Delays and Lost Bags on a Jamaica Wedding Trip

Date: 29 December 2011
Airline: Continental, flight 4627
Location: Pittsburgh,PA

I filed a complaint with Continental Airlines around January 5, 2102 due to terrible service, delayed flight, rude customer service and overall bad experience on my trip from Pittsburgh, PA to Jamaica. The trip was to commence on December 29, 2011 and return on Jananuary 2, 2012.

The trip was a destination wedding for my son that was to take place in Jamaica on December 30, 2011. The rehearsal for the wedding was to be the evening of December 29, 2011.

We had a total of 10 passengers that were on this flight (eight of us were on CO-FL03L3 reservation while 2 others were on a different reservation number but had the same last name--[redacted])

We left Pittsburgh around 5:45 on flight 4627. We were to fly into Houston and depart for Jamaica on flight 1400 at 10:25. Our flight was diverted to San Antonio where we sat on the plane for approx. 1 hour. We were then taken off the plan in San Antonio for approx. 1 1/2 hours. We were then put back on the plane and sat there for another hour and 45 min (approx). By the time the plane got back to Houston we missed our flight to Jamaica. We had rude service throughout the entire experience except for a very kind flight attendant who was on the Pitt to Houston flight (I believe her name was Maria). She was the only one who tried to make our experience tolerable.

Once we got to Houston we stood in a line for about 45 min. before being told that we had to go to another location. From that location we were told to go to still yet another location to be rebooked. By the time that we got to an agent who was willing to work with us, there were no other flights leaving that would have gotten us into Jamaica that day. We MISSED my son's rehearsal celebration. He was very upset as were we!!!!

We had a total of eight adults and two babies (two-year-old and a three-year-old). Needless to say this was extremely difficult to deal with.

Finally an agent said that if we wanted to make it in time for the wedding which was the next day that we would have to fly to Charlotte to try to get a flight early the next morning. If we stayed in Houston we would not have gotten into Jamaica until after the wedding was over. We went to Charlotte and then were told that we would have to get a hotel because the flight wasn't leaving until early on the morning of Dec. 30--the day of the wedding!! We were also told that we could not get a room from the airlines but that they would get us a 'distressed' passenger rate---when we got to the hotel we got the same rate that others who just walked in off the street got--NO DISCOUNT WHATSOEVER!!! I thought it was very inconsiderate and rude of the agents to say that they could not GIVE us rooms and also then to give false information about the distressed passenger rate.

We finally got to Jamaica around 11:10 on Dec. 30, 2011--we started our travel Dec. 29, 2011 at 5:45 AM.

Coming back from Jamaica on flight #1485 we were yet again delayed!!!! This time we were told that the plane was being held for some late arrivals from another flight!!! We didn't get that consideration when we were trying desperately to get to my son's wedding!!!

I called and filed a complaint when I returned and the best the agent said she could do (and I must admit she was also very RUDE) was a $100 travel certificate for each passenger on the flight!!! I told her that I paid 732.31 for each ticket (total of 10 equals around 7320 dollars) and that I thought she should do better than that. I also told here that that didn't even cover the room that we had to pay for once we got to Charlotte. Her response was more or less--"take it or leave it!!" I told her I would take it but that I would be filing a complaint with the travel agent and any other source that I could. I was so upset!!

It is now Jan. 19, 2012 around 2 weeks since I talked with the Continental customer service person about this issue and I still have NOT received the vouchers. I don't feel our compensation was in line with the time that we had to spend waiting and the rudeness that we experienced. I also don't feel that Continental did anything to try to make amends for the inconvenience. I lost 25% of my vacation (we were staying at the RIU Montego Bay which is an all-inclusive a total of approx. $1200), I had the added expense of a 5 hotel rooms (approx. $500) at the Hyatt in Charlotte.Along with added expense of food and trying to keep the babies occupied for approx. 30 + hours. I would hope that you would be able to provide each passenger with a refund of the rooms in Charlotte and at least a roundtrip ticket for each.

I feel that Continental is leaving me no recourse except to file a complaint with the Transportation Department and/or the Aviation Consumer Protection agency (Airconsumer@ost.dot.gov.). I have read and understand the Air Rights that we are entitled to.

If I don't have adequate resolution to this issue within 5 business days I will also contact the TV consumer advocates.

My hope is to resolve this issue amicably, but up to this point I have gotten no satisfaction from anyone from Continental.

-Darlene