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 ...

Tzvi of Karmiel, OTHER August 24, 2008

Tzvi of Karmiel OTHER (08/24/08)
I have traveled to US by contintental flight CO91 on 28 July 2008. The above mentioned CO 90 return flight on 31 July 2008 was delayed due to mechanical problems which caused arrival at telaviv on Friday night. Since I observe Sabath I was unable to fly on this delayed flight but I could fly from Newark only on Saturday night, the 2 Aug 2008. All the hotel expenses & travel expenses are paid by me for no reason whatsoever . On Saturday night the flight CO90 was once again delayed due to the familiar mechanical problems and I was forced to spent the entire night and subsequent day (Sunday 3 Aug) at airport.

On account of this innumerous flight delays, I lost two working days. Therefore I request from the Continental management to reimburse me for the days lost and the expenses incurred unnecessarily by flight delays.

Michael of Kihei, HI August 22, 2008

Michael of Kihei HI (08/22/08)
We booked a flight through airfare.com to germany and back to NYC. We were never informed by Continental that they canceled the flight. We had to call them directly. Airfare.com never called us or did Continental. All Continental said was sorry.They blame each other but Continenta had all my info when I called and was of no help

We had to buy new tickets to Paris then take the train to Cologne and travel a day earlier so thats lots of expenses on trains hotels etc.

Christine of Middletown, CT August 20, 2008

Christine of Middletown CT (08/20/08)
We are from Connecticut. Our children were going to Louisville, KY to see family. We drove from CT to NJ to get the kids a direct flight. Upon arrival, we were told by Issuing Agt that because our oldest was only 17, we would need to purchase an unaccompanied minor ticket for 75.00 for our youngest to travel. Happily, I obliged using a credit card. I gave a total of 150.00 for both ways. 

Once this was settled, we proceeded to the gate with our three children only to find out that the flight was canceled due to weather. We had already checked in our bags for this flight, but we were assured by the customer service rep, and her manager that was watching over her, that our childrens'luggage would be safely boarded on the next flight the following day. We went back to Connecticut.

The following day (August 11, 2008) we drove our children once again to NJ to catch flight 2379Y, only to find out in route that the flight was once again canceled. That evening, I called and canceled out flight all together and requested a refund. To the best of my knowledge this was done, although I have no way to be sure as I do not recall a confirmation number given. I then called baggage to find out if they would ship our luggage to our home seeing as we live so far away, I spoke with Kevin who literally laughed at me and told me we don't do that.

I then found out that they actually shipped our luggage to KY! I called Louisville, KY and asked them to please ship our luggage back as our children were never on that plane. (which was assured to me that the luggage would be going on my childrens' flight (?). They told me that they would be happy to fly it to Hartford, CT (BDL). The following day, I called Louisville to make sure that it was shipped to BDL and the woman (believe me I wish I got her name, she was extremely rude and could care less that my children had no summer clothing as it was shipped off to KY)told me that they shipped the luggage to Newark!! Frustrated, I asked her why would they do that when I asked them to send it to BDL, her response I can't help you ma'am, go call Newark and slammed down the phone.

I then called Newark and told her my story, she told me that my luggage was in fact STILL in Louisville!! Are you kidding me???? This employee told me that she would email KY and have them send the luggage to Hartford. The following day, I called Newark to see if the luggage was shipped to BDL, the employee told me that it was in Newark. I can't even tell you yow much time I invested in this making phone calls and speaking with Continental employees who were not only rude, but didn't know what they were talking about!

Finally, it was said that the luggage was in fact in Hartford. My children went days without any of their summer clothing, not to mention having to replace toothbrushes, hair brushes, etc. On August 13th I call my bank only to find out that Continental actually took the 150.00 which was supposed to be for my daughter to arrive in KY safely.

Just another note as to these employees not knowing what they are doing, I was told by Ms. P from the complaint center, that I didn't even need to purchase this unaccompanied minor ticket because my oldest was 17!!(???) I already called to request the refund, I never received the service from them and on top of all the aggravation, I am at their mercy to refund me at their convenience. In between making daily phone calls to Continental, I now needed to go to the bank and put more money into the checking account so that I wouldn't bounce checks because of an error made on Continentals behalf.

I can not tell you what I went through between being mistreated, misdirected, laughed at, hung up on and probably the most frustrated I've ever been in my life. I would not ever fly Continental because of the way people are treated and more importantly because of the lack of knowledge these people have in the job they do.

I am not seeking anything other than my 150.00 to be returned immediately.

Sharon of Lonoke, AR August 20, 2008

Sharon of Lonoke AR (08/20/08)
I broke my ankle while on vacation in Cabo, Mexico. I had a full cast on my right leg. My foot was very swollen and needed to be elevated. On the flight from Cabo to Houston I was given the front seat with more foot room but was never offered anyway to elevate my foot.

On the flight from Houston to Little Rock I was placed in the middle of the plane. No one even tried to find me a seat with room for my cast. I had to tell the person who seat they gave me that they had given his seat to me. No one from the flight crew ask how I was once. When I arrived in Little Rock my foot had swollen signficantly. DO NOT fly continental if you need any special attention

Krishnamurthy of Spring, TX August 20, 2008

Krishnamurthy of Spring TX (08/20/08)
I booked an air ticket on 8/15/08 costing about 500. I had a promotional discount certificate with me which would give me a discount of 100 if I had given at the time of reservation. As I recently shifted to Spring, Texas from California in July 08, my records and files were not properly arranged and hence could not locate the certificate when I made the reservation to get the discount

I Subsequently on 8/17/08 located the certificate and asked customer service at continental airlines whether they can accept the discount certificate and give me the refund amounting to discount. But they did not agree and said the ticketing was final. I feel this is unfair as I had got the certificate already with me for sometime and was issued to me by Chase card services for my use. And presenting the discount voucher subsequently does not alter anything as Continental would have given the discount anyway. Also considering the fact that I recently shifted my residence and I deserve some consideration on subsequent locating the document. I am a senior citizen and do not travel much and hence if I do not use the certificate now, I may never use. Considering all these will you help me to get the discount applied to my ticket and get a refund from continenatl Air?

A loss of 100. I am eligible for this as the certificate was issued to me some time back by Chase card services for my use.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |