Continental Airlines Flight Status Information; Irrelevant and Misleading

By Bob Gordon, President and Co-publisher
The Auto Channel

Auto Central June 7, 2010; Well there I was at the end of a very long week (1000 miles) of testing a new Volkswagen Golf TDI, which was great! (more later about the road test), now it was time leave Newark and to happily return to Auto Central in Louisville KY.

I was scheduled to leave at 8 PM Sunday, and as many of you know, throughout the day, thunderstorms and tornadoes abounded in the Midwest and oozed into the east coast, and when that happens there are understandable, and welcomed delays from this white knuckle flyer (I have learned over many years that virtually all pilots and crew members would rather be safe than on time, as do passengers).

So what's my beef? Delays? No! Thinking myself an experienced traveler who believes that I can rely on an airline to never have their scheduled or rescheduled flights leave before the communicated, announced and stated departure time, (on-line "flight status" and "press 3" for flight status via the telephone), yesterday after more than 50 years of commercial flying I had my beliefs shattered.

I have reached that stage in life when I hate to rush for my airplane...HATE IT! When I was younger and the world of airline travel was a better place, I prided myself in just how close I could cut it, running down the old terminal building here in Louisville yelling to “please hold the plane”...and they did. In fact on one trip with my family, my wife actually stood in the door of the plane and wouldn't let it close until I rushed in, much to the consternation and icy stares of my fellow (civilized here in Louisville, thank goodness ) passengers. I am not proud of that incident but only use it as the example of just how far (old) I have come.

OK, on to the heart(less) facts of the matter at hand.

My Continental Newark to Louisville flight was originally scheduled to leave at 8 PM, and with the weather conditions as they were I thought it wise (never again) to check with Continental (as told to) before heading for the airport. After 3 phone calls and 5 visits to Continental.com's "Flight Status" page (last click at 6:45 PM) it stated that because of the weather my flight would now have a new departure time of 9:30 PM, instead of the aforementioned scheduled 8...oh well, remember I was NOT UPSET, I understood, I am a way grown-up, and as stated above I am always relieved that no risks will be taken when there is bad flying weather around.

This time in fact the delay was more than welcomed, as I have been hoping to one day have some extra time to detour on my way to the airport and try what is touted as New Jersey's best pizza, Santillo's Brick Oven Pizza (since 1918), and this time (courtesy of Mother Nature and Continental flight operations) I gained what I believed was the extra time needed to stop, order and finally taste what turned out to be an especially delicious pizza from a bakery right there on the route leading to the airport, how convenient. (I can't believe I ate the whole thing).

So there I was fat(er) and happy(er) as I arrived at AviStar Airport Parking to return the much appreciated VW Golf TDI to where I picked it up a week earlier....and with Continental's re-scheduled departure time of 9:30 dancing in my head, I was just loafing along, believing that there was no rush because there was still at least 95 minutes to the promised delayed departure.

But boy was I wrong.

When I arrived at the Continental counter at 8:05 PM I was told that my flight was now leaving at 8:17 not the advertised 9:30, what? I emoted, here I am, a good passenger who did everything I was asked to do, “check with your airline to see if you flight is delayed” I did it and did it and did it again and then my reward was being belittled by a Continental red jacket at the check-in counter who said I should have checked-in for the original departure time of 8 PM (Huh?), and that there was nothing he could do. OK red jacket..I asked to see his supervisor, well so then came a manager to my rescue (I thought), he and the red jacket and two counter agents gathered around a computer terminal out of my hearing or seeing range to discuss and ponder what to do about this just screwed old passenger.

Mr. manager, my hoped for hero, walked over to me and told me it was all my fault, (for believing your company? I smartly retorted) and was then told that "Fight Status" doesn't really mean anything, and that every departure time was just an estimate and my 8 PM flight although rescheduled everywhere for a 9:30 departure could have been and was changed by Continental flight operations when they re-jiggered another crew to fly my formerly 90 minute delay-ed flight to Louisville at 8:17 (how lucky, he told me), and that there were 31 (obviously smarter, he snidely stated) passengers on the flight, proving just how mistaken I was to blame poor Continental for my mistake... and that there was nothing he/they could do to adjudicate(my word NOT HIS) the situation except re-book me on the next early morning sleepy-eye 6:35 AM flight...and oh no Continental doesn't provide accommodations for stranded domestic passengers.

The above manager told me that he was Continental's Newark Hub Manager of Customer Service(huh) and told me that I should be more careful next time and always check-in at the originally scheduled time, not the re-scheduled time, and it was my fault, and then as I leaned in to read his difficult to pronounce name (provided upon request to the proper authorities) he shrank away and told me to back off(those who know me know that I am not a close talker), and then at my request reluctantly scrawled his name on the back of my ticket receipt...and no he wouldn't give me permission to record this conversation on my iPhone.

I guess that an old exec could look aggressive to someone who was blowing off a long time customer, and who told the Hub Manager, (a little nastily, I admit) that this was no way to treat a customer, and then came back at me with "...you do have other choices when you travel"; hmm blown off by a supposed customer advocate, someone who should be aware of the big picture and that his way was not a good way to help a struggling company to make profit and positively influence customers (and journalists).

So here I was, stuck and sweaty in Newark, and then BOOM the indignity of it all hit me...after having payed Continental a premium price for my ticket, so as to eliminate any potential problems and keep my travel time to a minimum, I now also had to pay for a hotel room for 7 hours, spend another night on the road, and get a 0 dark thirty wake up call to make my new flight and then had to pay $40 bucks for a cab instead of being chauffeured home by my sweet wife...and then having to waste today writing this bullshit...boy am I pissed!

And so this morning using my journalists credentials and wiles, I discovered that my original flight was booked to have 49 passengers, but left Newark last night (at 8:17) with only 31 on board, I guess that "we 18" believed what we read and heard from Continental's "Flight Status" communications, – Big Mistake!

So the moral of my sad but true tale is this; pay no attention to "Flight Status" information from Continental, whether on-line or on the telephone...because according to the Continental personnel, whatever time they tell you the flight will depart is meaningless, irrelevant and unsubstantiated...

I believe that Continental's "Flight Status" outreach is there just to tenderize passengers to a potential delay and to keep them softened up and pacified...Baa Baa, and also, don't ever expect Continental's customer service management to service their customers.

Buh-Bye Continental it was nice knowing you. I do have other choices, but maybe just maybe if I have to go to Guam I will give you a shout.

Post Script: Ironically this morning I received a call on my cell phone from a different Continental customer service guy (proving that my number in in my record and that I was reachable after they rescheduled the reschedule) to tell me it was my fault I missed the flight last night and to make me aware of a disclaimer for rescheduling, at the very very bottom of the Continental "Flight Status" web site page...disclaimer my ass, why the heck didn't he call me last night and tell me that my flight was re re-scheduled from 9:30 to 8:17 and then we could all be happy?

Let me know what you think; bgordon@theautochannel.com.