NEVER fly Continental airlines again - EVER!!!

[Cruiser62]

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. To be honest, Continental is the only airline I have faith in anymore. Delta makes it almost impossible to use my miles, American changed my flight times coming home from Alaska in July...thought we were going to miss our plane because of it. Then they cancelled our connection in Chicago so we had to stay overnight. Continental hasn't caused me any grief so far. Flying to FLL on Continental next month for a cruise. If I have a problem, I'll be sure to post.

[fendbass]

Nice to know that I'm thought of that way. Too bad our money is as good as theirs

[KansasScrapper]

I have flown Continental and had NO problems. To be honest the airline I flew since I was 2 weeks old was TWA. They were bought out by American Airlines a couple years ago. All the airlines have problems in one way or another, good and bad. We have been flying American Airlines lately. I usually go with the cheapest, which has been AA. We live in a smaller town and don't get all the "SMALL" airlines (no Southwest but we just recently got Tran Air). We do get Delta, AA, United and Continental. On our last trip we had a problem where our flight was late so when we got to KC our suitecases did not. They were on the very next flight which came in 45 minutes later. The one thing I was mad about was the lady never said "SORRY" we will do whatever we can or even a simply "SORRY". It was all our flaut because our flight into Dallas (from Miami) was late. I will fly them again. We seem to go with the cheapest. When you do that you have to expect "something".

[bUU]

It's got to be one of the worst jobs there is, Wendy, being an airline gate agent. It is so difficult to maintain composure and patience when you're continually attacked by one person after the next. I really feel for them. While ideally how one passenger treats you shouldn't reflect on your demeanor to the next passenger, after the 100th passenger in a single day is rude to you, even a saintly person is going to be rough around the edges.

[VanillaGorilla]

I can see the frustrations with dealing with all kinds of rude people all day every day and how that would suck, but...can I say I feel sorry for them for having to do that job? No. I am a business owner and have odopted the same policy that an old manager of mine used to have when I worked in retail as an early adult. His moto was "It doesn't matter what kind of day you're having outside of these doors. If you don't want to be here, don't come. If you do come, then leave your problems on the other side of those doors and collect your paycheck on Friday". There aren't many businesses that are not dependant upon a customer, and good customer service is your duty as a representative of whatever business you chose to accept funds from for doing the job they pay you to do.

 

I have a lot of doubt that their job is even close to "one of the hardest jobs there is", no disrespect to you, because I'm sure it's not always easy. I know people in my community that deal with bigger and more important issues. I had a great experience on my last flight out of San Diego, where everyone, from the ticket person to the security to the airplane's personel, were just great and friendly and it made the end of my vacation that much more of a happy experience. Conversely, I had a pretty negative experience from one of the fellows that wave the magic wands over you just past the security gates when I flew to Omaha last May for a powerlifting competition that I had taken part in. I placed everything with any metal which included: my keys, cel phone, pocket change, and a medal with a ribbon that I'd won in the meet in my carry on bag. Had absolutly nothing on me whatsoever outside of the clothes on my back. Of course the xray showed the items in the bag and I had no problem with them pulling it off the belt and going through it. I understand there are some bad people out there and they are just trying to protect us, so I handle all that business with a big smile. Before they opened it up the guy, who was probably about 102lbs soaking wet mind you, grabbed me by my arm (what little of it he could actually get his little fingers around anyways...hehe) and stared at me and asked me "Do you have anything on you sir?" I still smiled and was okay with that and of course told him that I had nothing on me and about the items listed above in my bag. He asked me three (3!) more times with the "are you sure you don't want to tell us anything before we open you bag sir?" remark that he repeated. They finally opened my bag and pulled out the medal and said "oh, it's just a medal....go on sir". No aplogy, nothing. Now, I am a pretty nice and decent guy, but if it hadn't been for my desire to not be thrown in jail for a bit, this guy could've lost his teeth or worse. Not to brag but, as I elude to, I am a powerlifter. I weigh slightly over 300lbs and I had just bench pressed a few kilos over 635lbs in the meet they had given me the medal for. I honestly believe that this guy had some kind of "little man" complex and decided to mess with the first big guy he saw, but I can see someone a little less friendly than myself really putting a guy like him in a bad way for possibly the rest of his life. All because he has a job where he "deals with bad people all day". That is no excuse and I won't give it to them. Sorry. He pretty much ruined my trip and vacation and that is a direct reflection on the airlines to me. Bad service is bad service no matter what you do for a living.

[bUU]

I understand what you're saying VG, but the reality is that the working enviroment we're talking about is so bad that that standard management philosophy just doesn't fly (pardon the pun). Applying that philosophy actually doesn't have any impact on the end-result: Either its inert (has no impact), or it actually prompts bad performance. The compensation for these positions is no where near commensurate with the situations customers often deliberately precipitate. The best management can do is run interference.

 

And please don't misunderstand me. You are absolutely correct that other jobs are "bigger" and "more important." All I said was that the customers are more emotionally abusive than in most every other position, at least in the private sector. I cannot think of one job that is worse. (Really thinking hard here.) Even in the public sector, I cannot think of any. Police officers get more respect from most of the people they interact with (though they do get an occasional "customer" who is far more abusive to them than anything the gate agents have to face regularly). Yeah, really can't think of any.

 

Just a note: The folks at the security checkpoint don't work for the airlines. They work for the federal government. So if you're considering their conduct as reflecting poorly on customer service of the airline, you're completely off-the-mark.

[VanillaGorilla]

Right. Yeah, I do know what you mean, and like I said, I meant no disrespect to you at all...I was just pointing out that it's difficult to feel sorry for anyone for being rude regardless of what they do for a living. And from all of my experiences, I don't think I've ever heard of anyone being forced to work at a job they didn't like. For some it's a matter of maybe that's all they are skilled enough to do, and I still have trouble having sympathy there, as that's noone's fault but the person who failed to educate or expose themselves to the knowledge they need to do something they'd be more happy doing. And I know the security personell at the airports do not work directly for any individual airline, but I say it's a reflection on the service of them all in general just as we might look at poor service in a restraunt as being only the fault of the server when it could be any number of people behind the problem...cook, busboy, dishwasher, whatever....but a waitress that cares about looking good to her customer (and thus recieving a greater tip) will confront the other's that make her look bad. I fly. I go to one location and expect service from the entire crew...wether or not they have the same person signing their checks or not. It is, to me anyways, a reflection upon the entire experience and that is why I see it as a problem that airlines should address as well.