Flying Continental - Yah! or Nah?

[abirdd]

Anyone flown Continental lately? I've come across a decent rate for MCO to YOW, which sort of makes a late April trip look possible for us. It has one connection in Cleveland, with decent connection time... so on that front, I'm okay with the way it's looking.

What I'm curious about... what's Continental like as an airline? I've never flown with them, so don't know what the planes, service, baggage handling (lol!) is like...

Thoughts?

 

[Subrbnmommy]

We took the same connection in November and it was fine. The plane was fine, the connection in Cleveland was quick and no problems with anything. As for the plane and service. The plane was fine, the gave us cookies as a snack (better than United in January - no snack). The service was fine, we got our luggage and our connections were on time. I don't know what other info you'd like.
The options from YOW are always limited. We always try to book with the shortest total travel time in the lowest price range. Next trip, we're trying to get Continental with Cleveland connection or Northwestern Airlines with Detroit connection as opposed to United with Chicago connection (too long and did not like United but like TED) and USAirways with Philidelphia connection (Phili - Ottawa flights are often canceled and pushed back to a later time).

Have a nice trip!

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Continental has a very good reputation. Their Cleveland hub is a good place to connect because it's not very busy. If the price is good, go for it.

BobK/Orlando

 

[Northstar]

I've been flying Continental a lot lately.

Yah or Nah? Meh.

They have always gotten me where I'm going safely and without stranding me overnight, they have never lost my luggage... but I've had my flight changed at airport checkin (they wanted to put me on a different flight so cancelled my pre-printed boarding pass and grabbed me at checkin), been delayed consistently about 2 hours and often up to 5 hours, and spent way, way more time than I'd planned at their hub in Newark airport.

But I was flying Halifax to various destinations in Florida, so went nowhere near Cleveland. Maybe it's better out there!

 

[Canadamom]

Just flew with Continental and had our trip delayed by a day. Call me stupid...we don't travel much...but I didn't realize that they oversell flights and you can be "involuntarily bumped". If you don't check in online (we didn't as we weren't staying at home the night before) and arrive in plenty of time but happen to be at the end of the check-in line, they tell you the plane is oversold and rebook you. We had our confirmation # and seat assignments from when we booked, but when we arrived without having checked in online we were rebooked for the next day. Not impressed but apparently every airline does this (?)

 

[calgarygary]

Just flew with Continental and had our trip delayed by a day. Call me stupid...we don't travel much...but I didn't realize that they oversell flights and you can be "involuntarily bumped". If you don't check in online (we didn't as we weren't staying at home the night before) and arrive in plenty of time but happen to be at the end of the check-in line, they tell you the plane is oversold and rebook you. We had our confirmation # and seat assignments from when we booked, but when we arrived without having checked in online we were rebooked for the next day. Not impressed but apparently every airline does this (?)

If you are bumped on an oversold flight the airline should be compensating you handsomely (free accomodation, meals, vouchers for future flights). Only uniformed consumers will get bumped without compensation.

 

[Canadamom]

Fortunately, I was not an uninformed consumer. Uninformed as to "oversold flights" and being "involuntarily bumped"...yes. But uninformed as to compensation...no. They had to put us up for the night, cover our transfers back to the airport, pay our meals, and by the time all was said and done, we flew round trip to Orlando from Calgary for only $100 total. We held out for a cash compensation instead of travel vouchers as well. This was the good news. The bad news was that our 7 days at Disney turned into 6 and the kids were pretty disappointed with the initial news that we had to delay our flight. It was a lesson learned.

 

[calgarygary]

Fortunately, I was not an uninformed consumer. Uninformed as to "oversold flights" and being "involuntarily bumped"...yes. But uninformed as to compensation...no. They had to put us up for the night, cover our transfers back to the airport, pay our meals, and by the time all was said and done, we flew round trip to Orlando from Calgary for only $100 total. We held out for a cash compensation instead of travel vouchers as well. This was the good news. The bad news was that our 7 days at Disney turned into 6 and the kids were pretty disappointed with the initial news that we had to delay our flight. It was a lesson learned.

I would gladly give up a day in Florida if I could get my family down there for $100 return!