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Continental dis-honoring upgrade
Is this going one elsewhere, too?
Here’s a tale of airline duplicity with implications for thousands of airline customers. On September 18th, 2003, I had reserved a morning flight on Continental but was not really required at my destination until later that evening. At the boarding gate I learned that Continental had overbooked the flight and offered compoensation to anyone who would take a later flight. I accepted. My compensation was a Continental Airlines voucher entitled, "Positive Space Upgrade Valid within Mainland US, Alaska, the Caribbean and Latin America.” That phrase is printed on both the cover and on the coupon inside the voucher, signed and stamped by the Continental gate agent. The voucher also states inside the front cover and on the coupon itself, “This certificate is valid for a First Class upgrade when traveling on a paid fare ticket . . . ” The coupon is noted as good for one year. So far, so good. At least it seemed to be until I recently tried to use the upgrade. I own a business that builds and hosts web sites and I also operate a web site that promotes Caribbean travel. I made plans last weekend to visit some of my clients so I booked a Continental flight to Barbados. A Continental agent helped me, over the phone, find a low fare based on the usual 21-day advance purchase. It’s a fare available to any traveler. I placed the reservation. When I informed the reservation agent that I have a First Class upgrade voucher, the agent said it could not be applied to this flight because, “your fare is too low.” I pointed out that the voucher only requires that I travel on a “paid fare ticket” and makes no distinction as to the fare being high or low. She was adamant. But I need to make the trip so I booked the flight however I then sent an email to Continental’s Customer Care department. I asked what part of “paid fare ticket” did not apply to this reservation and asked that they confirm that they would honor the upgrade. They did not answer that question. But they did respond, a few hours later, that the voucher could not be honored because the airline does not have First Class service to Bermuda. I promptly wrote an email pointing out that my reservation is to Barbados, not Bermuda, stating that they do offer First Class Service to Barbados, and reminding them that they had not answered the question regarding the alleged low fare restriction. After waiting more than a day and a half without a response, just before going to bed at Monday evening, I wrote a stronger email backed by the promise of legal action and publicity if they did not honor their voucher. Sometime during the night I got a response saying, QUOTE Your reservation is indeed booked for BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS, please excuse the error. In investigating rules and guidelines for usage of the customer care positive space upgrade certificates that are issued, this is the latest information. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY FIRST CLASS UPGRADE CERTS WILL NOT BE HONORED FOR USE ON AIRCRAFT WITH A BUSINESS FIRST CABIN. We do apologize for the confusion. ENDQUOTE Note that there is no date or verifiable citation in their published rules regarding this alleged “latest information” but the language implies that it is a recent thing. And note that they continue to ignore the claim that the fare being "too low" somehow voids the compensation voucher. And they still have not confirmed if the upgrade will be honored but leave that issue hanging. I wrote back early this morning reminding them this policy is not stated on the voucher and while recent changes in their policy may affect vouchers issued after that policy was instituted, it does not change the terms under which I accepted an upgrade as compensation for doing them a favor. So far, they have not replied. The voucher was issued in NJ and both Continental and I both are based in NJ and the refusal to honor their alleged "compensation" here in NJ. Therefore, I've filed a complaint with the Attorney General of NJ, office of Consumer Fraud. I've also filed it with a well known television consumer advocate. Is this going on elsewhere? Anyone else have similar problems? Thanks, CaribeJoe |
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