Kaitak From Ireland, joined Aug 1999, 11956 posts, RR: 37 Posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 1244 times:
I flew with CO in June '01, 764 from LGW to EWR; very trip.
However, colleagues who have flown with them, very recently, report a very different airline, with generally poor (and surly) service. What's happening? CO is supposed to be one of the better ones, but the general picture I was given was of a rather unpleasant experience.
- One colleague had frozen salad
- Aircraft was very cold; my colleague had to wear a fleece and blanket; requests to c/c to raise temperature didn't succeed.
- Cabin crew rude, unpleasant and unhelpful
- Another colleague had seats reserved, but not assigned. When she called about the return flight and was assured they'd be assigned on the way back, they weren't.
- Full cans of coke on the way out, just a glass on the way back (and don't ask for another!)
- One amusing story: acft en route from IAH to LGW and pax caught smoking in lav; captain was irate and threatened pax that if anyone else wanted to smoke, he'd TURN THE PLANE around and fly them to a court in Brussels! (Hope his flying was better than his geography).
Now, of course, all airlines can have bad days, but these stories come from level headed, reasonable people. CO needs to be at the top of its game now more than ever; it would be a shame to sacrifice the excellent progress made over the past few years.
STT757 From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 16261 posts, RR: 52 Reply 1, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 1221 times:
Frozen salad?..
What a major disapointment that must have been , are you sure it wasn't a new heathy ice cream.
Your friend had to wear a fleece, well guess what...
Lparky From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 166 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1136 times:
Thomasphoto60 From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 3723 posts, RR: 25 Reply 4, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1119 times:
Nothing is happening to CO!
Passangers have bad experiences from time to time even on the best of carriers throughout the world. I am certain that even SQ gets a few complaints on an occasion. I fly CO quite frequently and have had for the most part rather pleasent flights........certainly not outstanding but pleasent.
BTW, IAH's 2 dailies to LGW and their once daily LHR flights are 777s. AMS, if I am not mistaken is a 764.
Jtamu97 From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 655 posts, RR: 2 Reply 6, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 1093 times:
Don't know what happened with the 777. On the RJ's it could have been cold as the air in these jets is usually on or off..This is one major complaint of passengers, however I find it comfortable..I did notice that CO was not handing out full cans of coke anymore voluntarily. However, if I asked, the attendants were more than happy to give me the full can. I agree, I do not think anything is happening with CO, we all have bad experiences on different airlines. Just seems your crowd is fortunate enough to get most of the bad
EA CO AS From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 12562 posts, RR: 64 Reply 7, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 1063 times:
You just have to love how two isolated complaints suddenly mean the whole company's going to hell in a handbasket.
"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem - government IS the problem." - Ronald Reagan
Jhooper From United States of America, joined Dec 2001, 6195 posts, RR: 13 Reply 8, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 1052 times:
Maybe the staff and captain were rude because the plane was cold!
Last year 1,944 New Yorkers saw something and said something.
777gk From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 1641 posts, RR: 20 Reply 10, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 957 times:
I seriously doubt that we had any 767-400 on IAH-LGW in 2001, at the time, we barely had enough aircraft to cover Pacific operations with them. I think the first 764 flight out of IAH transatlantic was in fact to AMS, but I certainly could be wrong.
CoRocks From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 1199 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 936 times:
In general, if you look at consumer opinion sites such as Planetfeedback.com, Continental generally has the least amount of complaints of all the majors.
BlueShamu330s From UK - England, joined Sep 2001, 2515 posts, RR: 25 Reply 12, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 935 times:
I don't suppose it was Iceberg lettuce, was it ??
That would explain alot
Shamu
So I drive a 4x4. So what?! Tax the a$$ off me for it...oh, you already have... :-(
N766UA From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 7993 posts, RR: 27 Reply 13, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 880 times:
I just flew them- no major change. Still better than the rest.
ContinentalEWR From United States of America, joined exactly 13 years ago today! , 3762 posts, RR: 15 Reply 14, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 876 times:
Poor baby. Frozen salad! That's terrible. I always judge an airline based on the temperature of the bib lettuce on the food tray! Get a life, man! I once was on an American Airlines flight that left 1 minute late. I vowed then and there never to fly them again.
N766UA From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 7993 posts, RR: 27 Reply 15, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 867 times:
Isn't salad supposed to be frozen? Hence iceberg lettuce.
Laxflyer From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 158 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 834 times:
I admit it, its all my fault. Catering was running behind that day and didn't have enough time to store the salads. I told them, "Just lay them on the wings and will store them later." Well I forgot and the salads stayed on the wing. After takeoff I noticed my error but by them it was to late they were already frozen. So we lowered the temp of the cabin to freezing and figured if the cabin was colder then the salads, pax wouldn't noticed. Well it looks like one of his colleagues did. Shame on us. As for the captain advising the pax that he would land in a court in BRU, well he said that because he figured the courts in London had a backlog. He was only trying to speed things up for those folks caught smoking. Now onto the subject of being rude...wouldn't you be rude if you had to work in a cold cabin with frozen salads?
Artsyman From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 4741 posts, RR: 43 Reply 17, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 813 times:
I will address some of these complaints with a little background to them. The coke can issue, Policy is now that when someone asks for a coke, they get a glass of coke, this meaning that there is not waste if the passenger only wanted a glass of coke and the rest of the can was going to go to waste. If you ask for the entire can, then you will get the entire can, if you ask for a glass of coke 10 times, then you will get a glass of coke 10 times.
About 10 years ago, unlike Burger king etc, McDonalds stopped automatically putting napkins, ketchup, mustard, spoons into the bag, if the customer ask for things, then they will happily give them, but you need to ask.
People will say this is petty, but the savings are in the millions per year by this little change.
Does the customer still get his coke ? yes
Can the customer have as many as they like ? yes
Is this a pain in the neck ? sometimes
Will this help Continental survive ? definately
Continental From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 5476 posts, RR: 21 Reply 18, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 804 times:
Continental is phenomonal! I say that are FAR better in comparison to other national carriers! I always congrat. Continental after every flight, to be honest, and I'm honest, I've flown with Continental over 100 flights, I've NEVER had a bad experience!!!!!!
TzMSP From United States of America, joined Jul 2002, 137 posts, RR: 6 Reply 19, posted (10 years 4 months 2 weeks 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 770 times:
I would have to agree with the posts regarding CO still having superior service for a major carrier. I have had, as with all carriers, employees that didn't necessarily astound me with their customer service skills, but if I have to pay to fly (which is hardly ever) I'd put my money on Continental. They have always been (since the late 90s) a safe, reliable, friendly and professional carrier.
I use the same philosophies in caring for my customers at MSP, as well. When irregular operations hit and we are forced to delay/cancel flights and I must reprotect customers on other airlines, I usually reprotect my passengers on the airlines I believe will treat them the best, and get them to their destination quickly and safely. When I rule 120.20/240.40/FIM a passenger over to another airline, typically my preferences are:
1. CO (great employees, good service, nice planes, nice routes)
2. US (fantastic employees at MSP, nice planes, good for east coast connex)
3. DL (friendly, plenty of frequency)
4. NW (great for non-stop connex, but some MNsotans prefer to avoid NW)
5. UA (they need the money, but if weather hits MDW, its not nice @ ORD)
6. F9 (good for west coast connex, handled by CO at MSP)
7. YX (great service, planes, limited options, but good for florida flts)
8. HP (HP offers few options out of MSP, except to the west coast)
9. AA (lousy service at MSP, and again, weather at MDW and ORD similar)
So yeah, the point was to stand behind CO. But I thought I'd also share one gate agents' personal system for reprotecting passengers. It's not only how airline employees treat customers/pax, but also how well the interact with their colleagues at the airport. I do my best to reward carriers with professional employees and outstanding service.
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, are you sure it wasn't a new heathy ice cream.
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tzMSP
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