Just a few minutes ago I posted a brief review of my trip to Long Beach, California. In that post you’ll see that I had a crazy time with our landing in Long Beach because an earthquake hit. Well, that doesn’t compare to the craziness I had to deal with when we landed back in Newark at the Continental terminal. Yes folks, Continental was worse to deal with than an earthquake…
The plane landed at Newark right on time at 12 midnight. From that point, I had to catch a train at 1:00am back to the Long Branch area where I live. My buddy and I grab out baggage from the carousel at about 12:30am I notice that the entire left wheel of my bag is missing PLUS the casing for the wheel is cracked and missing, too. Welcome back to New Jersey!
I dragged my bag over to the Continental Baggage Assistance area and told the woman behind the counter that my wheel was broken and it needed to be replaced or repaired. She said, “I don’t think we cover wheels.” To which I responded, “You’re covering something because I’m exhausted, tired, and I don’t want to get loud because you guys broke my bag.” The woman then waited for the manager to come out and after the manager affirmed that I was correct and Continental would repair the wheel, the woman began filling out my voucher.
Seeing that she was taking her time, I told the woman that we had a plane to catch in 15 minutes and she suggested that this process was going to take more than 15 minutes. Not too big of a problem – another train was supposedly coming at 2am. Of course this woman didn’t realize the complexity (or lack thereof) involved in her job because she was finished in 10 minutes. So my buddy and I go through the airport (me dragging my 50 pound bag) and we get to the place where you have to buy tickets for the train. After dropping $14.25 each for train tickets, we had to wait an unGodly amount of time for the AirTran system to take us from the airport to the RailLink where we could catch the 2:00am train.
At around 1:30am we finally make it to the RailLink station and before we can use our tickets to go through the little turnstyles, the woman asked us which train we were going on. I responded that we were headed for Long Branch to which she said the train already left. I told her that I knew, but we were hoping to catch the 2:00am train. At this point, the woman showed us on the train schedule that the 2:00am train only runs on Fridays and that the next train was coming at 4:45am.
For those of you that know me, you know that something clicked in my head after the woman told me this…
My buddy and I went back to the Continental counter (near 2:00am at this point) and a different woman behind the counter was complaining to no one about how tired she was. Really? She was tired? REALLY? Because I just got off a fucking plane from California where I was wedged in a seat next to some pompous prick who decided that about 15% of my seat belonged to him, found out that my bag was broken (and now it falls on ME to get it fixed), and that I missed my fucking train home because Continental broke my bag. YOU’RE FUCKING TIRED? You know what? Blow me, asshole. I’m fucking tired, not you.
The woman then says to me, “You’re still here complaining?” Being exhausted, I said to her that I now missed my train and Continental needs to find a way to get me home. She said that she didn’t have the authority to do anything about that so she told me to wait for the Manager to get back. Which I did… When the Manager came back I tried to wave him down and he walked by me. He came back a few minutes later and I tried to suggest to him that we need to talk and he didn’t even regard my presence. After about 10 minutes of him being the back room, he came out a third time at which point I said, “Hey! I was told to talk with you!” His response was nonexistent as he walked right by me without even flinching an eye.
Not wanting to act like a lunatic in the airport (those fuckers are lucky that there are extra security regulations now or I would have tackled that son of a bitch and screamed in his fucking face), my buddy and I went outside and caught a cab. After a $120 trip, we arrived at our cars at 3:00am. Fucking fantabulous.
I am in the midst of drafting a really biting e-mail to Continental asking why I should ever fly their airline again. They didn’t do a fucking thing for me and they even cost us an extra $120 to get home. How dare they!? Folks, for what it’s worth I advise you to stay away from Continental. Rude service, poor customer support representatives, and Manager who don’t give a crap about their clients.
Joe,
Welcome back to NJ i hope California was fun.
I hate to say it but, you have anger issues. The airline got you home, brought your bag, albeit broken and you want more than just your bag repaired? You expected them to somehow pay for your ride home when most people either get picked up or park at the airport. I guess you are special and should be treated as a special person because you are a frequent flier and have racked up beau coup miles as well as are a frequent first class flier?
Joe no airline would have done what you are asking because it is an unreasonable request. There is an adage for those who fly , “Time to spare travel by air”.
As for the seat issue, They keep making the seat area smaller and smaller I am 6’4″ and always feel crammed in to those planes. There is no leg room anymore unless you are in the emergency exit row.
BTW, if you want your letter to be more effective do it on paper not as an email, they respond to paper because it goes in a file. Good luck.
A little bit of disclosure, my wife works for CO at EWR. As a gate agent she has to deal with every kind of situation you can imagine. If you want an insight into how airlines function watch the show “Airline” it is my wife’s job to a “T”. I have nothing but respect for those people, I am sorry that you caught some people doing less than perfect work.
Ha ha ha! I love how you never get the joke.
Awesome.
California was a great time, though. I like how it’s hot out there, but not humid. We could certainly use that type of temperature over here. I don’t know if I’d go back any time soon, though. With the earthquake hitting as soon as we landed and the six and a half hour flight – I might be better off going down to Myrtle Beach!
What the joke? Unless you find ranting to be funny? You disparage a business which gets accolades when compared to its peers and it is supposed to be a joke? If this was a fictional account say so if not you have issues.
The ranting IS the joke. This entire BLOG is about ranting for humor’s sake! And if you can’t see that, then I don’t know what to tell you. I think it’s obvious on it’s face – a shitty travel situation made funnier by intertwining it with a madman-style rant.
Don’t be so uptight – this whole thing is a joke and meant for humor. Lighten up and come join in the fun!
Ok, got it.