I flew from DTW-IAH on a CO B-737 that has audio / visual equipment onboard. I needed this becasue I was flying with my family, 2 kids and my spouse, and made sure the kids wouldn't be bored on the 3 hour flight. They are 6 and 9 yrs. old.

Anyway, the entire row 5 a,b,c did not have audio / visual system working. We could see the screen overhead in the aisle but no sound or music. The controls at every seat was inoperative.

Just got off the phone to 800-WE-CARE 2 (hah!) and they said there would be no compensation since it was "entertainment" and not considered should it fail. She offered me 3 inflight currency coupons for "free headsets" as a "goodwill gesture".

Needless to say I was livid. I am a Gold Elite and have spent countless thousands of dollars over a ten year period flying with these guys and have never formally complained. When I do ask for some compensation for the frustration, I get $15 worth of earphone certificates.

By the way, I used 100,000 FF miles for the trip and I feel I should be credited something. What do you think?

Personally I think the compensation thought process has gotten out of hand. I have had the audio not work and the overhead light not work making reading impossible, but never even thought about this being a compensation issue.

I would reserve being livid for incidents such as an engine falling off.

[QUOTE=Falcon20]Needless to say I was livid.QUOTE]

I'm wondering what you would be satisfied with.....not really sure this is a situation that should cause one to become livid.

Not something I would complain about. And I do complain. A friend flew LAX-CLE in 1st and it was a 737-500 (I think) point is a very long flight and no Audio-Movie for anyone as that aircraft doesnt have it. If it was an Intl flight that would be something else.

But my 2 cents save it for when they really MESS-UP

The last CO flight I had was 7/2004 from IAH-HNL in Y (I've since moved to a place where CO is no longer convenient to use). On that flight, my seat audio/video and the ability to recline were all busted for the entire trip and the flight was completely full. The FA's felt terrible for me so they provided me with FC meals and free drinks for the whole flight. As far as I was concerned, that was all of the compensation that I needed - besides, it's a lot more than UAL would ever do...

So I assume that if you bought a new car and the radio quit working you would expect the dealer to give you money? Let's get real.

I think you don't deserve compensation for this. Most 733's don't have any IFE. For times like this you have those useful things called 'books' which provided all sorts of entertainment in the period prior to electricity....they still work.

Your kids are old enough to read, I might suggest that a book might work well in a flying situation as you can pause, rewind or fast forward at your leisure.

Novel concepts these days....

Sorry, but it makes me cringe to think that parents can't imagine anything other than bad movies and old television reruns to entertain their kids for three hours. How about books, crayons and paper, looking out the window and talking about what's down there, puppets, and just plain quality time and conversation with mom and dad? I used to fly as a kid in the 50's and 60's on Lockheed Electras and I survived. Bad audio/visual is never a good substitute for good parenting. Frankly I don't think Continental owes you anything.

...hears whining....

Is this post for real?

Continental provides FREE inflight entertainment, it is at thier will for them to even turn it on. Of course I would have been annoeyed if it didn't work but Continental's FIRST and most important job is to get you to your destination SAFE.

I believe they fufilled that part of the agreement. They were more than nice enough to offer you free headsets, something other people I have seen EASILY pay the 5 bucks for.

They appreciate your business as a Gold Elite, but lets be realistic.

If you are in such "need" to have a movie - as a parent you should take that upon your own accord and not rely on anyone else.

BTW I hope you told the FA's and asked them to fill out the right forms for it to be looked it... or were you soo annoeyed you over this situation you forgot?


-Vincent

I wonder what you would do/expect if you were on a transatlantic flight where the entire IFE did not function - a not too infrequent occurence that international flyers experience now and again. Even then I do not know that anyone gets compensated (imagine compensating 200 passengers for faulty IFE) although IFE is the norm on international travel. In contrary IFE is not the norm for domestic travel and is even not standard on all CO flights, so I would be amazed if they compensated you.

I've had this happen twice to me. Once from GUM to HNL and another time transcon. The flight attendant in the mainland flight said, "sorry." with a apathetic look. The flight attendant on the Continental Micronesia flight came back after checking something. I was offered free booze for the rest of the flight. I would have expected at least a refund of the headset fee if I had paid for it. Usually, I would just take the opportunity to sleep. I can sympathize with having to travel with children. I'm sure it seems easy to tell parents to bring some books or something, but we've all seen that doesn't always work. Portable DVD players are getting sort of inexpensive. A friend of mine was compensated some miles for the same problem, but on a NW flight.

You posters crack me up.

As the original poster of the message I just want to say thank you for your input as there are always two sides to an issue. Becasue of my dissapointment with the resolution, I vented on this thread and wanted to hear what others thought. Maybe "livid" was too strong a word but I was angry at the indifference the customer service rep had, not really caring about my concerns.

As far as my parenting skills someone questioned in a previous post...come on. We do look out the window and we do color together and we do puzzles but after about an hour, it gets old for them. The video is just one way to bide the time.

Finally, I'm no primadonna and rarley complain but I can tell you that the offer of "free headsets" to a customer who flies CO as much as I do is still insulting. That's just my feeling, right or wrong. I mean they give me 1000 FF miles just for booking on their website. How difficult would it be to do the same in this case to keep me a happy, long-term customer?

I have to agree with you Falcon. I have had two experiences with A/V failure on long flights. Both on Delta. I love my children but trying to entertain them for a 9 hour flight is tough. Might be easy for Flyingmom but not me.

I think they should give you something. They won't, but I feel like they should. When Delta told me "tough luck", I took my $50K+/year business to British Airways. It was the best thing because I had no idea how much better BA was than Delta. I am now a loyal BA customer (Gold in 2005!) and I will continue to be until they create misery.