The mention of possible racial discrimination elevates this from simple complaint about service to a possible legal matter. In many companies, a customer service employee would not be allowed to respond to such complaints but would be required to refer them to the legal office. This may explain CO Customer Care's non-response.

I have been accused of racial discrimination by a customer. I was accused of this because I had to gate check his bag because the overheads were full. He did not like the fact that his co-worker (a white man) was allowed to take his bag on but he (a non white man) wasn't. The co-worker was seated in the back of the plane and boarded first. The accusing customer was seated in the bulk head and did not want to take his bag to the back of the plane for stowage and therefore I had to gate check his bag.

WECARE2 sent me a letter requiring me to answer within 10 days. They do take this issue very seriously.

With regards to delayed bags: The airline that takes you to your final destination is the one that is responsible for the delay and/or any compensation with regards to the bag being lost/damaged/delayed.

Some of you have raised excellent points. I will address all the comments:

I readily admit that had she boarded early, there probably would have been no issue. But that's not the point here.

The past issues have nothing to do with this. There were only a couple of them and none of them were serious (MX delay etc). There is no way anyone outside CS would know about them or link them to this.

She and I have traveled a lot...I have been a CO Elite for several years. And I don't recall facing discrimination any time in the past, certainly anything to remember or think about. Until you face it (as in this instance...and it did happen), you don't know it.

Exactly, and that's why this is discrimination.

Because inspite of that exchange, the GA called the other guy forward.

She was not on the phone and she did come forward and say that she was next up, however was not allowed to talk. And she speaks fluent English... has all her life.

I guess I wasn't clear in the original post. She had just one carry on. Inside it was a small grocery store type bag, that she had to take out and stuff with whatever she could find.

Sorry if it sounds contrived to you, but you weren't there. I don't have a habit of making this up. I have nothing to gain here.

Please see the explanation above. The small polythene bag was in the carry-on.

Exactly my point. That's discrimination.

Thanks. Until this point I had never accused any one of such a thing. The last C-cup point is something probably more common and maybe a less serious form.

This happened on the outbound. EK was the return flight.

Thanks. You understand my point exactly. It did happen and I wanted to bring it to the attention of the company. Just an apology would have been enough.

The other thing I had hoped for (perhaps I am a little naive) that CO would do what other airlines do. Return the gate checked bags at the arrival gate rather than checking them all the way to the destination. There is no reason to withhold the bag for a 24 hour long journey just because of a full overhead on the first short leg. (1 hour from SAT-IAH)

The bag was delayed by 4 days, not lost. Her last leg was AMS-HYD on KLM. The layover at KLM was 4 hours. Her two original checked in bags made it without any problems. It was this carry-on that was forced to check in that didn't make it in time.

I have clarified in the replies above. She had just one.

Certainly, the discrimination may have been perceived. But I guess you have to face it to know whether it is or not. We all have faced snotty agents etc. but never felt discriminated until this time. (She speaks excellent English) Either way, the way the GA dealt with it was completely wrong and inexcusable.
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I do feel that CO did owe at least an apology.

Actually, he did say that my wife was next in line and he was in no hurry, bu the GA still asked him to come forward.

Actually, not sure about DL, but my experience has been much better with NW. MX problem causing delays = voucher without any issues. Whereas no dice on CO.

Perhaps....but it was a CO ticket and I thought I would pursue it with them since they had caused the problem by checking it in.

They did respond, but without understanding the issue (offering to locate the bag for instance), stock answers and repetition.

But I believe what you are saying is right. If I hadn't mentioned the word "discrimination", they probably would have admitted to making a mistake with the bag, offered an apology and some compensation.

But since I did, they became defensive and admitted no guilt whatsoever in fear of legal action.

Sorry to hear that. I am sure a lot of the discrimination accusations are not really fair and probably just seeking undue meanings or opportunities, but there certainly can be bad apples in the basket.

Whenever you deal with discrimination of any sort, whether real or perceived, there is only one POV that exists, yours. And there is only one thing that matters, your perception, whether that perception is or is not grounded in fact or reality.

A person being skipped over in line, having their only carry-on force checked in reality may or may not be based on a person acting in a discriminating way, but obviously the flier felt it was. So we shouldn't argue about whether it is or isn't, which at this time is irrelevant. What you should be asking yourself is how you want to approach the matter because you feel there is a valid complaint. And you did, you had an exchange with CO about the issue.

So the reason for posting here is 1) to vent?, 2) raise awareness on what you believe to be an issue?, 3) seek advice on how to follow-up on your complaint? and probably any number of other reasons.

I appreciate you sharing your story...there is nothing we at FT can do for you (unless of course we are CoInsider, which I am not).

The problem is that non-response is the typical response by CO "Customer Care"

Discrimination!
 

I bet that's what it was... they gate checked it, and she didn't realize it. Walked off the plane without it...

Read poster's reply in post #19:
Also, given the OP's description of how his wife mentioned medicines/charger/etc that were needed for the connecting flight, I find it hard to believe that the gate agent listened to all this and didn't mention that the bag should be retrieved on the IAH jetway and that she did not have to worry about being without medicines on the long journey.

Finally, the OP mentioned that "the flight was full and the overhead bins were full". This does not sound like ANY RJ flight that I've ever been on.

I am frankly amazed at how defensive people can get toward our fellow passengers! CO either has a fantastic following here drinking some powerful Kool-Aid or it's the "white wall of silence". :)

But in reference to discrimination, I'd vote for sex bias being to top reason if there was discrimination. It's well known that well-dressed men are more likely to get preferential treatment on all airlines (not by everyone, just on a probabilistic basis). Another possibility is that the agent simply made a stupid mistake and actually thought the guy was ahead of your wife and wanted to demonstrate his or her power over the situation. But even in that case, it's about sensitivity - if you're going to exert power over someone in a situation where race is involved, you're going to get your company or municipality involved in charges of discrimination and that's generally a bad thing. I think we can all recall an incident earlier in the year that fits that category...

Anyway, my exhortation to the OP is not let your feet do your talking. I have not found CO to be systematically discriminatory and although I don't know their training program, I have observed that their staff is indiscriminately either friendly or surly. :)

Why I left Continental
 

I can fly CO and pay about $70 to $100 more on the routes I fly versus AA;
I can fly CO and pay more on RJs versus flying AA in MD80s;
I can fly CO and pay for the standby option, or I can fly AA and get free standby and keep my F upgrade;
I can fly CO and get 4 SUW on 120 segments or I can fly AA and get 8 SWU on AA for 100 segments;
I can fly 90 segments on CO and make top tier on CO and compete for upgrages with UA GS, UA 1K, UA PremierExecs, and CO PLATS or I can fly 100 segments on AA and compete for upgrades with other AA EXPs for upgrades;
I can fly US and use their reduced mile redemption rates on *A flights including CO and I can use their mileage buy up options and get another discounted Biz ticket on *A flight.

YesLetsDiscuss... Grow Up, Get Over It and Move On. I'm sorry it happened to you, I can't imagine a big company like CO would intentially discriminate against you-- so don't dwell on it. Life Happens, X...hit Happens, Life Goes On.

Why dismiss such claims of discrimination so quickly? Over the last 12 years of flying CO I've personally watched CO gate agents discriminate against flyers twice, and a check-in agent discriminate against a pax once. Now before some smart ... asks me "Why fly CO?" well, they have never done it to me (though that is a weak reason), with a few stand-out exceptions there service for me has been great, and while stateside for me and where I need to go they have the most non-stops (and I'll normally pay a premium for a non-stop as my time is valuable).

Anyway, Why would it be so hard to believe that happened? I can believe it happened, especially in SAT where I witnessed one act of blatent racism by GA back in 2004-And I know it was racism because I heard the GA's discussion with a likeminded GA after the flight boarded.

Ciao,
FH

No comment on the discrimination issues, but is it possible that a gate agent might gate-check a carry-on due to a full SAT-IAH flight, so the carry-on is available to be picked up at the gate in IAH, but a passenger might reasonably interpret “we'll check your bag” as checking it through (interline to HYD in this case)?

Then there might be a forlorn bag sitting at a gate in IAH until someone figures out where it belongs, which could explain the four-day delay for that bag.

Why I am going to leave CO in 2010...
 

+1 here.
I am leaving because I am sick and tired of receiving uncaring and sub-par service on BF flights on CO to Asia ( where I travel to the most ) :
It's not a single or random acts of negligence, but rude behaviors of their senior FAs : hate to bore you folks with my unhappy anecdotes but really need to point out some outlandish behaviors of theirs.
-- I was awake and watching the IFE when the asian female FA was doing the hot towel service. She walked right by me without giving me the hot oshibori. When she walked past me to do the pick up, I asked nicely for mine. Instead of saying : " Oops, sorry, I'll be right back " , she spent so much negative energy to tell me : " you would have to wait till I finish the pick up service".
-- I was in the bulkhead row of BF on the 772. The female FA almost stepped on my feet serving my travel companion sitting in the A window seat. All during the meal services, I had to point my toes inward, towards themselves, else, she would step with on my feet. And to make it worst, that was her last flight after 25 yrs of service. Sad, sad flight to end a career.
-- Flight was late leaving NRT because of weather. When we boarded the plane, you should have seen the harrassed looks on most of the FAs. And then a senior female FA walked down the aisle from the galley to offer chocolate to her son and a teenager. And then a 10 mins argument between the Japanese GAs and that FA, about what flight her son and the kid were listed on...and it was the non rev adult ( the son ) who was arguing so loud that almost all the heads turned to see what was happening. And on that same flight, over the other aisle, I heard a male FA asking some pax in the row in front about newspapers, and then he repeated the same question louder and louder, to the point almost yelling at the pax : turned out to be that was an elderly Japanese lady. And since the flight was leaving so late, I asked for the Executive meal option, and they totally forgot it.
--Don't you folks notice how ungraciously they set your table as CO requires them to do ? they flop the table cloth on, put the salt/pepper shakers, the bread plate and water glass as if you are transparent and they don't even see you ?
-- YES, I've had decent service in BF flights. But nothing outstanding that leave me grateful for their service or consider them to be above and beyond what were required of them.
I have worked for a major airline for 10 years, and I was lucky enough to quit the industry and punch my own time card.
I live by the credo of respecting others while they provide service to you, and ASK for service.
And as most of you folks here have to agree : the domestic, less senior FAs give better service than those jaded senior FAs flying internationally.
For those of you who want to tell me to go fly some other airlines : well, YES I will. I have qualified as 1K on UA already. I will walk with my feet over to UA, AA and CX. And I will fly CO as little as I could.
Just my 2 cents. And believe me, I have flown enough F and C, to know the difference between good and bad, bad and unacceptable.
Xmas Gringe. :p