caribtraveler

Since we tend to complain about airlines, I wanted to post my 2 good experiences with Continental.
We were scheduled to travel to Grand Cayman in February 2005. We just found out our hotel will not be reopened by then.
I just knew we'd have to pay the ticket change fee for a destination change but Continental waived it (it would have been $300 total). Continental did not have to do that because there are other hotels in Grand Cayman that will be open by that time.
This is the second time they waived the fee for us. We had a trip at the end of September to the Bahamas that was changed because of Hurricane Frances. I know they were doing that for everybody, but they are one of the few airlines if not the only that was doing that.
They'll have my business for awhile.

AAFrequentFlyer

I'll have to admit that the free change in February is somewhat unusal and I'm happy for you that it did work to your advantage.

BUT, free changeovers were done by ALL airlines during the busy hurricane season in September. CO wasn't the only one.

caribtraveler

Hmmm...I clearly remember some Fodorites complaining that their airlines were charging them the change fee during that awful hurricane period.
And I had read an article with a list of what airlines were charging during that time. Continental and I think one other airline were not charging the fee. And the article noted that Continental had been the most generous to its customers.

AAFrequentFlyer

I'm not talking about some international airline that may have 1 a day flight to some Caribbean paradise, and maybe it is true that they did not have a policy in place. The ones I'm talking about are the "heavies" in the Caribbean and Florida markets, CO,US,DL,AA. They all announced and had a free change policy before each storm hit specific places. And as the storms moved across the region the policy would be adjusted accordingly.

MWM1

I live in Cleveland which is a Continental hub and I can say that I have ALWAYS had good experiences with Continental.

In June my 12 year old daughter was to go on vacation in Florida with her friend and her friend's family for 10 days. I purchased her ticket 30 days in advance but then she and her friend had a HUGE falling out-- as 12 yr old girls often do. She no longer felt comfortable going and I was concerned she would be just miserable if I forced her to go.
I called Continental , expalined, and they readily gave me a voucher for the entire amount of the fare I paid - no questions asked or grief given.

I was and will now absolutely be a loyal customer

z

We use all the time Continental, AA, Delta, Air France and I have to say that we have good experience with all of them. Sometimes something doesn't work on some of them including Continental. We are Gold members of OnePass with Conitental so we use them often but this airline is not better or worse than the others. We don't use United and a few others because the places they connect do not suit us. Hope you will continue to have great experiences with Continental. Just if sometimes something doesn't work don't be dissapointed. Learn to fnd some balance between good and not so good of every airline.
Caribtravel, because of the huricane, we are able to rebook our flights on Delta until sometime in February. No charge.