Continental airlines (best, price, flights, cheaper)

[S6Sputnik]

I absolutely hate their ticket change policy!

I don't want to be on the same flight as my wife while our two young kids are at home!!! cost to trade the flights $150 change fee and $400 in additional charge for the flight 60 minutes later or before!!
I guess it will be SouthWestAirlines next time!!!

[texdav]

I ahte southwest because they way oiver book and cahnge your flights so much.You should watch that show the other night on airlines and the cost structure of when you bouhgt those tickets. All airline sdo this. One tciket was 140 and others where 400 depending n when they bought. you buying late it seems. this was american but they all do it.

[Jaggy001]

Originally Posted by S6Sputnik

I absolutely hate their ticket change policy!

I don't want to be on the same flight as my wife while our two young kids are at home!!! cost to trade the flights $150 change fee and $400 in additional charge for the flight 60 minutes later or before!!
I guess it will be SouthWestAirlines next time!!!

Why didn't you buy tickets for two separate flights in the first place?

[S6Sputnik]

Originally Posted by Jaggy001

Why didn't you buy tickets for two separate flights in the first place?

They were booked seperate days, and the mistake was all mine as I had a bunch of flight numbers written down and picked the wrong one, but I am not happy with the fact that I cannot change the ticket without esentially buying a new one. I would make a ticket available on a more desired flight IMHO

I do not treat my customers that way! and if I did I would be loosing money too

[Dd714]

Is this a change? Been standard policy on all airlines to have a change fee, and buy a new ticket, for several years.

The change fee might have increased a bit, but you still have to by the new ticket at the current market price for the seat - nothing new and I have to say, the policy makes sense.

[S6Sputnik]

Dd714, It might make $ and cents, but not to me. I am giving up the same seat an hour earlier or an hour later ie. I just want to swap seats.
Their policies are not customer friendly, to me they are acting monopolistic and I don't like that. Ever fly with Aeroflot?

I don't appreciate their way of doing business, and I was appalled with their unwillingness to provide a little bit of customer service when asked to do so. Simple solution I will do my best in the future to find alternatives to this airline.

[missionhome]

Originally Posted by S6Sputnik

Simple solution I will do my best in the future to find alternatives to this airline.

Good luck. Here is the charges each major airline has for changing a domestic airline ticket. They ALL (including Southwest) make you pay the difference if the price of the ticket went up since you booked. You could have paid more to get a fully refundable fare, but you picked a deal that was FINAL.

Change fee
AirTran $75
Alaska $50 online, $75 not online
American $150
Continental $150
Delta $150
Frontier $150
JetBlue $100
Northwest $150
Spirit $80 online, $90 not online
Southwest $0
United $150
US Airways $150
Virgin America $50 online, $75 not online

So good luck finding an airline that doesn't charge besides Southwest (who still will charge you the difference).

[wheelsup]

The reason you pay more is to prevent you from buying a ticket on one flight that is less and transferring it to the one that costs more. Airlines perpetually lose money; CAL is no exception and as a traveler you are getting a good deal anyway. It costs a lot of money to move people by air and believe it or not even Greyhound Bus is cheaper in most cases.

[S6Sputnik]

Originally Posted by missionhome

Good luck. Here is the charges each major airline has for changing a domestic airline ticket. They ALL (including Southwest) make you pay the difference if the price of the ticket went up since you booked. You could have paid more to get a fully refundable fare, but you picked a deal that was FINAL.

Change fee
AirTran $75
Alaska $50 online, $75 not online
American $150
Continental $150
Delta $150
Frontier $150
JetBlue $100
Northwest $150
Spirit $80 online, $90 not online
Southwest $0
United $150
US Airways $150
Virgin America $50 online, $75 not online

So good luck finding an airline that doesn't charge besides Southwest (who still will charge you the difference).

I can drive a little bit farther

[S6Sputnik]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

The reason you pay more is to prevent you from buying a ticket on one flight that is less and transferring it to the one that costs more. Airlines perpetually lose money; CAL is no exception and as a traveler you are getting a good deal anyway. It costs a lot of money to move people by air and believe it or not even Greyhound Bus is cheaper in most cases.

Once again the ticket I have is probably MORE attractive to 99% of the traveling folks than the one I want to trade it with.

I just prefer not to be in the same plane as my wife when my children are not on the flight.

Believe it or not I just don't see how hard it would be for the airlines to be more customer oriented . And maybe they wouldn't "perpetually lose money".