FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Why I am leaving Continental and switching to America for the rest of the year!
Old Jun 25, 2006 | 11:30 pm
  #140  
ContinentalFan
FlyerTalk Evangelist
50 Countries Visited
5M
100 Nights
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Los Angeles, California
Programs: United LT-GS, AA LT-Plat, Hyatt LT-Globalist, Hilton LT-Diamond, Marriott LT-Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 15,628
Originally Posted by TWA Fan 1
Dear ContinentalFan,

I closely read your story/rant. Very thorough, and again, I thought a very fair and balanced assessment of your problems. This wasn't one of those stories in the category of "I once had a terrible experience with a f/a and so I'm never flying that airline again."

I thought about how much you have put into your relationship with CO and how much less you are getting out of it than you did just a year ago. As you know, that is also my issue with CO, although I must say I am frankly a little humbled, and don't feel that my stories come anywhere close to the depth of issues that you have with CO, mainly because I rarely ever went out of my way to buy anything but the cheapest ticket (I did buy tickets that were more expensive on CO than on competitors, but I only bought H when that was the least expensive option on CO).

I think your story is a parable of the current state of OnePass. The bottom line is that, at least right now, OnePass is obviously not important to CO. They want to make money selling seats, not by fostering loyalty.

So that's their strategy.

The sad thing is they have lost a hugely valuable customer such as yourself willing to buy Y tickets for $3,500 when it is possible (at times) to buy Z for as little as $1700 r.t.

One thing that does trouble me a little bit is your choice of AA. If you've ranked UA as a D- I'm afraid you may find AA a quite a bit below your standards.

Now, as I've written before, I haven't flown AA in quite some time (this predates AA's acquisition of TWA and has nothing to do with that). But all of the grievances that you have against CO are precisely in the mould of how AA conducts its business.

I know that the old days of AA's swagger and infinite arrogance are gone. But reports from my friends (longtime AA ff's) are that customer service there has fallen to an absolute low. And anyone who flew AA in the old days (I flew over 800,000 miles on AA) knows that AA's idea of customer service is to accuse you of obnoxious behavior and then charge you a fee for it, or simply to call the cops.

I hope that this has changed there; again I'm curious to hear your reactions to flying on AA. If you like it, I will start flying them again.

Bon voyage!

Continental and I are fused at the soul, so I can't think of anything the carrier could do to make me walk away. (Note to Continental, I am not issuing a challenge here). Right now, companies have to focus on the bottom line. “Open Skies” is coming. If US carriers aren't in good fiscal shape, they're going to be run over by the competition. Four or five more good quarters should help them out.

I don't expect AA to be perfect, but I have heard that things are better. My experience with UA is based on two round trips in the last twelve months, so it may not be typical. Other people gush about UA almost up to the level that I talk about CO.

I hate standing in lines, so I spent some time this morning trying to figure out how I could get from LAX to EWR and earn the requisite 10k qualification points for AA. I couldn't find a route map on AA's site, but I did discover that MIA is some kind of a hub. So, next week, I am probably going to take a FC class flight: LAX/MIA/EWR then EWR/MIA/LAX. I know it's circuitous, but I earn 10,314 of their EQ points and I am instantly Platinum: not bad! Then I don't have to line up again for AA.

I will certainly let people know how things go on AA. You just have 200k miles to get to earn an elite-for-life ranking!
ContinentalFan is online now