Master Thread Of Discussion Of CO Joining *a-27 Oct 2009
Jul 30, 2008, 9:45 pm
#46
Join Date: Jun 2007
Programs: M&M
Posts: 41
Copa said some month ago that they will follow CO whereever they go. That was when rumors started to appear that CO might leave Sky for a merger. it can be found somewhere in the atw.online archive.
Aug 16, 2008, 10:44 am
#47
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Potomac MD
Programs: UA MP 1K
Posts: 7,182
I was excited about CO joining *A until I had to fly them. I was on govt travel from Nepal (in C)--and the travel agent said that UA was too expensive. So I took Indian Airlines from KTM to DEL and then CO from DEL to EWR and onward to IAD.
I almost didn't make the CO flight. Delhi has the strangest transit process I have ever seen--you get off your plane (here from Kathmandu) and then wait for someone to come and get all of the transfer passengers. They write down your name, passport number, connecting flight, and baggage claim #, then walk you down a long corridor like a group of prisoners of war, and leave you in a transit lounge. I exited that lounge and go to the Continental lounge. An hour and a half later, a Continental rep came for me and walked me out to an area where I had to identify my bag (on a cart by itself) and then she wrote down my home address and asked for my paper ticket. I gave it to her but she left it there (I didn't realize this). Ten minutes later she came back to the lounge and said that she could not get a boarding pass without the paper ticket and we argued over who had it. Half an hour later I finally got a supervisor (or international concierge as she was called) to come and the supervisor said that without the paper ticket, I couldn't board the plane. About 15 minutes more passed as I tried to call State in DC ( and the embassy and cell phone of the guy from State in Nepal, but no one answered. The rep stood there stoned faced and repeatedly told me and the concierge that I had my paper ticket. Even after I emptied my carry-on luggage twice in the presence of both of them, she continued to blame me.
Then the supervisor told the rep to retrace her steps and guess what--she found the paper ticket (but refused to apologize for messing me up)--she came back with my boarding passes about 10 minutes later and boarding had already begun. But my bag didn't make the plane and when I called multiple times on Thursday, ultimately reaching corporate, I was told that the bag was on the plane and that this was verified. But no one knew where it was. So yesterday they determined that the bag was listed as on the plane, but was still in Delhi. So they put it in a special container to be shipped on last night's flight and it seems to have made it. I received calls from both IAD and a supervisor in Houston for CO that my bag is on its way to my house.
But the behavior of the CO reps in DEL was atrocious--blame the passenger and not accept any responsibility for misplacing the paper ticket. Threaten the passenger with not being allowed on the plane. Then lose the bag, claim that it was sent on my flight because there was a written record of it, and then yes a baggage supervisor did apologize when they learned that the bag did not make my original flight but CO had no idea why. It took them the better part of the day yesterday to find out where the bag was--and it turned out that it was in the baggage loading area in DEL all the time.
Bad service is one thing. A bad attitude (mostly on the part of the DEL operatives) is another. I did get some good service from the baggage supervisors but the corporate office I first contacted couldn't have cared less about how I was treated in DEL.
Follow-up: Finally got my bag back. Lots of stuff stolen from it. I guess that's what happens when a bag sits in an airport for 36 hours largely unattended. Way to go Continental.
I almost didn't make the CO flight. Delhi has the strangest transit process I have ever seen--you get off your plane (here from Kathmandu) and then wait for someone to come and get all of the transfer passengers. They write down your name, passport number, connecting flight, and baggage claim #, then walk you down a long corridor like a group of prisoners of war, and leave you in a transit lounge. I exited that lounge and go to the Continental lounge. An hour and a half later, a Continental rep came for me and walked me out to an area where I had to identify my bag (on a cart by itself) and then she wrote down my home address and asked for my paper ticket. I gave it to her but she left it there (I didn't realize this). Ten minutes later she came back to the lounge and said that she could not get a boarding pass without the paper ticket and we argued over who had it. Half an hour later I finally got a supervisor (or international concierge as she was called) to come and the supervisor said that without the paper ticket, I couldn't board the plane. About 15 minutes more passed as I tried to call State in DC ( and the embassy and cell phone of the guy from State in Nepal, but no one answered. The rep stood there stoned faced and repeatedly told me and the concierge that I had my paper ticket. Even after I emptied my carry-on luggage twice in the presence of both of them, she continued to blame me.
Then the supervisor told the rep to retrace her steps and guess what--she found the paper ticket (but refused to apologize for messing me up)--she came back with my boarding passes about 10 minutes later and boarding had already begun. But my bag didn't make the plane and when I called multiple times on Thursday, ultimately reaching corporate, I was told that the bag was on the plane and that this was verified. But no one knew where it was. So yesterday they determined that the bag was listed as on the plane, but was still in Delhi. So they put it in a special container to be shipped on last night's flight and it seems to have made it. I received calls from both IAD and a supervisor in Houston for CO that my bag is on its way to my house.
But the behavior of the CO reps in DEL was atrocious--blame the passenger and not accept any responsibility for misplacing the paper ticket. Threaten the passenger with not being allowed on the plane. Then lose the bag, claim that it was sent on my flight because there was a written record of it, and then yes a baggage supervisor did apologize when they learned that the bag did not make my original flight but CO had no idea why. It took them the better part of the day yesterday to find out where the bag was--and it turned out that it was in the baggage loading area in DEL all the time.
Bad service is one thing. A bad attitude (mostly on the part of the DEL operatives) is another. I did get some good service from the baggage supervisors but the corporate office I first contacted couldn't have cared less about how I was treated in DEL.
Follow-up: Finally got my bag back. Lots of stuff stolen from it. I guess that's what happens when a bag sits in an airport for 36 hours largely unattended. Way to go Continental.
Last edited by euslaner; Aug 16, 2008 at 3:54 pm Reason: Follow-up
Sep 19, 2008, 10:36 pm
#49
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,475
Add YYZ, YUL and YVR which are easily larger than at least 3 of the above six cities as airports to the mix, and it's clear that *A dominates the North American continent like no other alliance. Oneworld only has AA to cover the whole continent and AA is very weak in the west coast. Skyteam will have the merged NW and DL but it is so inferior as an airline that I would never set foot on there anyway so long as I have a breath. In any case, their network will be ATL, MSP and SLC focus - not exactly very logical connecting points. I mean why on earth would people want to connect via ATL to go to Europe or South Africa?
Sep 20, 2008, 5:17 am
#51
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Los Angeles, CA; Philadelphia, PA
Programs: OZ Diamond
Posts: 6,140
I was excited about CO joining *A until I had to fly them. I was on govt travel from Nepal (in C)--and the travel agent said that UA was too expensive. So I took Indian Airlines from KTM to DEL and then CO from DEL to EWR and onward to IAD.
I almost didn't make the CO flight. Delhi has the strangest transit process I have ever seen--you get off your plane (here from Kathmandu) and then wait for someone to come and get all of the transfer passengers. They write down your name, passport number, connecting flight, and baggage claim #, then walk you down a long corridor like a group of prisoners of war, and leave you in a transit lounge. I exited that lounge and go to the Continental lounge. An hour and a half later, a Continental rep came for me and walked me out to an area where I had to identify my bag (on a cart by itself) and then she wrote down my home address and asked for my paper ticket. I gave it to her but she left it there (I didn't realize this). Ten minutes later she came back to the lounge and said that she could not get a boarding pass without the paper ticket and we argued over who had it. Half an hour later I finally got a supervisor (or international concierge as she was called) to come and the supervisor said that without the paper ticket, I couldn't board the plane. About 15 minutes more passed as I tried to call State in DC ( and the embassy and cell phone of the guy from State in Nepal, but no one answered. The rep stood there stoned faced and repeatedly told me and the concierge that I had my paper ticket. Even after I emptied my carry-on luggage twice in the presence of both of them, she continued to blame me.
Then the supervisor told the rep to retrace her steps and guess what--she found the paper ticket (but refused to apologize for messing me up)--she came back with my boarding passes about 10 minutes later and boarding had already begun. But my bag didn't make the plane and when I called multiple times on Thursday, ultimately reaching corporate, I was told that the bag was on the plane and that this was verified. But no one knew where it was. So yesterday they determined that the bag was listed as on the plane, but was still in Delhi. So they put it in a special container to be shipped on last night's flight and it seems to have made it. I received calls from both IAD and a supervisor in Houston for CO that my bag is on its way to my house.
But the behavior of the CO reps in DEL was atrocious--blame the passenger and not accept any responsibility for misplacing the paper ticket. Threaten the passenger with not being allowed on the plane. Then lose the bag, claim that it was sent on my flight because there was a written record of it, and then yes a baggage supervisor did apologize when they learned that the bag did not make my original flight but CO had no idea why. It took them the better part of the day yesterday to find out where the bag was--and it turned out that it was in the baggage loading area in DEL all the time.
Bad service is one thing. A bad attitude (mostly on the part of the DEL operatives) is another. I did get some good service from the baggage supervisors but the corporate office I first contacted couldn't have cared less about how I was treated in DEL.
Follow-up: Finally got my bag back. Lots of stuff stolen from it. I guess that's what happens when a bag sits in an airport for 36 hours largely unattended. Way to go Continental.
I almost didn't make the CO flight. Delhi has the strangest transit process I have ever seen--you get off your plane (here from Kathmandu) and then wait for someone to come and get all of the transfer passengers. They write down your name, passport number, connecting flight, and baggage claim #, then walk you down a long corridor like a group of prisoners of war, and leave you in a transit lounge. I exited that lounge and go to the Continental lounge. An hour and a half later, a Continental rep came for me and walked me out to an area where I had to identify my bag (on a cart by itself) and then she wrote down my home address and asked for my paper ticket. I gave it to her but she left it there (I didn't realize this). Ten minutes later she came back to the lounge and said that she could not get a boarding pass without the paper ticket and we argued over who had it. Half an hour later I finally got a supervisor (or international concierge as she was called) to come and the supervisor said that without the paper ticket, I couldn't board the plane. About 15 minutes more passed as I tried to call State in DC ( and the embassy and cell phone of the guy from State in Nepal, but no one answered. The rep stood there stoned faced and repeatedly told me and the concierge that I had my paper ticket. Even after I emptied my carry-on luggage twice in the presence of both of them, she continued to blame me.
Then the supervisor told the rep to retrace her steps and guess what--she found the paper ticket (but refused to apologize for messing me up)--she came back with my boarding passes about 10 minutes later and boarding had already begun. But my bag didn't make the plane and when I called multiple times on Thursday, ultimately reaching corporate, I was told that the bag was on the plane and that this was verified. But no one knew where it was. So yesterday they determined that the bag was listed as on the plane, but was still in Delhi. So they put it in a special container to be shipped on last night's flight and it seems to have made it. I received calls from both IAD and a supervisor in Houston for CO that my bag is on its way to my house.
But the behavior of the CO reps in DEL was atrocious--blame the passenger and not accept any responsibility for misplacing the paper ticket. Threaten the passenger with not being allowed on the plane. Then lose the bag, claim that it was sent on my flight because there was a written record of it, and then yes a baggage supervisor did apologize when they learned that the bag did not make my original flight but CO had no idea why. It took them the better part of the day yesterday to find out where the bag was--and it turned out that it was in the baggage loading area in DEL all the time.
Bad service is one thing. A bad attitude (mostly on the part of the DEL operatives) is another. I did get some good service from the baggage supervisors but the corporate office I first contacted couldn't have cared less about how I was treated in DEL.
Follow-up: Finally got my bag back. Lots of stuff stolen from it. I guess that's what happens when a bag sits in an airport for 36 hours largely unattended. Way to go Continental.
LAX
Sep 21, 2008, 4:44 am
#52
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Generally PHX
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP, TG Gold, Starwood Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 413
I think if you had read of the Delhi Transit horror stories elsewhere on FT, you'd not have made that jump. I decided on my second transit in DEL, that I'd never do that again. Untill QR started more regular flts to ktm, i flew to Europe via BKK on TG.
Sep 30, 2008, 4:38 pm
#53
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 3
Earn United EQM Flying Continental?
Last June Continental announced that it was joining Star Alliance and you could earn United EQM on a Continental flight. Does anyone know if this is in effect? If so, is it on both domestic and International flights?
Regards,
Michael
http://www.united.com/press/detail/0,6862,59599,00.html
Regards,
Michael
http://www.united.com/press/detail/0,6862,59599,00.html
Oct 1, 2008, 7:26 pm
#54
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Akumal, Mexico
Programs: Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium (thanks to SPG), AA Life Gold, UA Life Gold
Posts: 840
Last June Continental announced that it was joining Star Alliance and you could earn United EQM on a Continental flight. Does anyone know if this is in effect? If so, is it on both domestic and International flights?
Regards,
Michael
http://www.united.com/press/detail/0,6862,59599,00.html
Regards,
Michael
http://www.united.com/press/detail/0,6862,59599,00.html
Oct 21, 2008, 10:07 pm
#55
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Westchester NY (HPN) / Boca Raton FL (PBI/FLL)
Programs: True Blue, Continental OnePass Gold
Posts: 26
Any update on CO joining Star?
I am curious what the status is on COs entry into the Star systems. Also, anyone have an idea on how this will effect AMEX miles?
Nov 12, 2008, 8:02 pm
#57
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: I'm From Here
Programs: AC*SE & MM/*Wood Gold/HHonors Diamond/Marriott Silver/AirMiles Gold
Posts: 4,567
Are you sure you want to stuck by this statement? Vancouver isn't even in the top six in Canada! I'm also including San Francisco in this data, as it's a hub and larger than any Canadian metro area:
City populations:
Metro area populations:
City populations:
Code:
rank City pop N.A. country ---- --- ---- ------- New York 8.1 mil # 2 #1 Los Angeles 3.8 mil # 3 #2 Chicago 2.9 mil # 4 #3 Toronto 2.6 mil # 5 #1 Houston 2.0 mil # 8 #4 Philadelphia 1.4 mil #11 #5 Phoenix 1.4 mil #13 #6 Montreal 1.0 mil #25 #2 San Francisco 0.8 mil #34 #13 Vancouver 0.5 mil #66 #7
Code:
Metro area pop N.A. ---- --- ---- New York 29.9 mil # 1 Los Angeles 16.6 mil # 3 Chicago 10.9 mil # 4 San Francisco 7.1 mil # 6 Toronto 5.5 mil # 9 Houston 4.6 mil #12 Montreal 3.5 mil #16 Phoenix 3.1 mil #18 Vancouver 1.9 mil #33 Philadelphia 1.5 mil #46
For Example, in New York's 29 million people, the CITY of Philly is included...
Nov 21, 2008, 7:23 pm
#58
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,946
Do you think that three US airlines can co-exist under one alliance (when one is better than the other two)? Do you see any of the three leaving or merging down the line? I wonder if Lufthansa will get closer with CO and start to distance itself from UA and US.
Dec 10, 2008, 9:32 am
#59
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AA EXP; 1W Emerald; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold; UA dirt
Posts: 7,819
Any idea as to an entry date or timeline for CO? Looks like I've got 3 trips in February or March to Mexico and the choices are basically AA or CO... I'd like to put them on CO and credit them to my UA or US accounts if possible...