- Report: #551593
Complaint Review: CONTINENTAL AIRLINES - Houston Texas
Reported By:
Sindee -
Clovis, California, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
CONTINENTAL AIRLINES
Address: P.O. Box 4607 Houston, 77210 Texas, United States of America
Phone:
The Americas: 713.324.508
Web:
www.continental.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
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CONTINENTAL AIRLINES ZERO customer service, MEAN-SPIRITED and NEGLIGENCE almost pushed me into a heart attack and ruined our family reunion/first vacation in 3yrs, SERIOUSLY!!! Houston, Texas
My children held a reunion in York, PA in April, 2009. This being our first ever I did everything in my power to stay healthy, am a heart patient with dislocated tail bone & back problem. There were 4 travelers in our group, we purchased our ticket directly from Continental website weeks in advance. We reported at San Diego International Airport for our flight to Baltimore, MD exactly 7minutes late our check-in time(1hr 53mins) before our domestic flight. Three of us had driven (over 8hrs, traffic jams & all) from Clovis to San Diego, CA. The Continental agent refused to allow us to get on the flight because we were 7 mins late for our check-in time, remeber there were passengers still going through the security checks and the flight was a good 1 hr 53 mins before take-off. Another agent tried to help us but she told him off and insisted there was no other flights and we could not be placed on any other partner airlines. We were stuck at San Deigo International Airport for the night because this one agent decided our fate that night.
We had a CAUCASIAN young man, my daughter's boyfriend whom she was willing to board but not us even though we were all in the same group. Next morning we stood in line at 4am to be placed on flight but were told every flight was booked until further notice which could be several days. My daughter took the bull by its horn so to speak and began making phone calls. After 11am we were split up and put on flights with some of us to Housten the others via Atlanta. Reaching Housten, TX I became ill & disoriented due to lack of proper sleep, meal & meds. We had informed the agents at the counter that I am unable to travel alone due to my health challenges but to no avail. There were other ways we were mistreated which my daughter's boyfriend clearly pointed out to the agents only to be told that he needs to sit queitlly if he wants to get on a flight. Eventually all 4 of us reached Baltimore two days later at 11pm.
By than I had contracted flu with fever reaching in the 103, a cough that kept me sick for two months, upper respiratory problems, 3 times I had to take emergency meds for chest pains, I believe flared up from so much stress. The trip was ruined costing us almost twice as much as it was supposed to. We complained by phone, email and a letter to the CEO with not even a single reply. THIS AIRLINE BOASTS, "Continental Airlines is dedicated to providing a level of service to
our customers that makes us a leader in the airline industry today. We
understand that to do this we need to have a product we are proud of
and employees who like coming to work everyday. Objective evidence
shows that we are leading the industry in customer service." Not so for us, we were of the wrong color, not even worth replying to nor acknowledging our complaints. I have traveled for 35 yrs of my life around the world and worked for an airline in my younger days but never had I come across such mean-spirited agent and negligence of paying customers. I have heard of other folks having being badly treated by Continental since.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Dave
Locust Grove,Virginia,
United States of America
Fact: Continental does not care about you.
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, October 13, 2010
I know as a fact that you were treated like this as I was also. I am going to file my own detailed report within the next few days. I just wanted to ask if I am the only one that finds it obvious that some of the rebuttals are from Continental Airlines employees trying to discredit the person complaining. Seriously think about it. What consumer would waste their time to type a rubuttal in detail that is obviously trying to discredit the original complaint? Why would a normal person do that? Why would they care? Why would they assume that they know what you went through? Why would they even be looking at a site like this to begin with? You can look through all of the Continental complaints and see that the rebuttals are from people that are somehow employed by Continental to specifically try to discredit you. Of course they click the consumer box because they do not want you to know this. They think we are all stupid!
Continental hires people specifically to try to discredit consumers like us. It is another reason not to use them. They make it plain and clear that they are all about money and don't care about the customer at all. I know first hand. I was just wondering if I was the only one to notice this. If you have been treated unfairly and you are not getting any results then you can try some of these.
1. Report them to the FBI's fraud department.
2. Report them to the Better Business Bureau.
3. Report them to the Federal Trade Commission.
4. Dispute the charges through your bank or credit card company.
5. Share your story on a blog, facebook, myspace, twitter etc. where all of your friends can see.
6. Verbally remind your friends and family not to use Continental and tell them your story in detail.
I realize the frustration of these consumers being pushed around by multi-billion dollar corporations. It is very possible that you can make sure Continental loses business because of the way they have treated you.
Do not give up!
Dave
Locust Grove,Virginia,
United States of America
They only care about money
#3Consumer Comment
Wed, October 13, 2010
I know as a fact that you were treated like this as I was also. I am going to file my own detailed report within the next few days. I just wanted to ask if I am the only one that finds it obvious that some of the rebuttals are from Continental Airlines employees trying to discredit the person complaining.
Seriously think about it. What consumer would waste their time to type a rubuttal in detail that is obviously trying to discredit the original complaint? Why would a normal person do that? Why would they care? Why would they assume that they know what you went through? Why would they even be looking at a site like this to begin with? You can look through all of the Continental complaints and see that the rebuttals are from people that are somehow employed by Continental to specifically try to discredit you. Of course they click the consumer box because they do not want you to know this. They think we are all stupid!
Continental hires people specifically to try to discredit consumers like us. It is another reason not to use them. They make it plain and clear that they are all about money and don't care about the customer at all. I know first hand. I was just wondering if I was the only one to notice this. If you have been treated unfairly and you are not getting any results then you can try some of these.
1. Report them to the FBI's fraud department.
2. Report them to the Better Business Bureau.
3. Report them to the Federal Trade Commission.
4. Dispute the charges through your bank or credit card company.
5. Share your story on a blog, facebook, myspace, twitter etc. where all of your friends can see.
6. Verbally remind your friends and family not to use Continental and tell them your story in detail.
I realize the frustration of these consumers being pushed around by multi-billion dollar corporations. It is very possible that you can make sure Continental loses business because of the way they have treated you.
Do not give up!
Angie
Houston,Texas,
U.S.A.
A Rebuttal to why this happened
#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, July 28, 2010
Dear Ill traveler,
I am so sorry you had a very bad experience with Continental. I am a former Reservations Manager. I will tell you the main reason you could not get on the plane was that you were late at the airport and you had checked bags; that is what the hold up was.
The cut off time is 60 minutes usually. Not 1 minute after to check bags; not even employees of the airline have this luxury. The very best thing you could have done is arrive early, Maybe the drive and traffic was too much. Next time leave the day before, spend the night near the airport. I don't think it is a good idea for you to bash Continental due to your lack of responsibility for getting there late.
You always HAVE to get to the airport sooner than later; especially if you have any sickness no matter what airline you travel. Stress of not being on time will bring on these symptoms. Otherwise, you will be flying standby. I am not talking just for Continental but every airline is the same when it comes to being late.
The very best thing to do is to carry on and not check bags. You check in, print out your boarding pass online and go to the gate. If you had done this, then you would not have missed your flight and everyone would have been on time.
Continental is a GRADE A airline. That is why they are booked solid most of the time. That is why you could not get a flight the next day because they were booked and due to your late arrival, you had to be flexible and fly standby. The airline cares about people and their safety. I don't see a valid complaint when you were the one who was late.
A former Reservations Manager
Sindee
Clovis,California,
United States of America
Continental Airlines No More
#5Author of original report
Thu, January 21, 2010
Thank you for sharing, we including our 200 plus close relatives living around the world decided not to travel by Continental any longer. We had to leave from SD because my daughter lives there and had to work until 4pm. I'll remember to give Jetblue or Southwest a try next time.
Karl
Clovis,New Mexico,
U.S.A.
My Wife Had The Same Problem
#6Consumer Suggestion
Sat, January 09, 2010
She was a few minutes late at Lubbock TX and the ONLY Continental agent on duty went to the gate and closed the counter. Next time either take Southwest which actually HAS customer service or get to the desk more than 2 hours before flight time. Why did you go from San Diego anyway? There are several nearer airports.
Of course if Continental bumped you for arriving late they might have the opportunity to charge you extra for a cancellation or change to a non-refundible ticket. Looks like they didn't. You are lucky. I quit using Continental years ago. Everybody except Jet Blue and Southwest are just as bad.
