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 ...

Norman of Houston, TX September 6, 2008

Norman of Houston TX (09/06/08)
My wife and I were confirmed business first class passengers on the Continental flight departing Bush Intercontinental airport on Thursday August 7 2008 at 3.00pm. After spending a leisure hour in the Presidents lounge we duly reported for boarding at the appropriate time. However, we were advised to take a comfortable seat and await the call for boarding. After a delay of several minutes without communication and with some trepidation and concern we approached the ticket podium. We were advised that our plane had been commandeered to accommodate passengers from an earlier flight (CO 62) and an attempt would be made to secure our seats in the tourist class section despite our confirmed first business class reservations.

The ticket agent, overwhelmed with accommodating passengers, had completely forgotten about us! Had we not approached the podium we would probably have been completely ignored and missed our connecting flight to Tel Aviv from Newark. This egregious situation is totally unacceptable and simply indicates the disrespect Continental Airlines has for its loyal customers. Perhaps this information should be conveyed to Fortune Magazine and JD Powers to permit them to obtain a true assessment of Continental Airlines` disregard for their passengers. With the commandeering of our airline without notification and treating us with blatant disrespect, our confidence in Continental airlines is rapidly being eroded.

Dixie of Th Woodlands, TX September 5, 2008

Dixie of Th Woodlands TX (09/05/08)
Recently I booked a one-way ticket for two people from Fort Lauderdale Fl. to Houston I was driving from Houston to Florida on vacation in a rental car which I planned to drop off in Fort Lauderdale and fly back. Because of the increase of storms in the atlantic I decided to cancel the trip. When I first made the reservation I asked what the cancelation policy was I was assured by the reservation agent that I would be issued a credit that I could use at any time up to a year for future travel.

The problem arised when I tried to cancel the flight and was told if I wanted to rebook I would be charged a 150.00 doller rebooking fee per ticket. The original price per ticket was 129.50 which means that not only would my ticket be worthless I would be charged 20.50 for rebooking plus even though I paid for the tickets with my visa I would not be allowed to use my credit in what ever way I wanted.

They do state in very small print on the e-mail of my reservation that there my or may not be a booking charge for rebooking. But if you go to their web-site you will find no mention any where what the charge will be plus when I ask an agent directly what the policy was she neglected to inform me but when i try to reschedule they suddenly were very informed on the subject and also extremly rude.

I have tried to resolve this problem with continetal airlines customer service department to no avail. I also tried to dispute the charges with my credit card company which also would not help.

Bruce of Redondo Beach, CA September 4, 2008

Bruce of Redondo Beach CA (09/04/08)
I submitted a claim form for a camera, camera pouch and a memeroy card. My claim was dennied because Continental now has a disclosure regarding photo equipment. So instead they sent me a customer care certificate' for 250.00 good for one year. Still doesn't replace my camera!

I had to go buy a new camera myself!

Melanie of Englishtown, NJ September 4, 2008

Melanie of Englishtown NJ (09/04/08)
While on the cruise ship, we purchased a collector bottle of Jack Daniels (3 liter) which is not sold in the US. We questioned the duty-free store as to the safety of getting this home undamaged, as liquor can no longer be carried on a plane and must be packed in the checked luggage. The vendor told us to bring her some towels and soft clothing items, which she proceeded to pack around the bottle of liquor. She then placed this into a cardboard box and sealed it with packing tape. She assured us that this was safer than even bubble wrap.

When we got our luggage off the plane at Newark Airport, the box and bottle were smashed and all the contents of the suitcase were soaked in liquor. We filed a claim with Continental Airlines, only to find that they will not cover any of our loss because their policy is not to cover any perishable/liquid items damaged by them. Carnival cruise ship will not reimburse us either, as they stated it was the fault of the airline carrier. Ultimately, no one will cover the loss we have incurred.

The bottle of liquor, which we would really like to have cost us 130, and the clothes and shoes damaged in the suitcase is a loss of approximately 450. We are hoping there is someway to get reimbursement for our loss.

Bruce of Redondo Beach, CA August 28, 2008

Bruce of Redondo Beach CA (08/28/08)
After returning from our flight from Albany New York to LAX we discovered that our digital camera was taken from our luggage. I called Continental Airlines to find out how to submitt a claim. They gave me a 1-800 number to contact and follow the promps. Gez!! I called the girl back again and I told her this number isn't doing me any good, do you have another were I can talk with a Live person. She said no and hung up on me. I call back again only to get a different girl and I told her the same thing and she also hung up on me. It wasn't until I surfed the net and found a claim form and filled it out.

Now the Airlines claims that most cases report are fraudulent. But we had pictures of two weddings on our camera (both my nephew, I not worried about the 254.00 I wanted my pictures)! I'm still waiting for the System Tracing Center to do there thing. There number also are nothing but promps. No live person to talk with anymore-customer service has just taken a dive big time!

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