Ran the Boston Marathon 4/18. Was to fly to Lima via EWR that night. CO 31 developed hydraulic problems and we returned to BOS. BOS agents did fine job of securing alternate aircraft and sent us on our was with the assurance all would make connections in Newark with the exeption of one passenger connecting to an Air France flight.

We arrived at our Newark gate shortly before 10 pm. My connecting 10pm flight to Lima, Peru (CO 1952) was 3 gates away and I could see it as I got off my plane and the jetway still against the plane as I got off.

It took me 2 minutes to run to the gate. I arrived at 10:02pm. One of the gate agents came out of the door from the jetway having just moved it. The scheduled departure was 10pm. There were four gate agents there. One obviously wanted to try to get me on but, without consulting anyone else, another said "Too late, go to the Service Center" and he started walking towards the front of the terminal. Obviously he was done with his shift and he wanted to go home. No apology, no consultation with the pilots or the ground crew. The plane had not pushed back.

I asked the remaining gate agents if they had been notified that we were going to be a few minutes late. They said yes. Again, no apology.

I find it unbelievable that Continental chose to strand 3 passengers, Including one BusinessFirst (me) passenger that were two minutes late because of a Continental mechanical problem on a connecting flight. I missed an extremely important meeting in Lima the next day because of Continental's decision. I know for a fact that the gate agents have flexibility in this regard. We had unfortunate timing to run into someone who couldn't be bothered because he wanted to go home. CO has only one flight a day to Lima from Newark so I had no other options but get screwed.

As long as I'm at it, the ten dollar meal voucher I was give doesn't buy a cheeseburger and a coke at the EWR Howard Johnson unless I stiff the waiter out of his tip. Again, I had no options becuase the eateries at the airport were closed at that time of night. How about making it $15? Or it Continental's intent to make the whole experience miserable?

This kind of service is the norm as opposed to the exception at EWR these days. I am so sick of the staff there that I would rather fly in and out of LGA through IAH even if I can fly direct into or out if Newark. Somebody from Smith St. needs to go up there and start kicking some a$$!

That being said I would write a letter to LK. If they receive enough complaints surely they will do something......maybe.......eventually

I hear stories like this and then recall the time the DFW PClub agent, with a horrible cold, stayed 4 hours after close because there were 19 of us waiting for a DFW-CLE flight that was delayed.

The GA at EWR should be disciplined, especially after knowing that there were pax on an inbound, delayed for mechanical reasons.

pathetic.

i would email larry and attach the letter.

[email protected], i believe. maybe someone can confirm....

Time to demand a $500 TCV and 30,000 NonePass miles

This just confirms my sentiments about the ground staff at EWR. They constantly amaze me with their callousness and indifference toward those of us who essentially provide them their livelihood.

Larry, are you listening??????

Is this not just the typical NY attitude? CO is not alone -- unless they could import some good old friendly Texans (or midwesterners) to work at EWR - we are stuck with crappy customer service. It's all about them - not the customer -

jhawk:

No, it's not a typical NYC attitude.

Billiken
(a midwesterner who has never lived east of CLE)

Texans aren't immune, and its not just Continental. I had a similar experience in DFW flying American. They knew four of us were arriving late to our connection to Newark because the flight from Lawton, OK was delayed. We arrived about a minute late to the gate at DFW, and wouldn't let us board. They instead booked us on a later flight to LaGuardia! I guess they figure all those NYC airports must be right next to each other...

I took the EWR-LIM flight on 4-20. I too was concerned about getting there late. They made us pull out of line from LAX, since they had only certain times they could fly into EWR. It was originally a 56 minute connection. Then they had to reroute around some weather. I was a bit concerned.

This was on CO 90, which goes to TLV. However, they announced that their would be a change of equipment. (Gosh, a non-direct, direct flight. Who woulda thought?). No need to worry, since the CO 90 didn�t turn into a pumpkin, and instead was the EWR-LIM flight.

At least th is made up for not getting bumped up to first on the LAX-EWR portion. I know it�s a transcon, but with 24 seats, you expect it as a plat. I guess that�s CO for you. It could also be the $279 plus tax fare I paid for LAX-EWR-LIM.

Are you kidding me??? Do you have anything constructive to add?

Based on my 100+ trips to NYC - I would disagree. Customer service is not a priority. When you get good service - it is the exception to the rule. I was not bagging on all NY'ers - just most of the service industry personel.

And yes - we have bad apples in Texas also.

CO does not lose much by handing out $500 TCV and 30k miles, compared to the situation that a loyal customer (Plat) gets pissed off and switches to another airline.

Is this view constructive enough???

It's a typical attitude the same way someone who doesn't live in NYC constantly thinks that all of us in NYC are a**holes.

In other words, no. Stop generalizing.

The gate agents have abosolutely NO flexibility in deciding whether or not to hold a flight. It's all decided by someone in the ops department. They send the plane when their told to send the plane. If someone comes running up and the jetway is still attached, they could probably take a delay (though they would have to explain the delay to a rather unsympathetic manager) and allow that person to board. If it means going back down the jetway, pulling it back up to the plane, opening the door, etc. then you can usually pretty much count on it not happening. While the agents could have, and should have, been a little more sympathetic, it's not their call to take a delay to wait for inbound connecting passengers. They will if they are told to but if they are told to send the plane then they send the plane.