I had a big problem with changing my flight. I originally wanted to fly back to LAX from Australia but realized I needed to fly to NYC instead. I looked up a flight change on Continental's site about 23 hours after purchasing my flight. I was using public wifi so I decided it would be safer to call and purchase the change over the phone. Big big mistake. I immediately got through (!) but was connected to an Indian woman who sounded like she was very new to the job. After she spent 15 minutes looking it up in her computer, she told me the flight change would cost $600 even though I told her I wanted the one I was seeing on my screen for $150. I asked to speak to a manager but she refused and asked why I didn't believe her. I was getting nowhere so I hung up.

That night when I got home, I tried booking online but saw that there was a $150 change fee in addition to the other $150. I called up Continental and had to wait what they said would be 1 1/2 hours to call me back. It ended up being four hours and they called 10 minutes before midnight. The woman pressured me to buy a ticket for "only" $300 because she said she could waive the change fee. I had been sleeping and just told her I couldn't buy anything then.

I tried calling again the next day but had to wait a while (of course). Then the woman on the other end hung up on me because she said she was hearing a lot of static into her headset. That's understandable, but she didn't give me a number to call her with and forced me to wait again.

Silly me for trying to book over the phone, I guess. I really do feel stupid but shouldn't Continental have to deliver if they offer a phone number? Does anyone have any advice or should I just suck it up and pay what is now $350 to change? I've looked at Kayak and nearly everything cheaper is 12 hour+ nightmare flights or ones that don't work with my schedule.

You probably could have cancelled for free at 23 hours and then booked a new ticket. Now it's going to be ugly to get this resolved. If you are close enough to an airport you might have a better chance if you go to a ticketing office and see what they are willing to do if you tell them your story. Did you pruchase your ticket directly on continental.com?

Yes, I know! I didn't know about the 24 hour policy! I only found out that night after talking to the second woman around midnight but was too groggy to fully process it. Very very mad at myself. But you know the awful first woman I talked to could have told me this instead of quoting $600, ugh. Actually, the SECOND woman could have suggested this too. Because the fare for buying the flight to NYC instead of LAX was only $100 more than I originally paid on Kayak.

I could try that... It's about 1 1/2 hour subway ride to the closest airport... Yes, I got it on continental.com.

I feel bad for you, OP, but why would you book a ticket on a website without knowing or even trying to find out the rules of the ticket and the change fees? If you wanted to change so quickly, wouldn't "farelock" have been your best bet?

This is the entire issue with "kayakers". Not saying you are one, but you did mention it.

IME, if any part of the trip isn't on CO metal, FareLock is not offered.

It's been 26 hours since I called Continental yesterday and requested a call back. It's also been 6 hours since I called Continental today and requested a call back. I've also been on hold on my cell phone for an hour now.

So I made a twitter to see just how long it will take to get a hold of these people


https://twitter.com/#!/Waiting4CO