Complain about a product or service

Continental Airlines

Continental Airlines • Bereavement • Canines • Delays • Luggage • Minors • Overbooking • Rudeness • Treatment of asthmatics

It's beyond sad to see how severely service has deteriorated at major carriers. How is it that jetBlue, Southwest and the other low-fare carriers can offer such friendly, even enthusiastic, service while the likes of Continental snarl and snap at their customers?

Southwest says its secret is that it hires friendly people. Maybe a few of the high-cost, low-service carriers should take a lesson from this.

A few of the more recent complaints ...

Rachel of Alameda, CA August 5, 2009

My mother was flying from Anchorage, AK to Avoca, PA at the end of July. Her flight from Seattle to Newark was diverted to Denver due to 'extreme weather conditions' in Newark. She was grounded in Denver for 8 hours. Continental Airlines assured her that no flights were coming in or going out of Newark, so she would not miss her flight.

By the time she got to Newark 10 hours later, her flight to Avoca had left. Continental said that the earliest they could get her out of Newark to Avoca would be 2 days later. They would not put her up in a hotel or compensate her for a taxi to Avoca (approximately 2.5 hour drive away). A family relative had to drive out to get get her at midnight.

Continental had booked my mother on the flight 2 days later anyway, depsite my mother getting out of Newark by car. They informed her that she had to call within 24 hours of that flight to cancel it or else her return trip would be canceled. My mother called the following day, 36 hours before the flight, to cancel. Continental had already canceled her return trip! AND they wanted to charge her a fee for re-establishing her return trip!

On top of that, they would not reimburse her for the flight she never took from Newark to Avoca (300). WE'D RATHER SPEND MORE MONEY ON ANOTHER AIRLINE RATHER THAN FLY CONTINENTAL AGAIN!

Bethany of Kingwood, TX July 30, 2009

I was on flight CO 1832 on Wednesday, 30, 2009, going from Houston to New York La Guardia airport. Because of weather problems in NYC, traffic was diverted to Dulles in Washington, D.C. Of course, the airlines assume no responsibility for weather delays; however, our plane also had mechanical difficulties. Long after other planes were back in the air, we sat first on the plane for nearly 4 hours and then in the terminal. We were sent to eat but given no food vouchers.

Finally, the airline came up with the bright idea of putting us on a bus. We bought airline tickets and ended up riding a bus to New York. We were suppose to arrive at La Guardia around 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday. We ended our bus trip about 4:00 a.m. on Thursday. I had planned to spend about 5.00 on the bus and subway to get downtown, and instead I had to take a taxi down to the tip of Manhattan. Through all our discomfort and expense, Continental offered no apology or compensation, not even a 10% discount on a future flight. When I called to complain, the agent was very sarcastic.It is obvious, Continental does not value its customers.

T of Baltimore, MD July 29, 2009

Message: I booked a flight from BWI to Los Cabos MX leaving May 1st and returning on May 15th. At the time I purchased the tickets the return flight was scheduled to return on May 15th to BWI by 5pm. We were placed on a much later flight (returning 11pm!) without any explanation as to why the original flight was cancelled. We paid a considerable amount more for the convenience of the earlier flight and was quite disappointed to have to arrive in Baltimore close to mid-night! Will Continental compensate us in some way?

William of Hobbs, NM July 20, 2009

ON 04/16/2009 I purchased an Airline ticket from Expedia for Continental Airlines, From Greenville SC (GSP) to Midland Texas. Departure time (GSP), 1250 Friday 17, 2009 and arrive at Midland Texas. (MAF) at 7:59 PM 04/17/2009. She boarded (GSP) on 04/17/2009 for Charlotte NC and was issued a ticket to Charlotte NC at 2:55 PM for Huston Texas. When time for boarding the plane for Huston Texas, they would not let her on the plane because they said the ticket agent gave her the wrong ticket, so she missed the flight and they scheduled her on a later flight.

They then canceled that flight, now she is stranded in Charlotte NC with no money and nothing to eat. She had to spend the night in a Hotel in Charlotte NC. The hotel would let her stay on my credit card which I called the information out over the phone, but no cash for food. The next morning she boarded the morning flight for Huston Texas. This was Saturday 18, 2009 in the morning. She was supposed to leave for Midland TX. And that flight was canceled, the next fight was 09:40 for Midland Texas, and arrives about 11: OO Saturday night.

I left Hobbs NM which is over 100 miles; after I got there they canceled the flight so I had to drive back to Hobbs NM. She had to spend Saturday night in the Houston TX Airport they said they could get her on a flight to The Lubbock TX airport that should arrive about 11:00 Sunday morning. I drove to Hobbs NM to the Lubbock TX airport about 130 miles. She arrives at the Lubbock TX airport about 11: OO Sunday 04/19/2009.

The Airlines sent her baggage to Midland TX. Then we had to drive the 130 miles back and another 100 or so to pick up the luggage, and then return to Hobbs NM. I had also purchased the Insurance to so call prevents this from happening. I also was on the phone three hours or so with Expedia, No luck! I feel the airlines owe me not only for the price of the ticket but for gas and inconvenience. (Also no food or drinks was served on either flight) Ticket: 467.80 Luggage: 15.00 Hotel Charlotte: 68.00 Estimate gas: 63.00 ------------ Total 613.80

Miriam of West Palm Beach, FL July 12, 2009

My family of 13 is very upset at the “only” flight you have scheduled to go to Treasure Cay, Bahamas on Gulfstream Airlines leaving Ft. Lauderdale, FL at 2:00pm. By the time we arrive in Treasure Cay, go thru Bahamas customs, get the taxi cab loaded and arrive at our Condos, we have lost that day. Then coming back home your "only" flight is at 11:30 am making us loose that last day again because there is no time to do anything. IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. Why couldn’t you have scheduled this flight with Gulfstream in reverse, with early morning arrivals into Treasure Cay and late afternoon departures from Treasure Cay, like in the past years. YOU ARE NOT BEING CUSTOMER FRIENDLY.

I'm sending this to you since our group flight is paid to Continental Airlines and you are responsible of our customer satisfaction. We have used Continental flights to Treasure Cay, Bahamas in previous years. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO CHANGE OUR FLIGHT FOR US AND MAKE US HAPPY ? Here is our itinerary on our family group. It is important that we can work this out for this trip, for these dates that have already been arranged with work.

Craig of Spring, TX July 8, 2009

Booked short date tickets to funeral for father-in-law. Outbound trip was okay. A bereavement discount disapeared after an upgrade to 1st Class. Return trip (WOW! I did not know any airline in the developed world could be this bad.) Checked flight status before making 3 hour dive to airport--on schedule for 12:28 departure. Enroute to SeaTac no delay messages from carrier, neither cell nor e-mail (I signed up for notification) until getting to baggage check--"Oops that flight is really late." the clerk advised. The rental car is gone and COA has no airplane to board. half a day to kill in the boarding lounge.

Turned out to be a 5 hour camp-out. No alternative routing, no help from ticket counter, no meal vouchers, a nasty person at the gate--with only an 'act of God' speech to offer. Called Continental Customer Service to for alternative routes only got "these things happen" you will have to be patient. Turns out that this flight (366) has a .4% on time record. Seems that the crew was in Houston the plane in San Antonio because of "rain" in Houston. Yep. So we waited for the plane to be flown from San Antonio, to Houston, to Seattle so we could board. Flight landed at IAH in the last gate in terminal E for a long, very long hike to baggage claim in terminal C. For about 3K in tickets got about 25 cents of service.

Issayas of Centreville, VA July 7, 2009

To whom it may concern After successfully using your agency for many years, I recently experienced a terrible problem. I am writing to obtain compensation for a huge mistake for which I believe your firm is responsible. I booked my flight through the Internet back in March 2009. The carrier was Continental Airlines, IAD ....> NEWARK....>Tel Aviv Tel Aviv...> Newark....IAD. Coming back from Isreal on July 1 2009, at the Newark Airport, I discovered that my flight has been delayed from 9 pm to 11 pm and again till 2 am. After flying for 11 hours, I was already tired and has stranded for another 10 hours at the Newark airport. There was no food or drink to buy. Being a diabetic, my sugar was low to dangerous level 66.

I board the plane at 2 am in the morning. There was no annoucement to passengers until I confronted the staff person at the counetr to at least update passengers to what is going on. The excuse that was given for delays was "due to the bad weather condition" No body buy that, In July 1st, the entire north east had a wonderful and clear weather condition. The plane was supposed to come pick us up from Pitsburg.

Because your agency caused the problems, we expect you to work with us to obtain a satisfactory resolution. Specfiically, we expect you to: Provide me with first class round-trip tickets on a domestic flight. From my experience, this situation was a dramatic letdown from the superlative service that we usually receive from Continental airlines. In fact, I have always been loyal to your firm because of the exemplary treatment we have received from you and your attentive staff. We suggest that you coach the night shift crew in proper customer relations. His behavior does not reflect positively on Continental airlines.

Peter of Jackson, NJ July 3, 2009

Their internet ticketing program tricks users by switching the numerecal based day/month/year format with a calendar icon (applet) that translates to month/day/year format. In going from page to page (which is normal when searching for flights) the user is fooled and can accidently purchase the wrong ticket. Then it can cost up to 150 (change fee) plus the cost of buying a ticket on the spot instead of getting the early puirchase option. They know about thiss and I have documented it online with one of their IT folks. I have some PDF shots of the different screens.

Nelson of North Port, FL July 1, 2009

Before I booked my tickets to fly to Kansas City form Tampa, FL, I called Continental to find out what their baggage policies were. I was told that the cost per bag is 15.00, however if I booked with a Chase credit card, those fees would be waived. I asked the lady if it mattered what was on the front of the card, or did it have to be a Continental Chase card, and she said it did not matter, as long as the card said Chase. I booked the tickets using my Chase card. Imagine my surprise when checking in that I would be charged 15.00 per bag.

The check in agent stated that this waiver of the fee was only for Continental Chase customers. Then I boarded that 737-800 to Houston for my layover and found that there was barely enough leg room for my 6 year old, let alone my wife and me. Fats forward to the end of my trip. After arriving home, my wife found a note from Continental stating that for security purposes, my bag had been inspected. Looking through my bag, I have found that a rebate form for a cellular phone my wife bought on vacation is missing as well as my speaker for my iPod. God forbid if I had put my iPod or my Playstation Portable or even my son's Nintendo DS in the bag.

Now the airline is giving me the run around stating that because of the misunderstanding, they are willing to reimburse my 60.00 baggage fees in "Continental Bucks" for use on a future trip on Continental Airlines. I politely declined stating that I would never fly Continental again.

They then gave me the number to their baggage department, who said that they are only responsible for clothing and toiletries, and that they don't go through the baggage anyhow, that is TSA's job. I am so frustrated and WILL NEVER FLY CONTINENTAL AIRLINES AGAIN!!!!!

James of Xico, Mexico June 27, 2009

June 25, 2009, the departure of our flight from Boston was delayed 1 1/2 hours. The Continental Airlines agent who issued our boarding passes made it clear that if we missed our connection in Houston, which was likely, Continental would pay for our Hotel and meals in Houston. We did miss our connection. Customer Service for Continental Airlines in Houston said that "Air Traffic Control" was the reason and that therefore they would not pay hotel or meals. When I protested that we had been told the opposite by the Continental employee in Boston, they said they could not confirm that and then got rude and said that "customers with attitude" were the least likely to be helped.

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