KosherKimchee

I purchased a paid first ticket from EWR-LAX last week due to a family emergency. I went standby on the 3:05pm flight but the flight checked in full. I then waited and attempted to board my original 5:15pm flight (was second in line, so no issue about being late). However, someone apprently unloaded me from that flight because when I went to board the system rejected my boarding pass and I was pulled off the flight (probably an agent screwup when putting me standby for the earlier flight). The GA sent me to Customer Service and I ended up missing the remaining flight to LAX that evening and wasnt sent out until the 7am flight the next morning.

After waiting 4 hours on line and talking to a Supervisor, I was not given any entitled courtesy (I was amazingly calm and polite despite the urgency of the situation) and no one would give me an explanation nor any compensation except for $16 in food vouchers. The supervisor acknowledged that I would normally be entitled to compensation but couldnt help me as she had a ton of other passengers to deal with. She made notes on the system authorizing $400 compensation, which is the minimum cash I'd be entitled to as an IVDB under DOT Section 250.5. She would not, however, provide me with any compensation at the airport as required.

I call the "We Care" 1-800 number and they cant figure out what happened and cant do anything until they speak to the supervisor at EWR who is now on 2 week vacation. I think this is absurd, I am supposed to be given $400 CASH on the spot at EWR and CO cant figure out their right from left. Houston says EWR should have handled on the spot and EWR supervisor told me to call "We Care" for compensation. Yikes!

Does anyone have a suggestion who to contact at CO to get a resolution/compensation for the IVDB in addition to the complaint I'm filing with the DOT?

ContinentalFan

You'll find, sadly, that your message to the DOT is likely to get a response from Continental. My experience is that customer service is in dismal shape. The sequence of events, as you describe them, is quite alarming. I too don't understand why someone at the HQ in Houston can't resolve these problems. I am always trouble when a business uses its customers from quality control. I think your best bet is to put your issues in writing addressed to the CEO. When Mr. Bethune was at the helm, I found the folks at in his office were excellent at getting issues resolved. Give it a shot; you've nothing to lose!

RamAir

NEVER, EVER, TAKE THAT AS AN ANSWER!!!!!
I was bumped from BF to Y on a OGG-IAH flight, when it first started. Anyway, I have the guy's name Brian ******** and told the CS agent that he told me I was entitled to this compensation. She told me she was going to contact me and she did - she said that he had claimed he already gave me the compensation. Well that was BS! He couldn't produce a stub or confirmation code for the voucher and, I was granted the compensation.
Tell the "We Care' agent to find a record locater for the voucher the super "issued" you.
Good Luck
SR

KosherKimchee

I have a printout of the record notes in which the Supervisor set forth that I was denied boarding due to agent error and that she authorized but did not provide compensation. There is no dispute that I was not given any compensation at EWR. Upon calling Houston once home, I explained that (1) I am entitled to a minimum of $400 cash under the DOT regs for the IVDB, (2) I should be given additional compensation because I was holding a paid first class boarding pass for a 5:15pm flight and was turned away from EWR at 11pm holding a coach boarding pass for 7:00am the next day, $16 in food vouchers, and nothing else. I'm just glad I had a friend's couch in NJ to crash on that night. The phone reps kept putting me on hold and told me someone will get back to me in reference to my claim number provided.

Frankly, the reason I bought the CO first class ticket was because I was holding a non-changeable ticket through IAD on UA and needed to get home to LA for an emergency. I should demand compensation for the unused portion of my UA ticket too since by the time dust settled at EWR Customer Service, I had missed every opportunity to go West Friday evening.

zeusscu

Wow, $400 for your situation and a FC IDB? That's really not appropriate. Too little money. Why did they IDB you and not ask someone for a VDB? This sounds like something to alert the higher-ups to. Customer Service should be treating full-fare FC passengers with a great deal of courtesy. You should have been brought aside, given a hotel room at the marriott in EWR, given a dinner voucher for more than $16, and *then* given at least $400. If not a free ticket in the U.S. Emergencies are generally why we buy full-fare FC tickets. For that much money, you expect more than a meal voucher that will barely buy you a McDonald's value meal for dinner and breakfast. Sorry it's such a mess for you.

ijgordon

This really is pathetic. Shame on CO.
I hope they sort it out to your satisfaction ASAP.

Wallstreet10006

Wow, sounds like you're getting the short-end of the stick.

While this isn't an apples to apples comparison (your situation was way more egregious than mine, IMHO) this is what happened to me an Avianca two weeks ago.

The 7am JFK-Medellin (Friday) had mechanical problems and by the time they were sorted out, the crew rest period became an issue, so we wouldn't leave until 1:30am (Saturday) - 18.5 hour delay.

I was on a coach ticket ($650) that I upgraded to J at check-in ($180 for the walk-up upgrade). I was given a voucher for round-trip J class anywhere Avianca flies, except for Madrid. (Since the routing would be JFK-Bogota-Madrid, I probably wouldn't go there anyway.)

J class to Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, Rio - not bad. Good for a year and is transferrable to a third-party.

Plus hotel and meal vouchers - I didn't take those - just went back to my apartment.

Seems CO could have done a little more.

dan1431

This is going back a while but I was IVDBed last year off of an LAX-EWR due to my seatbelt being broken and they were unable to repair it in a timely fashion and they GA did not want to take too much of a delay on the flight. I was offered a coach seat on the flight that I was on or on the next flight but I declined both as I did not mind staying the night(on my own dime, I needed the stay night for Hilton)and I did not want to fly coach.

I was shocked when the agent offered me a dinner and breakfast voucher/hotel stay at the airport xxx(??? I cannot remember)and a flight the next day on CO16 the 10:30AM departure.

I was so surprised that they were offering me this as I was the one who was unwilling to take the coach seat.

Sounds like a very busy CSR who probably should have done more but did not due to amount of people that he/she had to take care...I would pursure further with CO(as others have said).

Dan

diana

I hate having to deal with redcoats or supervisors at EWR. They are always too busy to resolve any situation.
I avoid EWR whenever I can.

fly co to see the yanks

given that it was a paid first class ticket, i would suggest you send an email to larry kellner. i would think this would be of interest to him. yes, of course, an underling will handle it. but, he will forward it along and it will get special treatment. larry's email has been posted in this forum before....search for it.

dan1431

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Emailing Larry, would probably be the best course of action.

He seems to repond quickly and from other reports here, things seem to get done after he is notified.

Dan

HeathrowGuy

Never ever ever ever EVER accept an agent or supervisor telling you to take up an issue in another city or even at a different location within the airport - once you're out of sight, you're out of mind, and following up after the fact with Customer Relations will NEVER yield the same results, as that department generally does not have the same flexibility as your typical airport supervisor.

This holds true across all airlines, BTW - deal with situations on-the-spot as they arise, or else accept crumbs for your spilled milk from a cutomer service rep. who wasn't there then and could care less now.

ContinentalFan

I echo your sentiments about Larry Kellner. There are a number of people in his office that handle issues, but I have heard from him directly--within 20 minutes of sending an e-mail. I was impressed--impressed enough that I'll never bother him again. I know he has lots of better things to do; his staff in Houston handle things well.

As for the 1-800-we-care2, don't even bother with it. The people there are nice, but as far as I can tell, they've two or three rolls: apologize profusely; if that doesn't work, freshly minted frequently flyer miles are offered; failing that, there job seems to be to try to convince you that you're wrong. JD Power is used as a kind of battering ram in this regard .

KosherKimchee

I didnt have a choice. She called the other sup on duty to confirm she couldnt give IVDB cash on the spot (she started getting defensive when I cited DOT regs, I was too upset about not getting home to emergency to engage her in a debate) and because there were no more flights on CO or others that could have gotten me to LAX that night, she sent me on my way (to a friend's couch). I just made sure she made extensive notes in the record (she did, and I have a copy printed on her awful dot matrix printer) so that I wouldnt have to recreate the factual record later.

ijgordon

You are under NO obligation to accept a coach seat on a First Class fare. If your FC seat is not available, then you are considered an IDB. The viable alternatives would have been to book you on another airline (in F/J -- wonder if you could have insisted on AA/UA 3-class F since your ticket was F as well?), or put you up overnight and on a flight the next morning. With their contracted hotel rates, it was probably cheaper for them to put you up overnight and give you the vouchers as you were willing to accept that, as opposed to purchasing you a ticket on another carrier (albeit at a discounted rate as well), assuming availability.