Awful customer service (Continental Airlines)

Member Name: Carole_M

Product:	Continental Airlines
Date:	16/10/09 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Everything

I flew with a friend to Peru and back in August on Continental (via Newark) and we chose Continental because I was on a tight budget and they were the cheapest flights we could find - huge mistake!

At the time we thought that the gap between the flights was too small to make the connection, but we rang Continental and were assured that 1 hour and 45 minutes was plenty, and like fools, we took them at their word. On the morning of our flight we were upset to find that the flight to Newark had been delayed by an hour, eating into our time to make the connection. We spoke to a Continental representative, who told us not to worry, the delay was 20 minutes, not an hour as the board said, and we would make up the time in the air. And we took her at her word.

When we boarded we asked again if we would have enough time to make our connection, and were told that we would. The flight eventually took off an hour and 20 minutes late.

As we got off the flight in Newark we asked a stewardess if it was even worth us trying to make the connection, and were told again that we would make it and not to worry. We got to the baggage carousel and waited and waited and waited....all the luggage marked as being for connecting flights was unloaded last, when it should have been unloaded first. As I'm sure you can guess, we missed our flight by a long way. By this time we were stressed, hot and bothered and upset.

We made our way to the Continental desk, were given hotel vouchers and food vouchers and were booked in for the flight for the following day. When we complained that we had been told we would make the connection repeatedly by various members of staff, they lady booking us back in told us "They lied to you, as soon as that flight was an hour late, you didn't stand a chance". We were so upset to lose a day of our holiday and the worst bit was that we had got so stressed desperately trying to make that flight, all 3 of us (we had acquired another girl who had also missed the flight) ended up crying at her desk out of sheer frustration.

The hotel the voucher was for was vile, and overlooked a prison, and the food vouchers weren't enough to cover a meal, so every time we ate we had to supplement them. And when we finally got the flight the next day it took off late too. And both flights home took off late, within 3 weeks we took 4 Continental flights and all 4 took off late - that just about says it all about this company!

I realise this review is huge so I will write a small summary now and stop, even thought there is a lot more I could say:
We do understand that planes take off late, and to be honest, we aren't even upset about that, what upsets us is that their staff lied to us on more than occasion, as confirmed by a member of their own staff. And that simple things which could have helped us and everyone else trying to make that connection, like getting our luggage off first, didn't happen.

And the moral of the story? If you choose to fly Continental think very carefully about how much connection time you have, and if it doesn't seem enough, choose another airline. And don't trust the staff, they will fob you off just so they don't have to deal with your problem.

Summary: The worst holiday experience I have ever had