Continental never responsed to complaint

[ramprat3416]

Last month, I flew into VPS from IAH via Continental Express.

With only a valet checked bag, I was told by ground staff (American Eagle is the ground handler for CO at VPS) that I had to go to baggage claim to get my valet checked bag. This, in and of itself, is out of the ordinary since it was a plane side bag since I was on a ERJ. But it took the ground staff 56 minutes to deliver my valet bag to the baggage carousel. There was no one around to address the delay to, all the passengers were just left waiting and wondering, those that checked baggage and those of us who should have had our bags handed to us plane side.

I wrote complaints to several entities involved. The airport administration responded the next business day and forwarded my email to the location manager for American Eagle.

The complaint sent to American Eagle went unanswered. And the forwarded message by the airport administration went without response as well. To be honest, this doesn't surprise me. My understanding is this is standard practice at this airport by the American Eagle staff and no one has ever gotten their complaints resolved with them.

But what has really surprised me was that to this date, I have NOT received ANY kind of communication from Continental regarding the matter. You would think that since I was their passenger, that they would have a vested interest in a satisfactory resolution and if a local station's ground staff is handling their customers in this manner that they would take action to protect their brand and reputation.

Is the management of Continental just letting their brand slip since they are now becoming United? So they have a "who cares" attitude? The only people I didn't communicate with was Express Jet because they didn't have an email/web contact forum and since they weren't really involved beyond being the aircraft that brought me in, they really didn't have anything to do with the matter. The ticket was Continental, the airport ground staff was American Eagle and the airport was VPS. They facilitated my safe travel from IAH to VPS, so their involvement was complete and successful.

Suggestions? Thoughts? Comments? Anyone else find this lack of response from Continental when you've filed a complaint with them?

 

[BoeingBoy]

It's unclear if you sent a complaint to CO. They would probably be the one's best suited to handle complaints about any of their flights, including those operated by Express carriers. If you haven't contacted CO, I would recommend doing so. Be concise and keep it short - just the facts.

Jim

 

[ramprat3416]

Oh yes. I did send a complaint to Continental. That's what has surprised me. I didn't expect AMR to respond, I didn't expect the local manager at VPS to give a crap since its apparently standard operating procedure from the regulars who transit through that airport. But since it was Continental that was paid to transport me and it was their valet bag policy that wasn't honored and their contracted station personnel took so long to deliver the bags for no apparent reason, you'd think that Continental would respond to such a complaint since its their passengers and reputation on the line.

But here we are, a month later and still no reply of any kind from them.

It's unclear if you sent a complaint to CO. They would probably be the one's best suited to handle complaints about any of their flights, including those operated by Express carriers. If you haven't contacted CO, I would recommend doing so. Be concise and keep it short - just the facts.

Jim

 

[SparrowHawk]

Oh yes. I did send a complaint to Continental. That's what has surprised me. I didn't expect AMR to respond, I didn't expect the local manager at VPS to give a crap since its apparently standard operating procedure from the regulars who transit through that airport. But since it was Continental that was paid to transport me and it was their valet bag policy that wasn't honored and their contracted station personnel took so long to deliver the bags for no apparent reason, you'd think that Continental would respond to such a complaint since its their passengers and reputation on the line.

But here we are, a month later and still no reply of any kind from them.

Where how did you send your complaint? Also what are your expectations from CO? I mean you did leave the airport with bag correct?

 

[ramprat3416]

Where how did you send your complaint? Also what are your expectations from CO? I mean you did leave the airport with bag correct?

I sent it to their customer serivce department.

I did get my bag an hour after landing. As a valet bag, I should have had it within 15 minutes at plane side.

What do I expect to get from CO? During that hour, I heard many travelers talking about this being very common at VPS. Many, independent of each other, said the same thing. That its very common to wait an hour for bags at an airport that only had one concourse with 7 gates and a baggage carousel only about 500 yards from the aircraft. So we are not talking about an ATL, DTW, DFW, etc. We are talking an airport that is barely above the EAS status.

As such, waiting an hour for baggage on a clear sunny day is rediculous. There is no reasonable excuse for that and from the locals, it is a daily problem. So clearly the ground service company is doing a first class crappy job of handling flights. And since the airport experience is as much, or more, important to the travel experience as is inflight, they need to be aware of this clearly substandard service given to their passengers. The bottom line, its the reputation of CO on the line and even the reputation of VPS in reality.

It looks like I'll use ECP, PNS or TLH in the future and avoid CO if this is how they care about their passengers and how they experience the customer service of their airport staff. And as such, looks like AMR doesn't care either, since these employees are American Eagle employees contracted to handle both AA and CO at VPS...so doesn't exactly motivate me to look at AA either. Guess DL will get a closer look.

I understand there are issues at all airlines. They can't be perfect all the time with everyone. I get that. But when a service failure happens, especially like a violation of their carry on policies for no reason, they should be made aware and should look into it. And its apparent that CO hasn't done this or they would have responded to me by now with some kind of response...even a form letter style response.

 

[SparrowHawk]

I sent it to their customer serivce department.

I did get my bag an hour after landing. As a valet bag, I should have had it within 15 minutes at plane side.

What do I expect to get from CO? During that hour, I heard many travelers talking about this being very common at VPS. Many, independent of each other, said the same thing. That its very common to wait an hour for bags at an airport that only had one concourse with 7 gates and a baggage carousel only about 500 yards from the aircraft. So we are not talking about an ATL, DTW, DFW, etc. We are talking an airport that is barely above the EAS status.

As such, waiting an hour for baggage on a clear sunny day is rediculous. There is no reasonable excuse for that and from the locals, it is a daily problem. So clearly the ground service company is doing a first class crappy job of handling flights. And since the airport experience is as much, or more, important to the travel experience as is inflight, they need to be aware of this clearly substandard service given to their passengers. The bottom line, its the reputation of CO on the line and even the reputation of VPS in reality.

It looks like I'll use ECP, PNS or TLH in the future and avoid CO if this is how they care about their passengers and how they experience the customer service of their airport staff. And as such, looks like AMR doesn't care either, since these employees are American Eagle employees contracted to handle both AA and CO at VPS...so doesn't exactly motivate me to look at AA either. Guess DL will get a closer look.

I understand there are issues at all airlines. They can't be perfect all the time with everyone. I get that. But when a service failure happens, especially like a violation of their carry on policies for no reason, they should be made aware and should look into it. And its apparent that CO hasn't done this or they would have responded to me by now with some kind of response...even a form letter style response.

Thing is they didn't violate their Contract of Carriage so you really don't have much recourse. You arrived at your destination, got your bag. They honored their end of the deal.

If this is all it takes to upset you I'd suggest you not travel by air.

 

[ramprat3416]

Thing is they didn't violate their Contract of Carriage so you really don't have much recourse. You arrived at your destination, got your bag. They honored their end of the deal.

If this is all it takes to upset you I'd suggest you not travel by air.

I understand what you are saying. I realise it is not a contract of carriage issue. BUT...the bigger issue is that the station's personnel are doing a top notch crappy job of serving their customer. And this is clearly this station's pattern of service. They are a contracted station, ground service is provided by a third party which in this case is a regional division of American Airlines, a competing airline.

So it would seem to me that Continental would be interested and concerned with how their passengers are being served by their contracted ground staff at this airport so that these problems can be addressed and rectified. People don't have to travel by air. People don't have to chose a certain airport. People don't have to chose a specific airline. They have many options.

In the Florida panhandle, we have all the airlines (and their regional affiliates) providing service as well as several smaller niche carriers. Within a reasonable drive, we have ECP in Panama City Beach, VPS in Fort Walton Beach, PNS in Pensacola, TLH in Tallahassee. Then you have DHN just 85 miles from ECP. You have MOB not far from PNS, you get the idea.

ECP just has DL and WN. VPS has AA, CO, DL, Vision. PNS has all of the majors. TLH has a few options. DHN is DL. Not sure who services MOB. The point is...we have choices of airports and more importantly airlines...we have access to every single major and some minor players, so its about retaining and gaining passengers. CO doesn't hold a monopoly in this part of Florida. Quite frankly, its dominated by DL to be honest.

So when you have one specific station being a problem, don't you want to protect your passenger counts by assuring good customer service? Why hemmorage butts for the seats to competing airlines over something like this. And the locals I spoke with only use VPS when they absolutely have to. They will pay more at another airport if they have the time to include the drive times in their travel plans just to avoid this horrible customer service provided by American Eagle staff in VPS according to many of them. Or they use another carrier that flies into VPS. DL has contracted staff handling their flights, Regional Elite I believe. There was always someone around at their counter, but not CO or AA's while I was there. No one at all to address any issues with. They all were hiding or doing something else and not available.

I spoke with two people at the other counters and both said they were former American Eagle employes who got the heck out of that company because of the horrible way they do business and were sick of the complaints.

So why wouldn't CO want to protect their market share and address a poorly performing station when they receive complants about them? That just doesn't make sense.

My issue is the poor customer service. My complaint is on the station personnel CO has contracted, not with CO directly. They fully honored their end of the deal. But they are also the only one with a horse in the race as it is their name, their customers that get substandard service that will ultimately effect their market share in the panhandle.

I'm willing to bet that when an American Eagle plane lands, they bust their backsides to protect and care for those passengers since they are actually "THEIR" customers. While CO is just more work they have to do for no more pay. So why care...

 

[SparrowHawk]

Your only recourse is to file a complaint with the DOY or "Aunt DOT" as we refer to her. Here's the link.

This should generate a response, good luck

http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/problems.htm