This morning I brought my sister-in-law to MSY to fly back home to TGU. We bought her a ticket as a gift and used my miles to pay for it. Because I used my miles to purchase her ticket, my status as a Presidential Platinum is inferred upon her. The line at Check In was huge and I was glad we could just jump into the Elite line. When it was our turn we walked up to the counter and I handed my sister-in-law's passport to the agent. After entering her name into the system, the agent said "I need the elite card". I handed her my Pres Platinum card and she looked at it and said "what is this"? She told me just because I am an elite that doesn't help anyone else. I explained to her that when I buy a ticket with my miles it gives my status to the ticket holder. In fact, my sister-in-law still had the priority tags from her trip her. The agent actually started yelling at me for explaining the rules to her. I then told her that it was a mute point since the ticket was an international first class. She then walked away and told me she didn't have time for this. At the same time, another agent actually stood on top of the counter and made an announcement to the crowd that if they didn't like the service they were getting they should call Continental to complain so that they could get some more help. I was told to go to the end of the line. Although I am an elite and bought a first class reward ticket, I had to go to the back of a long line. I'm tired of these kinds of things. I'm not looking for anything special and I certainly don't expect CO employees to kiss my butt, but a little customer service would be nice. I walked away from there thinking that was the worst experience I've ever had from any type of organization. Am I wrong on any of this? As I was driving from the airport, I started thinking about it and I got really mad so I called the Pres Plat Elite line and asked them if I could make a complaint. Hopefully Continental doesn't repeat these mistakes.

In fact, you are completely wrong with this. The status really only belongs to the member who earned the status.

It's a bug that CO prints EliteAccess on the other pax's BP since you used your miles.

That said, I always find it amusing how CO staff tend to default to the COmputer when it's not in the customer's interest. But the minute the COmputer does something in the customer's favor, all of a sudden CO agents are empowered to vigilantly defend the intent of the program, override the COmputer, and ask for backup documentation.

Buried in OP's story is the fact that the sister in law was apparently flying First/International Business -- which should get them EliteAccess regardless of status, no?

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...s/default.aspx

Yes she should have. This is bad customer service.

Definitely complain. The person was rude and the ticket granted priority access. They failed to give you what was promised. Simple as that. She should be canned.

The real question is -- why would the agent ask for the elite card?

I've been a CO elite for over a decade and have never been asked for my card...even when exercising privs on *A carriers and Skyteam carriers...and before that.. America West, Northwest, Virgin, etc, all over the world. If "the computer" prints elite on the BP, it's as good as gold.

there's GOT to be something missing in this story someplace... Business First and domestic first itinerary itself grants elite access (aren't even the check-in lines signed as "First/BusinessFirst and Elite Access"?), and if they were working the checkin at the counter they would have known it was BF...as part of the checkin...

maybe it was a ticket starting on a non CO/UA airline? Does MSY have CO staff or is it outsourced and maybe those people aren't clear? Imagine not too many people fly CO from New Orleans to Honduras

Oh I missed that. In that case, the agent was way out of line.

Not sure why the Elite card would be necessary on top of the ticket.

Nothing else to the story. That is it. I think that because they were busy they were overwhelmed The fact that a ticket agent climbed on top of the counter and announced to the crowd that they should call CO to complain. In what business is that appropriate anywhere in the world? I am about as non-confrontational as you can be. In fact, I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to customer service because I know how hard it can be to deal with people all day and there is often issues going on that we as consumers don't see. However, this crossed the line.

http://www.kpho.com/news/27177754/detail.html

Definitely notify "We Care" as that should not be the norm. In many years of flying into and out of MSY, I've found the staff there to represent a perfect bimodal distribution on the scales of competence and courtesy. It's surely one of CO's largest outstations and given the lumpiness of leisure and convention traffic, the agents should be used to large passenger volumes. I'd also bet there's a fair amount of MSY-Latin America traffic so agents should also be accustomed to it; pre-storm, MSY had two or three daily nonstops on Taca and its predecessors.

I'd be very surprised if the agents there are outsourced.

A few weeks ago I had to gate check my carry-on (I was in row 7 on a 757 so there was no seat to put it under, and the bins were full when I boarded). They ended up losing my luggage for 72 hours... I was without medication, contact lenses and clothes in a third world country and I could barely get an apology from Continental let alone any compensation.

I'm sorry, I just don't buy it. It just doesn't make sense why they would even assume there's an elite card on a BF ticket, seeing that the px wasn't elite. The standing on the desk is a little over the top.

Ugh, this one's even worse. There a FREAKING ROOM FOR STRANDED MINORS?
Please tell me this isn't real. What 15 year old doesn't call or text her dad/mom or bff when she "doesn't know who to ask where to go?"

Why would you check your medication?! That's insane. No one suggest you do that.