Traveling for a funeral... we don't care!
At the end of October my family and I had to book a last minute flight to Mexico, since my Father-in-law passed away. Last minute airfares are known to be expensive, so I had to shop around quickly since we needed the best fare and the earliest departure. Continental had the best fare, but surprisingly not through their website but through Orbitz.com; the difference was about $300.
I decided to book the flight which will take us to our destination by 9PM the next day, just in time for the funeral which will take place at 4pm the day after.
There was bad weather in Houston, our connecting hub and needless to say our Charleston SC to Houston flight was delayed. We expected also our flight to Mexico to be delayed, which it was, but they just kept delaying it over and over because the crew for the flight didn’t make into Houston it because their flight was cancelled.
Almost at midnight they decided that the flight was finally cancelled. The next flight to our destination didn’t leave until 8pm next day, which was too late for the funeral. The airline tried to accommodate us in a flight into a nearby city, but there were no seats available other than stand-by. They didn’t care about the urgency we had to get there and since they blamed the cancellation on the weather, they did not pay for a hotel room.
Long story short, we didn’t get seats on the stand by flight, and after long discussions turned into fight with different employees of the airline, we asked to get tickets to return to Charleston. I requested a full refund but obviously they will not issue it since we already used a portion of the tickets, the only portion open is the unused part, for which we’ll have to pay an activation fee plus any difference in airfare.
The point is, nobody gave a damn that my wife was debastated for her loss and that we wouldn't be able to make it on time for the funeral. Their 1-800-WECARE2 hot line should be renamed to 1-800-WEDON'T CARE.
Continental Airlines has so poor customer service that we will not flight with them ever again! Even if they are the cheapest option.
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