Compliants to CO
 

What's the best way to complain to CO about experiences on flights? Not to go into details, but I recently returned from a trip to Singapore and flew CO with connection to *A partners booked via CO.com. The connection were surprisingly painful and should have never been offered as options. I would like compensation for my time and trouble. Any thoughts?

complaints about connections?!

Umm that is not really something that you'd get anything on, you BOOKED them. CO is new to *A and going through many terminal changes across the world to be easily connected, but you will NOT get compensation from CO for 'uneasy connections'

They are not UA and throw vouchers at every complaint.

The issue was the fact that the connection times were too short and that I was never given a boarding pass for my connecting flight.

800-WeCare2 or http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...r/default.aspx.

The CO booking engine sells connections based on minimum connection times and published schedules so it isn't like they choose the ones to screw customers. What were the airports and connection times?

International connections are often more difficult than domestic connections. And interline connections are often more difficult inline connections.

Your best bet in the future is to select "ALL" for number of flights to display, when you book at co.com. This will add more flights with longer connection times.

One problem with co.com is that when you try to select your flight times with valid maximum connection times - co.com will fare it as stop overs. ie For international flights a max. connection is 24 hours - but say you try to book via multiple connections to select what you want - co.com will fare as stopovers.

Select "ALL" to get the maximum number of options is the best option.

Yes.

No.

You wanting to blame CO for your own choices (and presumably, your lack of research beyond what was presented to you on co.com) is ludicrous and repugnant.

This complaint is fully :rolleyes:™ compliant.

Out of curiosity did you look at the airport website for the connection information. Whenever I am going through a new airport with a new airline I always try to make sure I know how to get from one place to the other especially as CO moves from Sky Team areas of the airports to *A areas of the terminal. Just a thought as you fly in the future.

Care to share details, like where was your connection, who were you connecting from/to, and how long was your connection?

Also, when changing carriers, even within the same alliance, it's not unusual to have to go to a transfer desk at your connection point to pick up an onward boarding pass.

Did the Singapore trip thru Tokyo to Singapore. CO to UA pre Star. There were issues there too but nothing I'd be blaming on anyone. The gates were pretty far apart. Coming back same way I had no boarding pass for my CO flight and had to go thru "security" without one for my CO flight. Luckily they didn't hold me up. Had to pick it up at the CO service desk. Anyone scheduling less than 1.5 hours (maybe more) between flights is gambling that there will be no confusion getting from one gate to the next, you won't be needing to take a shuttle, security won't be an issue, etc.

I think i know what he was talking about....
 

I though this thread would have been money, I am sorely disappointed.

... and the published minimum connect times (MCT) for each airport take all of that into account. For example, in this case, the OP did an "interline international-to-international" connection and the CO.com booking engine no doubt took whatever minimum connect time is published for that situation at the connecting airport into account. Well, actually there is doubt, since we don't know the particulars.

If I were the OP, then I'd find out what the MCT is for that particular situation at that airport, and verify that the ticketed itinerary meets it. If it doesn't, then there's a legitimate complaint to be made, as CO should not be selling illegal connections.

Another problem with the OP is that we were never told if the OP actually made the connection or missed the flight. I'm going to assume that he made the connection - if he missed the flight because of the problem, then I'm almost certain he would have mentioned that.

So, it being the case that he made the connection, the only two issues he mentions specifically are a) lack of connecting boarding pass, and b) connection times are too short. a) is not really a legitimate thing to complain about. *A is quite large, and it's too much to expect that connecting interline BP's can be issued in all situations. b) I've already addressed this above - "too short" is as well-defined number in each situation, so find out what it is and if your ticket met it. And, I might add, since you apparently made the connection, was it really "too short?"

And let's say that someone else looks up this info, because we all know that the OP is no fan of additional research. It's asking way too much to be responsible for your own itinerary, right? :rolleyes:

If the ticketed itinerary does not meet the MCT standards, that still does not mean that compensation is due for time and trouble. CO should get dinged for not following the rules, as should any airline. However, that's why the DOT complaint (that's how you spell that word correctly, by the way) process is available to travelers. Having to settle a complaint (there it is again) is much more of a headache and a more noticeable lesson for others to learn from in comparison to cutting this person a voucher, which is in reality doing nothing more than rewarding the OP's lack of interest in their own situation.