If you have the choice of flying continental or riding a mule, take the mule, if the mule dies, WAL
The Day started at 6:00 AM with me and my brother getting up and getting ready to head to the airport and get ready for what we thought would be a 16 to 18 hour flight back to San Francisco. We check out of the hotel shortly after 7 AM and got in our rental car and tried to find a way on to the freeway that would lead us to the airport. We got lost a few times as there are not a lot of street signs in Israel and it was hard to find out way on to the free way. We finally made it and right as we got on the freeway I got a call from my Dad. He had been online and our flight was delayed over 4 hours. He wasn’t sure why. The main thing this meant was that we were missing out connecting flight from New Jersey to San Francisco and there wasn’t going to be one until the next day so when we arrived in New Jersey we would have to spend the night there. Continental Airlines said they would put us up in a hotel. He told us the Continental recording said we should come to the airport early, as if the flight wasn’t delayed. Weird he thought, and so did we but it didn’t really matter; Jason and I had to turn the rental car in by 10 AM or we were charged a lot more. Also it didn’t matter too much since we had checked out of our hotel, what was there to do? So we got to the airport, turned in the rental car and walked in to the terminal.
I knew our seats would be crappy as we had to take a Sunday flight back because of my brother Job and the only thing we had was middle seats from Tel Aviv to New Jersey. We managed to get aisle seats from New Jersey to SFO, but that didn’t matter anymore as we were missing the connection. We had tried to change the seat on the Tel Aviv New Jersey route, and when we left New Jersey on our way to Tel Aviv, Jason got them to give us a middle seat and an aisle seat, instead of two middles. Small improvement, but and improvement nonetheless. Our Dad then called the night before our flight and got our seats changed again to an aisle and a window, with the hope no one would be in the middle seat.
We had to go through security before we could even check in for this flight. They asked us some questions and looked at our passports. Because we weren’t checking anything they didn’t X=ray our stuff and just told us to go over to the continental counter. There was no one there. Every counter was closed and there were about half a dozen people waiting when we got there. Jason watched the bags as I went over to a woman with a Continental logo on her sweater and asked her if she knew when someone would be arriving so we could check in. She rather harshly replied she didn’t know and that they would be here 3 hours before the flight. I replied that meant we would be standing here for 4 hours, as it was 8 AM and our 11 AM flight was delayed to 3:30 PM and could she call someone and let the supervisor know people were waiting. She got very defensive and told me there was no one she could call and that we had to wait. I went back to my brother, in a very bad mood and then called my mother to vent. Around 8:30 they opened up the check in counters and my brother and I walked up to the ticketing agent and got out boarding passes and she said she would book us on our new flight from Newark to San Francisco. I asked her about the hotel thing and she very rudely told me that I had to deal with that when we got to Newark, just find the customer service desk. This was the second person to be way to rude to me at 8 AM but I tried to brush it off as frankly, customer service DOES NOT exist in Israel, particularly if you don’t speak Hebrew. I am not saying all Israelis are rude, I am just saying that customer service is not the same as it is here. That was one thing I learned on my trip and it explains why tipping is not as common in that country.
We took our boarding passes from the rude ticketing agent and head through the next bit of security to get to the pre-airport food court. Jason and I both felt we deserved some junk so he got pastries and I got McDonalds (Don’t judge me I was pissed off and needed to feel good). We ate and I went to a pharmacy and got some necessities I was out of after our trip. I even found a cool little foldable nail file that made it through security both times.
After resting, eating and resting again we decided to head on through the NEXT leg of security and get to the gate. This was more like what we are used to in the US. Once we go throught I booked it STRAIGHT for the Duty free spot where I started looking at makeup. Once again there was a rude sales lady but if her lipstick was any example of her skill I didn’t want her help.
I wandered around the airport for a while and finally tracked down a deck of playing cards, so my brother and I played several card games and kept waiting. At one point my brother noticed that the seats we had on our boarding passes were no the seats my dad had told us we had, instead of the window and the aisle, we had a window and middle. He tried to ask someone at the gate but they told him he had to wait until one of the flight attendants or whatever showed up. So we kept waiting
Finally around an hour or so before the flight I noticed there did not seem to be a lot of people at the gate so I went and looked at the monitor that shows the flights. We hadn’t heard and announcement about a gate change but I wanted to make sure. Well, the gate had been changed and they hadn’t announced it. So we hightailed it over to the other gate where we tried to see about our seats and we basically told tough nuggets by the woman behind the desk. I then informed her that we had been here all day and they hadn’t been a single announcement about the gate change and there were other people waiting at the other gate and she just looked at me and said “oh…OK…” . As my brother and I went to sit down there was FINALLY an announcement made.
As we boarded the plane another flight attendant was asking us about liquid and I had a bottle of unopened water in my bag I had purchased there and she YELLS at me to go and return it before I get on the plane and I tell her I just want to get on so please just throw it away and yells at me again and I just throw away the water and get on.
As we get on the plane Jason and I tried to see about finding other seats but stewardesses with (omg what a shock) attitudes thwarted our efforts. And to make matter much worse there was a screaming brat of an infant behind us kicking my seat and at one point grabbing my hair. She did not shut up for more then two hour then entire twelve hour ride. Dear Parents of the world: if the kid won’t shut up, DRUG THEM!!!!!, Or airlines should have a separate children’s section or even flights.
The flight was hell with that little brat having her tantrums and her parents not doing much about it but I tried to just watch movies and I finally have gotten to see “The Godfather”. I think I slept maybe 45 minutes. Despite all of this I was trying, and was told I kept a pretty decent attitude. We get off the plane, and went through customs. I over heard two ladies talking and one commented to the other that this was torture, the other responded “No, this was torture 10 hours ago”. I heartily agreed.
We moved out of customs trying to find this customer service area that would help us get our hotel for the night. Near baggage claim we saw a woman standing behind a kiosk that said “Continental Elite”. I walked over and before I could even finish saying “excuse me”, she very sharply says “If you are not a member of Continental Elite I can’t help you, you have to go over there” and she pointed in the direction of this supposed counter. So we walk over and when I see it I almost start to cry. The line, I kid you not, wave at least 100 people long and it is not moving. I told my Mom and…well anyone that I spoke to at that moment that I was at a point where I wanted to either cry until I was sick or rip someone’s Jugular out with my teeth. My Mom’s comment where I told her that was “Well…you better start crying”.
Thank God for my Dad. Thank every deity that have ever, does or will ever exist for my father. He went online and got us a Hotel right at the airport and we went and got checked in. I need to write to the Marriott people and thank them for making what was a living hell much easier as they actually knew the meaning of customer service and I think I might have had a psychotic break if not for them.
When Jason and I got in to the room, we speculated that at MINIMUM they had 500 people who needed hotels, as there was our flight, a flight from Tokyo and one from Rio that were messed up too as well as a bunch of Europe flights. Despite the fact that they KNEW this was going to happen they only have 2 people at the desk helping people get hotels. I later found out there were people who waited in that line for 4 hours. That is Continental’s trick to not have to pay for everyone’s hotel. They make it where you either get one on your own or wait so long you might as well stay at the airport.
So anyway we got a hotel and got up and got back to the airport and start going through security. My bag is X-Rayed and this fat, ugly, bitchy FSA agent tells me she needs to check my bag for something so she opens it and start taking my things out and finds a clearly sealed jar that had a mud mad from the dead sea in it and was intended to be a gift for my Momma. She then tells me that I have to check my bag or get rid of it. I don’t have the option of checking my bag as my Brother would have killed me. So I have to give it up and I see this woman pocket it. I am so mad about that. That ugly fat bitch is using the expensive gift I intended for my Momma.
We leave the security check point and move towards the gate. When they stated boarding, they first boarded all their elite members, and I got yelled at for getting in that line. It seemed like more then half the plan was elite and when they finally let the rest of us on they announce there is no more room in the overhead bins so we all have to gate check our bags. I shouted “WHAT THE FUCK?!?!” really loud because I was way past using nice language. I had given up my mom’s gift for nothing!!! And then I found out I was in the last row of the plan in a seat that didn’t recline between two guys who kept elbowing me. Oh, and THAT flight was ALSO full of screaming loud children. I was losing it and counting down the seconds until I could get home.
By the time we left the airport I just wanted to hurt something so bad. I wanted to yell at someone and I couldn’t.
That was my adventure, I am tell you all to never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever fly on continental airlines ever because they are horrible.
I knew our seats would be crappy as we had to take a Sunday flight back because of my brother Job and the only thing we had was middle seats from Tel Aviv to New Jersey. We managed to get aisle seats from New Jersey to SFO, but that didn’t matter anymore as we were missing the connection. We had tried to change the seat on the Tel Aviv New Jersey route, and when we left New Jersey on our way to Tel Aviv, Jason got them to give us a middle seat and an aisle seat, instead of two middles. Small improvement, but and improvement nonetheless. Our Dad then called the night before our flight and got our seats changed again to an aisle and a window, with the hope no one would be in the middle seat.
We had to go through security before we could even check in for this flight. They asked us some questions and looked at our passports. Because we weren’t checking anything they didn’t X=ray our stuff and just told us to go over to the continental counter. There was no one there. Every counter was closed and there were about half a dozen people waiting when we got there. Jason watched the bags as I went over to a woman with a Continental logo on her sweater and asked her if she knew when someone would be arriving so we could check in. She rather harshly replied she didn’t know and that they would be here 3 hours before the flight. I replied that meant we would be standing here for 4 hours, as it was 8 AM and our 11 AM flight was delayed to 3:30 PM and could she call someone and let the supervisor know people were waiting. She got very defensive and told me there was no one she could call and that we had to wait. I went back to my brother, in a very bad mood and then called my mother to vent. Around 8:30 they opened up the check in counters and my brother and I walked up to the ticketing agent and got out boarding passes and she said she would book us on our new flight from Newark to San Francisco. I asked her about the hotel thing and she very rudely told me that I had to deal with that when we got to Newark, just find the customer service desk. This was the second person to be way to rude to me at 8 AM but I tried to brush it off as frankly, customer service DOES NOT exist in Israel, particularly if you don’t speak Hebrew. I am not saying all Israelis are rude, I am just saying that customer service is not the same as it is here. That was one thing I learned on my trip and it explains why tipping is not as common in that country.
We took our boarding passes from the rude ticketing agent and head through the next bit of security to get to the pre-airport food court. Jason and I both felt we deserved some junk so he got pastries and I got McDonalds (Don’t judge me I was pissed off and needed to feel good). We ate and I went to a pharmacy and got some necessities I was out of after our trip. I even found a cool little foldable nail file that made it through security both times.
After resting, eating and resting again we decided to head on through the NEXT leg of security and get to the gate. This was more like what we are used to in the US. Once we go throught I booked it STRAIGHT for the Duty free spot where I started looking at makeup. Once again there was a rude sales lady but if her lipstick was any example of her skill I didn’t want her help.
I wandered around the airport for a while and finally tracked down a deck of playing cards, so my brother and I played several card games and kept waiting. At one point my brother noticed that the seats we had on our boarding passes were no the seats my dad had told us we had, instead of the window and the aisle, we had a window and middle. He tried to ask someone at the gate but they told him he had to wait until one of the flight attendants or whatever showed up. So we kept waiting
Finally around an hour or so before the flight I noticed there did not seem to be a lot of people at the gate so I went and looked at the monitor that shows the flights. We hadn’t heard and announcement about a gate change but I wanted to make sure. Well, the gate had been changed and they hadn’t announced it. So we hightailed it over to the other gate where we tried to see about our seats and we basically told tough nuggets by the woman behind the desk. I then informed her that we had been here all day and they hadn’t been a single announcement about the gate change and there were other people waiting at the other gate and she just looked at me and said “oh…OK…” . As my brother and I went to sit down there was FINALLY an announcement made.
As we boarded the plane another flight attendant was asking us about liquid and I had a bottle of unopened water in my bag I had purchased there and she YELLS at me to go and return it before I get on the plane and I tell her I just want to get on so please just throw it away and yells at me again and I just throw away the water and get on.
As we get on the plane Jason and I tried to see about finding other seats but stewardesses with (omg what a shock) attitudes thwarted our efforts. And to make matter much worse there was a screaming brat of an infant behind us kicking my seat and at one point grabbing my hair. She did not shut up for more then two hour then entire twelve hour ride. Dear Parents of the world: if the kid won’t shut up, DRUG THEM!!!!!, Or airlines should have a separate children’s section or even flights.
The flight was hell with that little brat having her tantrums and her parents not doing much about it but I tried to just watch movies and I finally have gotten to see “The Godfather”. I think I slept maybe 45 minutes. Despite all of this I was trying, and was told I kept a pretty decent attitude. We get off the plane, and went through customs. I over heard two ladies talking and one commented to the other that this was torture, the other responded “No, this was torture 10 hours ago”. I heartily agreed.
We moved out of customs trying to find this customer service area that would help us get our hotel for the night. Near baggage claim we saw a woman standing behind a kiosk that said “Continental Elite”. I walked over and before I could even finish saying “excuse me”, she very sharply says “If you are not a member of Continental Elite I can’t help you, you have to go over there” and she pointed in the direction of this supposed counter. So we walk over and when I see it I almost start to cry. The line, I kid you not, wave at least 100 people long and it is not moving. I told my Mom and…well anyone that I spoke to at that moment that I was at a point where I wanted to either cry until I was sick or rip someone’s Jugular out with my teeth. My Mom’s comment where I told her that was “Well…you better start crying”.
Thank God for my Dad. Thank every deity that have ever, does or will ever exist for my father. He went online and got us a Hotel right at the airport and we went and got checked in. I need to write to the Marriott people and thank them for making what was a living hell much easier as they actually knew the meaning of customer service and I think I might have had a psychotic break if not for them.
When Jason and I got in to the room, we speculated that at MINIMUM they had 500 people who needed hotels, as there was our flight, a flight from Tokyo and one from Rio that were messed up too as well as a bunch of Europe flights. Despite the fact that they KNEW this was going to happen they only have 2 people at the desk helping people get hotels. I later found out there were people who waited in that line for 4 hours. That is Continental’s trick to not have to pay for everyone’s hotel. They make it where you either get one on your own or wait so long you might as well stay at the airport.
So anyway we got a hotel and got up and got back to the airport and start going through security. My bag is X-Rayed and this fat, ugly, bitchy FSA agent tells me she needs to check my bag for something so she opens it and start taking my things out and finds a clearly sealed jar that had a mud mad from the dead sea in it and was intended to be a gift for my Momma. She then tells me that I have to check my bag or get rid of it. I don’t have the option of checking my bag as my Brother would have killed me. So I have to give it up and I see this woman pocket it. I am so mad about that. That ugly fat bitch is using the expensive gift I intended for my Momma.
We leave the security check point and move towards the gate. When they stated boarding, they first boarded all their elite members, and I got yelled at for getting in that line. It seemed like more then half the plan was elite and when they finally let the rest of us on they announce there is no more room in the overhead bins so we all have to gate check our bags. I shouted “WHAT THE FUCK?!?!” really loud because I was way past using nice language. I had given up my mom’s gift for nothing!!! And then I found out I was in the last row of the plan in a seat that didn’t recline between two guys who kept elbowing me. Oh, and THAT flight was ALSO full of screaming loud children. I was losing it and counting down the seconds until I could get home.
By the time we left the airport I just wanted to hurt something so bad. I wanted to yell at someone and I couldn’t.
That was my adventure, I am tell you all to never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever fly on continental airlines ever because they are horrible.