Continental Elite blasts Northworst
 

I am a platinum elite on Continental. I made a bad decision by deciding to fly with Northworst on my upcoming trip to Europe. I made a reward ticket reservation for 2 on business first (80,000 miles since they have 3 cabins vs. 100,000 miles on Continental's first due to 2 cabins) last February. My wife and I had our first child this April. Back in February, I could, under the Continental policy add an infant on a lap for free with a reduced mileage award (approximately 15,000 miles). As it stands now, one must pay 10% of the fare to have an infant sit on your lap (sure makes Southwest Airlines look great, with no such ridiculous policy). I was told that since the child was not born, I could not take advantage of the infant award until the baby was born.

I just got off a lengthy call with Northworst and was told the infant reward no longer applies, as the rules were changed in March so Continental and Northwest's policies would match. Further, since we are flying business first, they want to charge the infant on my lap 10% of the BUSINESS FIRST rate (approximately $780). Yet, if I sat in coach, the baby would cost just over $100.

I am in shcok that an airline would discriminate the fare of a lap child. What extra services is my child getting by sitting on my business first lap vs. my coach lap? Certainly not $700 worth of service. The Northworst agent (not customer service agent, they don't know what customer service is) had the nerve to lie to me by saying the 10% policy was a government mandated policy, which turned out to be a lie, and further had the nerve to say that Northworst doesn't make any money by charging the extra 10%. I find that hard to believe, as they will earn an extra $780 for absolutely nothing.

Northworst should step up to the plate and honor my request to grandfather an infant reward instead of penalizing me for sitting in business class and paying a 10% fare that almost equals the full cost of a coach ticket. If Northworst don't my request, I might as well use another 50,000 miles and book a coach seat for my daughter that will then go unused, so at least Northworst will lose the revenue of that seat. Seems silly that Northworst would rather lose the revenue of a seat than allow me to use miles for a child to sit on my lap.

This is absolutely unacceptable and Northworst should be ashamed to call themselves an airline. Continental is so far superior, next time I will spend the extra 20,000 miles so at least I am treated like a person. I demand action and expect my request to be honored or else ...

A business first lap has much more space and ambiance than a coach lap.

Next time try to post on one discussion group instead of 5+ groups.

the_hef:
I feel sorry for you and your plight, but is it really necessary for you to post your "I made a mistake but they owe me...." message to so many news groups (NG). I think this is called spam for obvious reasons, and a complete waste of valuable bandwith. Posting to the Northwest NG should of been totally sufficient.

Since you are a CO PT, you must have sufficient FF miles in your account to get your cute child his/her own business class seat, with real seatbelts to anchor your FAA approved child seat, etc. You, your wife and your cute child will enjoy the flight so much better this way, and so will your fellow passengers in business class. That is what I have always done in the past when flying with my cute child(ren).

Another suggestion is to buy at least one share of NW stock and express your plight to the actual owners of this airline at the next stockholders meeting. Tell them they will lose your future business (they already lost mine) and your cute child's business when he/she is buying flight tickets.

I am now going to check the Hilton and Avis NG. Oh, I hope, you didn't post your plight there too. The readers of those NG probably can't assist you either.

to the_ref:

arturo bee gled to goe wiff yu an hold babie ef yu knot kut an paste yur postie awl ovr thes bored. arturo kant find enywon on thes bored thet kan solv yur problm. wee listn an tel yu hour onionpins, butt yu "preechen two the kwire" and thet knot doo enyguud.

arturo sluggest yu kawl VeePee Merkithing et NW an tel yur storie, mebe VeePee listn an doo sumthen.

Sorry for the multiple posts Arturo. I was and am desperate for a solution and wanted as many comments and suggestions as possible.

mebe sum of hour thouts help yu, the_ref. arturo wuud bee on fone wif NW an tock two ossifer en kumpanie. wat NW doo to yu knot rite. arturo tri two git two merikthing. yu kno tho thet yu knot beeg deel wiff NW, ownly wif CO. mebe yu tock to CO an sea ef they kan help. kawl 1-800-wecare2 an tock to sumwon.