A good customer service experience
 

Coming home from Houston to San Francisco in September - the weekend before Rita - my flight was oversold.

I agreed to be bumped in exchange for a F seat on the next flight, plus the $300 voucher they offered, and, since the next flight was to OAK, taxi fare home.

The Continental customer service desk did their best figuring that the taxi would be $50.00, and gave me a voucher for that amount. I listened in as two agents confirmed that Yellow Cab would do the run.

I got a Yellow cab at Oakland, and did the $78.00 run home. Then the cabbie refused the voucher. He called his dispatcher and was told that they no longer took vouchers from Continental - perhaps was from all airlines.

Not wanting to hold up the working man with protracted negotiations, I paid and tipped well.

Next day I called Continental and told the story as above.

"Just send us the receipt, and we'll cut you a check for $78.00," came the reply.

And that's just what they did! I was happily surprised.

BTW, I have no status on Continental. I usually don't fly where they go.

Glad it worked out in the end.

Why am I not surprised that someone in Houston would underestimate the cost of something in the Bay Area? :D

btw, for future reference, the airlines like giving out their vouchers as opposed to vouchers where they have to pay out (i.e., funny money vs. real money). So use that to your advantage.

If you're familiar with how to get around the area (e.g., you can go OAK --> Downtown SF for about $7 on BART + Bus). When they say $300 voucher + cabfare, you can always counter with say $350 voucher, and I'll deal with the ground transportation on my own. ;) It's a win-win all around.