Question re: missing an international flight

[AlecBGreen]

my wife has been visiting relatives in China for the last 2.5 months and is supposed to fly home today. Her connecting flight was 6 hours (!) behind so she missed her flight from Shanghai to the US. The Chinese airline offered to pay any fees and pay for a hotel but they wont/dont deal with Continental directly in getting her on another flight. As the stateside husband, that falls to me.

Any suggestions on sweettalking Continental? I know its a long shot but its 1:30 a.m. and so far the only offer I got was through the booking agency for a MONDAY flight at an extra $310. Ugh. I need a beer, a nap, and a flock of Gandalf's eagles.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Try talking directly to them

No guarantee either.

[Liberty Belle]

2. tell them you're going to call a TV station or newspaper, for a story on gouging consumers.

I'll bet they get more cooperative.

[XemaSab]

3. I missed a flight a few months ago

I went to the counter and I said "I missed my flight" and they got me on one 2 hours later. :shrug:

[JVS]

6. Did it cost you money?

[XemaSab]

8. Nope

n/t

[TuxedoKat]

12. I would

just go to the Continental ticket counter and ask to be put on the standby list for the next flight. If she doesn't get on that one she should go to the agent at that same gate so they can put her on standby for the next one. If all the flights are full is there another airport she could fly into near you or not too far? Of course, you'd have to pick up her luggage at the original airport though.

[AlecBGreen]

4. Thanks for all the suggestions yall

Basically Continental has a ton of flights out of Shanghai but she has a 'restricted' ticket of some kind so they would only put her on one leaving 2 days later. I guess she will get to explore Shanghai :) Supposedly the Chinese airline that made her late will pay but the rep was already hemming and hawing over the $250 fee Continental charged us to re-book the flight. :grr:

Anyway thanks for your help. I need to look @ the backs of my eyelids for a few hours. Gnight! :hi:

[JVS]

5. Did she buy travel insurance?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

7. As a misser of many international flights

I find dealing with the people at the airport is usually much more productive than trying to phone it in, the people staffing the ticket office at foreign airports are usually far more reasonable, empathetic and helpful than the human vermin employed by most US airlines stateside or their english-illiterate third world call center peons.

If Delta outsourced their customer service to the folks working for them in Ghana and Nigeria I would be delighted.

[Fleshdancer]

9. Her connecting flight was 6 hours behind?

Who scheduled her itinerary? Did she go through a travel agent, the airlines directly, or a site like Orbitz?

[seabeyond]

10. they dont work with you. they are out for the free money and no conscious at all screwing you

continental. that is what i found. made reservations. needed to change one immediately. they said, fuck you.... the end. probably all airlines.

good luck

[WolverineDG]

11. I found out the easy way--book flights with airlines that code-share

I flew from Madrid to Heathrow on Iberia, connecting with BA. However, the Iberia flight was delayed & we got to Heathrow too late for me to make my connecting flight to Dallas. So BA rebooked me on another flight that day to Houston because my flight on Iberia was a code-share with BA.



dg

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. Does Continental have a desk at the Shanghai Airport?

Those are the people she should deal with--not you over the phone.

Furthermore, Continental and United are in the process of merging, so she should ask if any United flights are available. Barring that, she should ask if any other Star Alliance airlines can take her.

The best advice I ever received about flying internationally is talk to the folks at the airport when there's a problem.

I was caught up in the great passport renewal mess of 2007 when I was supposed to go to a conference in England. The opening event was a dinner on Friday, and my plans were to leave on Tuesday, spend Wednesday and Thursday playing in London, and then take a train to the conference city.

Monday came and went and no passport, although my Senator's office phoned and told me that it would come by FedEx "some time this week."

As a participant on a frequent flyer's website (Flyer Talk--excellent for travel advice of all kinds, even though some of the 100,000 mile a year flyers are arrogant business-type assholes), I had received the advice always to go to the airport if there were problems. So I did.

I was scheduled to fly on United, and a few people were checking in, so I waited. When they were all gone, I went up and talked to the agent, explaining that I was supposed to fly out on one of their flights on Tuesday and what if my passport didn't come?

She said that if that happened, I should immediately notify United, because if I simply failed to show up, my ticket would no longer be valid.

Tuesday I was all packed and waiting for my passport to come, but it didn't. When all hope was lost, I went back to the airport and luckily got to talk to the same agent. She started typing on her terminal and asked if I could fly out on Thursday. Well, that was the last possible time I could fly out and make the conference, so I said yes. She phoned her supervisor to ask if I could be exempted from the change fee, and since I had status (lowly status, but status nonetheless), the change fee was waived ONCE. She warned that if I had to rebook again, they would charge a change fee.

Fortunately, my passport came on Wednesday (yay!), so I made that flight to Heathrow on Thursday night, took the Tube into Paddington Station, and two hours later was on the train to the conference.

All thanks to going to the airport and talking to someone face-to-face.

[AlecBGreen]

14. good story!

glad it worked out =) My wife will be home *fingers crossed* in less than 24 hours! :bounce: