Why I finally left Continental
 

Hello FTers,

Let me be clear up front. I don't expect anything to be gained from this issue personally at this point. In fact, I am not sure why, but after several months of not thinking about it, this has started to play in mind again. That's the only reason I am bringing it up.

I didn't pursue it after the entire exchange, but have tried my best to avoid giving any of my family's money to CO and gone from GE to accumulating exactly 0 OP miles (flown CO just once). All my travels have been on DL/NW and a couple on others.

The issue relates to the GA attitude and luggage handling for my wife's journey from SAT-HYD on an award ticket and a complete lack of any positive response or understanding of the issues from the customer service (which by the way had occurred on several occasions in the past)

The issue is explained in the first I email that I sent to the CO customer care manager, which is reproduced below. I have cut out some minor things for brevity's sake.

Below that I mention the outcome in the form of a gist of CO responses.

Email to WE CARE

Message: Dear Customer Care Manager at Continental,

Re: Appalling behavior by gate agents, Discrimination issues, Baggage delay

I am a OnePass Gold Elite Member and recently bought a reward ticket for my wife to travel to HYD, so she could take care of her Dad who is in the hospital. He had just undergone open heart surgery.

I have to report a gate agent and a supervisor at the San Antonio airport who caused a lot of frustration and hardship for my wife. AND I don't say it lightly – the gate agent engaged in discrimination against my wife. We have traveled a lot and have never experienced this. It was atrocious treatment of a passenger.

I don’t know the name of the gate agent. But I believe the first name of the supervisor was ***. Her last name may have been *** (or something similar).

Description of the problems:

At SAT, when my wife, who had Gold Elite Access stamped across her boarding passes, went to the board her flight, she had to face a number of serious issues starting from being disallowed a single small carry-on for an international flight.

1. Gate agent clearly engaging in act of discrimination - My wife, who is of Indian origin, was at the front of the line at the gate counter to talk about alternative arrangements. As it was her turn to the counter, the agent there asked the Caucasian man BEHIND her – “Who is up next?”! The man said that my wife was in the front, and he himself was in no hurry. Even after hearing that confirmation, the GA asked that man, who was in no hurry, to come up in front of my wife, who was in a hurry, and dealt with his domestic travel issue before my wife's international!!
   
   
2. No consideration of international travel and display of hostility - My wife was disallowed a carry-on. Reason given by the agent – flight was full and overhead bins were full. This in spite of being a single very small carry-on, smaller than those sizing bins provided near the check in counter, and very light. She didn't even carry an additional laptop bag.
   
   My wife told the agent that she would be traveling for over 24 hours with 3 connections going to the other side of the word, and would need access to medicines, tooth brush, sweater, reading material, phone charger etc. on the way there. She was rudely told she won't be allowed to and ordered to check in the carry-on. The agent was almost hostile.
   
   The supervisor didn’t plan the boarding very well and allowed multiple carry-ons for others. She didn’t ask the flight attendants to request other passengers to take out their coats from overhead bins, which I’ve seen done dozens of times. When my wife said she could request a passenger herself, they snatched the bag from her.
   
   My wife was able to take some items out of the carryon – and stuff in a now overfull small bag. She forgot her medicines and her phone. She had to undergo undue hardship on the way to HYD. Considering the reason she was traveling in the first place, it is not hard to imagine how this sort of treatment would feel.
   
   
3. To top it all off – that very bag, which she needed to carry with her during her journey and was forced to check in - didn’t arrive in Hyderabad in time. She received it almost FOUR DAYS LATE. She was without access to her phone charger and medicines.
   
   
4. No apology of any kind from the agent, the supervisor or the baggage handlers. No compensation of any sort.

Important points and what should have been done:

1. There should be no place for discrimination based on race and ethnicity. You cannot bypass person “A” at the front of the line, ask the second person in line, person “B”, about who is up next. And in spite of hearing “B” say that “A” is in up next; still ask “B” who is in no hurry to come to the front.
2. The agent needs to be considerate of international travelers, long itineraries, and multiple connections.
3. If she already knew that the flight is full, she shouldn't have allowed people with large, multiple carry-ons to begin with.
4. The agent should have requested the Flight Attendants to ask people to stow small bags under the seat and remove coats from overhead bins. I've seen that done dozens of times. My wife offered to ask a passenger herself and her bag was snatched from her.
5. Failing all that, the agent should have tagged the bag so that my wife could retrieve it plane-side in Houston.
6. There were no apologies by anyone.

I realize that there are bad apples. I have to say that the person who booked the ticket on the phone was pleasant and helpful. The flight attendants were courteous and sympathetic.

Continental should treat its customers better, especially the frequent flyers. Having people like this agent on staff will just drive me, my family, my friends and away from Continental.


Gist of CO's responses after several further email exchanges

• CO basically denied anything other than out of ordinary had happened
• Denied GA was at fault
• Denied that they had any responsibility in the bag being delayed (the very carry on that they took off and forcibly checked in)
• Kept repeating the same thing which is extremely frustrating, without any understanding of the baggage issue (even offering to locate the bag which was received 10 days earlier)
• Denied any compensation of any kind for either baggage delay, hardship caused or anything else
• Used incorrect names in emails

Sorry your wife had this experience.

But I suspect there's a lot more to this story. Is this the same trip?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...rd-ticket.html

Mary2e, Thanks...there's certainly more...and some others on her flight saw it as well.

Yes, thats the same trip. I changed the return from CO flights to EK.

-YLD

Hmmmm....
 

I'm not sure you'll ever run into an airline that is perfect 100%, but good luck.

I really have a hard time believing a CO frontline agent would show the type of discrimination she's described.

From your description, it looks like she was very late in boarding (in spite of the Elite Access privilege of boarding early when there's plenty of stowage space). Boarding early (or even in the middle of the process) would have avoided all this - big benefit of having "Gold Elite Access stamped across her boarding passes"

I also think there's more (or less) to the story here. Frustration sometimes leads to exaggeration.

What's the whole story?
 

I also find it hard to believe that the CO agent discriminated against the OP's wife just because she is from India.
Maybe she had previously created an issue with gate personnel concerning "alternate arrangements"? The OP has admitted that he has had previous issues with Customer Service in the past, so perhaps there exists a serious communication problem.
Again it doesn't make sense that the GA would pick on the OP's wife because of her nationality, if the OP's story is true.

Speaking as a garden-variety middle-age white boy, I think that those of us who rarely (if ever) experience discrimination (except by 25-year-old women) need to be a tad more circumspect before we summarily dismiss claims such as this.

Just sayin'...

I also think there's more (or less) to the story here. Frustration sometimes leads to exaggeration

Have to agree.;)

I can't think of any good reason anyone at any job would be allowed by anyone they work with or even the next person in line to just skip a person. There has to be another reason.

"Who's next?" Why didn't the wife respond? Why didn't thr wife step forward? why didn't the wife say "Sorry, i'm next in line.." We hear about that whole exchange between the next person in line and the agent.. so how the heck did the wife get bypassed?

The reality of that situation seems to be that the wife, for whatever reason, was not stepping forward nor identifying herself. Was she on the phone? Did she not speak the language? Was she simply not paying attention?

Then the bag issue.. she didn't have a laptop.. but she had 2 bags.. somehow. 1 laptop 1 personal item, no? Not two bags.. maybe i'm confused. Women are allowed to have a carryon and a purse.. it's really not CO's fault if she doesn't have a big enough purse, and how did they snatch it from her and yet she was able to get items out of it but forget certain things?

It all sounds very contrived and full of holes.

First there is just a single small carry-on. Then ...

"take some items out of the carryon – and stuff in a now overfull small bag"

So there was a single small carry-on and another single small bag which was being carried on the plane. That makes two carry-on's not a single carry-on.

One goes under the seat in front of you, the other one in the overhead bins unless they are full in which case it gets checked. That's the downside to being last on the plane, even if it isn't your fault, space is first come, first served. The other downside is that they want to get the plane closed and off the ground, that means getting you in your seat as opposed to wandering around the plane asking people if they can move their belongings to make room for yours.

Part of traveling is planning ahead. Items such as medicines go in your small personal items bag. That includes your cell phone, charger, passport, valuables, etc. Your second bag, which is always at risk of being gate checked, should contain items that you won't need on the flight.

"the agent there asked the Caucasian man BEHIND her"
How does an agent ask "who is next" to a particular person who is behind another person"? Why even ask the question if the intent was to serve the 2nd person in line? Maybe this is another case of a single bag really being two bags.

I think what was meant was - she had one small carry-on, but since they didn't allow it, she took out a small bag from the carry-on (probably a toiletry bag or so)

As for the discrimination, it's really hard to tell if it was actual racism/discrimination without knowing all the facts. I wouldn't totally discredit the fact that it could be discrimination as I've definitely seen rudeness/impatience towards minorities due to communication issues (not being able to speak English well or having a strong accent that is hard to understand)

the truth to tell ...
 

I can certainly believe the situation described by the original poster.

I also find it perfectly believable that airline employees do indeed misbehave on the job, especially when they are so lightly supervised and even more lightly reprimanded.

Go into any pizzeria, butcher shop, restaurant, or similar and notice that three men customers are standing on line. In walks a great set of C cups, and all the employees run over to ask "May I help you, Miss?"

Believe me, it happens.

so shouldn't your issue be with EK?

Exactly.

I was not there so I can't say she was discriminated against, but if she was made to feel that way, it is hurtful just the same.

I love how people just "cannot believe" that someone would ever be discriminated against. If you think discrimination is dead after the election of Obama, you are delusional. I hear off color comments/jokes all the time, everywhere. And that type of behavior eventually leads to someone not treating a person the way they should, wether they meant to do it or not.

What is the motivation for the OP to start this long and surely aggravating back and forth with We Care? Do people really think he would go through that kind of trouble so he could get some miles or some drink coupons?? I mean come on...

When stuff like this happens, costumers need to complain, yell, and scream. Weather there was an actual act of discrimination becomes irrelevant if there is a perception. The airline business HAS to deal with customers of many different backgrounds, therefore it has a responsibility to train its employees to be patient and understanding of people that are black, white, brown, purple, american, indian, old, whatever.

I can see why CO would not admit fault on a situation like this, since that could invite some litigious person to take advantage of the situation, but if the OP is reasonable, I am sure he would have been satisfied with some kind of apology, or some kind of assurance that they are committed to train employees to tread customers with respect, on top of some kind of peace offering. But if the OP is correct and they admit 0 fault, and offer nothing (apology, or whatever else), he has every right to be upset.

This boils down to three issues...

1. Lost baggage. CO does not fly to HYD so presumably it got transferred to another carrier within India. If CO checked its records and saw that the handoff was made properly then there is indeed nothing they can do. It does sound like they made some efforts to help you locate it. Verdict: No compensation due unless CO got it to India late.

2. Forced to check a carryon. Was the first flight SAT-IAH and on a RJ perchance? They are sometimes pickier about hand luggage on those planes, for a reason. In any case, we'd have to know exactly how many bags she was carrying and how big they were. I have never seen them force a passenger to give up all carry-ons, which you seem imply took place here. Verdict: Dismissed for lack of evidence.

3. Perceived discrimination. This is a very tough one to judge. I assume you weren't there and are relying on your wife's description of events. It sounds like the agent was snotty at best and your wife certainly was made to feel uncomfortable. I do have to ask: How well does she speak English? Could there have been misunderstandings on both sides? It doesn't excuse whatever boorish behavior the GA may have exhibited but it may help explain things. Discrimination is very difficult to prove in court even with witnesses. CO would have no basis to admit the agent discriminated, and wouldn't be foolish enough to do so in writing anyway. Verdict: Dismissed. No relevant statute.

Sorry to say I don't think CO owes you anything. But it wouldn't have hurt them to throw a few miles your way as a goodwill gesture.

I do have to say that if I was the white guy standing behind her, saw her being mistreated and got called up instead, I would have insisted the GA take care of her first. Shame on him. There are plenty of obnoxious louts traveling who I enjoy seeing being taken down a peg by a GA or FA but I will not tolerate seeing an well mannered but obviously inexperienced traveler being pushed around by an airline employee.

Finally, if you think by moving to NW/DL you have left frustrating and circular email exchanges behind, you can think again.

That's not even the case. The airline operating your final segment has full responsibility for your bag, including any compensation due and getting it delivered to you. Odd system but I've had it confirmed many times over the years.