Hartmann

I have had a trip to Boston planned for about four months and was set to leave at 7:40am on 3/12 and return at 6:32 on 3/15.

We arrived at IAH around 6:10-6:15 and proceeded to Terminal C to check-in (that's where we were directed) though our flight was in Terminal E.

It was a war zone. Spring Break was in full swing and the line was out the door into the road. Knowing that this flight was usually late, I was not too worried. I also had checked in online and figured things would go quickly.

We started moving in the line and after 30 minutes a woman came up to us and said, "did you check-in online?", "SUCCESS!" was the first thought that came to my mind. I told her we had and she proceeded to ask if we knew our confirmation number. I responded saying that I did not because I did not print it out. We were directed to another line for Continental.com bag drop (we were only 10 people from the front of the current line).

Walking up to the other line, I knew something was not right. We finally got up to a kiosk and immediately saw that I needed a confirmation number. I turned to a Continental employee and explained to her that I did not have it. She said (in a rude tone), "Well, you need the confirmation number. If you don't have it, go back to the other line". I kindly told her that I was told to come to this line even though I did not have a confirmation number.

By this time it was almost 7am and I started worrying. The Continental employee gave me a verbal lashing for about 5 minutes telling me I should have had my number (I concede that I should have). I called a friend who logged into my e-mail and got the confirmation number for me. I put the number in and was immediately greeted with the "You are too late to bag-drop this way". The woman looked at the screen and laughed. At this point I almost lost it. She knew what time my flight was at and did nothing to help me.

She pointed me in the direction of the exact same line we were in before. We ran over and the line was moving pretty smoothly and I thought we'd make it. By now it was 7:15 and we were only a few people back from the front. I thought that we could make the flight and they could put our bags on the next one.

The same woman who was in the Continental.com bag drop line comes over and takes about 15 people (including us) back to that line. I told her that I wanted to stay and she said that they were helping the line move faster.

It was now 7:30 and I lost hope in making the flight. I make it to the front of the line and get chewed out for not having my confirmation number (again!). I explain that we were told to come here and this employee was a little more helpful. She told us that we weren't going to make this flight and would put us on standby for the 11:30am out of Houston... By this point I was livid and just wanted to sit down and not explode.

I went to the gate and saw that they were helping another flight, so I went to Customer Service where I learned that the flight we were on standby for was oversold and we probably would not make it on. I told the representative that it was COs fault for me missing the flight (for the most part) and this was unacceptable. So he gave me two vouchers for a drink on the flight (la dee da) and a guaranteed set of seats on the 1:30pm flight.

We finally made it to BOS and had a great time.

I intentionally checked-in the night before we left and found that my reservation was all screwed up. My girlfriend was flying out at 6:32pm (the correct flight) and I was flying out at 4pm?! I called CO and was on the phone for about 2 hours before finally getting it all fixed, however, we weren't seated together.

Arriving at Logan we proceeded to the gate and talked to the red coat. She was very nice (a welcome change) and worked with us to get seats together. She almost convinced us to volunteer our tickets because this flight was also oversold. We knew the weather and the flight they were offering was through EWR. No thank you.

I am really disappointed in CO's handling of this and I have been tempted to call them and tell them. I expect more when I fly with them and was treated very poorly in IAH.

dmbfan222

So I assume you checked in online but did not print your boarding pass?

sbm12

You can do bag drop without a confirmation number. All you have to do is "check-in" again at the kiosk and it will let you add bags.

craz

sorry that you caused yourself so much grief.

Yes caused yourself had you printed out your BPs you would have been set.Or at least had you written down the PNRs, why didnt you write them down when you had somene look them up on your email for You?? what if the Kiosk said error please reenter PNR.

Now at times I do do OLCI for friends and I dont print out the BPs as I dont have any way to get it to them. I do the OLCI only in case they should run late according to CO they are already checked-in and set to go.

I would have simply told the 2nd agent Thanks but no Thanks, Ill stay on this line take those who are behind me. they cant force you to move lines.

kingalien

There are alternative methods to locate your reservation at the kiosk other than the confirmation number. Good to hear your trip went well otherwise.

IAHflyer

Who directed you?

You could have checked-in at Terminal E (Though no guarantee that the lines were any shorter there...)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...8&postcount=11

elll

....and although it says to check in at terminal c, you could also have checked in at E with no problem.

IAHflyer

I don't think I've ever punched in my confirmation number at a bag drop or any other kiosk. Just swipe Elite card, driver license or credit card...

IAH_FLYER

I wonder the same thing...the confirmation number is on your boarding pass.

jk2317

Yeah, weird... I've never ever been asked for a PNR at the airport. Driver's license or credit card is always sufficient to checkin at a kiosk. I never bag-drop, but a regular old kiosk re-checkin always works for me when I need to add a bag.

p.s. IAHflyer and IAH_FLYER posting back-to-back on the same thread? I'm so confused!!!

TXNancy

WOW, you must work for CO. With that attitude you will fit right in. In your veiw, I caused myself some grief today. Today, I had to cancel the last leg of my trip due to an unexpected injury and subsequent surgery. My husband called to let CO know that I will not fly the last leg. CO wants to charge $100.00 change fee, plus the fare difference. At the airport, I try to explain to no avail. Again, they wanted $100.00 change fee plus the fare difference, surgery or not. Finally, an agent at the PC was willing to cancel my last leg without asking for $$$. Her statement: “I don’t why they give you so much grief after all it is your last leg.” This is the first time I have to cancel one segment of a multi-leg trip. I thought it was a decent thing to tell CO when I need to cancel a segment. Next time, I will not cause myself the grief. Just don’t get on the plane and don’t tell them.

I also had to cancel a segment with Southwest. I fly Southwest about once a year. They treated me nicely and gave me full credit. I understand they treat everybody the same way and gave everybody full credit when cancellation is needed. I am a plt with CO. In a way, CO treats everybody the same way. You are treated nicely only if you hangup and keep trying until you find a nice person. Otherwise, get ready for some mean (or is it more proper to call it professionally behaved?) employees at CO.

Jaimito Cartero

Again, I'd say that much of the OP's problems were self generated. If you check in online, you should print your boarding pass. At the minimum you should print out your itinerary, which will, of course, have your confirmation number on it.

As a NWA elite, I will sometimes check in online for the bonus, and then reprint the boarding passes if I'm at a location which doesn't have a printer. I have the confirmation number, elite card, etc. It helps to use the elite line, too.

I have a flight tomorrow, and know it may be a zoo. So I will check no luggage, and arrive a bit early in case the security lines are bad.

craz

Work for CO , LoL.

I take them to Task more then I stand up for them.

as for Your telling CO you wont be flying, Unless You were gonna want to use that portion of your tkt at a later date , if it was me I wouldnt have called anyone. Now if I knew that I would have to use the last tkt to get to wherever then , yes I would have called and said something again depending on where it was I had to fly as sometimes , there are other carriers that can get me back there on a 1 way for far less then what the Chages would be.

Most Medical reasons havent been a valid reason for waviering fees on most Carriers for a few yrs now. Unless its a case of Death in the Immediate family or Extreme Illness.

Im happy that you were able to get it Cancelled w/o having to pay anything, I dont agree with the Charging but to an extent understand it. I know a large number of people who simply had a briefcase full of different Drs Letter Heads and they would simply type in what they wanted to, when they wanted to. This way they didnt have to buy a Full Y and yet still fly whenever they so chose to. last min change of plans , to them no problem they simply took out a letterhead and typed away and then were heading elsewhere or home on a different date.

the Carriers also see it as a way to stop Hidden Cities from being used.

the ones who played the games ruined it for those who actually had/have legit reasons. Thats also why CO wont allow last min UPs on Intl flights , too many simply made a res for FC and then right before the flight time cancel it and no sooner done then they ask if anyone hasnt checked in so that they can be UPed since they are on the Waitlist. I dont like it and dont have enough fingers to count the times I flew on an Intl Co flight that indeed had empty seats Up front and I never cleared the waitlist.

ADD: the same applies to a Hotel res, cant tell you how many times they tell me I didnt reserve a non-smoking room, or the type of bedding that I say I did, or even when they show me what my rate is and its heck alot more then what I reserved it at. I simply rip out my Confirmation and that ends that. A person doesnt have their confirmation with them, well then not much they can do, BTW same for a Car Rental, always hit with either a high rate or lower Cat of car , rip out the confirmation and that ends that.

kingalien

This is quite odd, whenever canceling your itinerary or parts of it, there is no change fee. The change fee only is charged when you want to use the remaining credit on another flight. There is some misunderstanding here as they are asking for $100 and a fare difference so somewhere along the line someone thought you are making a change instead of canceling. Hope your surgery goes well.

puddy

The OP admitted in his post that he should have printed out his BP. Let's move on from reprimanding for that. It doesn't excuse the behavior of the CO employees. If what was described is accurate, their actions were inexcusable. It doesn't matter that he didn't have the confirmation number. They should have helped him. As a customer, you should never be laughed at or talked down to. A simple, "It's always a good idea to have your conf # written down" or something similar is all that had to be said. Then the rep should have helped him.

I often don't know my confirmation number when I travel. I don't always have my BP printed out. Perhaps I should rethink that. However, I have always been able to pull up my record at normal check-in kiosk or bag drop with no problem. And the rare times I have needed help from agents, they have always been able to pull up my info from my name. Any decent employee would have helped the OP.

Perhaps he should have been a bit more assertive in asking for help. But as long as he wasn't rude in any way, he did not deserve the treatment he received.