[Keystone Cruiser]

Basically Continental Customer Service has turned a minor incident into a much more dislike of their company due to being non-professional.

I was first introduced to Continental a couple years ago when we were transfered to their airline early one morning when our flight on another carrier was cancelled. The Continental people at the airport went out of their way to accomodate our group and special needs in spite of having been added to their flight late. We then decided to fly Continental later that year on another trip. Once again, we were not disappointed by Continentals handling of our reservation, check-in or in-flight services. In fact, I was extremely impressed.

Back in September, we began planning our trip to Hawaii this summer. We decided to get our own airfare this summer due to the high cost and problems with using the cruise line airfare. (We had a new travel agent that is simply not up to the standards of our previous agent.) Our agent tried to push us toward another carrier for our flights, but I held fast to the request for Continental if they were remotely priced similar. (which they were.) Reluctantly our agent finally agreed and got us a quote from Continental. (quite comparable to the other quote).

At this point, we decided to begin looking at taking over our own reservations and letting the agent go. Our large group was meeting in late October and I was assigned the task of getting our own quotes. I contacted the major carriers that fly to Hawaii. (Delta, United, American and Continental). The first three provided me with very good group quotes. Continental's reply was tort.... they wouldn't provide me a quote because we already had a quote through an agent. In spite of me explaining the situation, the group reservation department refused my request. I then contacted Customer Service and explained the situation to them. They quickly got back to me and said to resubmit my request to the group department which I did.

The quote I got back from the group department was an insult. It was 50% higher than any of the other three group quotes and even much higher than the quote they gave our agent. (for the SAME flights!). I decided a mistake had been made, and in an attempt to keep Continental at the top of the list due to our previous experience, I responded to the quote that it much be an error since it was so much higher and that American Airlines quote was $xxxx and much lower. The response I got from the Group Sales Department was the most outlandish and insulting comment that I have ever received: "if American's quote is so much lower, then you should just choose to fly with them." No comment on their quote or even an attempt to justify it and keep my business. It became evident that the quote was not realistic.

In talking with someone else who works in aviation from a different company, they told me that it was probably just a quote from Continental to "save face." Basically, they did not want to give me a quote because of the TA's quote but they were forced to so they made the quote so ridiculously high that I would not take it. That silly quote satisfied my request for a quote while not going around an agent.

That simply made me mad. The more I sat and thought about how I was treated by their group department, the more upset I became at their arrogence and disrespect that they showed me (their customer).

We ended up booking with Continental using the agents quote. In spite of it being higher, it was somewhat better flight times and again, we liked our experiences on Continental. The stupidity of their group sales and Customer Service departments should not be used as a reflection of their flight crews.

After we made our final payment in November and got our seat assignments, I noticed that our seats were scattered throughout the plane! One of the reasons for us booking so early was to get a better selection of seats and set up our seating to accomodate some medical issues and children issues in our group. (on one flight, some of our group were in the very last seats on the plane, and we had young children sitting alone in seats.)

I immediately decided to get our seats changed to what we desired and went to the Continental Website. In spite of their computerized help agent, Alex, I could not find a way to change our seats. Using other methods, I was able to find what seats were still available. It is kind of bad that so many good seats are blocked out until 24 hours before the flight because the elderly/handicaped members of our party could really benefit from sitting there, but that is a minor issue to me and not what really upsets me.

I once again contacted customer service and told them of my issue. They wrote back that there was a problem with our reservation in changing seats online, but they would gladly change our seats if I sent them where I wanted us to sit. (a very nice gesture.). I quickly went to work and looking at available seats, wrote out a seating plan and even listed each party members name and where we wanted them switched to on each flight. I sent it to Customer Service.

Less than a day later our seat assignments were changed...BUT, they were all wrong! They had us in the right area, but the specific seats were wrong. Granted, we can probably change within our group, but when one provides and EXACT listing, why can't it be followed properly?? We have two handicapped gentlemen that have to sit on a specific aisle seat (left side) due to medical conditions. The seating assignment that Continental customer service set up as two kids under 8 together by themselves two rows back on one flight, etc. Like I said, we can probably switch around between us BUT what if security levels for airlines change in light of recent events and it becomes mandatory that you sit in the seat listed on your ticket? Once again, it is insulting to do all that work for four flights and be basically ignored.

I wrote back to Customer Service and asked them to either fix the seats to my original request OR to give me the ability on our reservation to make the changes myself....which I am happy to do. I never received a response to that email.

I have since been told that we will not be able to check-in and pay for our luggage fees online ahead of arrival at the airport and instead will have to check in at the counter and pay the HIGHER luggage fee. Now that is just ridiculous. For some reason, being a group makes you pay more. Most companies welcome groups and provide perks....but on Continental, you pay more as a group???

But back to the orginal story.... After the combination of the disrespect shown to me by the Reservation department and the inability of the Customer Service Department to follow a written chart and then their ignoring of future emails from me, it really began to bother me. This is not the Continental Airlines that I had known in my previous dealings with them. I expected a level of professionalism that was really lacking from these two corportate areas. Due to this I decided to simply write a letter to a person higher up in an attempt to point these problems out. As I stated in my letter to them, I was not asking for a free ride or reduced fare.... I just wanted to point these issues out and either get our seating arrangement corrected or myself being given the ability to change it. (I didn't even mention the group check-in and higher luggage fares.)

It was quite difficult to even find an address or name of a person higher up. The Continental website would simply bring you back to the Customer Care page and the email address that had already failed me. The only other page with addresses and names led me to the Corporate heads like the Company President and Vice-Presidents. My desire was not to write to someone of that level because they have more important matters to attend to and my issue was not a major corporate issue. But in the end, I could only find the address of the Vice President in charge of customer relations. So I addressed my letter to him and, knowing an assistant would read it, requested that it be forwarded to someone lower on the chain of command that would be a more proper location.

That was a month ago and still no response to my letter. Granted, I didn't expect anything to come of the letter and my small requests to go unheeded, but I at least expected a letter from someone at Continental (even a from letter), thanking me for my time and that my complaints were at least heard. That is what a professional organization would do. But nothing....a total ignoring of a customer. Again, even a form letter thanking me for writing would have satisfied me. Through another website, I found another adress of some people lower on the "totem pole" in Customer Service, and so I sent a copy of my late December letter to them last week. We will see if anything comes of that.... I doubt it.

It just is saddening to me that what I thought was a great airline all the way around have no professionalism or courtesy toward their customers. I can accept the rudeness and ineptness of the Group Sales & Customer Service Departments.... you sometimes get employees like that, but I cannot accept non-professionalism.

In the end, we have paid our final payment on our tickets and so are stuck on Continental (and not on return flight of our choice) but oh well, we will deal with that as I'm sure the flight crews will do a great job. But these will probably be our last flights on Continental. In the meantime, I will continue telling my story about this wherever I can. Thank you for forums like this!

[bruceba]

Was Continental offering a better incentive(kickback) to the person organizing the trip?
why didn't you just us American Airlines.

[jimworcs]

The OP explains very clearly why he didn't go with American... did you read his post? Perhaps you missed it..

We ended up booking with Continental using the agents quote. In spite of it being higher, it was somewhat better flight times and again, we liked our experiences on Continental. The stupidity of their group sales and Customer Service departments should not be used as a reflection of their flight crews.

[Silent Bob]

Less than a day later our seat assignments were changed...BUT, they were all wrong! They had us in the right area, but the specific seats were wrong. Granted, we can probably change within our group, but when one provides and EXACT listing, why can't it be followed properly??

Given the destination, Hawaii, I'd have to say they did their best to accomodate you. And given your own statement that you could have changed within your group, shouldn't that be enough? Your travelling with a group (I don't know how large), and having dealt with groups (I assist in group travels, local sporting events, etc) once in awhile, because of my travelling frequently, it's not easy to get a group seats specifically, especially to Hawaii as most of the time the flights are almost always full. You're never gonna get EXACTLY what you want, I'd say make the best of it.

What you could have done, (and possibly still do) rather than contacting customer service, would be to get in touch with the Continental Group department who could assist you as best as possible with the seats (as opposed to reservations or their customer service department). Though one person gave you attitude over the price, doesn't mean the next one will. You could also keep checking the seats, as sometimes seats that were originally taken can become unblocked as people tend to cancel.

All else fails, make the best of it. It's HAWAII!! If you can change within your own group, then so be it, but don't let the airlines ruin your experience before you even go.

[mars6423]

well i am very suprised by that comment that they made (the use american instead) as i believe that continental is the less of evils in the US based airlines.....it was a very rude and uncalled for remark that should never have been said, the worker prob had a rough day or something going on, but they gotta seperate work from life and i just dont see how anyone would say that

sidenote, how was the service that you recieved on previous airlines? if it was similar and did cost 50% less than i would have used them rather than paying the extra with cont giving you a hard time and being rude in the process (i know you said time n such)

i am suprised that they would spread your group apart, especially children, since there was adaquete time and they should have been able to easily keep the group together, or at least very close to one another....depending if others had seat assignments that blocked the entire group from being together....and it should be a easy request for your family members that need those aisle seats to get them

i think that it was a nonissue with the name on the ticket when you had those seats, it didn't really need to have gone any further than just giving each other in the fam the tickets especially if your family name on the tickets is the same, thats my opinion

there are different classes of ticket (y, n, b, etc) and some allow you to do various things while others dont, unfortunately your ticket group wasnt allowed to do the seat assignments online prior to 24hours and check in (which is a big hastle to get to the airport....big group can make it harder if everyone isnt ready.....and if its a early morning flight, get to the airport early so that you can check in and dont run the chance of an overbooked flight, since hawaii is a very popular destination) i know with singapore airlines in singapore you can check in 48hours prior and its your desicion if you want to give them your suitcases at that time too, i know that isnt an option with most airlines

it was a nice gesture of them to do the seat assignments to your liking; even though, your family should be together in the first hand

[Keystone Cruiser]

Well someone from Continental did contact me. I don't know what department she was from. She wanted to talk about our seat assignments. I explained that we had a seating chart all set up and would like assigned to those seats and explained the reasons. (elderly passengers who needed certain aisle seats, young children, etc.)

She said that she wasn't that familiar with the group systems but she would see what she could do. She never asked me to send her a seating chart or anything like that. I also suggested that she could correct our reservation so that I could make the changes. Again, she reiiterated that she didn't know much about that system but would look into it.
It has been a week now and no reply and I still can't change our seating assignments.

Somehow, I got someone's attention but it appears that it was just a token phone call and token attempt to correct it.

[Keystone Cruiser]

Well almost a month has passed since the person from Continental called me about my complaints. She called me on a Thursday evening and said that she would get back to me BY MONDAY. Well, as of this Monday, it will be FOUR Mondays and no return call or follow up by her or anyone higher. If there was nothing that she could do (or would do), then at least be professional and CALL ME BACK and tell me that. I respect a company that will at least tell you that there is nothing they can do but there is no respect deserved for a company that lies and ignores.

It proves to me that it was simply a token gesture. Token gestures are condinsending, unprofessional and just plain rude. If a token gesture was all I was going to get...then don't bother.

Let's see... told to go elsewhere, ignored, given a token gesture, no returned calls.... they are really making themselves look worse and worse with each passing blunder.

I so wish we could escape from our tickets on this unprofessional and ignorant airline.

I heard the new President was bad and arrogent and would ruin the airline... just didn't think this quick.

[The_Judge]

KC......when is your trip? You mention summer. Obviously, CO must be different but where I worked, specific seat numbers could not be assigned more than 90 days from the departure date. If you still have several months, things may still change. Even what you have now could change several more times. My advice would be to make a trip to the airport and talk to a CO agent and see if they would have some time to play around with the seating. Worst case, keep calling CO and keep on them until you get something better that is satisfactory.

[Keystone Cruiser]

Time for another update....

The lady said back during the first week of February: "we will call you next week." Now first week of April.....no call yet. Boy that was a long weekend!

To add insult to injury, we looked at our reservation again today. On the first leg of our flight (CMH to IAH), the seating assignments were right. BUT now they have MOVED us on that plane further to the back (to rows 23/24 from rows something like row 17.) AND they have rearranged our group so now even THAT leg of the flight is all wrong.

I have been told by several people to get our seat assignments corrected before we board in case new regulations pop up requiring us to sit in our assigned seat. So, I have talked to a high powered person in our community and his office has told me to make one more attempt through Continental's Customer Service office and if nothing is corrected to contact their office again and they will investigate using the American's With Disabilities Act.

So, since I can't get Continental to call me, I used their contact form on their website and politely stated that I was still waiting for a call (for 2 months) and then gave them all four flights and the proper seating assignemnts for our group. So they have one more chance to correct their customer service blunders... but I am not holding my breath.

I will report back either way this goes.

[Keystone Cruiser]

This story just gets worse and worse!

Like I said last week I mailed them a Chart showing the seats I was requesting. A lady from Continental called me and I was in class and could not take the call. She said she would call back in an hour...again, I wasn't available but she never left a number where I could call her back. She never called back again.

I sent another inquiry asking for a response to my request. I got a response back that said that the persons records showed that I was contacted by phone... (well I was but I never spoke to the person but I guess that counts to them.)

I sent them the list again asking them to change the seats... they sent back a note that said it was being sent to Group Sales and they would deal with it. (Let's see... group sales is who started this whole mess....).

I look online today and the seats are CHANGED! BUT, they are not changed to the chart. Instead the group, which was together in 2-3 rows depending on the flight/size of plane) is now spread out over several rows on the plane. The one gentleman in our group who must have his right leg to the aisle (which was one of the necessary changes) has now been moved to a WINDOW seat on the wrong side. Even his wife has been moved to the wrong side, so no help there!

I have just about had it with Continental. Isn't anyone there smart enough to read a simple chart and change the seats accordingly???

I believe there is a vendetta against me since they switched the seats to something worse!

It won't shut me up and it will just cause me to try and go higher and higher in the company although from what I have experienced that isn't going to help much!

Its' funny, this all could have been over 3 months ago if they would have just changed the seats within our group to what I am asking for. (we are not asking to move anywhere else on the plane, just within our seating group! But now, I have to try to move us all back together again!!

The other frustrating thing is that everytime I contact Continental a different person gets the complaint and the first thing they say is: "I don't know what has taken place in your situation before now." Wouldn't it be smarter to have the same person handle the continued problem instead of a new person having to learn about it each time???

[Keystone Cruiser]

As I have always said, I try to be fair and when a company corrects a problem or does something good, I am going to report that as well.


I am happy to report that my problem with Continental HAS BEEN SOLVED. As I previously reported, I sent another email to Continental with a seating chart for our group. (utilizing the seats that we had already been alloted...not asking for any upgrades, exit row seats, etc.) I went on to explain why certain people had to have certain seats. (medical, children, etc.)

The next thing I know, they have re-arranged our seating assignment completely and seperated us into small groups all over the plane, including some further back. As I said initially, one of the reasons for booking early was to get as far forward as we commoners could after all the seats reserved for the elite snobs. So being shoved to the back was totally stupid.

I became very upset and sent a rather rude email to the Customer Service Department basically telling them how stupid they were not being able to read a chart and how I was going to start calling corporate officials. It was a Friday and so I feared that our forward seats would be gobbled up by the time anyone would look at it on Monday.

BUT, to my surprise, I got an email back from a very nice Customer Service manager before the end of the day. She asked several questions of me and requested my seating chart. It was a very professional email exchange on both ends. The C S Manager shared with me what happened.... each time I responded to an email from the Customer Service Department, it didn't go back to the Rep who had already worked with it...each time a new rep got the case, it was back to square one and they didn't understand my case and so the mix-up each time.

The Manager gave me her email and told me to direct all correspondence to her directly. We communicated several times over the weekend and she informed me that although she was off that weekend, she would work from home to correct my problem. Before the weekend was over, not only did we have our original seats back, but each of us were assigned to the seat within our group that we desired/needed. This manager went out of her way to help me and solved the problem in a matter of hours. I knew the issue was small, but it didn't seem anyone at Continental could fix it until I met her!

We also discussed my concerns about the fact that groups cannot check in on line early and thus save money on the luggage fees. Personally, I think that is wrong... with most companies, you book as a group or buy in bulk to SAVE money.... but with Continental's group policy, it costs you MORE in luggage fees for groups. (also denies us the opportunity to attempt to get better seats when the leftover elite seats become available 24 hours before the flight.)

Once again, she came through for us, making a note on our reservation to give us the luggage fees for the reduced rate in spite of being a group. (we still can't check in online early and must check in at the airport, but at least we will save a few bucks.) (Note: I didn't ask for this, I was simply voicing my opinion of the group check in/luggage fee charges. It was the C. S. Manager who offered the reduced luggage fee.)

But in the end someone at Continental CAME through for us and I appreciate that. Hence, my story now comes to an end. (unless they mess us up on the flight.....but I have always said that Continental has great flight crews so I doubt that will be a problem.)

[Gromit801]

I'm glad someone finally took the time to help you properly. I think it was a big help to them, your having that seating chart made up to show them, so they could fully understand the issue.

Too bad it seemed like they were fumbling the ball, but in the end it worked out due to your perseverance.

[jimworcs]

Well yes Gromit, but on the other hand, the hours the airline and the customer has put in to getting this resolved. Surely if just one of the chain of stupid airline employees had got to grips and sorted it first time, a whole lot of grief and aggravation would have been avoided. What is it about airline employees that seem to have such disdain for the customer?

[The_Judge]

Originally Posted by jimworcs

Well yes Gromit, but on the other hand, the hours the airline and the customer has put in to getting this resolved. Surely if just one of the chain of stupid airline employees had got to grips and sorted it first time, a whole lot of grief and aggravation would have been avoided. What is it about airline employees that seem to have such disdain for the customer?

An employee, on their off time away from the job and most importantly, not being paid to work, took care of the problem that the OP'er had. I know you hate airlines, (I do too) but when an employee goes above and beyond, as this one did by working while not at work, I think you should loosen the vice a bit.

[jimworcs]

It's the exception which proves the rule..