How Continental Airlines Handles A Five Hour Delay
July 13th, 2010
This past weekend, we had the pleasure of experiencing what thousands, if not millions, have before — a lengthy delay at the airport. En route to New York from Toronto, Canada, our 8 p.m. flight on Continental Airlines was already doomed with delays before we even reached the airport. This particular flight, it seems, involved one airplane going back and forth all day. From the first flight out it was already delivering its customers an experience that was anything but on time. Those on the last flight had the pleasure of experiencing a five hour delay.
Yes, you may be thinking a five-hour delay, though bad, is nothing to be upset about. Let us be the first to state that we are far from upset about the delay itself. Instead, it was how the airline handled the events that sparked us to publish this post. So! As we were describing, the flight was set to board at 7:50 p.m., be in the air by 8:00 p.m. and land in Newark, N.J., before 10 p.m. Instead, we waited without word of what was going to happen until 11 p.m., boarded at 12:50 a.m., were in the air by 1:00 a.m. and landed in Newark at 2:30am. After a car ride home the experience ended at 3:30 am — nine hours after we arrived at the Toronto airport.
It was interesting to watch how different people reacted to the delays. Having bought our tickets on Orbitz, we received text alerts every time the flight was delayed. Continental, strangely enough, took almost 15 to 20 minutes to share this information with its passengers. Around 10 p.m., Continental let its passengers know the flight was pushed back to 11:30 and offered an $8 voucher with which to purchase food. At this point, I thought their efforts to keep their customers happy was pretty good.
After another hour-long delay, it was interesting to see how quickly passengers became upset, frustrated and demanding to know what would be done. People began reserving seats on the next day’s flights while others gave up and demanded a hotel, which the airline provided. Again, Continental showed signs of strong customer service. Overall I think the whole experience was handled well, except for one point: The shady way in which the airline went about offering vouchers. I had heard that if a flight was more than three hours behind you can demand a voucher if the issue was not weather related, as this one was. Having approached the desk to ask a question, I quickly realized Continental was providing vouchers to those who asked, but had not made an announcement.
Personally we found this to be extremely upsetting and so we told everyone around us. A number of people who had not screamed or yelled, but waited peacefully were about to get screwed out of a deal they deserved because they chose not to cause a ruckus.
We found it interesting that Continental Airlines would use this shady tactic and wondered if other airlines used the same technique. In the end, our grade for handling the delay was a B+, dropped to a C for trying to pull the wool over respectful passengers eyes.
Have you ever had an experience like this? Hit us up and let us know what you did or found and we will add it to this post.