Sorry, but to suggest that the level of service this customer received requires him to "take some responsibility" beggars belief. That situation was chaotic, and if his e-ticket states 60 minutes, and we have no reason to disbelieve him, then turning up 85 minutes early is a reasonable action. Many people are not frequent international travellers, so would not necessarily know to turn up 2 hours before. To be honest, it does not sound to me as if the extra 35 minutes would have made much of a difference.
That it is acceptable for a passenger to spend 5.5 hours in an airport, only to fail to secure a flight, tells you how low our expectations of the airlines have have fallen. They have trained us to accept this shoddy service, but I find it astonishing when people respond supporting this standard of service. Even if you were to find fault with the passenger for arriving at the airport only 85 minutes instead of 120 minutes ahead of the flight (and I don't see how you can, if his eticket told him 60 minutes); the standard of service he subsequently received is appalling. We seem to have given the airlines permission to hold us hostage as a "condition of carriage". It is ridiculous.
Continental's defence appears to be that it is a busy travel day!! Who would know this? No one turns up at an airport unexpectedly. Continental had the names and addresses of everyone showing up that day.. they knew how many people were booked and therefore knew how many staff they needed to process them. Joe Public only knows that he has booked, and follows the instructions given to him by the airline.
Let the responsibility sit where it belongs:
Continental were understaffed
Continental failed to manage the line in such a way that this family was able to make the flight
Continental overbooked both flights scheduled to his destination that day
Continental staff failed to provide adequate customer service
Continental staff mis-informed him where is baggage could be collected
But guess what... it is the PASSENGERS fault.
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