Continental - Canines

I am writing to inform you of the inexcusable care my dog received this past week while traveling to Phoenix for an international dog competition sponsored by the USDAA. After doing several months of research about airlines and pet travel, I felt comfortable to use Continental to fly my dog. So much so that I was willing to travel to Newark Airport (when I live on Long Island) instead of finding a different carrier out of Kennedy Airport.
When I made the reservations (and also when I called later on to confirm everything) I was assured my pet would be given the best care available. I was told that they are in a different area of the plane (not next to luggage) and would be transported to and from the airplane in an air-conditioned van. Well, you could imagine my horror when I saw my dog go down the belt (that was followed by a piece of luggage) and put on the back of a pick-up truck.
There were 4 cats also but for some reason they were put inside the pick-up truck while my dog sat in the hot sun on the back of a pick-up truck. If that wasn't bad enough, the person driving the truck NEVER SHUT THE BACK HATCH and my dog was moving about! Is that "the best care for a pet?" When I asked the man at the desk why he would transport a pet like that, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "That's how we do it here!" Is that appropriate?

Why did I pay more money for my pet to travel on this airline for this type of care? I was offered a much better rate on a different airline but because of what I heard about Continental's service, I decided to spend the extra money for my dog who is like a family member to us.

I planned to travel to England to pick up 4 pups I had bought along with my father who had purchased several 8-month-old dogs, PRIOR to purchasing our tickets we called Continental to verify that we could travel home with dogs as excess baggage, we were told we could bring 3 crates per person back as excess baggage, we verified this 4X before purchasing tickets. We were told we couldn't prepay, or make reservations for them, we would need to do this from England.
I started trying to make arrangements to get our dogs home 6 days before we were to leave, everyone at Continental had a different number for me to call, one number was even no longer in service. I finally was given the correct number for Animal Airlines who now handles all of Continental Airlines animal transportation, I talked numerous times to Tony; he told me to fly another airline because Continental insists all dogs spend the night in Newark even though they have only another 40-minute flight to their final destination. The cost is $195.00 each dog.
I explained we had tickets already and that we could pick the dogs up and transsport them through customs ourselves, I even called Continental Customer service in TX and talked to a supervisor, Christine, who was no help and extremely rude. I then called my travel agent who called Customs and OK'd us getting our dogs through Customs.
FINALLY, it seemed we were to get our dogs home, but no -- Tony had put the incorrect number of pets on the Customs form and couldn't change it by hand. It had to be done on the computer, and as it was the weekend he couldn't do it until Monday. We were to fly out Monday so our dogs went Tuesday on a different airline, incurring an additional fee for another health certificate.
The cost ended up being about $2,000.00 instead of the expected $300.00. To top it off Mr. McKenna insisted that the crate the 8-month-old was in wasn't big enough so we had to purchase a crate from him. We had asked the vet to check the size of the crates and he agreed thay were the proper size for the animals. Between my father and myself we have bred, trained and imported Border Collies for 40+ years - we are not novices. Also I am a Vet Tech with 23 years of experience.

Our experience with this airline was terrible, I thought it ironic while on hold waiting for the customer service supervisor in TX Continental brags about its customer service!

I am a VERY FREQUENT traveler and this is the first time I decided to use Continental. I was scheduled to fly from Newark to Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. When I booked I informed that it would be my husband, daugther, myself and our little Chihuahua. I explained that I normally travel with her in my bag as she is very small. I was told that unfortunately you do not allow dogs in the cabin and that I would have to purchase a cage and her ticket. I then told them that I didn't mind that but if she could go with me in the cabin, the reply was no.
I explained that I was worried over her not arriving with me because I know sometimes luggage is lost or arrives on another flight. They assured me that she would go on my flight. I even spoke to a supervisor to make sure. At that point everything was supposedly ready, reservations, etc. I was told to take my pet to cargo -- that it was located about 3 miles from where I would have to check in.
My family and I drove to Newark airport at 4:00 a.m. and tried to locate Cargo but just couln't find it. My last attempt was the building next to United Cargo but it was closed. At 6:00 we decided to go to the Terminal and check in because we were afraid we would lose the flight and my daughter was starting college tomorror - May 19. Actually she was late because classes started last week but she didn't finish her classes here at Parsons School of Design until Friday and had until yesterday to hand in her final exams.
We checked in all our luggage - 5 pieces and were told that I should take my pet just downstairs that it was not at Cargo. My daughter and husband waited upstairs, luggage already checked in while I went downstairs. Everything was ok until the lady who was taking care of me received a call and she proceeded to inform me that the flight was overbooked and that my pet couln't fly with me. I was completely shocked.
I specifically told the supervisor and the young lady that first took the information at the Animal Desk that I couldn't travel without my pet because I had no one I could leave it with. That's why I feel that this entire proceedure was dishonest from the beginning. I was assured that there would be no trouble in flying with my pet. I asked if Continental had some type of arrangement with another airline, for example, American Airlines where I could use your tickets and the reply was NO, UNFORTUNATELY YOU LOSE THE TICKETS. I couldn't believe the service and replies I was getting.
I suffer from high blood pressure and a gentleman had to come with a glass of water for me to take my pill. My husband and I are an older couple, almost 60, and this would mean losing almost $2,000.00 which is quite a lot for our budget. On top of all this I was told that I could fly tomorrow but under the same circumstances. In other words, you can never confirm my pet. And, I would like to know, why wasn't I told this the first time I called? Why did your employee go ahead and book me on a flight without informing that there was even a slight possibility that one of the members of my family (which my pet IS) was not 100% confirmed.
It is a pity that your employees don't know the company policy and more so that people like me have to go through such aggravation and stress. Now we have to figure a way of going to the Dominican Republic without travelling together and on top of that Continental won't even refund the ticket for the member of our family that has to travel in another airline to get back home BECAUSE WE HAVE NO CHOICE. We cannot go to the airport everyday and wait until my pet can go - weeks can pass by - and this exactly what I was told - before my pet can get on the flight.

Meanwhile, We spent 62.00 cabfare, to just get to the airport, plus having to ride around for hours looking for Cargo when in fact I did not even have to go to cargo. When I called customer service, I spoke to a woman named Denise who turned out to be as blunt and uncooperative as the rest of your staff. She just said that "not all employees are top notch and some do make mistakes but that Continental could do nothing about that. Unfortunately we can refund nothing."