[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by msc39nj

You can make up all the platitudes and imaginary weather forecasts you want. I looked out my window all day yesterday and saw nothing but blue skies. There were nothing but blue skies the entire time I waited at the airport. Numerous Continental flights left the same airport on the same day for the same destination, both before and after the cancelled flights.

Funny. Seemed to me when I arrived @EWR there was this "stuff" which had been plowed off the runways and taxiways. Oh yeah, I think they call it snow/slush. Also, as we taxied into the gate there were departing flights being de-iced as well.

Continental cancelled the flights, provided no notification- no phone call, no email, and if they did put something on their website they didn't do a very good job, because that's the first place I went and nothing stuck out as particularly informative, except for the visually unobvious 'cancelled' status listed along with all the usual flight into, when requesting the status of that particular flight. Like it's no biggie.

It is possible that the number of cancellations overwhelmed the system. My flight to Newark was delayed and I signed up for text (SMS) notifications and got one every time the delay changed. Is it possible that you left no contact information w/Continental or that your contact info was incorrect?

The only reason I noticed it was a friend told me several flights were cancelled. It's funny that I had no problem calling, reaching, booking and flying JetBlue from the same airport on the same day, to the same destination. Apparently, they learned from their past mistakes, and know what customer service means.

Jet Blue has very limited operation at Newark comapred to CO. Their hub is @JFK and I heard that they had delays/cancellation there as well. CO also has a hub at Houston which was also afftected by strong gusty wind. A flight from Phoenix to Houston was put on a 4 hour hold by ATC while I was waiting for my flight. It is very possible that the aircraft you were supposed to board in EWR came from IAH and was affected.

This is a place where people voice complaints about Continental Airlines. I think that providing information to people how to make their complaints in a manner that might get Continental interested in addressing them properly is perfectly reasonable. When a company chooses to treat its customers like dirt, they should expect to be creating negative goodwill.

Yes, this is a place for complaints and when those complaints are valid and presented in a reasonable manner they are validated. You, however, chose to post the same exact thing to twelve different threads which seriously diminished your credibility. Continental transports thousands of peole a day. Not every single one is going to be 100% satisfied. Even after your multiple posts and rants I still am not sure what your major complaint is. Weather caused your flight to be cancelled? It happens. Get used to it and get over it. Continental didn't contact you about the cancellation? They certainly contacted me. Not personally, but I got text messages that gave me timely information about the flight. As a matter of fact, my text messages were getting to me almost as soon as the airport status boards were updated. I'm not buying that you had provided Continental with correct contact information. You weren't even saavy enough to locate the same information on the website that I did regarding re-booking your ticket.

Originally Posted by ChrisH

You do realize that security is not done by the airlines, and they have no control over it. If you want to complain about security, go to TSA.gov, and send them a complaint. Don't blame Continental. Also, air fare, is not anywhere near what it should be. Air fare should be 2-3 times what it is. Considering inflation, etc., you are lucky you get tickets for what you do.

Exactly. TSA is out of Continental's control. So is weather. If ATC edcides that only X number of planes can land in an hour, the airlines bound for that airport have to adjust accordingly which means delaying or cancelling flights. As far as airfare goes, my flight yetsreday was full of paying first-class passengers. There were no complimentary upgrades given. Those paying fir first-class seats were off-setting all the cheap-o fares back in coach.

By the way ... I am a pilot, and weather effects aviation is far more ways than just, is there a thunderstorm out your window. Winds aloft can be 100+ MPH, while at the ground they can be 5 MPH. This can cause delays, yet be a perfectly clear day. ALSO, just because an airplane is scheduled to fly from point A to point B, with you on it, doesn't mean that weather being bad in just those locations, point A, and point B, effect the flight. The airplane can be coming from another city, where the weather is bad, or weather along that route can be bad. These type of cancellations, and delays happen to all airline, not just Continental, and they also effect Joe Schmoe in his little private plane. I've had numerous flights I've had to cancel, flying personally, in my little private plane, for weather. If you knew how weather effected aviation, and how thunderstorms, rain, etc., only scratch the surface, you'd realize how ignorant most passengers are, when they try to make these claims about weather not being an issue, or "I just talked to my friends who said it wasn't even raining". I literally have to bite my tongue not to laugh at those people.

^^ And the bottom line is safety. I'm sure you wouldn't risk your passenger's or your own safety by flying whenn weather is likely to be an issue and Continental will not risk the safety of it's passengers and crew either. If every flight just took off regardless of weather there would be a lot of dead people in a lot of wrecked planes littered about the country.

At any rate ... your hope of Continental going under, ... despite your experience, Continental is frequently ranked airline of the year, #1 airline in the world, and frequently ranks high in customer satisfaction ratings, next to SWA. Just because you had one bad dealing with Continental, with a few bad apples, doesn't make it a bad airline. Again .. look at the complaints on this message board, for the other airlines.

He did look at the other airline's complaints on this board. Then decided Continental had a disproportiante number which is to say disproporttonately few. So he flooded the Continental threads with his miscreance.

Originally Posted by msc39nj

I am sure most employees are 'good' people, but you only highlight the problems with an airline like Continental. First, the customers pay for the service, and when customers are not happy with the service, they do this thing called complaining. Accept it. Or, don't take our money. Then won't complain.

I can only interpret this 2 ways. 1. Continental should give a full refund to anyone who complains regardless of the issue or if the complaint is even valid. OR 2. Continental should provide it's services and only get paid AFTER that service has been rendered and then only if the whole experience was satisfactory. Ridiculous.

Your service is your service, including all its packaging and delivery (airports, TSA security). Nobody comes to the airport just to experience the sublime pleasure of standing on lines, going through security checkpoints and waiting through delays. The airlines collect all the fees, regardless of where all the costs are, so in the end, it's all their 'product' as far as their customers are concerned, and that's all that matters.

So, do you go to the concierge desk at Nordstrom to complain about bad food or poor service in the mall's food court? Sure the airlines collect fees such as passenger facilities charges and the so-called "9/11" security fee. They do so because they are mandated and the collected fees are passed on to the agencies who levy them. Would you rather have to pay the TSA as you go through the screening process and then be met by an aiport employee to collect the passenger facility charge before you're allowed to set foot on the concourse?

Second, let's accept your assertion about pricing. I suggest then that Continental double? triple? it's fares, whatever it takes, stop selling tickets to passengers that it doesn't intend to honor (you've pointed out the motivation to overbook or book tickets on flights you never operate), and attempt to operate profitably.

What about selling tickets to passengers who don't intend to honor their part of the cotract, namely showing up for the flight? (And yes, when you buy airline tickets both parties enter into a contract of carriage.) Let's say an aircraft has 150 seats. So you're saying that the airline would only be alllowed to sell 150 tickets. Let's then say that 10 days before the flight all 150 tickets representing all 150 seats are sold. The airline can, by your rules, no longer sell any more tickets for that flight even though in the 10 days prrior to the flight there are people who would ordinarily have paid for a seat but could not because it is full. Now fast forward to the day the flight is scheduled to depart and a family of four with tickets for that flight get a flat tire on their way to the airport. Now there are 4 seats which will go out empty, even though for the past ten days people would have paid for those seats had they been allowed to do so. It just doesn't make sense not to overbook with the reasonable expectation that not all who are holding tickets for a flight are going to show up.

Originally Posted by jimworcs

Firstly, saying that an unacceptable practice is "standard" in the industry doesn't make it right. Airlines have choices.. for example, some low cost airlines do not over book. JetBlue in the US and Easyjet in Europe for example do not do this. If there are no shows, they will sell the seats to standby passengers 40 minutes before departure. It is absolutely wrong that the airlines have been permitted to sell seats that they do not have and strand passengers with the defence that it is in the T&C'S.

There is no guarantee that people will be standing by to pay for a flight that suddenly has empty seats. If a flight is overbooked, they first offer compensation to confirmed passengers who will voluntarily give up that seat. If not enough volunteers are solicited, they then deny boarding to the last to checkin for the flight, pay them compensation, and re-book them on the next available flight to their destination.

I don't wish ill on anyone, but corporations which abuse their effective monopolies have to face consquences or they will get out of control. Look at the arrogance of the banks and ask yourself that if they had been properly regulated would this have happened? The answer is no. The same applies to the airlines. Competition only works in a properly regulated environment. It is time to take measures which include:

1. Re-regulating the industry
2. Strict enforcement of minimum standards of service, with fines and
penalties for failure to adhere to them.
3. Drop restrictions on foreign ownership of airlines
4. Drop restrictions on the operation of airlines from other countries
competing with US airlines
5. Ban the sale of seats more than once
6. Prohibit any airline from seeking Chapter 11 protection from creditors
more than once every 20 years
7. Levy penalties and fines on airlines where the DOT establishes any
dishonesty or malfeasance by airline employees. For example, if an
airline refuses lawful compensation and is subsequently found to have
mislead passengers (eg. blaming weather delay when it was in fact an
operational one), to triple the compensation to the passenger.

So you really want to go back to the days of regulation? Sure the service might improve but the price you will pay for that service will be astronomically high.

Non-refundable advance purchasse fares - gone! They will simply look at the cost of operating a particular flight, add on the profit they are allowed to make, then divide by the number of seats on that plane. Then on the day of departure if there are no-shows the arline will collect additonal fare based on the number of empty seats. That sounds like a great system, doesn't it? Or perhaps one's fare should be based on the combined weight of one's person and baggage. Then that would make it really fair since it costs more to transport a heavy person with lots of bags than a 98 pound granny with a purse! Better yet, do what TWA and Pan AM did back in the early days of aviation. Base a round-trip tran-continental fare on one month's wages of the average person. The average wage index for the year 2007 was $ 40,405.48 so a round-trip ticket from Los Angeles to New York would be about $ 3,367. I'll bet lots of people would fly at those prices!