Thank You Continental Airlines

April 27, 2008 · Comments

I promise that this is NOT a bitch and moan session about some horrible disservice done to me by Continental. In fact, I sincerely mean “thank you.” You see, Continental Airlines did something for me that I’ve never experienced before.

They called me.

On my flight back from San Francisco en route to Boston, I had a connecting flight in New Jersey. Because PodCamp NYC was happening, I decided to hop off in Newark and trek down to Brooklyn for the event. This choice brought with it an issue.

I had 3 bags. Rules say I can only carry two on the plane. When I asked the counter agents, they said I could change my ticket, but that would cost about $100. So, it would effectively cost me $100 to move a bag from San Francisco to New Jersey. What to do? So, I made the decision to check the least scary to lose of all my bags, with about 300 labels on it showing that it was mine and how to reach me. And I got off in Jersey, with that lonely little bag flying without me to Boston.

Flash forward to Saturday morning, and my phone rings. It’s Ellen from Continental’s baggage department. She’s very politely telling me that I seem to have left a bag behind. She’s very friendly. I tell her what I did, what the agents said. She was VERY kind, very understanding, even apologetic that it seemed silly to me about the $100 option.

I haven’t flown Continental in a while, and I’m not sure when I will again. But I wanted you to know that they were nice, that they called ME, and that I appreciated that human touch.

File this under “good guys get blogged, too.”

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  • I fly Continental a lot (when you live in Houston, they're usually the fastest/cheapest way to get anywhere) and my experience is that they are a better than most of their competitors. Not perfect, sometimes annoying, but generally a notch above the rest.

    I've had one baggage incident everywhere (an itinerary to Spain got re-routed because of a delay, my bag didn't get to Madrid till a while after I did) and they were pretty efficient - the bag turned up at my hotel as promised, when promised.

    I was surprised that they let your bag go on without you - I thought that was some kind of security issue - but I could be wrong about that.
  • Hi Chris! So glad you DID make it to PodCampNYC! I actually started that wikki for educators at the Podcamp. It was a great idea. Please pass the word and encourage others to use it. I am so glad you stepped in and guided the conversation. Great meeting you.

    Barb
  • lmc
    i didn't even know continental was still flying.
  • I had a similar experience on Lufthansa a few months ago. Knowing that the plane was going to be departing about 1 hour late because of technical issues, they called my mobile (and emailed) to tell me I didn't have to rush to the airport to check in. Brilliant.
  • Sometimes bloggers can focus too hard on bringing the hurt to a company for their lack of service. Nice to read someone bringing the love when it is well deserved. Cool.
  • One more thing.

    Looks like the blogger love and airline customer service are contagious.

    http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/04...
  • I got a personal letter, a voucher for $150 AND a follow-up note via twitter from Southwest Airlines after a recent in-air scare on the way to SXSW. Blogged about it, including text from their "Proactive Customer Service Communications Department" letter.

    http://blog.batchblue.com/?p=77

    All around well done, I thought.
  • Thank you for sharing this Chris, it's always good to hear about great customer service (from a real human being, too!)

    Hope you're having an excellent "Read and Comment Day" (thanks for the fab idea!)

    I enjoyed your Community Manager post too, but as I don't have a business head at all, couldn't really think of anything useful to say, so thought I'd let someone else start the conversation!

    :o)
  • Hey Chris. I'm glad Continental Airlines were helpful with your luggage. Tim and I missed our connecting flight in Toronto coming from San Francisco because our luggage wasn't going to make it on our flight in time. We ended up having to catch a flight the next morning back home. They wouldn't ship our luggage on a different flight.
  • I had a connecting flight on the way back to the East Coast through Horizon Air. What a great experience! Horizon offers complementary local beer/wine and had Jones Soda as its drink of the month! The stewards were friendly and helpful. By the end of the flight, I was singing their praises!
  • I loved the last line of your post, 'File this under “good guys get blogged, too.”'

    All to often we tend to only talk about the bad things that happen, especially when it comes to discussing business transactions. It's good to see a "good guys" post..........:)
  • I once had to wait 9 hours for a 3hr flight on American Airlines. The next day, I received a friendly email from AA apologizing for the delay and offering me double-miles.

    Glad to hear you had a good experience and blogged about it.

    PS: I was also under the impression that unaccompanied bags could not travel due to security regulations.
  • It is the norm that people are more apt to complain than praise, and i think it important that we do praise when we can.

    I've been flying Soutwest Airlines this week, and they have been great. The people have a sense of humor, even when reciting the obligatory safety information at the beginning of a flight.
  • Hmm, seems to me your being cheap and caused a lot of trouble. Offcourse 100 dollard isn't nothing, but he... It was your mistake and not theirs...
  • Hmm, seems to me your being cheap and caused a lot of trouble. Offcourse 100 dollard isn’t nothing, but he… It was your mistake and not theirs… Not very social either...
  • Carolyn
    I have been trying to inform Continental Airlines how thrilled I was with my recent round-trip to D. C. From the securing of the e-ticket to the flight, this was a great experience. They even provided snack lunches. The flight was on time for each part of the trip. Having flown another airline to Denver(returned home 24 hours later than planned) a couple of years ago, I expected the worst on this trip. I got the best!!!!
  • My experience is terrible...I have more than 6 days with a piece of clothe. Any of you have a continental representative email address to write a few words
  • Jane Odjakjian
    I have been trying to find a way to tell you how pleased I was with the way a particular customer service agent handled my dilemma a couple of months ago. Her name is Terry DeArma, I believe, but the last name may be DeArmas.

    I am far from a frequent flyer; in fact, I had only flown once since 9/11 when I flew last year on Continental from Jacksonville, FL, to Newark, NJ, for a family wedding in CT. I booked through Orbitz and had no problems. This year, however, another family wedding was to take place in NJ, so I again used Orbitz for my flight reservations; however, somehow they gave the wrong info to Continental and my debit card was billed. This would almost have wiped me out of funds, so I immediately went in to cancel the reservations and re-book the same flight using the correct credit card account. I spoke to several representatives at Orbitz when I realized this error, but all they would say is that I would have to deal with Continental. When my husband found out (he saw the debit when he went online to our bank account to pay bills) that we now had 2 sets of tickets, totalling almost $900 for a weekend (3 day) trip, he flipped out. Being the wonderful man that he is, he kept saying he wasn't mad at me, but I know he was disappointed and I was miserable. To make it worse, he didn't want to go to the wedding in the first place! Well, I had just changed jobs and had very little opportunity to make a personal call, but I finally did and I got Terry. I explained my situation to her and how much this was affecting my life and she took sympathy on me, I guess, and put me on hold while she found the right person to speak with to see what could be done. I didn't mind holding and the longer it was, the better chance I felt I had. She came back on the line and told me my checking account was being reimbursed the full amount of the first set of tickets! If I could have gone through the phone to kiss her (and her wonderful supervisor) I would have. I told her how happy she made me and that I loved her for her efforts.

    Our trip was wonderful and again Continental came through as the true professionals they are. Please acknowledge Terry DeArma(s)for her people skills and compassion. She truly deserves it!
  • Janet Palmer
    Continental at Newark airport replaced a shredded bag with a similar, brand new bag in minutes - no fuss or haggling involved. I had never flown Continental but will definitely do it again.
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