[barry]

Continental charged a penalty fee of $150 for a date change of a buisness-first class ticket which cost over $4,500. This fee could not be offset against a refund I was owed which is only given in travel vouchers which expire after 12 months. I felt like a hostage, as I had to pay the penalty at checkin or be refused travel.
My call to Continental Customer Service 1-800-WECARE2 was answered that this was according to company policy and if I didn't like it I could always travel with other carriers. What ARROGANCE and disrespect for a business traveler!
I shall never fly Continental again and urge other business travelers to take their advice and use other carriers.

[Silent Bob]

so you're upset that you had to pay a change fee? I think that's a sorry excuse for not wanting to fly continental business first. I fly their business first all the time and find it to be one of the best in the business. You paid 4500 for your ticket, 150 should be chump change by comparison. Last time i made such a change, i had to pay 1000 plus 200 change fee. You cannot avoid it or offset with a refund.

[ChrisH]

If you want to make changes to your ticket, there is a change fee. There is not way around it. All airlines charge a change fee, it doesn't matter what you paid for your ticket in the first place, and if you choose to fly other airlines, you will only run into the same situation. Vouchers that are for specific things, cannot be transferred, and used for other things. It is company policy, and is the same for any airline.

[susan99]

It isn't about paying a change fee. I have paid many change fees. I recently changed a Delta flight and it took 20 minutes and I ended up with a $20 credit because the new ticket was cheaper and my $50 fee was taken care of by the difference. Continental is rude. Even though I was trading for a day that was much cheaper they wanted me to pay an additional $300 out of my pocket to change two tickets that were originally only $244. Did I mention my new tickets were cheaper. Oh yea, they were going to give me a travel certificate for that. The last thing I want is a travel certificate from Continental. I have marked my work travel preferences to "No Continental Airlines." I have worked in a position in which I travel for the the last 15+ years. This was the only time I have been upset with an airline. It was awful. The customer service agents repeat this same long statement over and over without even listening to your problem. Very defensive. I can't belive they get away with the manner in which they treat the customer. I have choices and I will always chose not to fly Continental.

[Silent Bob]

Actually this is all about the change fee, this whole topic was started because the guy didn't want to pay the change fee, he wanted the difference of another ticket to be applied to the new ticket to cover the change fee. Your case is similar, you were gonna change to a ticket that has a lower fare, but you don't wanna pay the change fee because u feel the difference should take care of that. The change fee is a seperate charge from the fare difference, no matter what the difference is. Most cases you can't avoid the change fee no matter what airline u go to. In your situation with Delta, the change fee may appear to be offset but it wasn't, you still had to pay it and it is possible to get a credit or refund. I bought a refundable ticket on Delta once and had to change it, the fare was lower, but first I had to pay a 200 change fee before the refund was given, which was more than the change fee. Now if your issue is how they handled it then that's another topic, and their people can be a bit crass.

[susan99]

You are right. You always have to pay a change fee unless you buy a refundable ticket which I often do. The point is not about paying a fee it is about how easy the airline is to deal with. The other point is that I did not want to pay a $300 fee to Continental and then get my difference in fare in a credit because I do not want to fly their airline after the way they treated me. Crass is putting it quite gently. I am not sure what the best way is to make a formal complaint but I plan to make sure that I find the proper way to be heard. I waited on hold for over 30 minutes twice. When I got through to then they immediately started talking and didn't even listen. They went on and on and on. I got the impression they were all just sitting there repeating the same lines over and over to all of the customers. I think that if I can fly as often as I do and never get upset at an airline that I am a good judge of being mistreated. They are the pits in my book. Appreciate your dialog.

[ChrisH]

Susan,

Keep in mind that the person you dealt with at Continental is just one employee. Sure one employee can form an impression of the entire company, as they saying goes, "one bad apple...". I can assure you that there are people in your EXACT situation, who have had the exact poor treatment from Delta, and other airlines. It will only be a matter of time before you have a bad experience with Delta, or any other airline you fly. When you stop and think about it, on a given day, there are people, with every airline, having the same problem. No airline is immuned to having bad employees who do not care.

I work for Continental, and I frequently make changes to people's tickets, including people showing up the day before their scheduled flights, wanting to go early. I rarely charge the change fee, especially if there are seats open on the flight, in their same class. It just depends on who you are forunate, or unfortunate enough to deal with.

[continental no service]

continental charged me $700.00 + to upgrade,, I did not get upgraded and I cannot get them to give me a refund even though I have all records, ticket numbers and flights. When I call to speak to anyone,, they put me on hold and dont come back exceeding 30 minutes. They are thieves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jimworcs]

Go to small claims court.. you will win.

[type-8]

And if that's you, a business traveller, imagine regular people like me. All these people out of work and Continental manages to hire the worst. It's like there is a requirement for having a terrible attitude towards customers or something. I wish I could boycott them, but I'm in Newark. When I start making more money I will however travel the extra fifty miles and go out of JFK. Soon, soon.