Jet Blue to fly from Newark...Call for complaints to Continental

[kathrynmtague]

I was so excited to hear this week that starting in October Jet Blue will fly from Newark Liberty!!! Yey!!! This means more trips to WDW since their airfare is so cheap!!!

Now - I have been on the phone with Continental all week. You see, I booked our 11/25-12/4 flights back in March. To my dismay, I paid $300 roundtrip. I knew it was crazy, but the flights kept getting more and more expensive every day and we already had our DVC reservations. So, now in reponse to the Jet Blue announcement Continental dropped their rates. The SAME flights are now available for $175!!!!! I know that my tickets are non-refundable, but I have been a loyal customer for years. The least they can do is credit me the difference to make me whole...

Here's the deal....Per Continental Customer Care...they have not decided yet what to do with customers who complain, so you must! They are having a meeting next week. They gave me a tracking number so I could call in a few weeks to find out resolution. So, if you have a Continental flight FOR ANY DATE go online and reprice it. If it's cheaper, call CUstomer Care at 1-800-932-2732 and complain. This will help the cause, and maybe you too can benefit from a credit!!!!

Sorry for the long post...both excited and frustrated...but wanted to share this with all my fellow DVC'ers (I'm mostly a lurker - I read weekly but don't post that often). This was certainly post-worthly IMHO!!!!!!!

 

[ClarabelleCow]

If the same flights on continental are lower in price, why aren't they giving you flight vouchers for the difference? I know for a fact that American and Delta/Song do that. Now if the same flight on Continental is the same or higher and Jet Blue is lower, I think you are SOL unfortunately.

 

[CarolMN]

I believe Continental (like amny other airlines) charges a fee of some kind to issue the credit. Not sure if it is $25 or the same as the fee to change a nonrefundable ticket, whcih is $100.

Best wishes -

 

[CarolA]

If the same flights on continental are lower in price, why aren't they giving you flight vouchers for the difference? I know for a fact that American and Delta/Song do that. Now if the same flight on Continental is the same or higher and Jet Blue is lower, I think you are SOL unfortunately.

Delta is now charging the change fee to give you the vouchers. So the change fee is $50. (They had suspended it but it appears to be back) CO has the highest change fee in the industry right now at $100.


The truth is NONE of them have to do anything... That "nonrefundable" ticket part...

 

[WonderBelle]

I have been wating for the day Jet Blue started flying out of Newark! We are always waking up at 3:00am to get on a 6:30 flight out of JFK. I'm just so happy I don't know what to do with myself.

 

[DebbieB]

Delta is now charging the change fee to give you the vouchers. So the change fee is $50. (They had suspended it but it appears to be back) CO has the highest change fee in the industry right now at $100.

The truth is NONE of them have to do anything... That "nonrefundable" ticket part...

USAirways is $100 also, I just had to rebook a postponed business trip.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

rebooking is one thing. but they are charging fees if the price lowers for your exact flights!!! My mother just received the diffrence credit back to her credit card on American, but it was international.

 

[bicker]

When you purchase your airline tickets you agree to the terms and conditions of that specific fare. Different fares have different terms and conditions. If the terms and conditions you agreed to included a $100 change fee, then you should pay a $100 change fee for changes.

 

[kathrynmtague]

I completely understand that I agreed to the $100 change fee when I booked the fare, and that technically Continental owes me nothing. Even if I use the $100 change fee per ticket I will still be ahead with a $120 credit. My point is that, as a loyal customer (although I'm not sure how loyal...I've been WAITING for the day for Jet Blue to fly from EWR too!), I think that Continental should honor the fact that they only lowered prices to respond to a competitive threat. That exact threat will make them lose me as a customer, so why not give me a credit to leave me with a positive experience...to perhaps try to gain my loyalty in this clearly new competitive environment. The actual day I repriced the tickets they didn't even have the fare sale on their home page. Now, a few days later they actually advertise $69 each way EWR to many FL locations.

Again - it's not a contractual thing but just common sense good customer service.

So, for anyone out there who may be in the same situation...please call Continental. The phone rep said they are tracking how many complaints they receive and will make a decision in the next few weeks. I appreciate your comments...especially about American/Delta offering credits in the past. This will help the arguement even further. That's truly the beauty of these discussion boards...thanks for the information!!!!

And for all other who live in the NJ metro area....yippeee!!!! We can now more effectively take advantage of the great rates/competitive fares to get more trips to DVC!!!! I used to get so upset when I'd hear folks post about great Southwest fares (in the area of $49) but now we can take better advantage of those deals too....I loved Jet Blue's service but hated the drive to JFK!!!

 

[bicker]

My point is that, as a loyal customer (although I'm not sure how loyal...I've been WAITING for the day for Jet Blue to fly from EWR too!), I think that Continental should ...

As I mentioned earlier, for a business, a loyal customer is one that is willing to pay a premium for a product or service, not one that is willing to purchase a product or service only if deeply-discounted.

 

[RobDoc]

It would seem that the Transportation Board will be a much better location for this discussion.

 

[JimMIA]

If the same flights on continental are lower in price, why aren't they giving you flight vouchers for the difference? I know for a fact that American and Delta/Song do that. Now if the same flight on Continental is the same or higher and Jet Blue is lower, I think you are SOL unfortunately.

I'm a big fan of American (600,000+ miles on them), but I don't think this is accurate as far as AA is concerned. AA charges $100 for any change, unless there is a weather thing like Hurricane Dennis last week.

I don't know about Song. The only airline I am familiar with that does that is SWA. There could well be others.

If you are someone who has elite frequent flyer status with CO, they may or may not help you out. If you are someone who flies them once or twice a year, I wouldn't hold my breath. I'm not knocking CO - they are my second choice of airline - but I don't think most airlines would refund in this situation. I think the most you could hope for would be a voucher for some of the difference - like maybe the difference minus $100 per ticket.

 

[Lewisc]

Continental should consider waiving or reducing the change fee and offering a credit to their loyal customers.

At minimum I'd define "loyal customer" as one who's attained elite status. Might even go further and limit it to those "loyal customers" who flew a minimum number of flights over the last 12 months that weren't discounted fares.

Customers that book a few flights a year with whatever airline is currently giving the best fares aren't really loyal customers.

If airfares went up you wouldn't be very happy if Continental wanted to increase your fare.

 

[WOW]

We are soo excited too!!!! We live in Bergen County and have been waiting and waiting for Jet Blue to fly out of Newark!!!!!!!!! Always flew Continental since the ride to JFK just didn't make sense for us. Our son recently moved to Tampa and we already booked him to come home on Jet Blue for Christmas. $196.60. Continental has matched that price!!!! Imagine that???
Also, FYI, Jet Blue charges only $20.00 to change flights and if you cancel they put your money as a credit in an account, which is good for a year from the day you cancel----and guess what???? ANYONE can use that credit, not just the person originally on the ticket......Is that GREAT or what???? Gotta love it!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ClarabelleCow]

I'm a big fan of American (600,000+ miles on them), but I don't think this is accurate as far as AA is concerned. AA charges $100 for any change, unless there is a weather thing like Hurricane Dennis last week.

Sorry, but it is very accurate, my mother has done this every year for the past 3-4 years, she books her flights as soon as they come out, they are usually originally priced at $800.00 as ticket, she has gotten as much as a 300.00 - 400.00 credit when the prices drop. I did it once, booked and they dropped about 150.00 a ticket, and have received the difference crdited back to my credit card. These were international flights JFK-SXM, flight 660-667!

Last August I purchased tickets on Song, for summer vacation, the same flight dropped by about 80.00 per ticket, they gave me credit voucher to be used in a year on Delta or Song, I applied that to my tickets for this past February(which were very expensive for florida!!!!), there were no change fees. If I changed my itinerary, then I paid a fee. But I didn't change anything, just the price dropped and received the discount in vouchers.

I am sure I have the paperwork somewhere! But I never paid a fee on any of the decreases in price.

Maybe things have changed?

 

[goofyandmore]

I too was excited about jet blue leaving from newark, but I plugged in some dates and wasn't too happy with the rates. maybe it's the dates I put in. Unlike the other airline sites, when I did the jetblue search for prices and flights, they gave me the departing and arriving separate so it seemed like I had to add them. I rechecked this to see if I was messing up, but I don't think so. I had prices of $300 or more a ticket. Even when I changed dates, the lowest was $250. What is everyone else getting? thanks, Carolyn

 

[kathleena]

I usually fly USAir and anytime the cost has dropped and I called, they issued a credit voucher, no questions asked and no charge. I could then use them on another flight the only catch being I had to bring the voucher to the airport and pick up the tickets. I haven't done this in a while, but to my knowledge, it hasn't changed.

And if the airline changes your flight times, you can call and request a complete refund. You do not have to accept the flight change. So if they have changed the times on your $300 flight since you booked them, just tell them you don't accept the change and request the refund.

 

[bicker]

And if the airline changes your flight times, you can call and request a complete refund. You do not have to accept the flight change.

That rule actually depends on how big the time difference is. Depending on the airline, the number of hours that constitutes a significant enough schedule change to warrant a refund on request varies. Check your specific airline's terms and conditions for details.

 

[Lewisc]

That rule actually depends on how big the time difference is. Depending on the airline, the number of hours that constitutes a significant enough schedule change to warrant a refund on request varies. Check your specific airline's terms and conditions for details.

Reply not intended for Bicker but others reading the thread...

Charter airlines including USA3000, Transmeridian and even Hooters air only have to offer a refund for a major schedule change. Major means the date changes. The flight can be changed to any time the same day, they can add a stop or change you to a flight with an indirect connection.

Scheduled airlines have a rule that may be a few hours. No, a 10-15 minute change will rarely be enough for you to get a refund.

 

[CarolA]

Sorry, but it is very accurate, my mother has done this every year for the past 3-4 years, she books her flights as soon as they come out, they are usually originally priced at $800.00 as ticket, she has gotten as much as a 300.00 - 400.00 credit when the prices drop. I did it once, booked and they dropped about 150.00 a ticket, and have received the difference crdited back to my credit card. These were international flights JFK-SXM, flight 660-667!

Last August I purchased tickets on Song, for summer vacation, the same flight dropped by about 80.00 per ticket, they gave me credit voucher to be used in a year on Delta or Song, I applied that to my tickets for this past February(which were very expensive for florida!!!!), there were no change fees. If I changed my itinerary, then I paid a fee. But I didn't change anything, just the price dropped and received the discount in vouchers.

I am sure I have the paperwork somewhere! But I never paid a fee on any of the decreases in price.

Maybe things have changed?

Things are changing. Delta/Song for example was giving the vouchers. Now they charge the change fee and give the voucher for the difference. Probably AA will do the same.

The majors are losing thier shirts and are going for every nickle and dime. I would NOT buy assuming you will be able to do this anymore unless it is stated in the terms and conditions such as on SW.