Continental Airlines

[editor]

Whether you blame the weather or the airline, this New York Times article just makes Continental look bad.

And take it from someone who knows... when you see the line

"A spokesman for Continental declined to comment on those accusations"

it means they're all true.

I saw this story in a number of places before I stumbled upon it in the Times. I never get to fly Continental because it doesn't go where I want to go, but this is the reputation that Northwest has and I avoid Northwest at all costs. I'll pay an extra $150 to go American rather than take Northwest.

[MidtownCoog]

well, they are originally from Newark...

I'm just sayin

[TheNiche]

Whether you blame the weather or the airline, this New York Times article just makes Continental look bad.

And take it from someone who knows... when you see the line

"A spokesman for Continental declined to comment on those accusations"

it means they're all true.

I saw this story in a number of places before I stumbled upon it in the Times. I never get to fly Continental because it doesn't go where I want to go, but this is the reputation that Northwest has and I avoid Northwest at all costs. I'll pay an extra $150 to go American rather than take Northwest.

Most readers probably won't take this as an expose on a crappy airline. More will likely blame Customs and the airport that are causing and reacting with excessive caution to a flight full of grumpy passengers. That's where readers will latch on to little things that excite their political views, regardless of which way they lean.

[Trae]

So what do all those awards mean now?

[VicMan]

The situation described above has happened to me in Philadelphia - All of the planes were grounded for hours waiting to be deiced

[millennica]

Whether you blame the weather or the airline, this New York Times article just makes Continental look bad.

And take it from someone who knows... when you see the line

"A spokesman for Continental declined to comment on those accusations"

it means they're all true.

I saw this story in a number of places before I stumbled upon it in the Times. I never get to fly Continental because it doesn't go where I want to go, but this is the reputation that Northwest has and I avoid Northwest at all costs. I'll pay an extra $150 to go American rather than take Northwest.

I never fly Continental either for the same reasons. A far as Northwest's reputation is concerned, I agree that it is terrible and from my perspective well-deserved. I also avoid flying on Northwest.

[KinkaidAlum]

Continental is so much better than the other big players (American, Delta, United, Northwest, and US Airways).

Continental has a younger and nicer fleet than the others.

Continental was quick to move in the direction of technology (web sales, print tickets at home, e-ticket check in kiosks) that makes checking in so much quicker.

Continental kept the little things like meals at meal times, pillows, blankets, etc... when all the others dropped them after 9-11 and moved to buy-on-board for everything. I keep waiting to hear about needing a token to use the potty on American!

Houstonians are VERY lucky to have such a soild airline based in the city with an impressive hub (flying non-stop to almost anywhere in the USA and Mexico plus other locations like Brazil, England, Argentina, Japan, Ecuador, Jamaica, France, etc...)

[travelguy_73]

I never fly Continental either for the same reasons. A far as Northwest's reputation is concerned, I agree that it is terrible and from my perspective well-deserved. I also avoid flying on Northwest.

You must do a lot of driving trying to avoid the airlines that have ever done something wrong!

Listen folks, I certainly understand the rush to judgment, but unless you have ever worked in the air travel industry, or with an area of government that interacts with it, you have NO IDEA what it takes to get an aircraft from one place to another. There are a lot of hands in the pot, which often leads to confusion and finger pointing. Contrary to popular belief, no airline enjoys it when their customers hate them. Sure there are plenty of surly employees out there, and plenty of mistakes are made on a daily basis, but most of the people who work in the industry work hard and for pay that the rest of us wouldn't touch.

In this particular case, take a moment and put yourself in the position of each person. The passenger that just wants to go home, and who has been crammed in economy for x hours. The flight attendant whose job it is to keep everyone calm, but has limited food and limited information to share, and whose back hurts from that heavy suitcase she hoisted into the bin. The pilot who is constantly told that as soon as the weather lifts he will get to leave, and who is upset he had to take a shift from another pilot who called in sick. The perennially understaffed airport customs group who can't allow the aircraft to offload because they don't have passenger data to review, and who are on a constant state of alert because of the never-ending stream of security procedures they are required to know. The flight controller in the tower who tries to keep all of his assigned aircraft in order so that when the weather clears they can take off in an orderly fashion. And the airline's operations center group who is desperately trying to reaccomodate people on, hmmm how many flights(?), to keep the system from grinding to a halt.

Yes, we could (and oftentimes should) simply say, "They just need to do their jobs." But it's rarely that simple Let's walk a mile in each person's shoes, then come back and make practical suggestions for how to make the system better.

[102IAHexpress]

It

[Jeebus]

I'm sure 90% of this story is total b.s., but that still means that 10% of its true. I am one of those who would rather drive for two straight days than fly for 6 hours - and all because of post 9|11 measures enforced by the TSA.

Sure its statistically safer to fly, but until TSA gets their act together I'm not going to pay 300 dollars round trip to submit to a game of "pick the possible terrorist from the manifest".

[millennica]

You must do a lot of driving trying to avoid the airlines that have ever done something wrong!

Huh? I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion based on my saying that I don't fly Continental because it doesn't fly where I want to go and I avoid Northwest Airlines because I am dissatisfied with its service. As it turns out, I don't have to do any driving to avoid Northwest Airlines because living in the SF Bay Area, I have more than enough choices when it come to choosing airlines which makes it possible for me avoid those airlines whose service I deem unacceptable. It's my money and I see nothing wrong with spending with companies whose service I find satisfactory. As far as driving, I do very little, probably much less than most people. My 1988 Volkswagen Fox that I purchased new has less than 125,000 miles on the odometer.

[editor]

I'm of two minds on this.

On one hand, I've watched countless episodes of Airline, and have seen dozens of passengers out of control for no reason. I've probably been one of them from time to time. I understand that the people on the front lines are doing the best that they can.

But on the other hand, if the airline (any airline, not just Continental) can't deliver on its promises, it needs to stop making promises it can't keep. I'm not talking about things the airlines can't control like weather. I'm talking about things like overbooking flights. I've been bumped off of Northwest flights at least three times. United involuntarily bumped me from a flight and left me in Tokyo at 2am with no transportation, no vouchers, and no local currency in a virtually closed airport to fend for myself. The now bankrupt Independence Airlines overbooked my flight out of New York, but helpfully put me on a flight to DC to connect to my destination, leaving out the fact that the connecting flight woulnd't leave until 12 hours later -- the next day. I could go on about the ways that Southwest, Continental, U.S. Air, Air Frogs, and others have all left me agrieved.

The U.S. airlines spread themselves too thin. Passenger loads are back to pre-9/11 levels. Instead of being good regional airlines, they're all trying to be crappy global airlines. I've flown through about a dozen third-world airports, and on about six third-world airlines. In my experience, parts of the third world have better, more reliable, air service than the United States. The system is broken. And rather than fix, it the airlines would rather do everything they can to squeeze the last dime out of the flying public so they can give themselves big perks before the next taxpayer-funded bankruptcy.

[VicMan]

The U.S. airlines spread themselves too thin. Passenger loads are back to pre-9/11 levels. Instead of being good regional airlines, they're all trying to be crappy global airlines.

This trend won't go away. The USA airlines make a lot of money on international flights, and the USA airlines are aiming to expand such services. Delta began services to Dubai and several parts of Africa. Continental and American began nonstop services to India. Continental plans to get a flight into Lagos, Nigeria as well.

Some people cite US Airways (at least before the merger with America West) as an example of a poorly organized domestic operation - US Airways is a collection of regional airlines that merged.

Also, I notice that a lot of regional operations are now contracted with other airlines.

[musicman]

11% of flights will also be eliminated 13 just reported.

article

[CDeb]

11% of domestic flights.

[H-Town Man]

Hopefully they don't vacate office space downtown.

[editor]

This statement from hizzonor just came in:

[BryanS]

This statement from hizzonor just came in:

That is the current statement, as of today. I have seen analysis that shows that the entire US airline industry MUST shrink by 20% to remain somewhat viable. CO cut by only 11%. It has to cut more, eventually, if fuel costs remain this high. All airlines must reduce capacity by 20% OR just eliminate an entire major US airline. When the other shoe drops (when more cuts come), I can't imagine why CO would want to continue to build up/renovate an airport terminal. When your house is burning down, you should be concerned with putting out the fire and forget about everything else.

[Trae]

Your house burning analogy almost worked.

[editor]

I have seen analysis that shows that the entire US airline industry MUST shrink by 20% to remain somewhat viable.

Can you explain this and how it works? I understand dumping older and less fuel-efficient jets. But shrinking the company to stay afloat seems counterintuitive. Don't economies of scale apply to airlines?

[TheNiche]

Can you explain this and how it works? I understand dumping older and less fuel-efficient jets. But shrinking the company to stay afloat seems counterintuitive. Don't economies of scale apply to airlines?

There are economies of scale in producing M&M candies. But M&M candies sold over the counter are demand elastic, so if a rise in chocolate prices forces the price of M&Ms (and all chocolate confections) to go up, fewer candies will be demanded, and so it will not make sense to produce as much. In cutting back production, economies of scale may be sacrificed, however it is less expensive in that case to endure the lost scale than it is to continue to produce excess supply and price it to clear the market, in so doing enduring an economic loss.

This scenario is probably the most common of what happens when the price of an input rises, but it is not the only possibility. It ultimately depends upon the shape of various demand and supply curves, and upon the coefficient values in the formulae.

[editor]

But the airlines have excess demand, not supply. Or at least that's the conventional wisdom.

[TheNiche]

But the airlines have excess demand, not supply. Or at least that's the conventional wisdom.

International traffic is going strong but domestic is lukewarm.

Also, Southwest, AirTran, and JetBlue are the only major domestic carriers that have experienced a year-over-year increase in passenger enplanements; everybody else has had fewer enplanements over the past year, including Continental.

[BryanS]

International traffic is going strong but domestic is lukewarm.

Also, Southwest, AirTran, and JetBlue are the only major domestic carriers that have experienced a year-over-year increase in passenger enplanements; everybody else has had fewer enplanements over the past year, including Continental.

Actually, domestic for "the majors" (CO, UAL, AA, NW, etc) is a big money loser. What they lose on domestic, they try to make up for on international. It is US-local domestic low-fare carriers (Southwest, JetBlue, etc) that are putting the majors in a bind, domestically.

For better or worse, Jamie Baker, of JP Morgan Chase, is the airline industry analyst (google his name + JP Morgan). He was the one reporting several months ago about needs to cut capacity by 20%... he also had a "lights out" scenario if oil went over $105/bbl. His reports have good technical information, however, they are filled with loaded words/phases more fit for a tabloid magazine ("crushing oil prices," "there will be blood," etc, etc. - so dramatic).

[TheNiche]

Actually, domestic for "the majors" (CO, UAL, AA, NW, etc) is a big money loser. What they lose on domestic, they try to make up for on international. It is US-local domestic low-fare carriers (Southwest, JetBlue, etc) that are putting the majors in a bind, domestically.

Polly want a cracker?

[The Great Hizzy!]

Here's the link. Third year in a row garnering such favorable reviews.

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-230549...HMtMjAwOC02LTE3

"For the third year in a row, low-cost carrier JetBlue ranked the highest overall, scoring well in six out of seven of the categories, while Continental Airlines and Alaska Airlines tied for first among traditional carriers. Continental continued a three-year streak among the old-line airlines."

[Trae]

Glad Continental didn't merge with United.

[ssullivan]

While I love flying Continental, and do so several times almost every week of the year, I always find it amazing how some of the different airline quality surveys rank the same airlines so differently. A few months ago there was one that put AirTran on top; this has them near the bottom of the discount/low-cost carriers. That same one had Continental in the middle of the full service/legacy carriers. While I agree with this survey's ranking of Continental, and am thrilled for them, I think airline quality surveys are, in general, pretty subjective.

[editor]

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES OFFERS SPECIAL DISCOUNTED FARES STARTING AT $69 EACH WAY FOR HURRICANE IKE IMPACTED REGION

Special fares offered for travelers in Southeast Texas to any destination in the contiguous United States

HOUSTON, Sept. 16, 2008 - Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) announced today that it is offering special round-trip fares for travel originating in Houston and Beaumont/Port Arthur, TX to any destination in the contiguous United States. Beginning today through Sept. 19, travelers can book any domestic flight under 500 miles for only $69 each way and any domestic flight over 500 miles for just $119 each way.

"As Gulf Coast residents pull together to recover from the damage caused by Hurricane Ike, we want to help make their lives a little easier by providing special discounted fares for travel from the region," said Jim Compton, Continental's executive vice president of marketing. "We want our customers to know that if they need to travel soon or are just ready for a break, we are here to help."

Additionally, travel to and from Bush Intercontinental Airport has been made easier with the new Airport Direct service from downtown Houston provided by METRO.

Travel with the special fare must originate in either Houston or Beaumont/Port Arthur and be booked before midnight on Sept. 19 and completed by Oct. 1. Fares are one-way based on round trip purchase. No advance purchase is required for the special fare. Fares do not include passenger facilities charges of up to $18 per segment, Sept. 11 security fee of up to $5 each way or Federal excise tax of $3.50 per segment. Minimum stay and other terms and conditions apply. For reservations or information go to continental.com or call 1-800-523-FARE.

[VicMan]

I am glad Continental is doing this - This is how a hometown airline should treat its people. This attitude is totally different from price gouging gasoline stations that sometimes appear after disasters.