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Continental - Overbooking

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

Allison of Corton on Hudson NY (4/22/04):
To Continental Airlines:
It has taken us about three weeks to manage our sense of outrage enough to sit down and write this letter to you about how Continental ruined our family vacation. We know that it is legal for you to overbook flights, but it is fundamentally wrong to make a family a day and a half late for vacation when they have reserved, paid, and arrived on time for a specific flight; it is worse not to offer some sort of compensation.

On April 3, 2004, we (two adults and one child) were scheduled to fly to Cancun, Mexico, at 8:00 in the morning. We had reserved our flights and hotel accommodations in February, through Expedia.com. Although we arrived at the airport at the time required for International flight check-in, we were misdirected by Continental employees about where to stand in line. As our flight was a direct flight from Newark to Cancun, we went to the international departures. There we asked a Continental employee, who said that we were in the right area. After about half an hour in line another Continental employee went around telling people that the Cancun flights should be checked in from the domestic check-in counter.

After wrestling our way out of the line and running to a different floor to the domestic counter where we had to stand in line again, we were told that we were late. Apparently, on weekdays the direct Cancun flight leave from the International area, but not on Saturdays. Even your own employees were not aware of this detail.

The Continental agent said we were too late for the flight, although it still had not begun boarding, and would not listen to our explanation about having been misdirected, although he checked our bags for us � but only after making us wait much longer than it took all the other agents to check passengers in. When we arrived at the gate, still before boarding had even begun, we saw that people who had been in the check-in line BEHIND us were being allowed to board. We were bumped from this first flight, with no compensating flight or offer. We were then bumped from the three remaining flights that day. Not only were we bumped, but we were also promised and then denied seats several times.

We were repeatedly misled, misdirected, and treated rudely, as were, we must add, many other very angry would-be passengers. There were many people wandering from gate to gate, all having been told that they were �next on standby� on the next flight, only to be told by someone else that there was no standby, or it was the wrong, gate, too late, etc. It was only when we (and many other very, very frustrated flyers) got really annoyed, that we were booked on a flight Sunday morning at 6:00, with the admonition to arrive two hours early no matter what.

We were skeptical, because we had arrived in time on Saturday, too. We also had no luggage, and no one knew where it went. When we arrived at the airport Sunday, we were not allowed through security, and so were at risk of again being told that we were not there at the appointed time. Fortunately, after trying four different security areas, we were able to get in. We noticed that when people were bumped from our flight, they were ASKED first, and offered a feasible alternative or compensatory ticket. No one had given US that option the day before. We arrived a day and a half late, completely miserable, to our vacation destination, which had been the subject of much happy anticipation since February.

We were left only two days of �relaxation,� the only consolation being the appearance of our baggage.

Nancy of Lake Hiawatha NJ (8/1/03):
On June 8, 2003 my husband, my 2 sisters and I were flying from Chicago Midway to Newark Airport. The flight was scheduled to leave at 12:45 p.m. All 4 tickets were purchased in April and our seats were assigned at the time. We went to the gate and were told that the flight was oversold and I was bumped from the flight. The attendant at the desk stated that they were looking for volunteers to give up their seats. No one came forth to give up their seats. Apparently the earlier flight scheduled at 8:00 a.m had been cancelled and this was the last Cotinental flight out of Midway until the next morning which was a Monday.

We also discovered that the flight was "oversold" by 4 seats and no one was coming forward to give up their seat. Therefore I would not be able to accompany my group back to Newark. My husband gave me his seat as I am a teacher and could not take the day off from school at this time of year. When my sisters and I got to our assigned seat, the seat that should have been my husband's remained vacant for a period of time. I questioned the flight attendant and told him my husband was in the terminal unable to board the plane because it was "oversold".

I soon found out the reason the flight was "oversold" by 4 seats, four flight attendants from the cancelled flight were assigned the four seats. Continental Airlines allowed the flight crew to fly to Newark while inconveniencing 4 paying passengers. This was not a case of overselling as these flight attendants never paid fpr the flight. The flight attendant who had my husband's seat explained that Continental likes to keep flight crews together.

Obviously they don't care about families who are traveling together. The flight was full because passengers from the cancelled morning flight were given empty seats on the flight I was scheduled. If it was necesary for the flight attendants to arrive at their destination at a specific time, as correspondence with various people in the front office indicates, they should have been given the first 4 seats and the remaining vacant seats assigned to the remaining passengers. The four passengers from the 12:45 flight should not have been the ones penalized.

Michael of Brooklyn (9/8/03):
The delays on Continental were absolutely outrageous and mostly due to your airline's wanting to overbook your flights to make sure they are full- which is unfair to the countless cutomers who are stuck in airports or in airplanes. I was livid with the extra six to eight hours It took to fly to Atlanta from Newerk, NJ. I could have traveled to Europe in that time span.

As a seasoned 17 year professional who travels regularly, I would strongly suggest that no one from our company fly your airlines going forward.

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