[aroyvt]

We were six of us flying from Burlington, VT to Cancun Mexico, with a layover stop in Newark, NJ this past February. Ours was the first flight out at 6:30am on a Saturday, and we were expected to arrive in Cancun around 12:30pm. Due to a bad light bulb on the fuel pump gauge, our flight out was delayed by 70 minutes because "they were waiting for a maintenance technician from the other side of the airport, who was waiting for a fax".

Finally we boarded an ice-cold plane (what, they couldn't turn on the heat in those 70 minutes?) and fly to Newark. We arrive with no time to spare and have to traverse several concourses to our connecting flight (all Continental). There were 4 other passengers on our flight from Burlington also trying to catch the flight to Cancun, so that makes 10 passengers in all. We were lucky enough to catch one of those electric airport taxis who gave us a ride most of the way. This saved us a lot of time, but no luck. As we arrived at the gate, our plane was pulling away, without us 10 passengers.

So now we have to wait in line to rebook our flights. The "best they could do" was a flight to Houston with a connecting flight to Cancun. The flight to Houston was not for another 6 hours: 3pm. Very annoyed, we kindly asked if there wasn't more they could do for us, considering this was caused by a maintenance problem and not an act of God, they gave each of us $8 meal vouchers, which didn't even cover breakfast.

In Houston, we again had to sprint through a couple concourses, (no taxis this time) but at least we made the Cancun flight. Then, what really irritated us, was that they held up the plane for 4 passengers who were going to be 10 minutes late from a connecting flight. What the f***?

We finally got to Cancun just before 9:30pm. Little did we know, first time to Mexico, that we'd be waiting 90 minutes in the customs line. Then we had to take a 30 minute taxi to the ferry port to catch a boat to Isla Mujeres, and the last boat is 11:30pm. We arrived at the port at 11:30 and thankfully, the boat was 10 minutes late in leaving or we'd be stranded on the dock overnight. By the time we got on the boat, it was like we were in an episode of The Amazing Race. We were all frazzled and didn't get to our hotel until 12:15am. Sure, this was a vacation, but I spent good money on this trip and taken time off from work, and Continental's poor handling of the situation and disregard for our itineraries is appalling. Subsequent calls to Continental were not helpful. They refused to admit the mechanical issue, saying it was weather-related. I have vowed to never ever fly on Continental again. If a $100 extra in fare money says that I get to my destination on time - say on a beach with a drink in hand - I will gladly pay it.

[PHXFlyer]

1. Your initial complaint is about Continental's adherence to FAA regulations to not fly a plane which has a known safety issue - namely a fuel pump indicator lamp being out. Ridiculous.

2. I traverse Continental's Newark terminal many times a year. There are 3 concourses, not "several" as you stated. Yes it does take time if your arriving and departing flights are at opposite ends however it is no worse than any other US hub.

3. When you were told your re-booked flights were the "best they could do" that's probably the best they could do. At least they got you on a single connection flight in the same general direction. Had you been flying Delta they would probably have sent you to Salt Lake City first! What were you expecting? A chartered aircraft perhaps?

4. The dollar amount of the vouchers has been the same for a few years now. At least you can apply it towards the price of a meal. The airline knows there is little that can be purchased for $8 at the airport but what are you going to do?

5. Why are you complaining about the time it took you to clear Mexican customs? This is something that is totally out of Continental's control.

All in all you arrived at your destination safely even though you were delayed several hours. You say you have contacted Continental several times but what more do you want from them? You claim they mis-handled your situation but it seems they got you on the next available flight to Cancun. Be thankful it was only six hours later and not the next or following day.

[Leatherboy2006]

it was a light bulb not working that downed Eastern flight 401 in the everglades in 1972 (fan of the ghost story that followed) and that was a brand new L-1011
while they were trying to fix it in flight.

[The_Judge]

Burlington, being an "outstation" will not have mechanics from the airline. Cities like this sub-contract to the local fixed base operator. That mechanic basically will get the call from the airline and do exactly as told by them.

Being the first flight of the day, I can tell you from experience, they probably had to call him at home to get him in. Especially on a weekend day. Then he will call the airline's maintenance dept. and they will instruct him to fix it if possible (no parts on the field means no fix) or write it up in the logbook for a fix in the next city or when available and fly that segment if allowed.

One or the other happened as you were able to fly but don't discount the problem just cuz you say it's a light. Lights are what the flight deck guys look at and one not working can be disaster as mentioned in an above post.

I turn it over to the next guy who will probably say this is forseeable and shouldn't have happened.

[countrynewsman]

While I agree that the light is a safety issue and definitely agree that the plane should remain grounded to due safety reasons, I feel Continental could have done more. It seems clear that 10 passengers missed their flight because there were 10 or more standbys at the gate. What do you want to bet that the flight would have been held a little longer if the plane were half full?

I was on a United flight a few years ago and had a connection in Denver. Because no gate was available, we sat on the tarmac for over 30 minutes after landing and missed our flight. We arrived at the gate as the jetway was being pulled back, but couldn't get on. We were rescheduled on another flight a little over two hours later AND were given travel vouchers nearly equal to our round trip fare.

I'll bet the connecting flight was overbooked and had the ten passengers arrived on time, Continental would have been required to pay out compensation to those who would have been denied boarding. Instead, they got off with a measly $8 voucher.

Another complaint that should be forwarded to the DOT.

[jimworcs]

Judge..

I turn it over to the next guy who will probably say this is forseeable and shouldn't have happened.

you don't mean me do you? Actually, I do think maintenance problems are within the control of the airline, but although I would certainly couch it in less combative terms.. I kind of agree with Phx on this issue. Try not to faint. If an aircraft goes tech, I prefer that they fix the problem properly. If that delays me, so be it. Chalk it up to s*it happens. I also feel that Continental did a reasonable job of getting the family to their destination.. admittedly very late, but at least on the same day. I therefore do not think the family are due much in the way of compensation. Maybe some miles or similar gesture.

However, I take issue if Continental then went on to lie to the customer and blame the delay on the weather, Delta style. Airlines are notoriously dishonest about these issues and this kind of lying needs to be challenged.

Now, onto Leatherboy....

it was a light bulb not working that downed Eastern flight 401 in the everglades in 1972

Er.. not really. The Eastern crash into the everglades was caused by pilot error due to loss of situational awareness. The role of the burnt out lightbulb was a minor event in a catelogue of errors made by the flight crew. The aircraft itself was fully functioning and had no defects which contributed to the crash. It was a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) event, meaning the aircraft was fully under control at the time of the crash. The ghost stories are good though...

[Jetliner]

Originally Posted by jimworcs

Er.. not really. The Eastern crash into the everglades was caused by pilot error due to loss of situational awareness. The role of the burnt out lightbulb was a minor event in a catelogue of errors made by the flight crew. The aircraft itself was fully functioning and had no defects which contributed to the crash. It was a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) event, meaning the aircraft was fully under control at the time of the crash. The ghost stories are good though...

The aircraft was NOT under control at the time. For those not familiar with this one:

Dec 27,1972. Flight was getting ready to land in Miami at night. When the crew lowered the landing gear, the light for the nose gear didn't light up. The flight engineer (FE) went down below to check if the gear was down (the L-1011 has a set of sites in the avionics bay below the flight deck, and a trap door to get down there.) The FE was having trouble seeing, so the captain got up to help. But as he got up, he accidentally nudged his control column forward, which disengaged the auto-pilot, which had been keeping the plane flying level while they tried to figure things out.

Now for those of you keeping score so far, you know that this means that only the first officer was at the controls. But he was kind of wrapped up in things, and didn't notice the auto-pilot being off. Nor did he notice that the plane was not flying level, but rather on a 200 ft per minute descent. He finally did notice things were wrong, but unfortunately he came to that realization about 3 seconds before the crash.

Yes the crew screwed up, and they weren't paying proper attention. And yes there was the usual chain of events. But PHX is correct in that the first link in the chain was a burned out bulb.