Continental YVR SUCKS!

[boeingboy]

WOW.......customer service reaches a whole new level.

Last Sat night Continental 273 arrived and during the offload there were a few disabled passengers. All but 1 had no issue. The remaining passenger and his wife got off the plane and were waiting on the jetbridge for his personal wheelchair. As the last passengers were getting off, the CSA sent the second agent downstairs while she asked the remaining passenger if he would like to go down in their wheelchair. He said "no thanks - I'll wait for mine." The agent then left the plane to go look for his chair that she thought another passenger had, however the ground crew had not yet unloaded the entire aircraft and were still looking for the chair.

Turns out they lost his chair. It was not on board. No-one could get ahold of either the agents or ops. The agent left the disabled passenger and the flight crew standing on the jetbridge by the plane for over 45min!!!!!! You never leave your passengers or crew stranded at an empty plane with no way to the terminal. To make things worse, the disabled passenger was none other than...........Mr Rick Hansen.

Wow. P*&s poor customer service. Maybe Continental could say sorrey and make a contribution to Rick's foundation.

[Beefitarian]

How can you be surprised by most American carriers doing something like this. I wouldn't be surprised if Air Canada was the culpret. Customer service is a thing of the past.

I'm more surprised to hear stories about them treating people well to be honest.

[iflyforpie]

The question I am asking, why didn't Mr. Hansen just use the other chair rather than making everyone wait for 45min? He went around the world, I'm sure he could handle 'borrowing' another chair for the 300 or so meters to get from the plane to the parking lot.

Things like this happen. Yes Continental should offer an apology and suitable compensation. But based on this information, part of me thinks he was trying to create a PR stink.

[ogc]

The question I am asking, why didn't Mr. Hansen just use the other chair rather than making everyone wait for 45min? He went around the world, I'm sure he could handle 'borrowing' another chair for the 300 or so meters to get from the plane to the parking lot.

Things like this happen. Yes Continental should offer an apology and suitable compensation. But based on this information, part of me thinks he was trying to create a PR stink.

Rick Hansen is a very humble and kind individual... He is not one to make a PR stink about the situation.

He likely just wanted his chair, because well its his legs and it is VERY careless of all things for an airline to lose it.

And one of the airline wheel chairs is not "good enough" as they are not even remotely close to the same thing.

[whiteguy]

How can you be surprised by most American carriers doing something like this. I wouldn't be surprised if Air Canada was the culpret. Customer service is a thing of the past.

I'm more surprised to hear stories about them treating people well to be honest.

Thats because all you hear is the negative stories!

Funny that AC is flying with 80+% load, factors must be quite a few people happy with AC service!

The negative stories come from the once a year type fliers who demand all the service of old AC with the current low fare structure.

[iflyforpie]

Rick Hansen is a very humble and kind individual... He is not one to make a PR stink about the situation.

He likely just wanted his chair, because well its his legs and it is VERY careless of all things for an airline to lose it.

And one of the airline wheel chairs is not "good enough" as they are not even remotely close to the same thing.

That may be, but if the airline lost his chair, they can't just make one out of thin air--can they? How did he wind up leaving in the end anyways?

Like whiteguy said, it's only the negative stories that get through. Continental has received tons of top awards for their service and it certainly wasn't because they lost everybody's luggage or made a ton of mistakes. But mistakes do happen and a better person doesn't make a big deal out of them.

And yes, I have been stranded before for hours because of somebody else's mistake (rental car broke down in the middle of nowhere), but I didn't refuse the optional transportation that was offered me, as uncomfortable and inconvenient as it was...

[ogc]

Rick Hansen is a very humble and kind individual... He is not one to make a PR stink about the situation.

He likely just wanted his chair, because well its his legs and it is VERY careless of all things for an airline to lose it.

And one of the airline wheel chairs is not "good enough" as they are not even remotely close to the same thing.

That may be, but if the airline lost his chair, they can't just make one out of thin air--can they? How did he wind up leaving in the end anyways?

Like whiteguy said, it's only the negative stories that get through. Continental has received tons of top awards for their service and it certainly wasn't because they lost everybody's luggage or made a ton of mistakes. But mistakes do happen and a better person doesn't make a big deal out of them.

And yes, I have been stranded before for hours because of somebody else's mistake (rental car broke down in the middle of nowhere), but I didn't refuse the optional transportation that was offered me, as uncomfortable and inconvenient as it was...

I am assuming he did,

Im also assuming that they did not admit in that 45 minute period that they did in fact lose his chair. Hence his wait.

I fully understand the shit happens principle

[iflyforpie]

That may be, but if the airline lost his chair, they can't just make one out of thin air--can they? How did he wind up leaving in the end anyways?

Like whiteguy said, it's only the negative stories that get through. Continental has received tons of top awards for their service and it certainly wasn't because they lost everybody's luggage or made a ton of mistakes. But mistakes do happen and a better person doesn't make a big deal out of them.

And yes, I have been stranded before for hours because of somebody else's mistake (rental car broke down in the middle of nowhere), but I didn't refuse the optional transportation that was offered me, as uncomfortable and inconvenient as it was...

I am assuming he did,

Im also assuming that they did not admit in that 45 minute period that they did in fact lose his chair. Hence his wait.

I fully understand the shit happens principle

I'm just going from what was written and maybe saying that he wanted to make a stink about it was a little rash--as nothing is in the news about it. But totally a regrettable situation and if they were trying to dodge the fact that they lost his wheel chair that is certainly not kosher.

[Flying Nutcracker]

What if it wasn't Rick Hansen but someone else...? Would we even hear about it on here???

[Beefitarian]

How can you be surprised by most American carriers doing something like this. I wouldn't be surprised if Air Canada was the culpret. Customer service is a thing of the past.

I'm more surprised to hear stories about them treating people well to be honest.

Thats because all you hear is the negative stories!

Funny that AC is flying with 80+% load, factors must be quite a few people happy with AC service!

The negative stories come from the once a year type fliers who demand all the service of old AC with the current low fare structure.

Yeah, you're right Air Canada is terrific. Especially if you don't fly other carriers and find out that they still make an effort to serve you.

I know it's the wal-mart thing. It's not our fault we have to be mod edited for language now because you don't pay enough.
Just because United is worse doesn't make AC good.

So... tell me a story about them that makes up for what they did to us.

Oh wait it doesn't matter because I just fly with carriers that don't make me tell negative stories instead. I'll pay the premium, er... oh yeah they're not more expensive.

[boeingboy]

It wasn't the fact that they lost his chair that kills me.......it was that they abandonded the crew and a disabled passenger (or any pass for that matter) at the plane with no way to get to customs, and that they were there for over 45min.

Eventually - a nice person went down to the customs hall and dragged someone up to the gate. Phone calls to the ops center and to the cell phone went unanswered.

The agent offered Mr Hanson a CO wheelchair - BEFORE they even finished offloading the passengers and the bags.......so it only made sense that he would want to wait for his own custom chair. The agent then disappeared. There were no wheelchairs just lying around so the crew could take him down - and at YVR there are security doors between each gate on a timer - after which they close. so there is no way anyone could leave the jetbridge even if they wanted too. All this at 1 in the morning.

And no - they did not admit they lost his chair to him untill they went back to the gate to get everyone they left behind.

[Beefitarian]

It's kind of strange how the carriers I fly on can gate check a stroller so our kid can ride to and from the plane.

[whiteguy]

It's kind of strange how the carriers I fly on can gate check a stroller so our kid can ride to and from the plane.

So can any other carrier! And I'm sure the carriers you fly have lost luggage, strollers, and wheel chairs to. Of course you won't say which carriers you fly because then people could give you examples!

[rigpiggy]

I'm sure he could handle 'borrowing' another chair for the 300 or so meters to get from the plane to the parking lot.

Things like this happen. Yes Continental should offer an apology and suitable compensation. But based on this information, part of me thinks he was trying to create a PR stink.

Not knowing what kind of wheelchair, I would say because a custom wheelchair starts at about 1500$ and goes up over 10k.

Damn straight if I gate checked my bag worth 1-10k I would be furious too.

[aroundthewing]

Does Continental do their own passenger/ground handling in YVR or is it contracted out?

[aroundthewing]

So... tell me a story about them that makes up for what they did to us.

Oh wait it doesn't matter because I just fly with carriers that don't make me tell negative stories instead. I'll pay the premium, er... oh yeah they're not more expensive.

What did they do to you?

[imarai]

I come to this forum to read about aviation issues, germane to pilots, engineers, and air traffic types, not to read about about consumer/passenger complaints. Crap like special needs and lost baggage would be more relevant on a consumer complaint forum.

[ILSfan07]

The question I am asking, why didn't Mr. Hansen just use the other chair rather than making everyone wait for 45min? He went around the world, I'm sure he could handle 'borrowing' another chair for the 300 or so meters to get from the plane to the parking lot.

Things like this happen. Yes Continental should offer an apology and suitable compensation. But based on this information, part of me thinks he was trying to create a PR stink.

Rick Hansen is a very humble and kind individual... He is not one to make a PR stink about the situation.

He likely just wanted his chair, because well its his legs and it is VERY careless of all things for an airline to lose it.

And one of the airline wheel chairs is not "good enough" as they are not even remotely close to the same thing.

Agreed... can't see Mr. Hansen causing a scene over this. Disappointed? No doubt. Mr. Hansen has turned down ramp assistance/washington chair to get up and into a 1900... he literally uses his arms to haul himself up the stairs. He wants to do it himself... because he's perfectly capable. Incredible upper body strength, accompanied by an even more humble personality. That's probably why he turned down the airline's wheelchair.

[Beefitarian]

It's kind of strange how the carriers I fly on can gate check a stroller so our kid can ride to and from the plane.

So can any other carrier! And I'm sure the carriers you fly have lost luggage, strollers, and wheel chairs to. Of course you won't say which carriers you fly because then people could give you examples!

Air Singnapore, Air NewZealand, West Jet, Horizon... gosh you got me.

[Beefitarian]

... Air France, Lufthansa...

[cgzro]

Funny that AC is flying with 80+% load, factors must be quite a few people happy with AC service!

I fly a lot. I have flown most of the major carriers at one point or another. AC is very very good overall and its why I pretty much now exclusively use them, especially on anything long haul like Hong Kong etc. I got to Super Elite last year and that really is a nice perk as I can usually upgrade to Executive class for the long haul flights. Those executive class seats are amazing!!

[altiplano]

Rick is a great guy. Anyone who wants to turn this around against him has their head up their @$$.

Would you put on a communal pair of used shoes that have had god knows what done in them or wait for what you expect to be a few or ten or fifteen minutes for your own...

Benefit of the doubt all around here, shit happens if a gate check is lost/buried, so it is... but I know know who I would look at here for error in judgement/action or lack of...

[aroundthewing]

Beefitarian,
are you going to share with us why you turned this into an Air Canada rant? AC does gate check strollers BTW.

[Beefitarian]

It wasn't meant to become a rant. The initial comment was meant to stand alone. I'm not trying to defend my position and I don't really want to write a big story about them. Sorry, carry on.

I'm open for some positive Air Canada stories. I enjoyed flying with them once in the year 2000.

[Gawtti]

Does Continental do their own passenger/ground handling in YVR or is it contracted out?

I know for a fact Swissport does the Ramp, but upstairs is also contracted out aswell .. I think Swissport or Servis Air