Motnot, point well taken. I agree that i got rough. I just got more frustrated that rather than learn how to improve his situation from others who apparently have more experience, the posts were just complaining with no real purpose. When you "pee on someones porch" of course they will take offense. I also became frustrated as each time I proved that he could have fixed his situation he never backed up or apologized. Like the complaint about lack of sleep then a complaint about a long layover. Solution, arrange the night before, a later flight and sleep late. Get up use meal voucher for breakfast and take hotel shuttle to airport. Thus more sleep and shorter lay over. However, that said, I guess although some would rather complain than learn I shouldn't have dropped to that level. Therefore I'll be donating my $1 tommorow.

cigarman obviously has taken out several patents on wisdom,experience and local patriotism.

So lets get a few things straight - I have nothing against NC or the South . I do have something against non-existent customer service from an airline which sprouts its customer-focused philosophy daily.

As for the suggestions to take a later flight even such unseasoned trvellers as myself are capable of working that one out. Only one problem - CO told us very specifically to get back to the airport at 6:30 or else thay didn't know when they could get us out.

i also note cigarman that you have zero, zilch, nothing to say about the original event at TA or is that out of your sphere of experience?

I had a similar problem 3 years ago they refused to reroute me due to their flight being late to Europe. Finally they said they fixed it, I got to London and they failed to confirm our Europe flight to Ireland. Long story short they gave me 100,000 miles and another $1200. I was happy, the wife thought because of 2 day delay it wasn't worth it. It also cost them 2 first class tickets on American to New York, Marriott Newark and then Heathrow Marriott, then a limousine from Gatwick to Heathrow. I do believe 2 agents that blew us off were suspended for a week, should have been fired!

It think it's time for me to lecture YoniP now ...

Ok OK just tell me where to make the contribution...

Wow, anyone so critical of CO ought to be condemned to fly UA with only 2P status for a year.

YoniP:

You had a bad experience that started from the very beginning with the confusion over ticketing.

The ticketing is something that CO had control over, and therefore should be held accountable for the poor service you received.

As far as the delays and accomodation, I think given the circumstances CO did the best they could. That you disliked RDU and its surroundings is a matter of perception, and I think put this way you'll agree it's unreasonable to have expected CO to transform your preferences let alone the physical environment in which you found yourself.

So, with all due respect, stop wasting your time arguing here and just write that letter to CO to help Gordon make Continental better:

Continental Airlines
Customer Service - HQSCR
PO Box 4607
Houston TX 77210-4607
USA

Happier travels.

FQTV

Thanks for feedback. I write to CO Israel office but will send a copy to the address you gave me.

Thanks

YoniP:

I might suggest that you even direct the letter to the Houston (world headquarters) address, and CC the Israel office.

Good luck.

No response to your original departure problem because i have agreed CO really screwed that up. You are PLT call the elite line and I'm sure they'd get you out later. You can't expect them not to announce to everyone on $100 non refundable tickets the scary warning.

Hi all,

I have just read the whole post and i have some comments:

1st event in T-A. It is not a surprise to me since CO in israel is really not at the level of US CO, i try as often as i can towork only with CO US.

2nd CO MUST re-think their reroute policy for Intl (mainly europe and middle east) travellers. Here is what i think: Tel-Aviv is a very good destination for CO with quite 2 daily flights (from july) to Newark.

These flights are usually full. The problem is that the CO hub to intl is newark which is often closed due to weather. (Agree that this time it wasn't newark but the global solution still exists)

Last time i had to flight from SFO to TLV via newark. I have been told that newark was closed and that due to weather wasn't a case where i was elictible to receive any food or hotel vouchers. I agree that for most of the people this situation would't be too bad: another day in SFO is alway good but not in my case. I told the people at the counter that this wasn't acceptable for me since i had meetings in Tel-Aviv which i could't postpone. I also told them that i knew that they could put me on direct fligt to europe and then from there to Tel-aviv on another airline... After several discussion i have been told to find such a fight myself and that they will arrange it. I fund a klm flight to Ams and from there to Tel aviv. I agree this situation could be exceptional but CO is parner with several european airlines. and these process could be i think more automatic. Moreover, the supervisor kept saying weather = nada in a very unsympathic way, while the counter woman tried hard to help me... she made my bad experience a very good one.

Understand me on that: these kind of flights (TLV->SFO SFO->TLV) are usually made by people like yoni or me for a very few days... And believe me that when you get a 10 hours (even 7) jetlag back and forth for a 3 days stay your sense of humour and tolerance gets very small... So i totally undertsand the yonip complain There is nothing to do about weather problems of this kind but in these case the employes behavior must compensate...

Last point: Cigarman, i am sure that south might be a cool place to see (at least that is what we say in france) but i bet that such an experience here in Israel would have disgussed you from the whole trip....

Best,



[This message has been edited by cyril_b (edited 07-22-2000).]

I agree, a letter to Gordon is in order.

I judge a company's customer service, not on whether they foul things up, but how they fix things after they've been fouled up.

Memo to motnot: I think YoniP is Hebrew for Jaws

Cyril - thanks for the support - finally someone who knows what it feels like .

Incidentally I sent my official complaint a week ago th CO and still have not heard a word. Can anyone give me some feedback when I should expect to hear something?

CO Customer Care took about 10 days to respond to one of my e-mails submitted last month. When I sent the e-mail, I got back a confirmation e-mail that said their typical response time was currently six to ten business days.

I'm not sure if you actually mailed a letter from Isreal to their Houston, TX address or e-mailed. If you didn't e-mail, I suggest you do so or fax a copy of your letter if you still have a copy. This will of course reduce the response time.

CO just contacted me and offered me 10000 miles for my experience in Tel Aviv - they admitted to being completely wrong and said my seat assignment should never have been given away and that my tickets were in fact not in the place they said they were and that the ground staff did not behave appropriately.

Is this reasonable recourse?