Best airline in America? Don't believe the hype.
flying solo
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AUG
18
2008
Continental Airlines —
Where do I begin with this review? I chose Continental Airlines for a one way trip from Syracuse, NY to San Diego, CA with a connection in Newark. I had never flown with them before, but I was encouraged to try them based on the positive reviews on this site and others. I feel I have to write this review specifially to rebut the fiction that Continental is a good airline, so as to save others from the same fate. I have flown on United, American, America West, Northwest, Continental, El Al, and Southwest, and I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that Continental was the worst. Prior to this Northwest had been the worst, but Continental was so bad it made Northwest look like a beacon of good customer service.I was looking at a flight that had only a 44 minute layover in Newark, and I was concerned that this wasn't enough time to make my connection should a delay arise. I emailed Continental customer service to ask for their expertise on this. The terse, corporate-style reply stated that "under normal circumstances, 30 minutes is sufficient time to make a connection". This was the beginning of Continental's appalling lies, which would soon begin to unravel. What they failed to mention was that at Newark airport, "normal circumstances" do not exist.
I started tracking my Syracuse-Newark flight daily as it got closer to my departure. I found that this flight was delayed a minimum of 2 hours EVERY SINGLE DAY. Sometimes it was delayed 4 hours or more. In a panic, I called Continental and asked if it was possible to change my flight. The lady at the other end of the phone wouldn't even listen to my reservation number. She had no intention of allowing me to change my itinerary, her sole purpose was to talk me out of it. She then lied to me twice. First, she said that the delays were due to the weather in Newark. I checked the weather in Newark and it was bright and sunny with no precipitation and no wind. Second, she reassured me that if I missed my connection "we will take care of you somehow". More on that later.
I arrived at Syracuse airport and checked in. Of course I had to pay $25 for my second checked bag. When I got to the gate the boarding lady told me that the Newark flight was delayed, and she changed my itinerary to a connection in Cleveland. I was relieved and I felt that she was taking care of me. However, only moments later the Newark flight started boarding, and at the very last second the boarding lady switched me back to that flight. She told me that the Cleveland flight was now delayed and the Newark one had been pushed up. I appreciated that she was doing her best for me, but I have never seen an airline operate so chaotically. I was shuffled around only to be put back on my original flight, and in the process I had lost the window seat that I had carefully reserved on both flights. It was all so haphazard and ultimately quite frustrating.
I later found out that the Cleveland flight had been delayed over 5 hours. The lesson here is that if you are flying Continental, no connection at any airport is safe. The reason for this has nothing to do with weather. Other airlines use large airports with multiple runways for their connections (Chicago, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, etc.). Continental uses little dinky airports (Newark has only two runways) as their hubs, which overloads the system and creates congestion, resulting in ridiculous delays. When you fly Continental, you are automatically downgrading yourself to the airline with the most poorly managed, inefficient air traffic system in the United States.
When I arrived at Newark, of course I missed my connection. One note about Newark though: you have to take a bus from the C terminal to the A terminal if you are making a connection. Yes, you heard that right. Both of your flights are on the same airline and yet not only are they at different terminals, but you have to take a bus to transfer. Even with the huge delay, I might have barely made my connection if I had not had to stand in line for 20 minutes waiting for a stupid bus to take me to Terminal A. I have never heard of any other airport in the developed world that operates this way, let alone a "hub" airport.
When I found out I missed my connection, I went to Continental customer service. The guy behind the counter had no sympathy for me whatsoever, and acted like he basically didn't care. He simply put me on the next flight out, which was the next morning. I asked him if Continental would help me to pay for a hotel room for the night, but of course he said they would not (even though they lied to me - "under normal circumstances..." - to get me to book this connection in the first place). This also brought to light the second lie - the lady over the phone who said "we will take care of you somehow". Well, they didn't take care of me, I was on my own. When I asked the man behind the counter where to go to find a shuttle to a hotel, he barely even cared enough to tell me where to go.
I was stuck overnight without clothes or toiletries, so I went to Continental baggage services to see if I could get my luggage. The lady behind the counter informed me that if I wanted my luggage, I would have to wait 2 hours for it. I was tired and it was late and I had no intention of waiting 2 hours in the airport for my luggage. But she assured me that it would be checked onto my flight the next morning. Only after a significant amount of begging and pleading did she reluctantly go into the back to retrieve a small bag with a pathetic array of toiletries and a Continental logo on the front. But at least I had a razor to shave with the next morning. Maybe that is what the phone lady had meant when she said "we will take care of you somehow".
There were crowds of people in the shuttle area as it seemed that many people had also missed their connections. I called the budget hotels but they were all booked. In a panic and fearing that I would not find a hotel room, I called the Marriott - knowing that they were likely too pricey for the hordes of stranded barbarians storming the hotel gates. I got a room, but at the lofty price of over $300, all of which was paid for by me and none of which was paid for by Continental. The Continental guy had told me to ask for a "distressed passenger rate" but the Marriott lady acted like she had never heard of it. Perhaps this was yet another Continental lie?
I got to the airport first thing the next morning. I already had my boarding pass so all I had to do was go through TSA security. I felt like finally my nightmare was ending but a voice deep inside me told me that I was foolhardy to be so optimistic. I should have listened to that voice.
The flight took off on time, but that is about all I can say for it. It is true that Continental comes by for multiple drink runs on the flight. There were at least four drink runs for a six hour flight. But since it was early all I was going to drink was coffee, and the coffee was predictably terrible. Who cares about multiple drink runs when all you get to drink is really bad airline coffee? I would rather just buy a venti Starbucks and take it on the plane. Also, Continental's big claim to fame is that they serve complimentary meals on board. On this flight they were serving some awful "breakfast sandwich". I would rather just get something good at the airport and take it on the plane, rather than be subjected to Continental's "meals".
I should add that I thought there might be a choice of meals on the plane, and so when the stewardess came by with the breakfast sandwiches I politely asked if there were any choices. She gave me a cold stare and responded tersely "I don't know what you are talking about". Just because I asked her a simple question, she acted like I was the devil incarnate himself for the rest of the flight. Upon disembarking in San Diego, I politely smiled and said "thank you" as I passed her, but she only gave me a cold stare. So much for the much-vaunted Continental customer service!
I waited at baggage claim with the other passengers, but after everything I had been through, somehow I knew that my nightmare could not end this easily. Sure enough, I heard my name over the aiport loudspeaker asking me to report to baggage services. Of course my luggage was still in Newark. How could it be anywhere else? At this point I had lost my capacity for surprise or disappointment with Continental. The man behind the counter told me that my luggage would arrive on the evening flight, and would be delivered to me shortly after midnight.
It is amazing that Continental couldn't get my luggage onto my flight even though they had 14 hours at Newark to do it. But that is what you get when you fly Continental.
I went home and decided to stay up late to receive my luggage, even though I had been up so early for the morning flight from Newark. I was tired and had been wearing the same clothes for two days now. I didn't have a phone yet as I had just moved to San Diego, so I gave Continental my housemate's phone number in case there was a problem. I watched the clock...12....1.....2.....still no luggage. I had been up nearly 24 hours and my luggage still had not arrived. I went to a payphone to call Continental and ask them what was going on, and the person on the other end of the phone had no information for me. All they knew was that my luggage was in San Diego.
I later found out that the driver had called my housemate to tell her that it was too late for him to drop my luggage off, but that he would do it the next morning. I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning waiting for luggage that Continental said would be delivered after midnight, but they failed to deliver. Additionally, the driver never informed Continental that he had decided to wait until the next morning, so when I had called Continental customer service from the payphone they had no idea of it. All they could tell me was to keep waiting. This is how Continental operates.
I live in a gated community which requires a phone call to get in. But I did not have a phone yet. As my housemate recounted the story to me, Continental called at about 9:00 A.M. and told her that the delivery guy was at the front gate. She was not home at the time, so she called security to tell them to let him in, but security did not answer. As the situation wore on, the Continental person became increasingly hostile and threatening over the phone. This culminated in the Continental person yelling at her through the phone that I was inconveniencing them and that they were going to take my luggage back to the airport and I would have to pay C.O.D. ("Cash On Delivery") when I picked up it up. Yes, you heard that right. After duping me into booking with them ("under normal circumstances..."), lying to me ("we will take care of you somehow..."), after the $300 Marriott bill and after failing to put my luggage on the flight to San Diego despite having over 14 hours to do it - something which an only be the result of extreme incompetence - and after promising to deliver my luggage after midnight and then reneging without even informing the customer service department thereby causing me to stay up until dawn without knowing what was going on, now they were going to make me pay to retrieve my luggage, BECAUSE I WAS INCONVENIENCING THEM!
Only after my housemate reiterated the entire sob story did the Continental lady relent. She called the delivery guy and lo and behold, he walked through the security gate which had apparently been open the entire time, and dropped off my luggage at my front door.
There is a point where you actually start to feel like you are being physically assaulted by an airline. When my housemate told me the story of the "Cash On Delivery" threat, I reached that point. Continental shamelessly lied to me, did nothing to help me or care for me, caused me to pay $300 of my own money for a hotel, was rude to me, and made me to stay up for almost 48 hours nonstop without so much of a change of clothes, all due to their own extreme negligence and incompetence. And the final humiliation was that they were going to charge me to pick up my own luggage at the airport, after I had stayed up all night waiting for it when they had promised to deliver it.
At least I narrowly dodged that final, fatal bullet. But Continental didn't dodge anything. I hope this review will discourage all who read it from ever flying this pitiful airline. I will never fly with them ever again. I would sooner walk through the desert with a backpack full of bottled water than have to fly with them again. Believe it or not, that would actually be a painless way of traveling by comparison.
Continental Airlines is not recommended by ContinentalHater
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