Off to Stockholm, With Many Caveats

July 3, 2009

Continental comprises* of a bunch of assholes.

Some months ago, I bought a vacation package to Stockholm on Priceline.  Today, due to my own daredevilish time management, I missed my flight.  There was also a Holland Tunnel clog and a cab driver who didn’t know how to get around Newark, but seriously, it was a 5pm flight — you’d think a woman of some inner resources could find her way from point A to point B given a solid day to do so.

At this point, Continental did not need to comprise a bunch of assholes.  Even in the very best case scenario — “Oh look, we have a confirmed seat for an overnight flight leaving two hours later than the one you had originally planned!” — I am still destined to suffer for my crime.  Tacking hours onto an overnight international travel experience is punishment enough.  Instead, the woman at the counter gave me a lecture and booked me for a flight to Stockholm tomorrow evening.  When I suggested that I would be happy to be on the flight to Oslo that was leaving soon — because, as a woman with some inner resources, I can get from Oslo to Stockholm, and talk to many interesting Scandinavians in the process — the woman at the counter looked at me as though I were stupid, and informed me that Oslo and Stockholm are in different countries.  This, as I clearly was manipulating a map of Europe on my iPhone, contemplating how much of a fun adventure it might be to fly into Brussels or Geneva.  I got nowhere with Continental.  

I called the Intrepid Young Journalist, who used the internet to discover that, while all other airlines were offering last-minute flights for $1300+, Malaysia Air had a flight to Stockholm leaving, well, now — I am writing this at the Malaysia Air gate, as the juvenile and infirm are pre-boarding — for $528.  I took the AirTrain to Terminal B, where a nice (Malaysian) woman sold me a ticket for $398!  And then, despite the fact that I was buying a plane ticket to a foreign country two hours before the flight would board, she apologized for only having middle seats.  But then it turned out she actually did have an aisle seat.  I’m going to go sit in it now.  More soon! 

*I struggled with “comprises” versus “is composed of” and went for concision.

Posted by jen | Filed Under Jen says 

Comments

2 Responses to “Off to Stockholm, With Many Caveats”

  1. Rich Z on July 3rd, 2009 2:53 am

    Strange…never had a problem with Continental, usually the only airline I fly (until Jet Blue came along).

    I did, however, miss a Delta flight to Denver once, and the attendent at LaGuardia told me I’d have to buy another ticket at full price. When I got to Denver, I spent an hour on the phone with Delta customer service complaining that I had been charged full price instead of just charged a change fee.

    After talking to three different people, I asked for a manager, which prompted whoever was on the phone to get indignant and yell at me, telling me a manager would tell me exactly the same thing. I got the manager, explained what happened, and she calmly told me that it shouldn’t have happened and that I would be refunded. She said she couldn’t understand why anyone would charge me the full price of another ticket.

    Anyway, I too went for concision when I posted the following as my Facebook status: “Delta = Fuckheads”

  2. jen on July 9th, 2009 3:27 pm

    I’ve complained about Delta on the blog before, but I think it was because they didn’t have a Starbucks in their terminal.

    I just strongly prefer to fly on any European (or, apparently, Malaysian) airline if given the option.

    I could eat Lufthansa’s food all day. On my way back from Sweden, though, Continental served me a highly plasticized lump of chicken that made me embarrassed to be an American.

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