Warning regarding Continental's flights to Jamaica.

[JamaicaHound]

If you are flying Continental from Houston to Montego Bay, you need to check your reservations. For that matter, you should probably read this is you have any reservations on Continental.

We are returning for our 7th visit to CTI in January (cant wait!). A few months back, I made a reservation with Continental for a Thursday flight from Austin to Jamaica, connecting (with a 2 hour lay over) to a flight from Houston to Montego Bay.

A Last week, I decided to check my reservations. Much to my surprise, Continental had changed my reservations without notifying me. My flight from Austin to Houston was still at the same time, but my flight from Houston to Montego Bay was scheduled for 2 days later! I went from a 2 hour layover in Houston to a 2 day layover!

I called Continental. They told me that they have discontinued all flights from Houston to Montego Bay except for weekends. Since my Thursday flight no longer existed, they simply moved me to the next available flight. Apparently, the fact that this created a 2 day layover in Houston was not significant enough to actually notify me of the change.

But wait, it gets worse. They also had rescheduled my flight home, bumping me off my Sunday Montego Bay to Houston flight and instead routed me through Nouth Carolina. However, the flight from Nouth Carolina to Houston arrived 1 hour after my Houston to Austin connection was scheduled to depart. In short, they replaced my original itinerary with one that was actually physically imposible to perform.

I finally got a refund and rebooked with Delta, but if I hadn't double checked my reservations I would have never found out in time. I understand that Continental made other changes to their flight schedules as well. If you are flying Continental, it might be a good idea to check you reservations.

[smroot]

The airlines for the most part could take a lesson from Couples and learn what customer service and satisfaction is all about. We are no better then the baggage they carry.

[mtnclimber]

YIKES!! Thnx for posting this. We're going thru Houston also. I better check.

[Bearso]

Yes they pretty much screwed us as well back in August. We had a San Diego to Houston to MB scheduled and they changes us to SD to Newark to MB....and the same coming home. It worked but kinda pissed me off at first.

[Wally]

I just checked our reservation. We're on Delta in January. Two of the four flight numbers have changed and all of the times have changed! At least they are still on the same day and all connections will still work. The biggest change was about an hour.

amroot - The airlines don't care about customer service. They know we all hate them and they just don't care. All they care about is their profits and they get those because they have us by the balls! They all act the same and basically there is no competition.

[Rum Girl]

We were also unhappy with Continental for several reasons. My husband's luggage was DESTROYED. They rushed us on the plane and then made us sit on the runway for over an hour while they tried to find a part to fix the bathroom light! (I said just leave us a flashlight and get us to Jamaica... please! ) Flight attendants were not very nice to us and to others. We miss flying Air Jamaica. They are not flying out of our closest airport any more. We may just drive further next time and that way we will be able to fly with them. It would be worth it!
Sorry you had such a bad time with Continental. Your situation sounds far worse than ours did.

[Driverlady]

Looks like the flights out of Houston continue until the end of the year. We are booked for December and ours hasn't changed, looks like the weeks beginning January 1 have no direct flights from Houston though.

[jamaicamecrazy]

Yikes! What a nightmare. Glad you got it all sorted out.
This doesn't leave me with a lot of confidence. We're booked on Continental to Costa Rica in Jan. They've changed our flight a few times. Mostly it's been by about 5 or 10 minutes, but this last time (just yesterday, so I am ready for a rant. lol) they added a stop in Denver (coming home) from Houston to Seattle. It's going to add over 2 hours over all and an hour sitting in Denver, and get us in at 11:37 pm. Yuk. Not happy about this. I specifically avoid "wintery" airports in Jan. We could change and fly in and out of our home airport - YVR -but that's an extra $489... each! (That's why we fly out of SEA)
The only reason we knew of the change is because we booked through Expedia and they are really good about sending email notifications of any changes. However, Continental is one of the few airlines that any changes must go through them directly and not Expedia.
I just want to fly WestJet. They are seriously the best airline ever. (I know this doesn't help the Americans here - sorry, but we are always happy when we fly WestJet)
Anyway... good reminder to everyone to check their flights often! ...regardless of the airline.

[Samantha]

We just had an issue with Continental as well. They changed our return flight and ended up with a 17 hour layover. They didn't care. The customer service representative was so rude I couldn't believe it, but she was sure to ask me if I wanted a rental car. She must have been getting credit for selling rental cars. This isn't the first issue we have had. We are done. I don't care if they are half the price, I will never fly Continental again.

[beachsam]

It really does not matter which airline you fly. Having just returned from Europe this evening I can tell you they all stink! We were booked JFK to Venice with a stop in Madrid on AA/Iberia, the flights were delayed, they put us on Air Berlin to Dusseldorf then to Venice, which meant at JFK I had to switch terminals, and the Air Berlin sent me back to Iberia because they gave me wrong boarding pass. Coming home BA from Athens to Heathrow, then BA to Newark, again flight delayed, so the booked us on a later flight heathrow to Jfk, car service was waiting in Newark. They assured me I would make this later flight, so we get on the plane, stupid people are crowding overhead bins with heavy coats, no room for carry ons, flight left 45 minutes late, missed flight to JFK, had to take later flight. Was supposed to arrive in Newark at 8:25, finally arrived JFK at 10:45 and waited for driver to come get us. The flight attendants on BA were great, but I had to pay for an extra bag at 50 dollars and 98 dollars for seats, I feel like I was a dollar sign and nothing else.

[markandjannett]

Continental has screwed us twice but not again. I will pay more just to stay away from them. Two years they ago did a similar change to our reservation and rescheduled or connecting flights to the days BEFORE our departure and when I called they actually tried to rationalize it and couldn't figure out why I was upset ........

This past summer they got us again. After the hurricane had already made it's way up the coast and around North Carolina or above, we thought everything was fine and no worries ...... WRONG ...... 12 hours before our flight out of Memphis, we get an email saying that the connecting flight through Houston has been cancelled. I tried to call them but received a recording saying they were experiencing high call volume, thanks for calling, good bye. Thankfully were staying near the airport and a great ticket agent spent the next hour searching for a flight to get us to CSA. When it was all over we had originally bought a round trip flight on Continental but wound up flying down on American and back on US Airways (not a real fan of them either but thats another story....).

[randi&sherri]

the airlines are a mess these days as ALOT of things! We are very fortunate always have a direct flight out of Charlotte less than three hours and were home!
Soonecome Dec

[Chris]

As Wally says, there is no incentive for the airlines to improve customer service, and as broad as that statement is, its true. Last month, for example...

As we boarded our USAir flight from Milwaukee to our MB connection in Charlotte, I surrendered our rolling carryon for valet stowage (no room in overhead). In Charlotte, we deplaned on the tarmack, and as I awaited our carryon, I saw our large pullman (only a year old and hardly used) we checked at Milwaukee come down the conveyor in pieces! The rightside wheel assembly was completely broken off! The ONLY way for this to happen was for it to fall off the top of the conveyor as it was loaded at Milwaukee. This means that I paid $25 for the PRIVELEDGE of having this bag destroyed.

After our return home, I sent a complaint to USAir. Their response... I should have reported the issue on arrival at Montego Bay; without a complaint at our destination, they could only assume the luggage arrived in good shape. They went on to say that they are not responsible for protruding parts such as wheels, straps, pockets, zippers, fasteners, or retractable handles... in other words, they aren't responsible. In other words, had I taken the extra hour or two to file the complaint at Montego Bay, they would have said its not their problem

Again, I'm not trying to pick on USAir here (ok, maybe just a little bit), but I am offering another customer service horror story about the industry as "A-hole".

[smroot]

Wow, this discussion needs a thread of it's own. Suppose the airlines would read it and react, or are we just too small a group? I hold a pilot's license and own a plane, but it is to small for me to fly to Jamaica comfortably in and with the cost of avgas, I could buy a first class ticket for what it would cost me. I fly Southwest as much as I can, as I feel they are the lesser of the evils, but even they have bad days now and then. I check my USAIR confirmation for February, and I have a couple of changes, but only by a few minutes. I fear, from past experience, that is a pre-cursor to bigger changes. Will wait and see.

[angels_allan]

Sounds like a business opportunity for Couples to start a new business. With their client-friendly attitude, I think that Couples-In-The-Air would be an awesome replacement for these other airlines.

[SueandBill]

Our flight on USAirways scheduled to leave for MBJ on Feb. 25th was changed as well. There was no notification from the airline, and our pleasant connect that we had planned in Charlotte is now in Philadelphia. The upside is a very nice gentleman from USAirways helped us rebook our flight and we arrive in JA almost an hour earlier. However, this may not be the last change, so I am now on alert!

[JaneStewart]

Hopefully, our story will have a better ending than most here - keeping our fingers crossed! We were booked on Spirit out of Myrtle Beach cause that's the closest and it was way cheaper. Did it last year and no better or worse experience than any other typical airline travel these days. I will hand it to Spirit, we have always gotten an e-mail about any flight changes, even if only a minute. The last e-mail, however, had us coming home a day later - no longer flying to MBJ on Sunday. So, ready to do battle, I called Spirit. I was so surprised, got thru to a real person and was promised a prompt refund. Actually had it 2 days later.

randi&sherri: we are now spending Friday night in CLT and flying out on that 3 hour flight early Sat morning. Hope to be on the beach with drinks in hand by that afternoon. Maybe this is always the way to go!!! Thanks Spirit! Only 2 more days

[BobandJudy]

Unless you have elite status, flying is no better than riding a crowded bus.

Another thing to check for on your reservations are your seat assignments. A few years ago, USAirways changed the type of plane for our flight from Charlotte to MoBay. They changed from a narrow body to a wide body flight (2 aisles). When they did this, our seat assignments were no longer together. Luckily I caught this early and was able to put us back to sitting together.

To pile on Continental, at the beginning of October they were going to bump me on a flight for which I had a confirmed reservation. The gate agent didn't even bother asking for volunteers to give up their seats for compensation because she "figured no one would want to give up their seat." Huh?? I was lucky and one person didn't show, but I was very close to going home the next day.