Venting: Is Continental Airlines always this bad?

You sure you didn't fly on Air Canada ? LOL !!!

 

You can improve your opinion of Continental by flying US Airways a few times.

 

Continetal is a good airline internationally.

 

It is. If possible I only ever go southwest, jet blue domestically. Occasionally go American or Aloha.

 

Welcome to air travel pre-9/11/01. That's what it was like then, except I think the airlines managed to lose more luggage in those days. You probably experienced that as well.

Air travel was just soooooo nice between 9/01 to sometime in mid 2003. I remember it gradually getting more crowded around 2003. I don't fly as much anymore, but I still fly about once a month. It's gotten bad, very much like it was before 9/11. It's a capacity issue again and, unfortunately, it will take another tragedy to make flying more comfortable. Sad but true.

All airlines suck in one way or another. Some are better at certain things than others.

RMX

 

Have had no problems with Continental but have not used them a lot.
I actually like airtran for shorter flights.

Have not used Southwest. Have been told they oversell all their flights and if everyone shows you can be without a seat.

 

This is the airline to fly domestically! You get what you pay for!

http://www.skyhighairlines.com/bookflight.asp

 

I fly Continental about every 2-3 weeks, and haven't really had any problems with them, except for the time (CLE to BOS) where we were delayed 2 hours.

Oh, and also when I went with the family to England (CLE to LGW) and we were delayed 4 hours because of a faulty starter in one of the engines.

 

I fly British Airways whenever possible, if its domestic I fly Delta Airlines and never had a problem. I still wish we had PAN AM now that was a great carrier.

 

Weather delay made my flight late from MPLS to Dallas on American. We arrive at the gate which is just next door to where we arrived however they do not ask passengers to remain seated while Connecting people depart. My Wife and I actually arive on time to the gate for check in but the airline will not let us on the plane. They say the plane is too heavy..(I know I need to loose weight but Damn!!) The person in front of us was hooked up with a 300 dollar voucher plus hotel rooms for the night. All we got was a Hotel room and no voucher.. The airline said they got vouchers because they were already on the plane and volunteered to exit the plane.. This is when i said no problem Let me on the plane and I will get off and you can give me 300 bucks too.. I have not flown American since..Oh and dont get me started about sitting next to Exorcist babies and pilots that think they are in a Top Gun movie..JJ

 

Living in Lubbock, TX, I only have three airlines to choose from.

Southwest
American
Continental

My oldest daughter and I flew Continental to Atlanta for her college graduation.

Continental lost our luggage some where along the way. When we arrived in Atlanta after suffering a canceled flight in Houston, (we had to fly stand-by on separate flights to get to Atlanta) We were told that our luggage would arrive on the next flight. It was to arrive in two hours. We waited......no luggage. They then said our luggage was on the 'next' flight in two hours........no luggage. Then they said our luggage was on the last flight of the evening. 11:50pm. Since we had an hour drive to Rome, Ga (Berry University), we figured waiting three more hours was better than driving all the way to Rome without our clothes.

You know the story already don't you? No luggage at 11:50. Now, when we go to the baggage claim office, they are closed. Everyone has gone home. The toll-free baggage information number they gave us, was NEVER answered. Not once in two days. One time I let the phone ring for 45 minutes. The number was never answered even by a machine. It simply rang and rang and rang.

To make a long story short.....we stopped at a Wal-Mart on the road, bought underwear, socks, toothbrushes, and such. My daughter attended her morning formal Baccalaureate in jeans and a T-shirt. She graduated in the same clothes.

The luggage has never been found and I have filed a claim. I was told that Continental doesn't consider a bag "lost" unless it has been missing 5 days. Until then it is "mishandled" and they are only liable for $25.00 a day for your inconvenience. The lost baggage claim asks for receipts for all lost articles. Yeah.....right. I expect zero compensation from the trolls at Continental.

I have been bumped from American several times. Once, I was removed from my seat after I had boarded the plane due to the plane being over-weight. ( I know the joke.....and no, I only weigh 190lbs!) (It was an Embraer puddle-jumper jet) It seems I was "randomly" chosen to be removed even though I arrived at the gate early, had booked my flight directly with American 2 weeks earlier, and only had a carry-on bag. I didn't even have any checked luggage to lighten the plane.

I have had no problems with Southwest. I just don't like the whole boarding system of "get in line at the gate 90 minutes early or be in the last boarding group". It feels like a cattle drive when you fly Southwest.

All of the airlines seats are brutal if you are taller than 5'10". My knees are crammed against the seat in front. If the guy in front of me reclines the full 2" allowed on these luxury seats, I am reduced to tears.

All in all....I am contemplating never flying again unless it is an emergency. I just HATE the whole ordeal.

It is a 1 hour flight from Lubbock to Dallas, (and everything goes through Dallas). I can drive it in 5.5 hours. After checking in 1 hour early in Lubbock and the one hour it takes to get out of the Dallas airport, it is a three hour death march. I am happy to spend an extra 2.5 hours in my car, listening to my CD's, and enjoying a private journey. If it's too far to drive.....I probably won't go anymore.

Screw the airlines. It trains came back, I would never fly again.

 

My mother just took a trip for a week and they lost her bag BOTH WAYS. So she went half the trip without a change (obviously having to do laundry every day). On the return, they brought her bag out to her a few days after her flight and the front pockets had been CUT open and pulled off - with a note from the airline that her bag had been searched. New luggage, destroyed.

 

Just wait until the merging starts. I wish the US would open the skies to foreign carriers.

How are the first class products (internationally as well)?

 

I have flown Continental, SWA and NWA in the last year several times, and I gave Continental a SLIGHT edge over SWA, both blew away NWA.

I was sitting in the cabin (SWA 737, of course) on a layover in Phoenix, watching the SWA baggage handlers work on the plane next to us when one of them threw at least 6 suitcases clean OVER the baggage cart, onto the tarmac, where they slid for 10-20 feet.
My suitcase was not one of those, but it was destroyed somewhere along the way on my next trip 2 weeks later. I filed a complaint and got a $200 voucher for a future flight.

You're gonna have a bad experience somewhere along the way, at some time, no matter who you fly with. NWA's planes were just too small, I think they were Bombardiers, or Canadairs, or some goofy brand of jet.
I'll take a 737 over an Airbus any day of the week as well.

PS - only fly with a carry-on.

 

I begining to think that the airlines were bought by Greyhound Bus.. It seems that is where were going.. JJ

 

What's sad is the, with the exception of Southwest, Continental is actually the best of the bunch.

Dale

 

My travels are overwhelmingly on Southwest. I can't recall an overly negative experience that was caused by something under their control. I like checking in via the web, and if you get group A you're golden, B is still perfectly acceptable, and C is a crapshoot (read: mostly middle seats left).

I've recently been flying Delta since travelling to the SE puts me through ATL, and there have been two flights actually on time. Between waiting for a pilot or parts, Delta has had a low success rate for me.

I've recently discovered through my travel agent that Delta and Northwest are partners, thus my FFM have been accumlating with both of them. Think I can exchange those for some tickets on Southwest?

Tomorrow I'm flying into ATL and driving three hours into SC. I'll still get there cheaper and faster than trying to monkey with US Air or an additional Delta Connnection. I just need to remember a few choice selections from the CD collection.

 

Sorry to hear about that. It's a little better than my AA story.

 

If you have status on American, call Continental and tell them your American status and that you're moving your business to them. Ask for complimentary status on their airline. They'll usually give it to you. Then at least you'll get to board first.

 

Virgin America is ready to fly but the US Department of Transportation won’t give approval. The issue is the amount of British “foreign control” due to ownership structure involving Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. Ostensibly this is a security concern (remember the Dubai ports deal?), but it certainly helps protect US airlines from competition.