If you really want to experience service and how airline travel should be, stick to Asian airlines (far-east Asian). Same goes for airports. You will never again want to travel on any European or American carriers nor would you want to use any of the airports (the latter of course is unavoidable).
They cannot even be compared! They are two different worlds altogether. On Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 3:17 PM, Krishnendu Chakraborty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > We just returned from our trip to India. > > This time, we preferred to book in Continental > Airlines since it provides a non stop flight from > Newark to Mumbai and we thought we would save some > time. > > Little did we know that it is worse then Indian > Railways ! > > Our flight plan was Boston to Newark at 4:30 PM and > Newark to Mumbai at 8:40 PM. On reaching airport, > we were informed that since flights are running > slightly (!!) behind the schedule due to weather > conditions, we have been put to 3:30 flight just to > ensure that we do not miss our connection. > > The 3:30 flight got rescheduled to 5:30 and again to > 6:40. > > When I inquired about status of Newark -- Mumbai > flight, I was informed it was on time and CO Agent > advised us to take an earlier flight to Newark > (Originally scheduled at 2 PM, rescheduled to 4:55 > PM). > > The flight was taxing for about an hour and took off > at 6 PM. At around 7 PM, we were informed that there > is bad weather and the flight did not have enough > fuel to wait. No ALS, CAT-3 helped. So they took us > back to Boston. We were imprisoned in the flight for > about 45 minutes and then allowed to deplane. > > The staff in Boston airport is the rudest I have ever > seen. They mentioned that the options available to > us are to cancel our trip or travel to Newark in next > flight and wait in airport for next available > international flight. They categorically mentioned > that CO will not provide any accomodation. > > Well, we took the risk to travel to Newark and reached > at 11:30 PM. CO did not provide food or even water > during this trip. We were out of food from 5 PM > onwards !! > > All international flights have left. After some > cajoling, we were provided hotel accomodation > vouchers in ... guess what .... HOJO !! However, > CO was again negligent but this time, it was good for > us. On reaching HOJO, we were informed that they > are fully booked and pushed us to another hotel > (Wyndham) ... a decent one. > > Next day, they put us in a flight to Paris and then a > connecting AF flight to Mumbai. Eventually we reached > Mumbai 27 hours after the scheduled arrival time (did > I say it is worse then Indian Railways) . > > Irony is, Mumbai - Newark flight which we missed > earlier day was delayed by over 2 hours and had we > travelled by our original flight (3:30 PM rescheduled > to 6:40 PM) we could have made it. In fact, our > luggage travelled to Mumbai one day before us > > Apparently, the CO staff at Boston had no information > that the Newark- Mumbai flight has been delayed. > > Also, the CO flight was the Only flight which could > not land on Newark on that day. > > Well the story does not end here. > > During the return trip, in Mumbai airport, I was > told that our booking has been cancelled .... reason > .. we did not travel per our original booking during > onward journey. > > It took me over 30 minutes to explain them that my > travel plan was changed because of CO's fault. > Finally, they made some arrangement even though we > did not get our preferred seating. > > The non-stop flight (16 hours) is not bad except that > the quantity of food is not sufficient. > > Have sent a complaint to Continental and waiting for > their response. > > I have seen people bashing Air India in various > forums, but compared to Continental, Air India ground > staff are angel. > > Up until now, I have mostly travelled AI and > occassionaly BA. This was my first attempt with CO > and I think I will stick to AI or Jet (or Kingfisher > if they start US operation) > > Will share my Mumbai / Guwahati experience in another > posting. > > > > > > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Looking for last minute shopping deals? > Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. > http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping > > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > assam@assamnet.org > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
