[dmwinlv]

I just had the trip from hell. I usually travel on Jet Blue and Southwest but this trip was booked by my company and my return flts were on Continental. I arrived at Boston airport on Friday evening to find out my flt was delayed by an hour. Clerk told me it would be no problem as I would still arrive in Newark in time to make my connection. When we arrived we we waited on the tarmac for 25 minutes because they didn't have a gate ready for us. When I finally got off plane I was told to look for a cart to get me to the connection gate which was 30 gates away. I ran for at least 10 gates before finding a cart willing to take me. When I got there the door was closed and even though there were 2 other people who also were suppose to be on the plane they would not ask the pilot to re-open the doors so we could get on. We were told to go to the service desk to get re-ticketed. I waited over an hour at the service desk. I watched the clerks treat every passenger before me with disdain. They showed no sympathy for any of us. When my time came I was informed I could ge a seat on the 8:45 flight the next morning. I asked if they would put me up and she said no because it wasn't their fault I missed my connection. When I asked whose fault it was she replied "air traffic control". I asked her for a list of hotels and she said she couldn't help me. I told her I had my wallet stolen and had no id except for my passort and no credit cards - only cash. Most reputable hotels require a credit card. She said it wasn't her problem.
I ended up spending a miserable night at Newark airport. My flight the next morning was delayed an hour. After finally boarding and the door closing I was finally thinking I was on my way home. We were then informed by the pilot that there was a technical problem and that maintenance was trying to resolve it. One and a half hours later we finally took off. Halfway through the flight I asked an attendant for some water to take some pain pills (My back was really hurting due to all the sitting (12 hours in the airport and then 8 hrs on the plane) She never came back - I asked her again 20 minutes later and she told me I could wait for the next drink service. 25 minutes later she got to my row and said "oh yeah you need water". If only one Continental employee had shown any compassion for me I would not be writing this complaint. Even if Continental offered free seats I would never fly Continental again.