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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