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Continental threats
And you have sent this to Continental's president?
"Te Canaille" wrote in message news:Q6b7b.43885$uh6.41692@lakeread05... About 6 years ago I started traveling to various locales to conduct training seminars. Commercial airline flights were chosen as the means of transportation due to time constraints and actually a more economical way to go. A necessary item for presentations was a closed-cell foam pad one half inch thick and 48 inches on each edge and life vest. The answer to this transportation dilemma was a 48 inch long by 12 inch diameter duffle bag. The life jacket was simply rolled up in the pad and stored in the duffle. Nothing was ever mentioned about the size of this duffle until a recent flight to Cleveland. Continental gladly accepted my duffle on the first leg from Baton Rouge to Cleveland but when checking it on the return flight the ticket agent, a man asked about the bag's contents. The truthful reply was given. "This bag is oversized and will cost $ 80.00 extra." "Whoa, I no one has ever mentioned this before, besides this is a return flight ( #1645 Cleveland to Houston ) and Continental accepted this duffle on the first leg. The time to raise this issue was then and all the previous years", I replied. A very stern look appeared and he answered, "They all should have told you then. Just think of me as a policeman who finally caught you." Now, my pad cost about $ 65 so I was not about to pay this individual $15 more dollars than it was worth particularly considering the circumstances, so I tried another approach. " Why don't I take the pad out, leave it here with you and wear the life jacket, although I wonder what the reaction will be from fellow passengers when I board the plane wearing a life vest", I added. He found this not in the least bit humorous. At that point, he said, "Wait here", turned on his heel and disappeared into a door behind the ticket counter. He soon emerged with a younger woman in tow. There was no relenting in her demeanor and I realized then that they would not budge. At that moment an act of complete irony took place when a gentleman arrived at the adjoining counter with a hard shelled golf club case that looked as though a Mack truck and 3 burly teamsters would be needed to load it onto the plane. It was roughly the same dimensions as my duffle and was accepted without comment by another Continental agent. Upon pointing that out I was informed that golf club bags and certain other oversized items were exempt from the extra charge. " You mean to tell me that you will accept these heavy bulky items such as golf clubs at no charge and want $ 80 for a lightweight pad", I noted. At this point a somewhat humorous if not bothersome scene turned very dark. I had purchased E-tickets which meant that Continental Airlines had my credit card number. The female ticket agent armed with this information informed me that if I continued to argue, Continental Airlines would charge an additional $80 for the first flight plus ( already taken ) and an extra $ 80 for the return flight. This was certainly an attempted intimidation if not an open threat. Continental had promoted the E-ticket concept as a convenience for them and me but now armed with my credit card number, introduced the idea that they would add charges as they pleased ! I now know this policy exists, but to my way of thinking a larger question was opened. IF TICKETS ARE PURCHASED ELECTRONICALLY WITH A CREDIT CARD NUMBER, DOES THE CARRIER HAVE THE RIGHT TO ADD ADDITIONAL CHARGES AT THEIR OWN DISCRETION? This had such a chilling effect that I removed my bags and went to another section of the terminal to ponder a solution. The lines through security were very long and there was a danger of missing the flight so I removed the pad from the duffle, left it in the terminal, took the duffle with the PFD to the sky cap outside, who gladly checked it through, and continued with the journey. I'll make a new pad. My wife and I will certainly never fly Continental or purchase E-tickets again. We travel for other business as well and probably only spend about $ 5,000 to $6,000 a year on tickets. That certainly is no big loss for Continental, but will be my small protest. |
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Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Continental threats | Te Canaille | Air travel | 51 | September 16th, 2003 06:24 AM |