Another week in Continental Hell
 

It all started at check in at Tel Aviv - Continetal asked me to pick up my tickets at te airport as they were having technical problems generating tickets. I asked through my travel agent that they wait at the BF desk and was told it was OK.

Got to the airport and SUPRISE - tickets were not at BF desk. Off to ticketing where I waited for one hour (only one agent ) Go back to BF desk and SUPRISE they have thrown me off the flight for arriving late. After much shouting, aggravation and waving of Platinum Card I get reinstated on the flight but in a midle seat in Row 42 ( I spent a lot of time before the flight making sure I had an exit row)
The plot thickens - two days later I am ready to fly home for Austin to ERW and then on to Tel aviv - East Coast weather thing happens all flights delayed blah blah blah . Obviously my Tel Aviv connection is shot. eventually we get on a plane and after flying 3 hours SUPRISE flight has been diverted to RDU. At this wonderful place we get to stand in line for over 2 hours ( no elite line) to get a $54 voucher for a Holiday Inn 30 minutes away and two food vouchers. Get to HI at 12:30 am and SUPRISE no restaraunt ( if anyone ever gets hungry in the HI Crabtree let me know I have $20 in unused food vouchers) 5 hours sleep in a sub-standard hotel (4 electricity breaks, many strange noises) and back to another 1 1/2 hour Continental line to get boarding passes for the morning flight . Proceed to wait at Newark for next flight to TA for 6 hours.
All through this not one apology from anyone and general feeling that you are about as important as following day UPS package.

So much for Work Harder etc., Next time I see a picture of Gordon smiling at me and telling me how wonderful his airline is I will tear it out and attach to some dart board.

YoniP, my sympathies, but it could have been worse, sleeping in the airport, as I did during an earlier thunderstorm event this year with no hotel rooms for 60 miles.

[This message has been edited by Eidetic (edited 07-18-2000).]

Are you sure YoniP isn't JAWS in disguise? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Seriously, sorry for the rough trip. And if you were JAWS, I think it would've been worse!

WOW - that is awful.

Seriously, I would send a very long letter with ALL of the details to Mr.Bethune's office. I think you should receive at least a letter of apology.

Sincerely and Good Luck.

I fly out of RDU very often. 1) Yes, they do have an elite line. Not going to pick a fight, but they do. 2) The holiday inn you mention is normal for the southern part of the USA. I often get frustrated with people who travel on company budgets and stay at Ritz Carltons, Four Sesons,Westons,etc. etc. I realize these people aren't bad; it simply is a frame of reference. If you grow up poor, a modest home might be a castle. If you grow up rich the same home is a failure. I'm willing to wager that the reason you diverted was the crappy EWR weather. Would you have prefered to fly into it and crash? A delay beats dead! How do you propose CO change the weather? As to being 30 minutes away (the hotel). Raleigh does not have the normal concentration of hotels near the airport. Thus, the three near the airport are always sold out. Would sleeping on the floor of the airport been better? And i'm sure the power blinking is either the evil holiday inns fault (they knew you were there) or obviously the state of North Carolina was at fault. I'm sure the power never ever blinks in Israel. Remember after 4 flights a year you are plt when it takes those of us in the states on average about 50. I really don't think you have it so rough. But, maybe you should fly someone else if you feel this way. As for the food vouchers, i can use them. In the future maybe you might think people choose to live in the area you insult and call awful?

[This message has been edited by cigarman (edited 07-18-2000).]

Cigarman

1. Maybe there is an Elite Line normally but there definitely was not one that night
2. Sorry to disappoint you but I normally stay at Holiday Inns - this was definitely a sub standard one
3. As I said - I understand flights get delayed / re routed . The question is how does the airline cope with situations like this. In this case the service and attitude was less than professional.

One more thing - maybe we get platinum after 4 flights ( it actually is 6 I think) but thats the rules and anyway I have 57 this year

Nope, not letting you off the hook. CO can't make great hotels were they don't exist. Second there just aren't restaraunts open at 12:30am at hotels in the south. It is silly to expect that. I see you also are silent on insulting this "wonderful" place. I also see you ignored the weather thing. I guess you still expect CO to control that. None of these things CO could control. I'm sure that no one else has ever been messed up by weather. It seems like CO only did ONE thing wrong and that was mess up your original flight, so now you are mad and every thing else is their fault.As to being professional, how can they do anymore than get a room, transport and a meal voucher for you? Would you like them to build an elite line in the hallway outside your crappy little room, in this crappy little place? And MR PLT elite weren't you in first class or priority coach seating so you would be first off and be at the front of the line??P.S you could have skipped the supposed"three hour" line and confirmed your seats on the elite line and checked in (including bags) at the CO electronic kiosks located right there. I'm sure the next complaint will be even more enlighted.

[This message has been edited by cigarman (edited 07-18-2000).]

[This message has been edited by cigarman (edited 07-18-2000).]

A really stupid argument but nevertheless

1 I mentioned the weather in the original post ( try reading it)
2. I never said there was a three hour line - it was a two hour line
3. Maybe you can explaint to me how to check in at an Electronic Kiosk when you have been rerouted and have a non existent tocket for a non existent flight?
4 If the restaraunt is closed then why do they give out the vouchers? Giving out the vouchers was a manual process which took say 2 minutes per customer multiply that by the amoun of people on the non existent Elite line and you understand why the queue was so long.
5. There is no doubt that when they screw up the first thing you are more sensitive for the rest of the trip. So what?

Still, CO fouled up the most parmount aspect, your tickets and initial flight. This is legitimate. Perhaps you can tie in the weather as ancillary due to the initial screw up.

CO listens and usually takes responsibility. Please post the response.

Jeff

I spoke to the customer care desk after the initial problem and they promised me an answer in 4 weeks - I wrote a complaint when I got back so we'll wait and see. I'll post it

I can explain how to reroute without ever getting in line. Call the plt elite line and they can change all you flights same as the person at the counter. Step two, after person on elite line changes your flights go to kiosk insert id (like plt elite card) Step three watch boarding passes spit out. Done. By the way the smart move is to fix flights the night before from hotel phone (or cell) and get FC seats before gone next day in mad rush. Okay so i confused the three hour flight with the two hour line. I can't see you post while i type. Altough you nit pick and nit pick you still ignore the insult to the "wonderful" place and you still don't tell me what they could do better for you except to not give you a meal voucher. So they messed up your BF. That's not "hell". People make mistakes. Maybe the CO employee thought the restaraunt was open super early for breakfast. At least they tried. I guess the should have cooked breakfast for you at their house. Ever heard of domino's pizza? Be a grown up and take some responsibility yourself. Waiting for your next excuse.

What should they do?

1) Have an Elite Line
2) If they have you waiting in the line for the vouchers check me in for the following morning flight at the same time and not make me go through the ritual again 6 hours later.
3) Smile.Be Nice. Don't treat passangers like packages.

None of these things are material . None of them cost money. They do make a difference.

I humbly apologize if I offended the "wonderful" RDU airport which is no doubt an excellent institution

cigarman, I think you overreacted. I don't see where YoniP insulted Carolina other than to sarcastically call CLT a "wonderful place." Hardly a cardinal sin. But you have no idea how bad his experience was at the hotel. And after his trip, I think he'd have a right to complain to kindred souls, no matter if it's CO's fault or his own. It was unpleasant.

No, CO couldn't do anything about the weather, but it was a rough trip nonetheless. Maybe CO wasn't the right target for his Charlotte experience (maybe Holiday Inn instead), but he really did not say much that bad about Carolina. If I have a bad hotel experience in New York or New Delhi or New Port Richey and I complain about it, does that mean that I have something against the whole region?

Really, some of your comments are out of line, like "Be a grown up and take some responsibility yourself. Waiting for your next excuse." This is a place we come to share and, sometimes, commiserate. Is that a response you'd like if you ever complain about a bad trip?

For your penance, I demand you donate all your hard-earned $1 CO upgrade thread fines to charity! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

While any city in the South is basically the same (ducking all the thrown items from cigarman and others -- JUST KIDDING) YoniP was talking about RDU and not CLT. I've spent extensive time in both cities. It's tough to get a hotel near the airport in RDU since there are several big companies near the airport (Research Triangle Park) who eat up hotel rooms like no tomorrow. I know, I work for one of them and have to book my hotel rooms weeks in advance http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

As per Crabtree, I've stayed at hotels in that area too. I think most of them figure people will go to the mall or other nearby food establishments rather than hotel food.