Hey, it all worked out
 

You must have been surprized when you tried to check in and found that you had missed your flight. :eek: But you did get to leave on the day that you really wanted too, and while those walk-up fares would have been high, you and Continental were able to resolve things with $100 rebooking fees and award tickets (with $75 late booking fees), even though you did wind up taking the first leg on a different airline.

This a good thread though, a reminder to double check those itineraries. i think I'll take a look at mine right now. :)

As fate would have it...

Just last Friday, I booked my first ever flight on F9. I was dreading the 6:45 a.m. departure I was seeing until I noticed one at 7:30, so I bought that one, grateful for the extra 45 minutes sleep. Ten minutes later, my email confirmation arrives, and I notice that it's 7:30 pm.

Oh cr*p.

Called up the 800 number, expecting "sorry, no changes" (at worst) or "that will be $100" (at best). I explained my mistake, and the agent switched me, no fee, and even refunded a $5 fare difference.

In this particular case, I would have just gone to the airport and pretended like I had not tried to check in online. Typically, the airport agents have much more discretion than the phone reservations agent. Your story about your good friend's wedding would have been quite compelling at the airport.

If you had caught your mistake within hours of mistaking a mistake, the special tech support number for co.com is quite helpful and will help fix a reservation (for free).

ONce again my problem is not with the fact that Continental didn't bend the so-called rules it's with the rule itself!!

Which rule is that?

The "Don't Save Customers From Their Own Stupidity" rule?

I really don't like defending CO, but I like your "But I'm entitled!!!" attitude even less. You screwed up; they didn't.

[/story]

:confused: I am politely wondering if you are insane? It is common practice in the travel industry that if you miss your plane, train, rental car, etc. and there is space on the next one they put you on that one.

This is a complete departure from that and a **** you charge.

I agree w/ a previous posters comment that I probably would have had better luck dealing w/ an airport desk agent than a CO phone rep. But once again, that shouldn't be the case.

Main Entry: customer service
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: assistance and other resources that a company provides to the people who buy or use its products or services

Sometimes, sometimes not. When they do so voluntarily, it's excellent customer service and should be appreciated. Since it's your fault and not theirs, they're not required to. It's rather poor manners to complain about something you're not entitled to in the first place, IMHO.

Btw, you might want to edit your first statement. It's an ad hominem attack and considered bad form.

The difference might lie in that the airline ticket issued by the telephone agent constitutes a contract which binds the airline to certain built-in obligations such as compensation in the event the passenger is bumped, etc. etc. Whereas when you go to the airport, anything arranged for you will be something along the lines of buying a used car with no warranty: i.e, one that is bought on the understanding that the terms of purchase are 'as is, where is'. Bottom line: the airline likely incurs considerably less risk, and with it a lower associated cost, for accomodating people who are actually at the airport since no guarantees of any kind are offered. If this is the case, then one cannot realistically insist that the two situations be treated the same.

It is also unrealistic to compare simple itineraries to complex ones (and it seems your friend who slept in not only went to the airport, but had missed the outbound leg of a simple round-trip, not the outbound leg of a multipoint itinerary.) It is common practice for airlines to cancel the entire itinerary if a segment is missed once a certain deadline has passed, and it makes perfect sense: if passenger hasn't shown up to be transported to Austin, and no word has been heard from the passenger, it is logical to conclude the passenger likely won't make the flight from Austin to wherever.

In an era of yield management practices, wildly fluctuating fares are the norm, not the exception, and this goes for advance purchase fares as well as last minute bookings. I've been checking fares to NYC in April for the last two months on at least five airlines: seat sale prices have been around CAN$310 to CAN$416, taxes in. Regular apex prices have been anywhere from CAN$310 to CAN$850 and even, in one case, CAN$1500 (and no, that wasn't business class.) Given that one can find a variation of up to 500 per cent in APEX fares, I would not be surprised to hear that the same variation is possible in last minute fares. For example, the seats that were to cost you $3000 as last minute fares on one flight on one day might have cost you much less as last minute fares booked on a different flight, on a different day.

I think the OP makes an excellent point. You make a mistake, you pay a couple hundred dollars, problem solved. This is fair to everyone. When the airline makes a "mistake" -overbooks or whatever - it doesn't pay the passenger thousands of dollars in compensation. And it would have cost the airline nothing to get the OP on another flight with a seat that would have been empty anyway.

A similar thing happened to me the other day & USAir switched my flight for free-over the phone. :cool:

The airline doesn't charge all of its passengers on a particular flight thousands of dollars for a fare, it charges such fares only to those who booked last-minute fares at certain market conditions. The latter likely comprise less than 5 per cent of the total passengers being carried on that flight, if that. Thus, to imply that in the event of a delay, passengers who paid a couple hundred dollars for their fare are somehow owed compensation many times what they originally paid is unreasonable.

The airline does, in a sense, 'compensate' passengers thousands of dollars for its overbooking practices. Overbooking ensures that airlines maximize occupancy, thus reducing the average cost of a seat: the net savings to consumers has likely been in the many millions, not just thousands of dollars. Holders of fare categories who are subject to being bumped when overbooking occurs have a 100 per cent chance of flying at the lower fare that they booked, but a much, much less-than-100 per cent chance of actually being bumped. (The usual scenario is for the airline to call for people who will voluntarily accept being bumped in return for receiving compensation which decreases the cost of flying for those passengers still further.)

Weather is not a mistake of the airline. Mechanical delays are, of course, but I suspect these delays cost the airline far more than the passenger. Not just in terms of repair costs, but in the reduced number of hours that plane can be used to generate revenue. Yes, the airline could maintain a backup fleet large enough to ensure no delays whatsoever - for those who could afford to fly at the associated prices.

This is not to say that airlines invariably trade fairly, only to point out that expectations by passengers aren't always fair, either.

I think your analysis is accurate. One point - the friend on American didn't go to the airport. She dealt with it over the phone w/ no problems.

$3000 for a flight that's wide open and that even has award tickets available is just ridiculus. I don't care if it was my mistake I would dump them in a second!!!!

Finally someone completely agrees with the OP!

Oh, wait...wasn't the OP's flight to Leon?

And you're from....Leon?

Um, yeah.

:rolleyes:

I think its time to get to the point of thinking "I guess I'm wrong, it was fault, all other FF think so at least, maybe I should stop with this I'm always right attitude. " Theres someone over at the AC forum you would get along with quite well.

At least we can agree on that. As I said before, I think most walk-up fares are highway robbery. I certainly don't think any airline endears themselves to many customers by charging outrageous last minute fares.