[poorpassenger]

Hi All,
I have booked my flight from ORD -> Newark --> Mumbai, India. I am flying with my 1 year and 8 years old. There is only 1 hour and 45 minutes of leeway between 1126 and flight to Mumbai India so I have been watching the flight since the day I have booked the tikctes (past 15 days). Unfortunately, it is delayed almost every day by for 1 hour to 2 hour due to Air traffic control issue (NOT due to weather most of the time).

Based on that I am sure I will miss my connecting flight. So I called Customer Service and they said this is a legal connection so you will be fine!! I kept requesting them to put me on earlier flight so that I don't miss the flight. Because the next flight to Mumbai India is next day. The thought of being strangled on the airport with 2 kids for 20 hours horrifies me.

In spite of my repeated requests they are not ready to make change at not charge!! I don’t understand why they have these flights which can never make it in time to the destination!!

Continental must take some actions here; instead of making passengers suffer.

[Corbel]

get to the airport as early as possible and go stand by (some airlines, if there is space available, you can put yourself on the flight confirmed for a cost. i know AA does that. i went stand by on an earlier flight today, couldn't pay the $50 for a confirmed seat) so try that. another thing is that it is not continentals fault for ATC delays. what actions?? they can only get the time slots they have. like i said, your best bet is to get to the airport (try getting on the first flight that day to EWR) and go standby

[jimworcs]

Well, here we have a passenger who has been allocated a connection which the airline knows that they have failed to meet consistently. He has attempted to be pro-active in preventing problems and sought a solution and the airline has responded by trying to turn it into a "revenue opportunity" and this from one of supposedly "better" airlines, Continental. Whilst Corbel, we can agree that some ATC problems are not the fault of the airlines (although that is somewhat debatable, as since de-regulation, airlines have created massive hubs and then concentrated too many flights into tight time slots, and that is something they control). Here a passenger has done the research and identified a specific problem with this connection and asked the airline to help prevent the problem. The airline falls back on pathetic attempts to get more money from the passenger.
I would write to customer services and ask them to review this situation. Put as much detail as you can about the pattern of late arrivals and what your proposed solution is.. which flight you would like to be transferred to. I think this is a reasonable request and there may be a chance that someone is left working in an airline with an ounce of common sense and a desire to help the passenger. I know this is unlikely, but there are still a few airline employees left who care what happens to the passenger.. they are just hard to find.

Lastly, whilst

The thought of being strangled on the airport

is horrible, it can be better than the alternative, if you ever fly with Delta!!

[countrynewsman]

Even if the Chicago-Newark flight showed on time consistently, I would be hesitant to book a once-daily international flight with a connection less than three hours (or more). If you miss the connection, you still would have to wait 24 hours, no matter who's at fault on the delay.

[The_Judge]

The thought of being strangled on the airport with 2 kids for 20 hours horrifies me.

I would think the thought of being strangled anywhere would be bad.

Not much you can do here, I wouldn't think. Keep trying to call and change. You might get a sympethetic agent.

You could just bite the bullet and pay any change fees and plead your case after the fact to customer service and hope for a refund. Have all documentation for that particular late flight and cross your fingers that it will be late the day you are supposed to fly. That would really be perfect if you have already paid and changed and arrived at EWR early and your original flight was late, too late for your Mumbai connection. Again, document it.

Then there is the reverse and reality. Airlines don't care. They have booked you on a legal connection and if you miss it, they'll deal with you then. Not much more to say, really. If you want to plan for the unexpected, one needs to book the first flight of the day out of their origin city and connect with the last flight out of the midpoint city to allow for disasters then. Not convenient but don't know what else to tell ya. I could rant but I'm too tired.

[Silent Bob]

The easiest way to settle this situation, is to do as Corbel suggest and go earlier and pay the same day change fee, which continental does and I take advantage when possible. Especially when a meeting ends early and I wanna get home. It's either pay the 50 per person or 250 per person. Also remember, you are flying into Newark. Air traffic is ridiculous there and if you are leaving on an afternoon or later flight, you're almost guaranteed to be delayed. Great job in being proactive and watching the flights for delays, but definitely pay the extra money for the earlier flight.

[Leatherboy2006]

Your actually flying out of and into two airports known for big air traffic delays (Ohare and newark).
Go early and try the stand by thing.