Continental Airlines has complete disregard for its customers

I have been on hold and transferred for the past hour and these
comments are true. Just let Continental go bankrupted the next time.
Write your congressman and Senator not to bail them out and about your
complaints - for certain the company does not listen. I have had
three (3) round trips that 142 miles each (71 each way) to get my son
off this morning. They wanted him to get a $300 ticket if he would
walk all the way to the entrance ticket stand while his bags were
being returned to him because their pilot was an hour and half late.
That caused him to miss the next two connections since they were full.
They even wanted him to fly to Newark the next connecting place where
there were no seats then available in order to get his $300
certificate. Why could they have not called us before we left for the
airport since they knew since last nite that their pilot was not going
to make it. After one hour and half another agent came on the call to
only hang up or lose me. The first Continental agent was rude and
hung up on me. I have had it with this sorry airline and do not
recommend anyone fly with them. Let him go bankrupted like the rest
of the terrible services.

It's not just Continental, it seems the problem is somewhere in
Barcelona. I have been to Barcelona 3 times, once with Air Canada,
once with Delta and once with British Airways.
Each and every time, my plane got diverted to refuel. Once we landed
in Montreal to refuel when the final destination was Toronto (a 45 min
flight).

the flight should have departed from the airport where it was being
refueled

I dunno, i would rather arrive late than arrive in a body bag. As for
the restroom issues Sh** happens (literaly). I dont see how your
platinum status comes in, all were inconvenienced in the same manner,
its not like they singled out the platinum members for additional
inconvenience.

How do you wake up a pilot and ask him to move? Nudge him and say
"excuse me sir, could i get by you?" Pretty simple.

Inefficency happens,

" how you take your customers in such disregard?" i think they had
high regard for the customers, they made an unscheduled stop to fix a
toilet that a customer likely broke, and they had the "regard" to make
sure they had enough fuel to complete the flight.

I cant tell you why you should be loyal to the airline, i have never
liked them, but your other option is a ship, now your talking a
transit time of days, instead of hours.

if they ran out of fuel completely?

Personally, I'd rather be a little inconvenienced and arrive safe.

As to the pilots - that's on you. While you were trying to be
considerate and that's great, I don't think it would have killed
anyone (literally) if you quietly asked the person to move and went to
the restroom.

It isn't like you would have kept them awake the whole flight!

So they were supposed to stay up all day just in case you might have
to use the bathroom? What if it was another paying customer? Would you
have woken them up as well? This was the airport crew's fault, not the
pilots. You can't refuel a plane from inside the plane. Sometimes
plane problems come up while you're in air. At least you're safe and
everything worked out. I've flown Continental several times and never
had any problems. You probably just got unlucky. It happens with EVERY
airline sometimes.

if you have to pee, wake him up anyway.

i don't know about you but... I can really wait a while. but when my
bladder says "hey, you. stop ignoring me. it's time!" then... I don't
care who's sleeping in the seat next to me. i am going to use the
bathroom.


as a side note... i'd like to see barcelona
fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/21/theairlineindustry.usec
onomy

excerpt;
"Continental's fleet of 41 Boeing 757-200 aircraft are an average of
11 years old. According to Boeing, the planes have a range of 3,900
nautical miles which, in normal conditions, is comfortably above the
3,014 nautical miles for an average flight between London and New
York.

But holding patterns at airports add to fuel burn and certain European
destinations are more of a stretch - a flight from Barcelona to Newark
is 3,338 nautical miles and the US government revealed that
Continental's pilots on this route declared minimum fuel 23 times last
year."

Actually, check this air route map. Halifax is closer than Newark, and
is not out of the way I used to fly from Germany to the US when I was
stationed there and the NOrth atlantic route always took us by Halifax


http://www.airlineroutemaps.com/USA/Continental_Airlines_europe.shtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R5mVF6jeTU

Another Seinfeld reference.

before the plane falls out of the sky?

Well... Before you need to glide to the nearest acceptable location to
land.

An article on one "out of fuel" incident that comes to mind;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

Also, the aircraft is a Boeing 757, which has long range capabilities,
but is not necessarily a traditional transatlantic aircraft. It is not
a wide-body, and is typically used on high volume domestic routes.
It looks like this is a trend with this Continental aircraft;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/21/theairlineindustry.usec
onomy

I'd venture to guess that the toilet tanks were full or close to full.
Maybe because the restrooms weren't serviced in Barcelona. Maybe
because the passengers/crew, um, filled them up.

Being low on fuel: I'm sure Continental had the fuel tanks full
before the flight took off. You know how your gas mileage can vary in
your car? I'd bet jet fuel mileage varies, too. Windspeed, air
speed, weight, extra-long takeoff could all factor in.

For all we know, there was enough fuel to get to Newark, but only if
the plane could land immediately. Kind of like the car running on
fumes. You might take the chance that you'd reach your destination
with your gas tank registering close to "E".

Continental could not take such a chance with an airplane full of
people. Weather delays, closed runways, plenty of other reasons the
plane might have to circle for a while before landing. There aren't
many places to refuel between Barcelona and Newark(probably none!).
Halifax was the closest "gas station" the plane could get to.

Your failure to wake your seatmate is not Continental's fault.

You should continue your loyalty to Continental because they delivered
you safely to your destination. Apparently on time and with all of
your luggage.

If you didn't feel able to wake the passenger next to you so that you
could use the rest room, I agree you showed him consideration but it
was at your expense.

It is hard to see how the passenger, who happened to be a pilot,
failed to consider you by falling asleep. If you needed to go, you
should have awakened the person next to you.

As far as the intricacies of the management of the flight, while you
were privy to a causal comment, I'm not sure the airline will be able
or should have to reconstruct what happened.

For example, maybe the airport or airline operations in Barcelona made
it more efficient to take off, knowing a stop in Nova Scotia would be
necessary. It is hard to say. Ideally, unscheduled stops don't
occur.