Continental Airlines deception

[Terry]

I was one of those that chose to reschedule my trip during the media driven flu scare. One of the reasons I did so is because Continental's policy for rescheduling "seemed" so great. This is how it was stated on their website:

"Change fees and/or additional fare collection will be waived if the rescheduled flights are booked in the original class of service to the same city pairs as originally ticketed and rescheduled."


Sounds great right! So yesterday I went by book the flight which are currently more than double what I had originally paid. Thank god "additional fare collection is waived". Wrong! "Original class of service" to most people when they read their statement above would mean first class, business class or economy. But no, a very rude Continental rep told me when I called that you must book the exact same class for departure and return (ie Economy S , Economy N). Well that was a surprise. So I went back to look for Departures with the erroneous letter S and returns with the erroneous letter N during are pretty large time frame and wouldn't you know it, it can't be done! Which probably is not a coincidence.



Continental's response to me when I told them that their statement was deceptive was "Well...we lost millions during the swine flu." Thanks Continental, you also lost a customer that has been flying with you for a long time.

[beachreader]

That is outrageous! No one outside of the industry knows about those class codes.

I think you should write a few letters, some on paper, some on e-mail, to Continental management (if you can find them) and detail what happened and let them know that it's impossible to reschedule your flight properly.

Send a similar letter to the Ombudsman at Travel & Leisure and any other travel site/newspaper/etc. The kind of folks who then go to bat for you and figure it out.

Has anyone else re-booked their flu-postponed trips without trouble yet?

[aj8830]

Actually, I did. I was told when I canceled in late April that I had 15 days to rebook (later that was extended another 15 days) --- with no penalty/additional fees. Truthfully, I didnt pay much attention to the fine print (class info) -- I was altogether more concerned with not having to pay extra. Not too many days after, I called back to rebook --- I was able to complete the transaction with no problem. Granted, my new dates were six months out so that may be why I had no problem. But I also wonder if it didnt have something to do with rebooking within that specified time period. Who knows.

Terry --- I read your note here and on the LG board (actually thats where I saw it first). Im very sorry to hear of your troubles with rebooking. Lots of rules and fine-print can certainly be cumbersome --- and not beneficial to the consumer. I wish I knew how to help you.

Dont give up on your trip ---- I would really enjoy meeting you and Karen one day in Tulum (even though we only live a hop, skip and jump from one another.)

:) Allison

[Terry]

The time constraint was one year from original booking date. So no problem there. If the new fare is the same or less than the original then there would be no issue. We have a credit that can be used for future flights, but the prices are sky high for the first week of August. Like $1800 for 2!!

[beachreader]

Good heavens! Where do you live?

[Terry]

Houston!

[aj8830]

Terry, that really annoyed me so I went to the Continental website and did some searching. I dont know what kind of timeline you are working under, but here goes...

I found flights that might work --- and with your codes.

Depart IAH to CUN Friday, Aug 21
Return CUN to IAH Friday, Aug 28

$218/pp/rt (w/o taxes, etc)

[Terry]

Thanks AJ, We're pretty restricted to Aug 2-9. I miss spoke when I said $1800 it's really ONLY $1600 for decent timed flights. Karen has a friend that works for continental so hopefully she can help. If not, we can pay an extra $500 and fly into cun at 9:10pm on the 2nd. Then leave at the crack of dawn to return on the 9th.

[minniemex]

You know I had somewhat of a similar problem with AA and I think it boiled down to the person I was talking to. I called back another time and got exactly what I wanted. I think sometimes you get one of those people who think they have all the power.

It that doesn't turn out to be the case, then I would do what Beachreader says and enlist the help of some of those people.

I can't believe their prices are so high to Cancun!!

[pepper]

I agree with Minnie. Sometimes it depends on who you talk to.

[Terry]

Thanks for your responses. I got us booked last night. The people at Continental would not help us. While hunting for low fares for the last few days I realized that Continental's website is really like a slot machine. Different rates every time I searched. I've never noticed this in the past. So last night I stayed up and played the slots. I got rates from $300 extra to $600 extra for hours. But then I hit the jackpot at 2am. $100 extra, with the return flight in first class!?! Crazy....

[minniemex]

Great news!! Glad your work paid off for you!! Now you can sit back and just dream and plan your trip!!