The Airlines, Checked Baggage fees and ....

(D*Ball) wrote:

Brian, we have always lived near a
Continental hub, so fly them a lot and can't
really say a bad thing about them; in fact, I
think Continental has improved over the years
and overall offers one of the best domestic
flight experiences. EWR is a hub, too, so
there's a huge Continental presence
there--you shouldn't have any problems.

Let me add to what Diana has said about Continental from Newark. We have
flown Continental from Newark twice, once to Copenhagen and once to Rome
with no problems. We are booked on them for our flights to Seattle this
summer.

When I booked our Seattle flight I attempted to do it on line to save
the $20 extra fee per person for booking over the phone. Unfortunately,
instead of completing the transaction, I got a technical difficulties
pop-up. I called the 800 number it gave. I was told that the $20 fee
would be waived since I had tried to book on line.

Yesterday, I got the credit card bill including a $20 extra charge for
each of us. I called Continental today, and explained what had happened.
Frankly, I did not expect any help and figured I would next have to
contest the charges with my credit card company. But, I was told the
charges would be reversed. As Diana would say, "That's good customer
service."

On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:57:49 -0400, Brian K
wrote:

D Ball conferred with the ghost of Faye Wray and said On 4/12/2010 2:44
PM:
Brian, we have always lived near a Continental hub, so fly them a lot
and can't really say a bad thing about them; in fact, I think
Continental has improved over the years and overall offers one of the
best domestic flight experiences. EWR is a hub, too, so there's a huge
Continental presence there--you shouldn't have any problems. Check the
EWR and Continental websites the day before for last-minute status
info and recommendation how early to arrive at the airport. (On
the Continental site, there are two places to check under the Travel
Information tab--the first listed Flight Status& Information and then
under Airport Information there is a section on Processing Times.)
Don't rely on Internet lore for that info--it can change by the minute
to respond to security issues, weather, etc. I am guessing EWR may be
a little slower right now, too, as it absorbs some traffic from folks
seeking to avoid JFK during its runway renovation.

Anyway, on baggage, in addition to the helpful link LVTravel provided
outlining permitted bag size and fees, let me just add that assuming
your sister e-ticketed you using your email address, you'll get an
email roughly 24 hours before flight time prompting you to go online
and check-in and print out a boarding pass. You'll also be prompted to
indicate the number of checked bags and pay online for them (a few
bucks cheaper than at the airport). If you're not packed/sure about
baggage at that point, no biggie, you can check bags at the curb or
inside using a self check-in& bag check kiosk. Last resort is
standing in line for a check-in agent. (If your e-ticket has your
sister's email address tied to it, she'll forward it to you, or if you
don't want to wait, you can go to the check-in page on Continental's
site and proceed with your name and ticket confirmation number.)

The taxi ride from FLL to the cruise terminal is about $15 plus tip
and takes less than 10 minutes.

Cheers,

Diana Ball
Austin, TX

Diana thank you very much for your response. Also Thanks Jean for your
comments. I am beginning to wonder what's gotten into some of you guys.
I mean give me a frelling break already!

Why don't you just write what you mean and stop ****ing around the
subject.

On 4/13/2010 7:34 AM, Jeff Gersten wrote:

Yesterday, I got the credit card bill including a $20 extra charge for
each of us. I called Continental today, and explained what had happened.
Frankly, I did not expect any help and figured I would next have to
contest the charges with my credit card company. But, I was told the
charges would be reversed. As Diana would say, "That's good customer
service."


Houston is a Continental hub, so I flew them almost exclusively for more
than couple of decades. My flights were on time, if not early, and I
only had one or two flights that were 5 minutes late. When I missed a
flight because my cruise out of Tampa was fogged in, Continental
rescheduled my flight for the next day without charging me. I have been
pleased with Continental.

Becca

Glad someone had something they liked about continetal,we were not
pleased at all with them from day one we were screwed around by them,we
would never had known any of our flights had been changed 3 times if we
had not called them evry day.The pay off was when they cancelled a
flight,never tod us until our travel agent called us to say we were to
go on amtrak to 30th st.station in philly,instead of our flight to
philly int.airport,which is much closer to us





cruise lover(~~~~~)






..

WTF conferred with the ghost of Faye Wray and said On 4/13/2010 9:13 AM:
On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:57:49 -0400, Brian K
wrote:


D Ball conferred with the ghost of Faye Wray and said On 4/12/2010 2:44
PM:

Brian, we have always lived near a Continental hub, so fly them a lot
and can't really say a bad thing about them; in fact, I think
Continental has improved over the years and overall offers one of the
best domestic flight experiences. EWR is a hub, too, so there's a huge
Continental presence there--you shouldn't have any problems. Check the
EWR and Continental websites the day before for last-minute status
info and recommendation how early to arrive at the airport. (On
the Continental site, there are two places to check under the Travel
Information tab--the first listed Flight Status& Information and then
under Airport Information there is a section on Processing Times.)
Don't rely on Internet lore for that info--it can change by the minute
to respond to security issues, weather, etc. I am guessing EWR may be
a little slower right now, too, as it absorbs some traffic from folks
seeking to avoid JFK during its runway renovation.

Anyway, on baggage, in addition to the helpful link LVTravel provided
outlining permitted bag size and fees, let me just add that assuming
your sister e-ticketed you using your email address, you'll get an
email roughly 24 hours before flight time prompting you to go online
and check-in and print out a boarding pass. You'll also be prompted to
indicate the number of checked bags and pay online for them (a few
bucks cheaper than at the airport). If you're not packed/sure about
baggage at that point, no biggie, you can check bags at the curb or
inside using a self check-in& bag check kiosk. Last resort is
standing in line for a check-in agent. (If your e-ticket has your
sister's email address tied to it, she'll forward it to you, or if you
don't want to wait, you can go to the check-in page on Continental's
site and proceed with your name and ticket confirmation number.)

The taxi ride from FLL to the cruise terminal is about $15 plus tip
and takes less than 10 minutes.

Cheers,

Diana Ball
Austin, TX


Diana thank you very much for your response. Also Thanks Jean for your
comments. I am beginning to wonder what's gotten into some of you guys.
I mean give me a frelling break already!

Why don't you just write what you mean and stop ****ing around the
subject.

I thought I was being clear. However, since you seem to have the key to
what I mean, why don't *you* tell me what you think I mean. Stop
"****ing" around the subject.

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"The poor dog is the firmest of friends, the first to welcome the foremost to defend" - Lord Byron

View My Web Pages: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951
My Shutterfly Page http://photosbybrianmk.shutterfly.com/

[Default] Thus spake Brian K :

April 30 I will be flying EWR to FLL (Newark to Ft. Lauderdale) for a
cruise. My agent booked me on Continental. I have read several threads
with global generalizatins of 'the airlines this and the airlines
that' I confess that I haven't read every thread dealing with the
subject. Ok maybe because I've been busy doing volunteer work at the
rescue shelter I haven't any first hand knowledge yet. But the ever
expanding Kiristie Alley in the room wants to know "Which airlines, what
and how much?"

Well, you've already been hammered on, so I won't bother telling you
that you can save by paying online.

Also, if you have a smart phone, you can check in online and have your
boarding passes emailed to your phone. They come as a PDF file, so
you'll need to be able to read that. We had ours on our iPhones and
had zero problems. The TSA agent in MIA just said "make it as big as
you can" and then scanned it. The only time we had any trouble was in
IAH on the way home, where the gate agent didn't know exactly what to
do, but the supervisor showed her in a flash. They WILL NOT touch
your phone. "If we drop it, we buy it. If you drop it, you cry"
--

- dillon I am not invalid

The RMS Titanic sank on April 15th.
Taxes are due on April 15th.
Coincidence? I think not.

Dillon Pyron conferred with the ghost of Faye Wray and said On
4/16/2010 10:59 AM:
[Default] Thus spake Brian :


April 30 I will be flying EWR to FLL (Newark to Ft. Lauderdale) for a
cruise. My agent booked me on Continental. I have read several threads
with global generalizatins of 'the airlines this and the airlines
that' I confess that I haven't read every thread dealing with the
subject. Ok maybe because I've been busy doing volunteer work at the
rescue shelter I haven't any first hand knowledge yet. But the ever
expanding Kiristie Alley in the room wants to know "Which airlines, what
and how much?"

Well, you've already been hammered on, so I won't bother telling you
that you can save by paying online.

Also, if you have a smart phone, you can check in online and have your
boarding passes emailed to your phone. They come as a PDF file, so
you'll need to be able to read that. We had ours on our iPhones and
had zero problems. The TSA agent in MIA just said "make it as big as
you can" and then scanned it. The only time we had any trouble was in
IAH on the way home, where the gate agent didn't know exactly what to
do, but the supervisor showed her in a flash. They WILL NOT touch
your phone. "If we drop it, we buy it. If you drop it, you cry"

Thanks for the Smart Phone tip. My phone is a Moto Razr. It's the
"Miami Ink" collectors edition. Since I primarily use my phone to talk,
I have not seen a need for a Smart Phone. On vacation I generally leave
as much of the everyday including the internet behind. If I need to get
in touch with the folks back home, I'll find an internet cafe at a port
and send a brief e-mail.

My flavor of Razr is an unlocked GSM world phone. So, if need be
(making in port reservations, calling cabs, chatting with euro
relatives) I can pick up a local SIM at a port-of-call .

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"The poor dog is the firmest of friends, the first to welcome the foremost to defend" - Lord Byron

View My Web Pages: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951
My Shutterfly Page http://photosbybrianmk.shutterfly.com/

[Default] Thus spake Brian K :

Dillon Pyron conferred with the ghost of Faye Wray and said On
4/16/2010 10:59 AM:
[Default] Thus spake Brian :


April 30 I will be flying EWR to FLL (Newark to Ft. Lauderdale) for a
cruise. My agent booked me on Continental. I have read several threads
with global generalizatins of 'the airlines this and the airlines
that' I confess that I haven't read every thread dealing with the
subject. Ok maybe because I've been busy doing volunteer work at the
rescue shelter I haven't any first hand knowledge yet. But the ever
expanding Kiristie Alley in the room wants to know "Which airlines, what
and how much?"

Well, you've already been hammered on, so I won't bother telling you
that you can save by paying online.

Also, if you have a smart phone, you can check in online and have your
boarding passes emailed to your phone. They come as a PDF file, so
you'll need to be able to read that. We had ours on our iPhones and
had zero problems. The TSA agent in MIA just said "make it as big as
you can" and then scanned it. The only time we had any trouble was in
IAH on the way home, where the gate agent didn't know exactly what to
do, but the supervisor showed her in a flash. They WILL NOT touch
your phone. "If we drop it, we buy it. If you drop it, you cry"

Thanks for the Smart Phone tip. My phone is a Moto Razr. It's the
"Miami Ink" collectors edition. Since I primarily use my phone to talk,
I have not seen a need for a Smart Phone. On vacation I generally leave
as much of the everyday including the internet behind. If I need to get
in touch with the folks back home, I'll find an internet cafe at a port
and send a brief e-mail.

On the ship I've generally found SMS to be very effective. I turn the
sucker on, wait about two minutes and if nothing's come, I turn it
off. When I have to send something, I just repeat. Everyone I might
be sending one to knows DO NOT CALL ME UNDER PAIN OF DEATH.

With the iPhone I can just pop it into airplane mode. Although the
GPS is fun from time to time.

Carol didn't really think she'd have much use for an iPhone, but
agreed that our 5 year old Moto 550's were pretty much shot, since the
batteries didn't give much more than 72 hours of standby. So, she now
has 80+ apps. I have about 50. Since iTunes now lets us share music,
her collection is almost as big as mine. She won't listen to anything
Hendrix. (If you like Hendrix, get his Woodstock CD. It's the entire
set, not the shorty on Woodstock)


My flavor of Razr is an unlocked GSM world phone. So, if need be
(making in port reservations, calling cabs, chatting with euro
relatives) I can pick up a local SIM at a port-of-call .

Yeah, we found out the hard way that AT&T doesn't have a cross-carry
agreement with anyone in Israel. Used Skype a bunch. We'll get our
phones unlocked some time in the next week, but they use Mini-SIMs, so
that might be a PITA.
--

- dillon I am not invalid

The RMS Titanic sank on April 15th.
Taxes are due on April 15th.
Coincidence? I think not.