are having any other their Delta or NW flights cancelled or changed...Makes you wonder doesn't it...