OLD THREAD--Continental - What a load...

[jayjoans]

It is true, up until December 15, then they increase the frequency of the flights, but still only one flight a day.

Thanks Diveborg. I appreciate the informative answer and additional recommendations without personal commentary.

 

[fairybasslet]

ROFLMAO!!!

 

[Christi]

I just got in to Houston from Coz...first leg of my vacation

Just a couple of coments on this:

1. The Saturday, Monday, Wednesday Continental schedule has been in effect for the last three weeks and has been discussed repeatedly here, so that is no news.

2. I am personally really tired of reading Continarntal bashing stories. They are the ONLY airline that didn't bail out all together on Cozumel. Continental sent in at least 7 evacuation flights just to Cozumel, American sent ONE, and the other airlies left it up to Continental to get their passengers off the island.

3. OF COURSE they are running a reduced schedule. I'm not thrilled about it, but from a business perspective it makes sense. It makes absolutely no sense for them to fly daily flights that are 1/4 full. If they don't watch the bottom line, there won't be one!

4. I have been majorly inconvenienced with numerous flight schedules trying to get out of Cozumel after the hurricane so I could work in Houston, trying to get back to Cozumel, and then leaving today for my pre-scheduled vacation. I had to fly out of Cancun today in order to get to Houston in time to catch my connection tomorrow morning. Am I happy about this? Not really, but I think they (Continental) are doing the best they can under the circumstances and CERTAINLY better than any other airline.

Other airlines aren't even flying into Coz, except for American...ONE flight a week.

5. Speedie, I agree with you on the normalcy thing...but the island really is making record breaking recovery progress. I am truly amazed at how fast things are coming back together. Things won't be perfect again for two or three more months, but much of the island is certainly able to acccommodate tourists. The only real reamining problem is the hotel/resort availability, limited flight schedules, and the beach clubs are still rebuilding...but I'm really, really amazed.

If you don't believe me, as I have said in other posts...why don't you all read the trip reports that have already started trickling in from people...FIRST hand acounts rather than people speculating who have not been there since Wilma, or in some cases EVER.

6. I'm officially on vacation now...so y'all play nice

 

[MyPC8MyBrain]

I kind of agree with SpeedoLouie - you go to a place that has just experienced a natural disaster and you expect everything to be normal. Heck - I would pay $66 for the ferry and taxi gladly just for the adventure.

Actually we expected nothing to be normal...the place was just pounded hard. We carefully researched the Island's ability to support visitors before we decided to stick with our original dates of 11/12 to 11/22. The people of Cozumel were extremely happy to see us as tourists. We were happy to be out of our cubicles and be there diving as well.

My point against Continental was in regard to them calling us at 5:30am the morning of departure and telling us to return through Cancun or cancel the entire trip. The portage is not that big of a deal, we've done it many times.

In the end, if you can rustle up a place to stay outside of the big AI hotels, your trip to cozumel will be close to any visit you have made in the past. Mexico is always in some level of pereptual construction....just a lot more of it is going on now. So, keep your plans to go to COZ, just don't expect to see a lot of americans around once the cruise ships leave [Some of us think that's a good thing]

 

[RiotNrrd]

My point against Continental was in regard to them calling us at 5:30am the morning of departure and telling us to return through Cancun or cancel the entire trip.

Exactly. I don't have a problem with the island at all. What I do have a problem with is Continental's manner of cancelling flights. While they do have to watch their bottom line, they should have other options:

1.) How about COOPERATE with all the other airlines, and tell them "if you can get you customers to Houston, we'll get them to Cozumel at cost." This way, most people would have had to deal with just a layover, instead of cancelling thier entire trip.

2.) Since Continental has such a huge fleet, and their hub is Houston, how about changing equipment? They are taking us out on a 737-300, which seats 106 people. How about switching to regional jets? Or again, how about COOPERATING with one of their code-share partners, like Northwest, and flying a DC-9?

3.) How about just making all these decisions EARLIER?

2 months ago, my itinerary was something like this:

3pm Wed - PHL -> IAH (for Thanksgiving with family)
9am Sat - IAH -> COZ
10am Tues - COZ - IAH
4pm Tues - IAH - PHL

They called me on the 11th and rescheduled to the following, and told me if I didn't like it, I could cancel the trip or leave Coz on Monday (giving me one day of diving):

3pm Wed - PHL -> IAH (for Thanksgiving with family)
1pm Sat - IAH -> COZ
12noon Tues - COZ - IAH
9am WED - IAH - PHL

So now I'm taking an extra day off work, having to spend the night in Houston and get a car, and losing the afternoon and probably evening dives I had scheduled for Saturday.

Then they called me on the 21st and rescheduled again, saying they were no longer flying on Tuesdays and Wednesdays:

3pm Wed - PHL -> IAH (for Thanksgiving with family)
1pm Sat - IAH -> COZ
12noon Thurs - COZ - IAH
9am Fri - IAH - PHL

So now I am taking off 2 more days from work (love the extra diving, not thrilled about the loss of vacation time). This was 5 days ago.

YESTERDAY, my friend and I check our flight (just to be safe). Mine looks wierd online, so I call. That's when they tell me they no longer fly out of Coz on Tues, Wed, Thurs, or Fri. My options are to fly through Mexico City on Mexicana, and then get back to Philly at 1am Friday (followed by a 1-hour drive home), or figure out how to get to Cancun and fly out of there instead. Of course, at this point, cancelling is not really an option - I'm in Houston, with the people I'm travelling with, with all our dive gear. So now my schedule looks like this:

3pm Wed - PHL -> IAH (for Thanksgiving with family)
1pm Sat - IAH -> COZ
8am Thurs - Ferry to Playa
9am Thurs - Taxi/Bus to CUN
12noon Thurs - CUN - IAH
9am Fri - IAH - PHL

This short 4-day trip to Mexico was originally having me take 2 days off from work and speding around $400 for dive + hotel. Now it's 5 days off from work, $650 for dive and hotel. I love the extra diving, but I really didn't plan on being out of the office for a solid week.

It's just inconvenient. If Continental had figured this out earlier, I probably could have coordainted and scheduled better. It just felt like they were never giving me enough time to really plan (Continetal's default if you didn't call them within 48 hours and tell them the change was OK was that they would CANCEL your trip for you - think they were trying to get out of as many flights to Cozumel as they could?).

RiotNrrd

 

[ggunn]

It is true, up until December 15, then they increase the frequency of the flights, but still only one flight a day.

FWIW, one flight a day into Cozumel is normal operation for Continental. They occasionally run a second flight during peak demand, but not often.

Also FWIW, Continental is a business, and they do what they have to do in order to survive. They have always been considerate to me about schedule changes (which usually aren't their call, anyway); I got at least three emails last time I went there (in May) advising me of small changes in my itinerary. One was to tell me that the gate departure time on one leg of my trip had changed by two minutes.

Third FWIW, you guys are traveling into (and out of) what was very recently a major disaster area. To expect travel to be as smooth as it was six months ago is asking rather a lot, IMO. The things I see complaints about (apart from customer service issues, about which I have no firsthand knowledge), i.e., having to go into (or out of) Cancun, having to take a little more vacation time for logistical reasons, etc., just don't seem like all that big a deal to me, all things considered.

Donning my flame-retardent underwear.... ;^)

 

[WOODMAN]

Gordon, I guess that most of us tend to forget just how good we have it, compared to those in Cozumel who have had their lives turned upside down and who are frantically trying to put things back together. I know that schedule interruptions and unforseen changes are irritating ( I know, it happened to me also), but it sort of pales in comparison to what those people down there have been going through, IMHO. I would hope that we could cut everyone involved a little slack, and keep our eyes on the goal, so to speak. We WILL get back down there, some of us sooner and with more difficulties, some of us later and more smoothly. It just depends on how bad you want it and what you are willing to put up with. And if you are going to push it and go during this transition phase, more power to you, but please don't cry about the problems you run into as a result. As the snake said to the man after biting him when he handled it, "you knew what I was when you picked me up" ...Oh, and Gordon? better make that flame retardant underware long johns, and send me a set.

 

[BigJetDriver]

I just got in to Houston from Coz...first leg of my vacation

Just a couple of coments on this:

1. The Saturday, Monday, Wednesday Continental schedule has been in effect for the last three weeks and has been discussed repeatedly here, so that is no news.

2. I am personally really tired of reading Continarntal bashing stories. They are the ONLY airline that didn't bail out all together on Cozumel. Continental sent in at least 7 evacuation flights just to Cozumel, American sent ONE, and the other airlies left it up to Continental to get their passengers off the island.

3. OF COURSE they are running a reduced schedule. I'm not thrilled about it, but from a business perspective it makes sense. It makes absolutely no sense for them to fly daily flights that are 1/4 full. If they don't watch the bottom line, there won't be one!

4. I have been majorly inconvenienced with numerous flight schedules trying to get out of Cozumel after the hurricane so I could work in Houston, trying to get back to Cozumel, and then leaving today for my pre-scheduled vacation. I had to fly out of Cancun today in order to get to Houston in time to catch my connection tomorrow morning. Am I happy about this? Not really, but I think they (Continental) are doing the best they can under the circumstances and CERTAINLY better than any other airline.

Other airlines aren't even flying into Coz, except for American...ONE flight a week.

5. Speedie, I agree with you on the normalcy thing...but the island really is making record breaking recovery progress. I am truly amazed at how fast things are coming back together. Things won't be perfect again for two or three more months, but much of the island is certainly able to acccommodate tourists. The only real reamining problem is the hotel/resort availability, limited flight schedules, and the beach clubs are still rebuilding...but I'm really, really amazed.

If you don't believe me, as I have said in other posts...why don't you all read the trip reports that have already started trickling in from people...FIRST hand acounts rather than people speculating who have not been there since Wilma, or in some cases EVER.

6. I'm officially on vacation now...so y'all play nice

Christi,

I thank you for your kind comments about my airline. We try to do the best job possible, sometimes in extremely difficult circumstances.

We have, as have others, had to cut back our services, due to the simple fact that it is taking a while for the all of the hotels to get up and fully running again.

They are making great strides, but people forget that Cozumel is, after all, an island. It is hard to get the rebuilding materials that are needed, in any great hurry.

If folks will sign onto Continental.com, and put in their current e-mail address, the system will, in most cases send any travel warnings and up-dates automatically.

As in any travel effort, however, things do change, and slip-ups do occur. It behooves the traveller to be self-reliant, and to check on these things as the travel date approaches.

Don't pack your brains in your luggage, and then check the suitcases, folks!

 

[Christi]

Gordon, I guess that most of us tend to forget just how good we have it, compared to those in Cozumel who have had their lives turned upside down and who are frantically trying to put things back together. I know that schedule interruptions and unforseen changes are irritating ( I know, it happened to me also), but it sort of pales in comparison to what those people down there have been going through, IMHO. I would hope that we could cut everyone involved a little slack, and keep our eyes on the goal, so to speak. We WILL get back down there, some of us sooner and with more difficulties, some of us later and more smoothly. It just depends on how bad you want it and what you are willing to put up with. And if you are going to push it and go during this transition phase, more power to you, but please don't cry about the problems you run into as a result. As the snake said to the man after biting him when he handled it, "you knew what I was when you picked me up" ...Oh, and Gordon? better make that flame retardant underware long johns, and send me a set.

THANK YOU! I couldn't have said it better myself!

I have received notifications for EVERY flight change...because i took the minutes it required to sign in and sign up for the trip alert notification.

Riot, I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree with you on almost every point. You make these suggestions about CO partnering and coordinating with other airlines...have you forgotten that the other airlines would have to agree to this as well...and they aren't even FLYING to Cozumel at all. Why should they fly you in at cost so that you can take your vacation...they are a business and do not operate from the goodness of their heart.

As for last minute flight changes, if you read the disclaimers in your ticketing contract, you will see that flights are subject to change at any time. I think Continenal was optimistic about flying three flights a week in, and they had good intentions of supporting the island, but since so many people ARE cancelling their trips, they are having to improvise as well. My flight on the 14th was less than 1/2 full, the flight on the 16th was less than 1/2 full, and the flight on the 19th was less than 1/2 full. I imagine that this is why they reduce the schedule TEMPORARILY down to two flights a week. Do you honestly think that Continental WANTS to cancel all these flights? The are losing tons of money a day as well and that's what so many people seem to keep forgetting.

Anyway, I am sitting in the San Juan airport waiting to connect on my American Airlines flight (took Continental this far but thye don't have a fligt into my destination from here)...I have a long layover so I decided to see if I could log on...surprise...they have WI-Fi!!!

OKAY...please play nice...this is pprobably my last check-in before I return!

Have a great week everyone!

 

[gratefuljames]

How about if all the airlines just all get together and make sure no more hurricanes ever happen! Huzzah!!!!!