I'm sorry to hear about the poor service you received when you called Continental. Did you use the 800-WeCare-2 (800-932-2732) hotline? Honestly, the service provided there can be hit or miss. The last time I was in Houston there were some jokes about the "We Don't Care" hotline! We were assured that measures would be taken to improve service however your experience tells me they haven't weeded out all of the "bad apples." The most effective way to get some closure and service recovery is to write a letter. I would give you the direct e-mail and phone number for a VP however a mistake providing a meal doesn't really rise to that level in my opinion.
Here is the contact info:
Anne Munoz
Director, Customer Care
Continental Airlines
1600 Smith Street
Houston, Texas 77002
Your letter above is very appropriate. I will forewarn you that aside from an apology you are likely to receive a small denomination travel voucher to use towards the purchase of a Continental ticket - unless you were flying BusinessFirst class in which case a botched special meal request will probably net a bit more compensation.
In the end an airplane is not a flying restaurant. Once the plane leaves the gate if your special meal wasn't loaded there's not a whole lot you can do. If your dietary restrictions are such that you cannot consume standard airline fare I always recommend you bring some snacks that you can eat during the flight. I know it can be inconvenient but you cannot rely 100% on special meal requests. I fly Continental a great deal and on most of their domestic routes special meal requests are not even available. Alaska airlines has no special meals at all. I remember a few years ago I was flying from New York/Newark to Seattle after visiting my family for Passover. It was on Alaska Airlines and I was in first class. Mind you I don't keep Kosher year-round but do during the high holy days. When the flight attendant got to my seat for my dinner order all that was left was pork loin! Was I disappointed? Sure, but what do you do. Again. it's an airplane not a restaurant.
Just curious...there is a famous Asian chef named Joyce Chen. Are you one in the same?
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