Overcharges and Bad Service
 

I was seeing my daughter off on a flight to Houston and on to Ecuador, as she would be spending a school semester there. She was quite nervous and out of her element. She was also told by her school to “pack a lot,” and so she had some bags to check. Here’s where the problem begins…She had a tiny back-pack as her 3rd piece of luggage to be checked. The fellow helping us with the touch-screen was more than a little rude as he ridiculed the thought of a bag not being a costly item. “It’ll cost you $100.” …For a 5 lb. bag. And “no, you can’t add that as a carry-on” (despite the fact that her carry-on was simply another small back-pack and a laptop).

Okay. We all know that rules are rules. But these luggage rules have holes in them. And there’s more. He asked her if she wanted to spend $200. extra for a 1st class upgrade. Well, she’s a student and doesn’t have extra money. So she said no. But now I see on your website that 1st Class passengers don’t pay for luggage! He should have pointed that out! The upgrade would then have been worth it!

The whole experience just made for a bad morning. Yeah, I know—others have it worse. But I only asked for the same logic, consistency, and fairness that I extend to others in my business. While Continental may be enjoying the profitability of its newer luggage policies (something else I read), we consumers are still at your mercy when we don’t have all the facts—or if the facts are not used in the best interests of your customers. The last I heard, you still cared about your customers. Well, today all I saw was the almighty “zero tolerance” attitude taken to a ridiculous extreme.

Well, after this incident I e-mailed the appropriate department at Cont. and nicely gave them the facts. I didn't ask for any sort of reimbursement; I only wanted them to acknowledge that they could have handled this better. Nope, they were just as rude in stating that their employees had followed the rules.

We will never fly Continental again--and I will spread the word.

So why are you having such an issue with them?



Ah, I get it. When those rules suddenly apply to you, and you can't find a way to circumvent them, then there's an issue.

Continental's baggage policies are clearly stated on their website including the extra allowance if you're traveling n first class. You have noone else to blame but yourself.

Have a nice day.

The best action to take if you don't like these policies is the one you plan to take..



Sadly, there is not always a good alternative.. but hopefully there will be other options for you.

Southwest doesn't charge fees for the first two bags...oh wait, they don't fly to Ecuador!

I'd like to know what the holes in the rules are. But I would suggest to not let the agent take charge and tell you (or your daughter) what you can and cannot carry. (didn't we just have this dicussion about carry-on luggage). I'd have let her carry it on anyway, three small bags (as the op says they are) aren't that much.

I think that's why he asked her to upgrade, then again I thought you were there.... soooooo why couldn't you have paid for it??

Oh and then there's this:

Last I heard Continental reported a loss (just one page of many that agree) http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages...uarter-results

I think its best to always check the baggage allowance rules before you fly, and if need be print out a copy so that if faced with a "rude" agent, you can show them from the website the rules of which you followed.

Bad advice.

Doesn't matter the size, fed rules only allow 1+, unless that's changed. I've been out of this wonderful industry for over a year and haven't flown a mile in that time either.

Actually, the feds don't limit the amount of baggage any airline allows. However, the Department of Transportation requires airlines to follow their own rules. So, if Continental, or any airline, states they allow one personal item under the seat, and one carry on in the overhead bin they can be fined for not following their own regulations.

Not quite true. They may not have a limit that the airline itself allows, but they only allow 1 carry on and 1 personal item per person thru the checkpoint, so that should, in theory carry over to the gate.

After an exhaustive search (whew, I'm beat) I cannot find on the FAA nor TSA websites any restrictions on number of carryons, thus, I was wrong. I'm glad I'm forgetting things I used to know like the back of my hand.

If the bags were as tiny as the OP states, why not let her carry it on? a 5lb bag isn't all that much, especially if its a "tiny" backpack.

I agree. The carry-on restriction should be "1 item in the overhead bin plus 1 or 2 items that will fit under the seat in front of you", rather than 1 carry-on and 1 "personal item".

SB.....you're taking my "bad advice" comment and using it wrong. I am directing it at this....

I thought I was clear as I quoted you first and just below that is my post.

That's true, but I took it as a whole to include my take on the carry on allowance for the OP. Again, if the bags were as small as he states, why would he need listen to an agent, who is forcing him to check it in and pay the fee? Just take it and carry it on. What is the airline going to do? Arrest her?

OMG I'm channeling the spirit and anger of Jim...... I know how to fix that.

Get the whisky.. Bob's starting to turn!

At one point awhile back, NWA had a program that anything that was going to be carried on the plane had a carryon tag put on it by the check-in agent. This was to limit the number of carry-ons by a passenger. For example, if they checked their 2 bags and had 3 carry-ons, I would tell him/her that they had too many and had to check one. They would sometimes reply that they'll combine them and/or give one to the person that brought them and have it mailed. If then then showed up at the gate with that carryon-on, untagged, they were asked to check it in.
My point, is if you don't follow the agent's instructions, you still risk an issue at the gate. This is why gate agents should be paid more. They are the LAST line and have to take the brunt of the whole flying experience of the passenger.