Hello
We also flew continental this year for a second time and would never use them again!
We found the service we received from them was terrible the food was disgusting.
On our way home a lot of flights to New York had been cancelled due to a storm in New York, they had a lot of stand by passengers and were desperate for me and Dave not to get on our flight. Obviously to fit some of the passengers on kept telling us we wouldn't make our connection and if we didn't we would be expected to pay for a hotel and have to get the flight the next day (With no guarantee we would even get a seat on the next one) we made our connection flight with 30 minutes to spare.
We both agreed that it was no where near as good as our previous trip
Where did you fly from?
You didn't fly into the nicest known airport. Nor the one with limited airmovements. EWR is one of the busiest and staffing has a bit of an additude. That's not as much CO-problem related as it's all around the board. It is a CO hub so you'll encounter a lot more CO employees, but the additude is more a NewArk/NewYork kinda thing apparently. Oh well.
Sorry you ran into that, not being aware of it. Not the nicest surprise, so to say.
For a next flight on any airline; be proactive. You're flying in a season that is known for weather acting up. You're taking risks with booked flights. Same for going through an airport as EWR that can be hit in fall and winter, hard. Combine that with EWR being one of the busiest airports and their delay records and you know you could be in for something interesting.
First up; weather related problems means an airline does not have to put you up at their expenses. Eventhough we were all in the Disney bubble, we all also got some sense of the weather. Many will have heard something about Nicole. If only because we had a lot of rain for one afternoon/evening, tornadowarnings in the area and an expected day full of bad rain to follow (which didn't end up happening). Maybe you'll have seen some of the reports going on for weeks on end about how the whole eastcoast has been dealing with horrible weather, floodings and worse. Many times it was mentioned EWR was having to deal with that, amongst other airports.
Let's forget all after Nicole. Nicole itself was a huge one for anyone flying through EWR a few days, a week later. It was already predicted to stay above the Atlantic but still hit the eastcoast hard. EWR is one of the most crowded airports. Known for it's delays the later it gets in the day. Pro-active flyers would've been on the phone and tracing the weather. Realising the risk of delay or cancellation are so high, it would by smarter to chance flights to either arrive into EWR a lot earlier (helps out if first flight is delayed, very likely in such conditions but does not help if second flight gets cancelled) or rerouted through Houston IAH. Show up at the airport early and ask about being changed. Same day changes on CO are free. Are for many airlines. That way you could've gotten on an earlier flight or through IAH. Loads for IAH were about 99/100% for MCO-IAH, but standby should work most of the times, and loads for IAH-Europe haven't been 100% in eco since summer so that's a good shot. Esp. when weather is acting up or expected to act up and/or they expect delays/cancellations on your scheduled intinerary they'll be more then willing to help you reroute to avoid those where possible. After all; it's in their interest to have as little travellers stuck at EWR and else as could possibly be.
If you DO miss your flight, you're always on standby not a guarentee unless there IS space on the flight. No airline will psuh of booked passengers in favor of stranded passengers. Frustrating if it's you that missed your flight, but how would you feel if you were bumped for stranded folks? Common logic also makes it easier to "just" deal with those stranded, instead of keep bumping folks of flights to accomodate bumped folks, than dealing with the new stranded folks and repeating that each day. At first they'll try to accomodate you on the most direct flight they operate themselves. If nothing would've been available or expected within reasonable time, they would've rebooked you via whatever place it had to be incl. on their partner airlines like United, Virgin etc. etc. If not offered, you can ask for it. Both EU and USA have legislation put in place for this. While EWR is a relatively busy market, loads haven't been full for many flights over the boards. There were only 2 of you. Still good odds to make a flight the next day if you would've got stranded.
If anybody learns anything from this, let it be to be pro-active. You have nothing to loose but can gain SO much. More than once it has made the difference for me between arriving home the same day or being in an airport for a day or longer. We just did it last year. Had to book a later flight out because of doing a
DCL cruise and you don't know how late you disembark. Knew the connecting time was "short" for EWR (2.5 hours), delays to be expected normally let alone if anything happens. Unfort. we couldn't fly through IAH which is my prefered option for CO, as those flights left to early from MCO. Happens CPB was quick, DCL was quick, DME was fast, we were at the airport in no time. So we had CO put us on an earlier flight as part of the "same day change no fee" rule. (alas no space left on the IAH-AMS leg, otherwise we would've gone through IAH) Result? We were the last flight that made it into EWR in such a fashion we would've made our connection.
KNOW your rights per gouvernment. KNOW your rights per ticket. Yep, that means reading all those little letters but it can safe you many times. Invest in the staff you're talking to, they're the ones that can make your life both fun or hell. Not always as it should be, but you can always rant about it after getting on the flight or file a complaint.
KNOW your options for contacting the airline. There are loads of options and if it's busy (read; cancellations etc.) you'll be happy to have invested in it. Where possible; fly one airline only and become a frequent flyer. Airlines over all take care of their most valued customers best. Sure it differs per airline (so do your homework before picking an airline) but it pays off. Be aware of risks like weather. Invest time in knowing the airports you're flying into/out of. What are their stats for delays, weather impacts etc. around the time of year you're flying. Invest in knowing the airline; how do they deal with problems, what are their stats etc. It's worth it, I tell you!
