[Brian D]

There is a group of 20 students and 3 chaperones from Fairport NY who have been stranded at Newark airport since Friday night 02/17/201(This is Sunday night). Continental was late getting an airplane to Rochester NY to pick them up, so they missed their connection to another Continental flight in Newark that was supposed to take them directly to Ireland. They apparently could not get them on any other flight Friday or Saturday and finally they booked them on a flight for Sunday evening to Ireland through Frankfurt. Well, that fell through as there are strikes in Frankfurt (which they were fully aware of) so they didn't want to send them there, but they sent their luggage there after not letting them have it since Friday afternoon. So...... another night stranded, an apparent change in airlines for a (hopefully) flight to Atlanta and then Ireland Monday afternoon 72 hours after they got checked in at Continentals desk in Rochester. Can not believe that an airline the size of Continental, with the connections they have, have been unable or unwilling to get them to Ireland. Disgraceful. This isn't a blizzard or mechanical problem, this is a logistical failure and needs to be corrected.

[jimworcs]

This is disgraceful...they really ought to have booked you onto flights from JFK or Newark to Ireland via London. This is the route with the most capacity from the New York area. I find it hard to believe that they have left you stranded this amount of time.

US airlines offer little protection to travellers. When travelling to Europe, it is almost never the right decision to fly on a US based airline. European legislation on European based carriers offers more protection than US based airlines. It is little use now, but in future it is better to book with Aer Lingus or BA if travelling to Dublin.

[stonecold_1981]

The worst of this should be that they didnt get their luggage for that many hours. Being stranded in an unknown city without their personal belongings sure would be tough.
The least the airline can do is reimburse them for incidentals. If I were you, I would bombard them with all sorts of receipts for the 3 days!

[Gromit801]

I'm having a real problem with this one. International flights originating in the US are subject to positive bag match, which means the bags aren't sent on the flight without the owner.

[mars6423]

Originally Posted by Gromit801

I'm having a real problem with this one. International flights originating in the US are subject to positive bag match, which means the bags aren't sent on the flight without the owner.

im with you on this one, seems too fishy for me

Then again it maybe the case, busy time with schools breaking up for winter break and logistics of finding extra seats to fit the group if they werent going to be split up

but i haven't heard one news story or anything about a group being stuck in newark for a weekend lately

[jimworcs]

Positive bag match does not mean that the passenger and the bags must always travel together...otherwise, lost luggage would never be reunited with the owner.