Continental Flight with Human Waste Running Down the Aisle? Yeah, I Was On That…
Sewage flows from a toilet on Continental Airlines flight 1970 from Amsterdarm to New Jersey on Thursday, June 14, 2007. Photo by Collin Brock.
If you are just finding your way to this story, please note that there is a now a dedicated blog about Continental Flight 71 / 1970 from Newark to Amterdam called Poop on a Plane
I don’t normally cross post things from my personal site, but seeing as this story is now the front page on the Drudge Report and has been picked up by Seattle news, I figured it was worth tossing into the NYC new arena.
On Wednesday June 13th at around 2:00 pm my boyfriend and I boarded Continental flight 71 from Amsterdam to Newark along with about 200 other passengers. Despite that fact that the flight was only scheduled to be 8 hours, it wasn’t until 32 hours later that we arrived in New Jersey. What happened in between is a tale of massive mismanagement, awful customer service and downright inhumane, unsafe and unsanitary conditions. This was a massive clusterfuck on Continental’s part–a screw up of Jet-Blue proportions; maybe even worse. It’s long and drawn out, just like the actual ordeal itself, and it goes a little something like this:
I cashed in all of my frequent flyer miles, all 200,000 of them, collected over the past 10 years to fly to Europe with my boyfriend for our first vacation in almost 5 years. We decided to blow all the miles on flying First Class so we could experience the flight with as much luxury as possible. Our initial flight over there to Frankfurt was delayed over 3 hours so by the time the food and drink started coming around it was almost midnight and a bit too late to enjoy. But the inconvenience of that flight didn’t hold a candle to our return flight.
After two weeks of touring Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, we left from Amsterdam on flight 71, scheduled to depart at 1:30 pm, about 45 minutes late. The flight attendant in First Class told us that the reason for the delay was the plane had arrived late from its previous trip from Houston with the bathrooms not working correctly. It took them a little while to fix the toilet but everyone was glad to wait for functioning restrooms on a transatlantic flight.
Shortly after takeoff there were some rumblings about the toilets still not working. Shortly thereafter, an announcement was made that there was indeed still issues with the lavatories. Of the 8 bathrooms on the plane, 4 on one side were not functioning properly. We were told that they operate on completely different systems in the event of one system failing so all the toilets would not go down at that same time. Everyone was directed to the other 4 bathrooms but just a few minutes later another announcement was made saying none of the toilets were working and they were trying to figure out whether or not to turn around and go back to Amsterdam or stop in another city to get them fixed.
We were on the plane almost 2 hours, with no working bathrooms mind you, before we landed in Shannon, Ireland. At this point it was about 3:30 pm local time. We were told we could deplane to use the bathrooms in the terminal and that they hoped to have the issue fixed within an hour. When we asked the flight attendant if we should take our carry-on baggage with us, she told us just to take valuables–stating that we would be allowed right back on the plane. We ran into the terminal, used the restrooms and headed back to the plane, only to be denied re-entry. We had to wait in the terminal without our things–no phone, no laptops, no books, no mp3 player, nothing to entertain ourselves, help pass the time or inform our family’s of our delay during the long, uninformative and downright rude wait that was in store for us.
After a while, a few passengers were allowed back on the plane to get their bags, but every time we asked we were denied entry by the snotty Irish ladies working at the terminal. Perhaps it was because they looked like businessmen and my boyfriend and I are in our early 30’s with jeans, t-shirts and nose rings. This was obviously a case of discrimination but there is no arguing with anyone who works at an airport unless you fancy being taken into custody by the TSA (edit–or the Irish equivilent thereof).
One important point to make is that the women at the terminal were not Continental employees–the Shannon airport was too small to have a real Continental presence at all. There was little to no communication with actual Continental employees during the entire ordeal.
Every hour or so, someone would make an announcement saying that they were working on the issue and that we would have an update in an hour. Sometimes two hours would go by without an update, but even when they did come they would completely uninformative. At one point, a few hours into sitting in the terminal and waiting with no idea what was going on, they passed out food vouchers. They gave 10 Euros to every coach passenger and 15 Euros to people in first class. Unfortunately they had waited so long to do this, all the restaurants in the terminal were closed for the night. So 200 people made a beeline to the only open food place in the terminal–a tiny little stand that sold prepackaged sandwiches and junky food. By the time we got to the stand most of the food was cleared out, leaving us with a dinner of mineral water and pretzels.
At one point I went up to the gate and one of the crew happened to be there. He was either the pilot or the co-pilot. I was trying to speak to the women behind the counter, telling them that we’d been waiting for hours and people were getting really upset about the lack of communication. This pilot stepped in and snottily told me that they were working on and I should just go sit back down. When I told him they needed to keep the passengers better informed of the situation he literally screamed at me, yelling “Don’t tell me how to do my job!” and then he stormed away. From that point on he earned the nickname Captain Customer Service.
Now here’s where it goes from rude and inconsiderate to a flat out, serious fuck up on Continental’s part. At around 8:00 pm one of the guys in the terminal called his wife to tell her the non-update on his flight status and she told him that she had already checked the Continental website to find out the information for herself. Evidently Continental had listed the flight as being cancelled for quite some time, even though there was no update to the passengers. When news of this development made its way through the terminal, a lot of the passengers surrounded the gate desk and demanded to know if the flight was cancelled. Minutes later they made the announcement, telling us that we should go to baggage claim, get our luggage and proceed to the buses in the parking lot that would be taking us to hotels for the night. That was all the information we were given, nothing about flight times the next day or how exactly the problem was going to get fixed overnight. We wondered how long they would have let us sit there if we hadn’t found out about the cancellation ourselves.
The baggage claim took almost 2 hours, a preposterous amount of time considering they had already mentioned that most of the luggage had to have already been offloaded to work on the toilet system. After all this time, half the people on the plane didn’t even get their luggage and were told that it would be following them to the hotel. Of course, that never happened.
We proceeded to the buses in the parking lot where we were split up into groups with couples and groups with single people. We saw our first actual Continental representative in ages, who told us we would be spread across multiple hotels and when that became clear the people who didn’t have their luggage enquired as to how the airline was going to know what hotel to send the luggage to. This scattered and non-communicative Continental rep told us that they would figure it out, but didn’t convince much of anyone.
It’s also important to note that many elderly people were on the flight, and there was no one from the staff to help them lifting their huge suitcases into the bus. One elderly gentleman took a nasty fall trying to get his bag into the bus himself and if he’s still hurt from that I hope he sues the pants off Continental.
We proceeded to sit on the bus for over an hour before leaving, even though our bus was completely full and our driver was sitting outside for some time; yet another case of Continental being completely clueless as to what they were doing. We also got to hear the driver argue with the Continental representative saying that the hotel was too far from his home and he didn’t want to have to take us there. Way to hire professionals, Continental!
The Continental representative told us our flight was scheduled for 7:00 am the next morning and we would be picked up at the hotel at 4:30 am. While that was little to no rest, everyone was happy to hear that we would be leaving so early.
We drove about 25 minutes through what looked like the wasteland of Ireland to our hotel, a local place branded as a Best Western. We got our luggage and queued up on line to get rooms and were told that the flight had been rescheduled for noon and we will be picked up at 7:45 am. Great. Most of us had rooms right next to one another, in one long stretch of hallway so we mostly all went into our rooms at the same time. Half of the people we were with opened their room’s door to find luggage and or people already in it! One elderly woman opened the door to her room and found a naked man sitting at a computer! Well, that’s really not Continental’s fault, but it’s funny and shows how crappy this hotel was.
At this point it’s about 10:30 pm and they serve us a plain and mediocre dinner banquet style. I use the bathroom in our room and the door handle jams so I’m trapped in there and my boyfriend has to get me out using the credit card trick. There is no AC in our room and the window has no screen so when we open it up tons of bugs fly in. The room is disgusting and old and doesn’t look like it has had a thorough cleaning in years. We get about 4 hours of restless sleep, above the covers, before getting up to make the 7:45 am bus.
Why on earth they picked us up at 7:45 for a 25 minute ride to catch a 12:00 pm flight is beyond me. They obviously wanted the passengers tired, restless and surly. And we were.
The people who didn’t get their luggage at baggage claim never had their luggage sent to their hotel. It stayed on the plane overnight. Also, we heard later that at the single people’s hotel they ran out of rooms because none of the passengers were willing to share multiple room suites. One passenger got up amongst the group and chastised them for not sharing and finally concessions were made and everyone got a bed.
Back at the airport, we stand on a disorganized and packed line to make it through the “did you pack your own bags” security checkpoint and then another long line to get checked in, get seat assignments and check luggage. It is important to note that our new flight # is now 1970, as there is another flight 71 leaving from Amsterdam that afternoon. Thus our original flight now counts and being officially cancelled, not just delayed. We are also given 10 Euro vouchers for breakfast, no extra for First class this time, but at least there is a real restaurant open to get mediocre airport food from.
We then go through full screening security complete with shoe removal fun and proceed to sit in the center of the terminal waiting for our gate announcement for the next 3 hours. At one point they announce that passengers on our flight will not have to go through customs and we can proceed directly to our gate and they tell us the gate number is 14. So about 50 or so of the passengers head towards the gate which is a good 15 minute walk down this long, narrow hallway that is the Shannon airport. As we walk down the hallway we see our plane, nowhere near the gate, just hanging out in the middle of a field–this does not bode well.
When we get there we don’t see anyone at the gate so everyone has a seat and waits. A few minutes later an airport worker comes over and tells us we are not allowed to be at gate 14 since there are no employees there and that we need to wait outside the corridor at gate 11. We walk back to gate 11 but the doors are locked and they will not open them for us to go in. Everyone stands in the hallway, some people sitting on the floor, for about 30 minutes, not wanting to go all the way back to the main terminal if we don’t have to.
After some time they send more security guards over who tell us we must go back to the main terminal as our gate is going to be changed and they are not sure where it will be. When everyone expresses outrage at this we are told that a Continental rep will meet us in the main terminal to answer questions and explain. Begrudging we all trudge back to the main terminal and of course there is no Continental rep there–they’ve been non-communicative this whole time what made us think they were about to start now?
After another hour or so in the main terminal they call our gate again and it’s the same one–gate 14! So everyone trudges back that way and right outside the gate they have another security checkpoint setup where they search through everyone’s bags again even though we have already been through security. They gave me some crap about a bottle of gin I bought at the Amsterdam duty free because it wasn’t dated for that same day but when I reminded them that we were stranded there from the previous day and supposed to go straight back home they were snotty but ultimately allowed me to keep it. We waited at the gate for another half hour or so, at this point the time is almost 1:00 pm even though the flight is supposed to have left at noon and they have not updated the departure time. We see them remove the previous day’s trash from the plane and wonder why this wasn’t done in the 24 hours the plane had been sitting there.
One of the passengers tries to take a picture of the trash removal and the 12:00 departure sign with a nearby clock reading almost 1:00 pm, and he is yelled at by those same two Irish ladies working the gate. They threaten to call security to confiscate his camera and detain him, stating that he is not allowed to take pictures inside the terminal. Have you ever heard of that rule?
Finally they board us and we take our seats but after sitting around for another 20 minutes or so they make an announcement that one of the redundant instruments in the cockpit is not functioning and that we cannot be cleared by the FAA until it is. When everyone flips out the flight attendant makes an announcement saying that they have a different crew working on this issue; thus implying that the people working on the toilet issue were incompetent and that they should have it fixed soon. Another 30 minutes or so later it is.
If you are still reading this you are about to get your payoff. This is the part that you will not believe. This is the part that will make you say, “holy shit you have to be fucking kidding me”
The flight attendant in first class alludes to that fact that the toilets are still not functioning quite right, but that they have assurances that once we are in the air that they will. However she doesn’t seem convince that this will be the case and basically tells us to get off the plane and use the bathroom now since we might need to hold it for the next 8 hours. So, my boyfriend and I get off the plane one more time to use the bathroom in the terminal just in case. Then we take off and once we have reached our cruising altitude they announce to the whole plane that the toilets were not fixed. They are in the same shape as they were 24 hours earlier, most of them are completely unusable but 2 are limping along. Shortly thereafter they announced that one of the two working toilets is now completely broken, that we will all–almost 200 of us–need to share the one toilet in first class and that it is not quite fully functional. We are literally told not to through any paper down and to only go “#1″ if we can help it.
So here we are on an 8 hour transatlantic flight with one semi-functional bathroom and they start serving food and drink. I had two bloody mary’s hoping that the sodium levels would make me retain water. My boyfriend and I both refrained from eating or drinking–a real bummer when you paid for first class and all that good food and alcohol that comes with it. Everyone on the flight was told to “limit their consumption” and to “control what comes out on the other end” We heard that in the coach cabin that sewage backed up from the toilets and started flowing down the aisles, getting all over people’s feet and belongings. We didn’t see that but we certainly smelled it–that does explain the ungodly odor we were forced to endure for the next 8 hours. Any why all the coach passengers were hanging out in First Class.
The other fun part of all this is that the one working bathroom is right by our seat so we cannot sleep the whole time with all the other passengers queuing up, talking and bumping into our seats on their way to the one semi-functioning bathroom. The passengers sitting in the middle row in first class had the pleasure of having all the coach passengers step over them in order to get to the bathrooms, instead of just going around like normal people. I’m glad we had the window seats, even if it was closer to the stench.
Eight hours later, 32 hours into the whole ordeal, we are in Newark, ready for the fun of customs and immigration, and on our way out of the gate Continental issues the final slap in the face–a voucher for one free drink the next time we fly with them! I wanted to tear it up and tell them where they could shove that drink, those bastards.
It would appear that most of the passengers have opened up a complaint against Continental for this, as they have a dedicated representative taking people’s stories and requests. I have requested all 200,000 of my miles back. They are telling us we will need to wait 7-10 business days for a response.
All in all this was the most poorly managed, indecent event and the worst customer service I have ever experienced in my entire life. Continental ought to be ashamed of themselves for treating people like this, like dumb cattle, depriving them of basic human functions like food, sleep and waste capabilities. Not to mention all the potental health hazards that come along with exposure to human waste for extended periods of time, slim but certainly a factor. I’ve seen absolutely no local news coverage on this, which I find completely apalling. Hopefully they will pay dearly for this massive screw-up. Any tips on how to hold them fully accountable?
“ny tips on how to hold them fully accountable?”
Yes.
First you need a media stink. Write to newspapers. But don’t waste your time on editors. Write directly to journalists who have covered this type of story before. Do some searches for the Jetblue nightmare that went down last Xmas (I think it was around Xmas time) and find the names of the reporters. Then send 25 reporters a 1 paragraph teaser about raw sewage in the aisiles and let them know you have photographs.
Airlines cave (and cave completely) only when media coverage forces them to. Reporters are like sheep. Get a couple big papers to bite, and you’ve got national news.
Share your story with the folks at the Consumerist http://consumerist.com
That should garner some response.
Wow, how old are you? This is the most whiny, myopic, venting tirade that I have read in a long time. You’d think from your tone the Continental crew intentionally plugged the toilets and sat back with sadistic glee as their passengers squirmed under the avalanche of inconveniences that resulted. Did you pause to reflect on what a pain in the ass it would be to be in their shoes and have to deal with a cabin full of rowdy, pissed of customers? Sure you were upset, so through those glasses everyone seemed like snotty, incompentent a-holes. But take a step back and look in the mirror. If your writing is any reflection of who you are in real life, my guess is it took about 15 seconds for whoever it was you were being a pain in ass to to grow pretty damn tired of putting up with your crabby, impatient, prissy ass, when all they were thinking about is straightening out this mess and heading home.
Let me make this very clear since I don’t think you have heard it enough in your life: S-H-I-T H-A-P-P-E-N-S. I think you thought you could stick a ring in your nose and tell the world you were cool with whatever, you’d been around, but when times really get rough, when the hot water runs out and you have to take a cold shower… that’s when the facade crumbles. “… no mp3 player” man… that sucks. Maybe you’ll have to, uh, actually talk to someone, or … entertain yourself.
I have stacked away the miles too, there was a time I had a stopover in Malaysia and had to spend the night due to a missed connection. Took way more than 32 hours to get home. Oh and hell ya I enjoyed it. This could have been an adventure for you too (Ireland? Wow, never been there), had you slipped on an attitude with a little more imagination, and frankly, empathy. Instead you are pandering to the Internet for sympathy for this “outrage.” Give me a break, this really pisses me off. What’s so important to get back to that it makes a difference whether the trip takes 8 hours or four times that amount. I’m sure you’ve whittled away scores of delayed flights in far less productive ventures. Maybe Continental owes you something, maybe they don’t, who really cares. It was a shitty time for them too I assure you. So get back to your metro life and enjoy what you’ve seen and done, and quit stepping on people along the way. Most don’t and never will slap 200,000 frequent flyer miles on the counter, so suck it up, what happened happened. And please grow up and have a little humility.
In response to Bradford:
WTF crawled up your ass and died? No matter how rowdy the passengers were getting, there is no excuse for the complete and total lack of communication from Continental.
I quote you:
“when all they were thinking about is straightening out this mess and heading home.”
How is anyone, other than a repairman supposed to fix it? What are the flight attendants? Mute mannequins? If they had information and didn’t have the guts to tell the passengers - they’ve failed at their job. If they weren’t given info - they could have at least informed the passengers about the complete snafu at Continental. From what can be gathered, none of the employees had the proverbial balls to say a peep. That’s THEIR job - communicate with, and help customers.
Now, as to the non-functioning, leaking, overflowing toilets - whatever you may think, it is indeed a health risk for all nearby. Not just a small risk, but a rather considerable one - ESPECIALLY to the elderly; which there were a considerable number of. The airline acted completely irresponsibly, unethically, and recklessly. They had numerous methods of amending and alleviating this situation, but instead decided to take a literal shit on its customers.
So Bradford - care to explain why the hell people and customers SHOULDN’T be informed as to Continental’s actions and treatment of its customers?
Bradford is probably an airline shill hired to post negative comments. Ignore him.
Being stranded in an airport in a different country is not an opportunity for tourism, especially if they don’t let you leave until they’re sure the flight is canceled.
The airline representatives dug their own grave with respect to having to deal with unhappy passengers. More communication, acting with respect towards their customers, and more effort to keep (or not make, if they can’t keep) their promises, such as baggage being delivered to hotels, would have resulted in a far different story.
Also, Continental could have found a way around flying people for 8 hours on a plane with 1 bathroom, such as putting people on other flights. They chose not to for their own profit. Luckily, the negative attention from this flight will probably cost them far more than they saved.
I’ve been stranded by airlines several times before. Sometimes it’s a good experience, sometimes it sucks. The biggest difference in the two cases is how communicative and helpful the staff are. It also determines which airlines I am willing to fly with. If I pay someone to get me from point A to point B, and they can’t do it for some reason, that’s fine. But at that point, it’s a failure by them to keep up their side of the bargain, and they should behave like that, i.e., helpful, communicative, and organized. Continental obviously didn’t.
Honestly, shit happens, stuff goes wrong, airlines screw up big time, but what a whiny snob!
The self description “30’s with jeans, t-shirts and nose rings” of the woman who posted this leads me to believe I know who her and her boyfriend are. I would know this because my name is Collin Brock and I was on the shitty flight from Continental. This woman, if it is who I can only imagine, as not many people on the plane had nose rings, was a very sweet and her boyfriend was pleasant too.
I think it is ridiculous for people not on that flight to assert how passengers behaved. “Did you pause to reflect on what a pain in the ass it would be to be in their shoes and have to deal with a cabin full of rowdy, pissed of customers?”.
What an overtly uninformed comment. Not a single person on that flight got rowdy. The passengers were more calm and composed than on most flights, let alone when there has been such a monumental blunder by the airlines. Spending 32 hours somewhere unexpected might give you time to sightsee, but how when some did not even get there bags from the plane? Besides we did not spend 32 hours in Shannon, Ireland. We spent, after leaving the airport a maximum of 7 or 8 hours in Ireland, before getting back to the airport at roughly 7am. So doing touristy stuff between the times of 11:30pm when most, but not all, of us were booked in a room, and 6:30am when our wake up call was hardly seems feasible. I wonder what if anything was open at that time. All I could see from my window was a distant town, with fields between the inn I was dumped at and it.
You have the nightmare story of this woman and our flight happen to you all within 48 hours. Report how you feel, so we can all be unsympathetic to you and call you names. Really mature. Honestly people.
Bradford - you would know my age and the response to many of your uninformed statements had you actually read my story before launching on your jackass’ed tirade. I’ve not time for shills…
T & NAAS - You get it–and thanks, there is no need to argue with morons
Anon123, without enough balls to even put his/her own name…concise yet completely off the mark…
Yes, stuff goes wrong, but airlines should fix whatever problem they have–and fast. You deserve more than just your original miles back for being through that ordeal.
I would just like to say that anon123 and bradford can lick my butt.
Worst flight ever. I hope Continental gets punched in the face.
I do hope Continental suffers some consequences from this, but I fear they won’t. They may lose some customers and receive some bad press, but none of it will be enough to seriously dent their bottom line. The truth is that people are treated like cargo on airlines today. Humans are no different to Continental than boxes are to UPS. This story clearly illustrates that, as does Bradford’s post.
What passengers need to do is to stop caving into the aiport personnel. I fly a lot and I see that most people get into their own private world and don’t group together to demand action. Part of it is our fault but the bigger problem is that many people would rather just forget about it and NOT follow-up after the fact. Anyone that takes the time to make a “stink”(pardon the pun) should be applauded as hopefully things will be better next time, but more than likely not.
I hope you take Popo’s advice and get this story out there. This is absolutely horrific. I can cope with the delays and mechanical issues, but putting the same equipment back in the air without the problem being fixed? They had more than enough time to fly another plane over. Unacceptable. And I agree, you deserve more than your 200,000 miles back (besides, what are you going to do with them - fly CO again???).
FWIW, there is a reason Shannon airport in Ireland particularly sucks - its primary purpose nowadays is as an unofficial american military base for american torture flights and such (the extra-panicky “no photos” thing is probably because of that).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_Airport#Foreign_military_aircraft_at_Shannon
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire/antiwar
The surrounding area indeed now looks like a wasteland - people are usually chased out of the no-man’s-land by armed guards. For some reason, ordinary Irish people aren’t too happy with the whole Shannon Occupation situation and have been known to damage american planes landing there if they get the chance.
FWIW, if Continental let an Irish repair crew near an American plane at Shannon, while I doubt they’d make it actively unsafe to fly, I can well imagine them not being particularly highly motivated to fix things properly.
Yes, the Irish government invited the americans in, so it’s kind of our own fault (after all, the Irish government was elected by the Irish people just like the american government was elected by the american people, right?). But hey, Strongbow was invited in too… guess it is a national failing.
Read this link…hope this helps you out for compensation….
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4271197.stm
I had a son on the flight. It was traumatic, and there is a major cover up of this incident going on by Continental. They should not have flown from Amsterdam…They knew there was a problem. Then they flew from Shannon knowing the problem was not fixed. Passengers were made aware of this by the flight crew when they were asked not to imbibe and to try to contain their waste products within themselves prior to takeoff.
This is a disgrace, and the sooner Continental faces up to it and does something meaningful to make up for their poor decision making, the sooner the bleeding will stop.
I wonder how many people are looking for alternate airlines right now?
If things were not so bad, why did the stewardess in one of the photos have the equivalent of a biohazard suite on?
DAD
Grow up. If you think this is a bad day, watch Schindler’s List to see what mistreatment and hardship really looks like. Most people, when they are inconvenienced or have a bad day…move on. You instead devote a day of your life to writing an over-long blog post, trying to get the world to feel your pain.
Well boo-hoo. At least the plane didn’t go down in flames.
I’ve indeed taken Popo’s advice and contacted local media. I guess there was some coverage last night but I didn’t see it.
Patrick - thanks for all the insight about Shannon, I had no idea…that certainly does shed some light on how they behaved
DAD–if you want to contact me offline and get me your son’s contact info, we are trying to get all the passengers connected in case there is a law suit
and poor baby–pot kettle black
Wow. I read through that entire poorly written extra-long whining, hoping for a pay-off. It never came.
Learn to write, and suck it up.
It’s hard for me to believe that anyone would belittle people for posting their disappointment and outrage at being in a flying outhouse.
My sympathies to all who had to endure this outrage. I don’t even like being in a outhouse on the ground for more than two minutes! The stench must have been overwhelming, not to mention the health hazard.
Hopefully the non-flying parts of the vacation were everything you hoped.
And I hope you get a lot more than a free drink out of this. Quite honestly, that is the most shocking piece to me. If this had happened on Southwest (not that they fly oversees, but you know what I mean), you would have automatically gotten a free roundtrip ticket to anywhere. (No, I don’t work for Southwest, but my opinion as a frequent traveller is that they have one of the very best views of customer service in the industry, despite the cattle-car boarding approach.) The free drink ticket after everything else is just rubbing salt in the wound, adding insult to injury, compounding the situation beyond all recognition (pick your own analogy).
Thanks for the sympathy Mags.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the general douchebaggery of your average anonymous commentor online, nothing surprises me anymore.
The airline should be known as INCONTINENTAL from now on.
I’ve had some awful experiences with Continental, too. After hearing this, though, there is *no way* I will fly with them again. If they can’t keep toilets running in some normal way, I question their ability to keep the flight mechanisms in proper repair.
At the least, they should refund your miles.
And to the airline stooges who are posting the hate mail: Comparisons between genocide and an airline flight are banal at best. Further, Schindler’s List was a Disney-esque romp through death camps. Read some Primo Levy before you post again, you nebbish.
Further, what is reported is hazardous. The plane had elderly persons (who often have frail immune systems) being exposed to raw sewage. Anyone in public health can tell you that’s bad news. We have public health laws that apply to corporations for a reason. Bradford, Anon, and Not a Shill: if you are so down with suffering and sewage, might I suggest taking a job in Calcutta and/or drinking deeply from the Ganges.
Holy crap.
Firstly: That is horrific. Like HELL I am ever flying Continental again.
Secondly: Yeah, the airline staff were probably having a bad time, too. HOWEVER, it was their job. It is their company (or a company contracting to them). It is their fault. They are actually being PAID to do that, rather than paying to be delayed, ignored, snubbed, treated like non-persons and stuck in, effectively, a large flying diaper.
WTF? That sucks. Sorry.
Dana - what happened to you and the rest of the passengers totally sucked. I travel a lot, and while I’ve definitely had some bad experiences (who hasn’t?), I’ve never had anything as bad as this happen.
I sincerely wish you the best of luck in getting retribution for this horrible ordeal. Just ignore all the asshats trolling in here - they obviously lack empathy and basic human understanding.
oh well, this is what you get when you have an entity like an airline kept afloat artificially, instead of being allowed to go broke, harshly.
Continental and all the rest of them should have
been allowed to fail long ago. The US shouldn’t
have had its own air travel for a few years, while
they all hurried up and went bankrupt. We’d survive
and whoever came next would do better. This is shameful, but not unexpected. End corporate welfare.
Dana,
You should check (or have the admins check, if you don’t have access) the IP addresses of “A. Bradford”, “Anon123″, “Poor Baby”, and “Steve”… I’ll betcha they’re the same.
I have a weekly hospitality show called indieHotelier, Friday’s at 11 AM EDT. Tomorrow, June 22nd, we’re going to bat this Continental screw-up around with hopes of teaching others how not to recover from serious problems…and inevitably they do happen.
Dana…consider coming on the show…not so much to retell the story, but to help companies do a better job of respinding to issues.
Thanks,
Michael
I see a Sam L. Jackson movie being written right now! “Turds On a Plane”
My god, what a nightmare.
Be prepared for trolls from Digg and airline shills to show up and make transparent efforts to minimize and distract from your main points, which are all valid, in my opinion. Save all the IP addresses, but ignore the comments, and don’t feed the trolls, everyone. It’s pretty clear what their agenda is.
This is really good writing:
“‘If you are still reading this you are about to get your payoff. This is the part that you will not believe. This is the part that will make you say, “holy shit you have to be fucking kidding me’”
Hope you get your miles back and perhaps some compensation for all this. And that that airline cleans up its act.
Wow is all I have to say. Way to jab at the TSA for being snobby — when you’re in IRELAND. (”there is no arguing with anyone who works at an airport unless you fancy being taken into custody by the TSA.”) Not so much a TSA there, but don’t let that stand in the way of your tirade.
Way to blame Continental for the fact that there was only one food stand open at some rinky-dink airport. Yes, I’m sure that Continental pre-checks the number of FOOD STANDS when deciding where to make an emergency landing, just for your comfort.
You should get your miles back. I agree with that. But this is not some huge conspiracy. Shit (quite literally) happens. You’ll grow over it. Maybe you’re used to getting your way. You sound like one of those obnoxious people in San Francisco who loves to proclaim to everyone who will listen (which is thankfully a small crowd) how much the world has conspired against them for being different. All the while, the rest of the world is out doing interesting things with their lives instead of bitching and moaning.
Sorry that you had a crappy (ugg) flight, but this is over the top.
Everyone on that flight might want to be tested for hepatitis A , B and C.
OMG! I am sorry that happened to you! Despite of all your ill luck, I must comment that you are a wiz with words! As horrible as the situation was, you seemed to find some humor! You should sue Continental, at least for an international round trip ticket.
Thanks for sharing! Parts of your story were so hilariously unbelievable, that I was crying with sympathetic laughter!
Regards,
Amanda
Class action law suit. At the very least you should get every bloody dime back for the trouble they caused you. That plane was inoperable when it took off and they had no business loading it with passengers and flying in the first place.
I wouldn’t be surprised if A. Bradford is some Continental hack. I’d like to see him deal with raw sewage in his aisle, the wanker.
More and more airlines are sucking. Perhaps people should start boycotting the worst of the lot to send them a message. (You won’t find me flying Air Canada anymore, that’s for damn sure. They’re a cheap-ass outfit that gouges the eyeballs off of their customers and their idea of service is to give you the finger.)
hey, here’s an idea, how about a site for airline horror stories. I’m sure it would become exceptionally popular and well-trafficked. You could categorize the stories by airline. I’m sure the airlines would just love that.
Wow what a story. I fly about 25,000 miles every month and I’ve heard horror stories about every airline. Jet Blue’s problems in February at JFK, American Airlines stranding pax on planes at Dallas, USAirways switching computer systems during peak spring break travel, United’s computer problems just yesterday. The list goes on and on…… How can we boycott airlines because of these incidents? They all screw up, but we have to fly. Can we all afford to charter our own flights? I doubt it. That costs 10’s of thousands of dollars. All we can do is just hope our next flying experience is a good one.
Schindler’s List?????????
Your a fucking idiot
I understand what you had to go through. It’s either this sort of crap or a moron answering customer services calls sitting half way across the world with an incredibly difficult to understand accent and less than half a clue about what I’m telling him, and screwing me in the end by messing up my flight bookings. Yeah, I’m talking United airlines, the other white flying elephant.
I have been living in Turkey for 20 years and fly back to Oregon every year. Three airplanes both ways (try it with a baby!). I stopped flying Continental years ago as every time I would end up on an emergency layover somewhere.
wow. what an awful experience! all passengers on that flight should definitely do all they can to get their $$ back and a comp’d roundtrip. continental is (was) actually my favorite way to fly. what a disgrace. you should call and write every news outlet you can!
Dana,
Holy shit I’m sorry. My mom was on a Continental flight less than a year ago from Toronto to Baltimore through Newark. On the Newark to Baltimore leg the plane had mechanical difficulties and had to do an emergency landing at Dover Air Force Base. It was a complete debacle. It was an over thirty hour adventure for what should have been a one and a half hour flight. It was a horror story a lot like yours minus the raw sewage flowing down the aisles. A lot of the passengers complained and put together a legal petition but have basically been entirely ignored by Continental. I’m not sure if they are still following up, but a couple of lawyers on the flight were thinking about filing a lawsuit. With another story like this and apparent disregard by Continental for their customers’ fundamental human rights the words CLASS ACTION come to mind. My mom’s email address is dmcguire714@aol.com. If you get in touch with her, she will be able to give you more information and get you in touch with the people from her flight who are trying to do something about their obvious mistreatment at the hands of CONtinental. Again, I’m incredibly sorry to hear about your situation.
-W. McGuire
I’ve been following this story, and I REALLY hope that all of the passengers get some serious compensation. I’m not a person who likes lawsuits or is “sue-happy” by any means, but in this case, I’d definitely be in line to sue Continental if I were a passenger. This whole thing goes way beyond poor customer service.
And yeah, I don’t know who all the trolls are on here, or what moron compared this to the holocaust, but maybe we should round them all up and put them on a sewage-filled plane, just to see how THEY would actually react. Just a thought…
Too bad there’s no health department for airlines. The whole thing is revolting– from the shit to the shitty treatment. Keep on fighting. Continental blows.
Thats a horrible story, thanks for sharing it, but Continental is not the only airline that makes mistakes, Delta is horrible as well. I was on a flight that was delayed 5 times till midnight then cancelled. By the time we realized we were not going home all the hotels were sold out and we had to sleep on the floor, it could not have been more than 60 degrees in the terminal. Finally around 3am someone had the smart idea of bringing blankets off a plane. All the restaurants were closed and we had no food or drink. We tried to laugh and keep our young daughter warm but it was truly miserable. We were first class passengers as well and when we finally got on a plane 28 hours after we left our departure city we were placed apart from one another in coach. I wrote to Delta and they told me they appreciated my comments and they work very hard. If they had communicated with us in the beginning we could have: driven home, gotten a hotel room nearby or gotten on another airline or anothe Delta flight ( four had left while we were waiting). They knew they were going to cancel the flight, the plane was there but the crew was not and by the time the crew arrived they were going into overtime. Delta should have known this at 3pm rather than midnight. The Delta staff could not even pretend to care. The only way to fly is in your own jet.
I was at a campsite once, and the only available lot was right next to the outhouse.
Maybe this would have been more enjoyable if you could have built a bondfire….LMAO!
Traumatic? coverup? Get a grip whiners!
Something certainly smells…and it’s the diapers of the whining crybabies claiming emotional damage.
Ya know, after the Jet Blue incident, they went into total damage control and publicly apologized- made the “travelers manifesto” and really tried to make things right. I would advise writing the Better Biz bureau as all businesses must respond within 30 days to letters to them and to not give up–squeaky wheels rule! Is Continental cutting it so close they did not have a spare plane? In that amount of time, they also could have flown in real techs for that aircraft…
That is HORRIFIC. Its one thing to have an ‘inconvienient flying experience’ but that is above and beyond. A Complete Health HAZZARD. The board of health should be invloved. Its completely Disgraceful that it happened but even more so on how it was handled by the airline. I hope the word gets out and they get nailed.
Its about time the airline industry ACTUALLY provides the committment to service in which to justify the ridiculous cost of a god dam ticket.
Oh, and to all the haters who have demostrated their complete lack of human compassion not to mention lack of common sense… karma’s a bitch.
As a pilot for another major airline, I have a few thoughts - first, glad it was Continental and not us. Next, several comments from “better to fly your own plane, charter”, etc., to “crappy airline service”, and much more. No kidding! Most of the major airlines have cut their staffs almost by half. Those who remain are working way more for way less. If everything runs smoothly, you probably won’t see any difference, but if they don’t, good luck. The extra effort is just gone now. Ticket prices might seem high, but they’re amazingly cheap compared to the past. In this Wal-mart society, good service has been replaced by the desire for low prices. It’s a business reality. Sadly, CO has a reputation as one of the BETTER service carriers! Next time you see a $99 round trip from NY to LAX, do the math and figure out how that can work when your cab from Manhattan to the airport is $50. That’s in a Ford, not a $60 million Boeing at 550 mph. You want private jet service? Hire a private jet for a couple of grand more. Otherwise, sit in your cramped cheap seats and save your money. More than one airline has proved offering “more room” and personalized service just won’t pay the bills.
That said, there is a reasonable assumption that you won’t get the kind of treatment these folks did for any kind of money. The Schindler’s List analogy is totally off base since this wasn’t a forced sentence in a concentration camp, it was a reasonable expectation of service that these folks paid for. Nobody died (yet), but the health risks are in fact real. They could just suck up the crappy treatment, but I think they’ve got a legitimate gripe here.
Personally, I get crappy service too from my own airline and fly very cheaply as a benefit. It’s almost not worth it at 20 bucks or so, and that’s first class. I also have my own slow sport plane, but I’m very close to trading it in for a 200 mph cruiser that will get me where I want to go faster (no ground delays), but more expensively than the big jets. But no TSA! Plus my dog would get to ride with me. THAT’s first class! (”Woof” in agreement!)
From a crewmember standpoint, it sounds like the flight crew could have done better. However, an emergency divert field with a mechanic is a luxury, and it’s assumed the certified mechanic will do what he’s paid to do. That said, the lavs work differently in flight than on the ground, so without a test flight in the air, there’s no way of telling ahead of time if they’ll work en route. They might well have assumed the lavs would work once the differential pressure was applied only to be disappointed. Communication is the key, however. The PA system is a hugely powerful tool, yet many just blow it off.
Whoever did it, excellent work getting the press to pick this up! I see it everywhere now. I copied Patrick Murphy’s post and sent it to our own security/flight planning folks so hopefully we’ll avoid falling into the same traps and hopefully only use Shannon when absolutely necessary. It’ll probably be ignored, but at least I’ll feel better having passed it along.
The good news is these stories are still very rare. Tens of thousands of flights a day, every day, yet only a handful of these problems in a year’s time. True, there shouldn’t be any, but the glass is pretty full.
Just don’t fill it with airplane water and drink it.
I can totally sympathize with your story. My son was in Cairo, Egypt in Dec. at the end of a semester abroad, when he broke his ankle. He had surgery to pin the ankle back together and needed to get back home earlier than planned to see an orthopod at home. His flight on NWA was a nightmare- he was told he would be given a seat in first class if possible so that he could keep his foot elevated-that never happened, of course. The flight attendent accused him of “faking it” so that he could get a free upgrade. I guess she didn’t notice the bruising and staples… I could go on. They treated him like dirt-it was unbelieveable. God help anyone that has an emergency when traveling. It will be cold day in hell before I fly again.
you are a whiny bitch.
As Capt. George says, this type of rotten customer service is par for the course in these days of cheap flights and overbooking. Continental are far from alone in issuing little or no information to their customers when flights are delayed or cancelled, although forcing people to fly transatlantic with sewage running down the aisles (AGAIN!) must be a new low. From delays in Minneapolis with Northwest because the computerized system which calculates the weight distribution was “broken” to cancellations and delays resulting in overnight stays at O’Hare on two separate occasions this year flying with American, I think I’ve been subjected to the airlines’ wall of silence with just about everyone I’ve flown with. I don’t particularly blame the individuals at the gates, as they’re at the mercy of whatever information their superiors pass down, but the airlines, in general, really need to cop on to the fact that a little information and sympathy will go a long way in calming the frustrations of their customers. Problems and delays are unavoidable - treating your paying customers with indifference or even contempt is not, but the people who control these things probably have never stood at a gate dealing with upset travelers.
Yuk!
TBS
tshirtwebsites.com
What the fuck do you want them to do? you’re in the middle of the fucking atlantic. boo hoo, the toilet broke. what are they supposed to do, fly a maintenance crew alongside to fix it en route?
Incredibly priviledged, self-centered whiny BITCH.
well, in light of the current transatlantic health scares because of that guy with super-TB and whatnot, the health risks alone of being exposed to human waste and bringing open human waste across international borders could help your case.
Dana draws all her inspiration from her utter delight in schadenfreude.
Oh the irony.
Don’t let these shills and imbecilic comments get you down. Most are probably from people who’ve never flown, or at least never flown internationally. Walk in your shoes… and all that!
Regardless, this was the epitome of “craptacular” service from Continental, and you are enabling those of us who fly frequently to have the information we need to choose carriers - and in my case, avoid Continental more than I already do. Passengers shouldn’t suffer bad service, and we can vote with our $$ and our feet.
BTW, the Schindler’s List comment probably qualifies under “Godwin’s Law”. Google it.
I know, don’t feed the trolls; but all of their comments seem to boil down to “I don’t see why you’re complaining about being surrounded by shit.” That kind of sums it up right there, I think.
Good luck with your efforts to have them make things right. Unfortunately it seems like the only way to make an airline fix their problems is to make it financially difficult for them to NOT fix the problem. So for my sake, I hope your lawsuit takes shape and/or that they settle with you in some way because I want them REALLY motivated not to let anything like this happen again.
I am so shocked at the people sniping at Dana for writing about what sounds like the most hellish non-crashing flight since the birth of air travel.
Good luck with the lawsuit. The number of health violations Continental racked up with this is truly dizzying.
It would be bad enough if this had happened mid-flight, when the flight crew had no control over what was going on. But that they grounded you in Ireland, put you up overnight, and then knowingly put you on the same plane which they admitted was not at 100% (”The flight attendant in first class alludes to that fact that the toilets are still not functioning quite right, but that they have assurances that once we are in the air that they will.”)—That’s what makes it actionable.
So distressing!
Oh man, horrible flight! Really, i think what needs to happen is the next time an airline goes bankrupt, it should be forced to fold. No more bailouts, let the market decide. In the short term, it will kinda suck, but long term we will all be the better for it.
Also, no harm in deleting the worst of the trolls if you can. If its your blog you set the rules.
DO NOT CASH THAT FREE DRINK VOUCHER!!!
I had a friend who once opened up a can of Coke and it smelled like gasoline. She called Coke to inform them….but they were such snots…they weren’t at all concerned with the health issue that she was trying to alert them to…but instead wanted her to agree to accept a voucher for a free case of Coke.
When she refused…they suddenly started to take it seriously.
Apparently when you accept a compensation from a company (even a free drink) the complaint is legally considered to have been compensated…and you can’t pursue them.
I don’t know if that’s true in your case…but I wouldn’t accept or cash any kinda of voucher they try to offer you…
This is just discusting. I hope everyone on that plane is able to recover from this and Continental can eat what was flowing out of their lavs.
The LAST Continental flight I was ever on was many years ago. It was my last one because of rude customer service, and the best part- a wall section of the interior of the plane was held up by DUCT TAPE! I will never fly on Continental again, ever.
This is just disgusting. I hope everyone on that plane is able to recover from this and Continental can eat what was flowing out of their lavs.
The LAST Continental flight I was ever on was many years ago. It was my last one because of rude customer service, and the best part- a wall section of the interior of the plane was held up by DUCT TAPE! I will never fly on Continental again, ever.
Holy crap. What an awful experience. In my opinion, the airline’s course of action should have been to fly the plane back to the states with as few passengers as possible. Couldn’t they have done a little mad shuffling to place many individuals as possible on alternate flights?
Surely it’s illegal to place passengers on a lengthy flight without functioning lavatories, just as restaurants must provide enough rest rooms for their customers.
I’d think a good lawyer could easily argue that the plane’s staff KNEW that none of the toilets would be functioning on the flight home, but failed to take ownership of this fact and communicate it to the passengers. The overflow of excrement into the aisles is clearly a result of negligence.
That’s incredible. Anybody who doesn’t feel empathy for that kind of a nightmare is not fully human. (Or maybe they’ve never flown? I know I feel sick just reading about it.) My deepest sympathies; I hope you get some satisfaction out of the airline.
I am betting that every one of the people who were responded poorly to this post would be the first in line to litigate had it happen to them! Hypocritical bastards all!
I am betting that every one of the people who responded poorly to this post would be the first in line to litigate had it happen to them! Hypocritical bastards all!
I am betting that every one of the people who responded poorly to this post would be the first in line to litigate had it happen to them! Hypocritical bastards all!
As someone who flies transatlantic regularly I read the story with interest. My opinion of Continental has never been high after a few experiences with poor service but never something as bad as you described.
I’m certainly going to avoid continental in the future if I can avoid it (as they are a member of skyteam, I sometimes have to take them on connecting flights). I will avoid Continental not because they had a bad flight but because every single Continental representative seems to have shirked their responsibility to their passengers.
Shit happens, true, but enlightened corporate policy would make sure that passengers are kept informed & not treated as badly as happened here.
A note to the people who are leaving these outrageous rebuttals: You may feel threatened because you work for continental & your job is in jeopardy, but your comments are having the effect of pushing anyone on the fence into despising your position.
I would bet all the negative comments are from the same person. They certainly sound like they are. Please make Continental pay for the terrible treatment of their customers. Airlines know they are protected by the US government on many levels and can treat us as they please. Let this be the last time they shit on us.
I agree - it sounds like all the negative comments are from the same person. Forum trolls are all the same, they say stupid crap to get people’s attention since their mommies don’t give them enough love.
Anyways, I have recently had flight problems myself… but NOTHING like your story here. I hope this story goes far and that you get some compensation for the unsafe treatment you were put through.
ps. I find it so funny that they were still serving food and drinks but then telling everyone to ‘hold it’ for 8 hours… wow.
Just wanted to add my sympathy here. Long delays while flying sucks, but human waste running down the aisles is beyond the pale. I hope you and your fellow passengers are well-compensated for putting up with that!
amazing how many people are reading this, and thinking you’re whining for no good reason
Feces in the aisle?
Fucked several ways from Sunday?
No plan, communication, or clue from Continental?
Your writing was clear and concise, and not inflammatory at all. Were you to be whining and/or crying I’d have less sympathy. As it is, I hope those idiots get monitarily remorseful because it seems that is the only way to get through to some people.
Geez… you used up all you “awful airplane karma” in one shot.
Huge condolances.
I was one of thousands of stranded tourists in Mexico during hurricane Wilma. Remember that one? Didn’t think so.
What you went through, we went through, except many of us were stuck there for 2 weeks. Two weeks of no electricity, Shit-on-the-floor, little to no food and water, and inhumane treatment.
Guess what - Bradford was right. Make the most of a bad situation, because what you went through is nothing compared to what others before you have.
32 hrs-lol.
I don’t think the author is trying to say she’s had it waaaaaaay worse then anyone else. She was simply relating her story and pointing out how unfair they were treated. I’m sure people have had it worse then 2 weeks as well…
This isn’t a competition about who has *had it the worst* it’s just pointing out how these consumers were treated and perhaps trying to warn others of this airline.
Jamaicanmecrazy—aside from the obvious bullshit of “my experience was worse than yours so you have nothing whatsoever to complain about” (way to justify every injustice short of whatever happens to be history’s worst), your problem in Mexico was caused by a hurricane.
Her complaint, on the other hand, of a small problem tremendously made worse by the people whose job it was to help, sometimes deliberately. It is not just the delay but that human agency saw fit to make it worse, that is complaint-worthy.
Bob Average—Try, you know, READING THE POST? Specifically the part where most of the complaint-worthy stuff happened when they were ON THE GROUND AND OFF THE PLANE. The raw sewage in the aisle is just the icing on the cake.
This little item is the latest news release on the Continental website….I hope they enjoy it, because they’re not going to get another piece of praise like this for a long time…
Oh, and you trolls: It’s not OK for a business to treat its customers the way Continental treated their passengers during this incident. The analogy with the holocaust is just plain stupid.
I fly WAY over 100,000 miles a year, and while I’ve seen some amazing screwups and stupidity on the part of airlines, this particular event is beyond imagining…
Continental Airlines Receives J.D. Power and Associates Award for Highest-Ranked Traditional Network Airline
HOUSTON, June 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — For the second consecutive year, Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) has ranked the highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Network Carriers in North America in the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 North America Airline Satisfaction Study(SM). In the network carrier segment, Continental ranked highest in the list by 24 points over the second ranked airline and was one of only two carriers to improve its scores in 2007.
The study, conducted by J.D. Power and Associates, measures customer satisfaction of both business and leisure travelers who were asked to rate their recent airline travel experiences in several categories. This marks Continental’s seventh customer satisfaction award by J.D. Power and Associates since 1996.
“I believe this honor is a reflection of the consistent professionalism of my more than 44,000 co-workers,” Larry Kellner said. “They go the extra mile for our customers no matter what the challenge, offering the best customer service and the best product in the industry.”
The J.D. Power and Associates study evaluated the airlines in seven key areas:
— Reservations — Flight crew
— Check-in — In-flight services
— Boarding/deplaning/baggage — Cost & fees
— Aircraft
I’m amazed at the people who tell the writer to quit complaining. Hello?! I guess these are the same mindsets that say the war in Iraq is on track, Torture jails in Cuba are a holiday park, and the dear leader is a smart man.
Good luck with the escalation on this. No excuses from Continental.
I’m amazed at the people who tell the writer to quit complaining. Hello?! I guess these are the same mindsets that say the war in Iraq is on track, Torture jails in Cuba are a holiday park, and the dear leader is a smart man.
Good luck with the escalation on this. No excuses from Continental.
Good grief what a horrible story.
And to the guy stranded during Wilma…while I’m certain that your experience was horrific, that was a natural disaster. The airline has no control over when or where a hurricane is going to strike. They have plenty of control over how they treat their customers in a canceled flight/delay due to plane malfuction situation.
Just because some people have had it worse doesn’t mean that this sort of thing is acceptable. I’m sure you wouldn’t accept a dead roach in your food just because it could have been something worse like a finger or other body part.
I especially liked the part where they served you food and beverages knowing the toilets were out.
I’d check YouTube often, maybe you were being filmed for a weird game show.
I can’t see how anyone, ANYONE, would have a problem with hearing an account of this story. I’d rather see 100 stories a day like this than have to hear about Paris friggin Hilton any more.
Good on ya, dana. I hope you get your miles back and a decent amount of vouchers…for another airline.
Sounds like it should be renamed “InContinental”!
I must take issue with Patrick Murphy’s comments which give an extremely skewed impression of Shannon Airport. Firstly it has not been proven that Shannon was used for extraordinary rendition flights and in fact is mainly used as a stop-off point to convey troops to Iraq. It’s certainly likely, indeed I believe myself that Shannon most likely WAS used for rendition, but in the interest of fairness and balance and all it should be noted that it’s not definite. Mr Murphy’s insinuation that Shannon is nothing more than a US military outpost does not reflect the truth. In fact, Shannon is used as a stop-over for a number of transatlantic commercial flights as well as a base for flights to continental Europe by airlines such as Ryanair. Moreover, it should be noted that “ordinary Irish citizens” have not been “known to damage american planes” landing there - not plural, at least - there has been ONE instance of a US MILITARY plane being damaged by a Catholic activist group. There have been no instances of attempted damage to commercial US airplanes. Moreover Mr Murphy’s insinuation that Irish repair crews could be less diligent in carrying out their duties on an American plane is quite frankly appalling and insulting.
It is true that there is some anti-American sentiment in Ireland, but this tends to manifest itself in arguments in the pub rather than physical violence.
I realise this is somewhat off the point and not entirely related to your post (with which, by the way, I sympathise utterly - not least because Shannon Airport is a dreadful place in which to spend any amount of time) but I felt I had to counter Mr Murphy’s claims.
Dana - I’m encouraged that you’d ask for your miles back, implying that you’d fly with them again. Any corporation in a highly competitive business and having any sense of the risk to their brand should pay heed. Sow the shit and reap the shitstorm. I hope that Continental eventually does right by you. Be reasonable, but take Popo’s advice, and stick to your guns.
By way of comparison, my daughter’s United flight was delayed 3 hrs from the US to London in June 2005. A small inconvenience compared to your nightmare. But the delayed arrival was long after the trains stopped. The airline put all the passengers up at a hotel near the airport, had a spread of food laid out at 1 am, and issued chits for breakfast. They earned a lot of leeway and customer loyalty from me and lot of others passengers and their worried families for that classiness.
What a horrific, unbelievable experience! Love the moniker: Captain Customer Service!
I flew on an eight flight from Dallas to Honolulu and this passenger who was not fit to fly defecated all over himself and the bathroom. Even though they closed the bathroom and only let him use the one he defecated in, the smell was absolutely sickening. About half way through the flight, I thought I was going to start throwing up and even with a fairly strong stomach, it was hard to just “suck it up.” Until something like this happens to you, it is really hard to appreciate in words how vile the smell of sewage can be. In a confined space, it’s exponentially worse.
It’s kind of ironic that an ad for Continental Airlines is showing up on your Google ads.
It’s incredible to see how many Continental PR shills are posting in here. That story was absolutely incredible. I don’t care what the shills say, there is no way to just “brush off” nonfunctioning toilets on an 8 hour flight. The staff on the flight were clearly morons, incapable of making smart decisions that could have saved the company’s ass. The decisions they did make, it sounds like, will ultimately cost Continental millions of dollars in liability, and untold PR damage.
The other thing that is kind of scary about these comments from the shills is that the “Grin and bear it” approach encouraged by them is telling of a culture in the company - which one hopes they don’t repeat when it comes to more serious issues such as aircraft maintenance. “Oh you’re just bitching little whiny urban snobs, there’s nothing wrong with enduring a 32 hour flight due to a faulty hydraulic system. Grow up.”
Know what I mean? Bottom line : don’t fly continental. If they can’t fix a couple of toilets (and sweep it under the rug), do you think they can be trusted to maintain their aircraft properly?
Were there any kids on this flight? Because placing kids in that situation may well put Continental in violation of several US and Irish/EU child endangerment laws. I have three and my very first thought was having to explain to a five year old that he can’t use the bathroom and has to “hold it”… for the next eight hours.
I am so shocked at the people sniping at Dana for writing about what sounds like the most hellish non-crashing flight since the birth of air travel.
Possibly because it isnt the ‘most hellish non-crashing flight’ some people have experienced.
The trip sounds awful, but the author also sounds… spoiled.
Airline travel is, in this time, not unlike third world bus travel. Sadly, thats just the way it is. Travel light, always carry your personal belongings with you, always have food, if you can’t live without your mp3player, make sure you have it with you. Pee in a bottle.
… placing kids in that situation may well put Continental in violation of several US and Irish/EU child endangerment laws. I have three and my very first thought was having to explain to a five year old that he can’t use the bathroom and has to “hold it”… for the next eight hours.
My point exactly.
From your pooponaplane blog (love the name, cute)
I have nothing but disgust for the people who are saying you’re whiny. 32 hours? Do these people not have jobs? Lives? Kids and/or Pets that expect them home?
Pets? Gosh, wouldn’t want to offend the pets.
Nothing whiney about that.
The airline industry is bankrupt, barely holding on. This kind of flight is what you get for budget travel. You get what you pay for.
This sort of post is why many people thing Americans are crybabies.
“Sometimes two hours would go by without an update, but even when they did come they would completely uninformative.”
I’m curious what they should of informed you on? what more do you need to know? they’re still trying fix the problem.
would you feel better if they told you the detail of their de-pooping project?
“sorry folks, theres a giant turd stuck in one of the pipes and we got our boys dipping their hands trying to dig out much shit outta the pipes as possible, thank you”
seems like only rude people in this whole story was you and the irish peeps at the terminal. and judging from the sound of you, they had every right to be rude to you.
I am getting a bit of a laugh from the binary nature of the comments. One half is `Ah, that sucks!’ and the other half is `This is nothing compared to THE HOLOCAUST’.
“moero”/”robert” - How much are they paying you? Anyone with an ounce of intelligence and basic reading comprehension would not describe this woman’s tale as “whiny” or “spoiled”. If air travel is meant to be the standard of a third world country, then get your bosses to make it as cheap as a third world country.
Until then I suggest you take your hatred elsewhere. If you’re working for a PR firm and you’re posting this as a job, then get out while you still have your integrity (if you indeed have any left).
As for your comments..
: “Americans are crybabies” ??? For wanting RELIABLE SEWAGE and EFFICIENT SERVICE that they PAID for? What the fsck planet are you from? I’m not American, and I’m not a crybaby, but you can bet your ass if I’ve paid thousands of dollars for a plane ticket and there’s effluent flowing down the aisles, I’m going to be suing absolutely everybody I possibly can. Your complete lack of any sense of reality in your response adds further fuel to the fire to the theory that you’re a PR shill. People think Americans are crybabies when they sue their neighbours when they trip over their unsecured garden hose. This experience is a complete disaster, and the airline should be held liable (furthermore should be investigated to see whether this “best practise” is extended to the maintenance of the rest of their aircraft - you know, wings, hydraulics, engines, that kind of stuff).
I hope you’re being paid well, is all I can say…
The trip sounds awful, but the author also sounds… spoiled.
“Airline travel is, in this time, not unlike third world bus travel.”
Buses stop. Most third world buses I’ve been on don’t have, uh, facilities on board.
“Sadly, thats just the way it is. Travel light, always carry your personal belongings with you, always have food, if you can’t live without your mp3player, make sure you have it with you. Pee in a bottle.”
Sure. Good advice, mostly. But just because “thats [sic] the way it is,” must one simply suck it up, or does it, perhaps, make sense to mention being exposed to human shit in a recycled air system and being herded around with no explanation, with the hope that maybe travel could be as pleasant as possible? Plus, good luck getting that bottle on the plane.
“My point exactly.”
YOU try getting a five year old to hold it for eight hours. Cf bottle comment.
Sorry, troll douchebags, but as someone who grew up in the middle of nowhere, hauling water and using outhouses exclusively, who still finds this sort of shit unacceptable, I’d have to let out a little GFY, and say this sounds like a genuinely crappy (suck it) experience. If you don’t sympathize, don’t read.
This sounds absolutely awful, I have to use publictransport such as trains and coaches a lot, and can safely say that if this happened to me, I would be as ballisitc as you. Some people are really not good fliers, they get panicky or sick, and this situationreally wouldn’t help. Sue their ass’s off.
This essentially boils down to one issue that was in my opinion negligent - the plane taking off again from Shannon even though they knew the toilets weren’t working. This is unacceptable, and they should have fixed the plane or provided an alternative.
Having said that, with 160 passengers, tired and mad from being delayed already and just wanting to get home, what would you have done? And for that matter, if they’d have told you that you’d have to wait another 12 hours whilst they repair the plane properly, how would you have reacted? The rest of your post leads me to believe: equally as badly.
As for everything else, you’ve taken one incident and turned it into a 3,000 word epic, and this is why people are accusing you of coming across as spoilt. I mean really - the hotel wasn’t clean? The staff were unhelpful?? There was only one shop available for you to buy food from??? You didn’t - gasp!! - have your iPod for 3 hours???? THE HORROR!!!! This is not horrific, it’s not terrible nor is it the worst non-crash airline story ever. It’s bad luck for sure, and inconvenient and not particularly pleasant, but I’m afraid that’s about it.
They should of course refund the price of the flight, or the airmiles or however you paid for it, and good luck getting that back, but the rest of this story is an attempt to create a crisis where there really isn’t one.
And Celtic Rose:
“Some people are really not good fliers, they get panicky or sick, and this situation really wouldn’t help. Sue their ass’s off.”
People like you are the reason that now when I buy a packet of roasted peanuts it contains a message saying “Warning: packet may contain nuts”
HEY–to everyone linking to this post and leaving nasty comments, we can see that you are coming from a website labelled “Continental Crew Message Board Communications” - there is no way to hide you are shills in the stats…we are smarter than you are so you can just give it a rest.
I’m really not, but I think the fact that so many of them are is really really pathetic
Dana- really? So the Continental staff think that comments in the vein of “shut up bitch at least you didn’t get your head chopped off” are going to garner support for Continental? Your lucky you escaped with your life Dana as it is clear that Continental is staffed by the mentally ill. To the negative posters: you really need to try harder. Use some finesse. All your doing is making me want to sent money to support her cause.
To those complaining about her explanation of the entire ordeal [hotels and the like], just remember that this is a BLOG. She has chosen to share her entire story, which is about one mess after another that snowballs into one awful experience.
And the comment about - gasp - not having her iPod… I think the main point there was they were told they could get back on the plane and then were refused. Then other people were allowed, but they were still not. She’s just pointing out the crappy customer service in this case - I highly doubt the main focus here is not having her iPod.
You know, every time someone comments on “well, you the consumers asked for lower prices, you’ve got them and you’re paying with a lack of service”, I wonder:
1) I don’t recall airline tickets being that much more expensive in the past. I’m in my early 30’s, and I started paying for my own airplane tickets in my early 20’s - so about 10 years ago. I don’t recall them being any more expensive than they are now - maybe a little, but I don’t recall ever noticing prices going way down except in the aftermath of 9/11. A quick google search didn’t give me any overall historical trends - anybody know where to find actual data on ticket prices?
2) Perhaps one of these airlines could decide “you know what, it’s not worth it”, and start charging a little more to provide a little more service. Raise the price of every ticket by 5% - what used to cost $400 will now cost $420. Most people can live with that. Of course, big corps being what they are, that extra money would just go into some exec’s pocket, but still, it’s a thought.
As a middle-class consumer, I’d be willing to pay a little extra (like 5%) for a ticket if it meant I would get decent service, and more importantly that if I had a problem, it would actually get fixed rather than the airline making every effort to skirt responsibility for it and make me just go away. Wouldn’t that be nice?
In your case, Continental probably wouldn’t have been able to do much, except maybe give you more information. I can understand, however, their reticence to say “We are completely screwed, we’re stuck in Shannon, Ireland for about 24 hours, there aren’t any major hotels with adequate rooms in the area, and your lives are all going to absolutely suck until we get to Newark, which at this rate will be in a couple of days. Also we’re getting no love from the ground crew at this airport and the toilets might not get fixed, plus nobody here seems to give a crap about your luggage.” However, when it was all over, Continental could have given everyone a full refund in the form of a voucher for the experience. I bet that would have gotten some different headlines!
Pretty much every airline except JetBlue is now on my shit list (Continental, incidentally, was the first airline that made me say the words “I am NEVER flying that airline again” and mean it). Thankfully I was not on the JetBlue flight out of NYC that got stuck (I heard lots of complaints about that), so I still have one airline left before I have to take an airline off the list and start over again…
Sue them. Sue them, sue them, sue them. And yes, go to the press.
Give me a break, you crazed shills. You think being forced to be exposed to human waste for extended periods of time is acceptable, let alone an experience one should PAY FOR?
Get a job with a respectable company, trolling shills, you’re pathetic and you make me sick.
Dana- As a consultant who flies pretty much every week out of the year I am disgusted by this story.
The beginning of your surreal trip seemed like a typical screw up that we’ve all been in. I think what pissed me off the most is the fact that they(CO) allowed passengers to get back on a plan that had non function lavatories! That concerns me. They’re poor decision making. One would question how many times in the past this done? Where the airline (crew) knew of problems with the plane but still flew? Scary thought.
Also to the shrills,trolls,Continental staff writting your negative rubbutals, put yourself in the seat of the passenger. Luckily Dana was in 1st class and had courage to write her experience but what about the poor fools in coach? Should they have to “suck it up” while human waste flows around their’s and children’s feet? Should they have be subjected to breathe pungent, possibly contaminated air because the Continental crew didn’t have the courage to tell their superiors they refuse to fly on a broken contraption that they call a plane? YES I do hold the crew(Shrills) responsible they are the “first responders” in a crisis. Even if they had me grounded for another day because the crew made that decision not to fly atleast I could respect that.
Dana, no matter what keep this story alive. Because of it I’m emailing my 5000 other co-worker (consultants) who fly and I’m definitely not booking my vacation (in Aug) to Mexico with Continental “Turd” airlines. Don’t let the hate distract you.
Ricardo
That is appalling. I applaud you and others for not completely snapping. (I know that I’d be the crazy, enraged girl carried from the airport by the local equiv. of TSAs and left to rot in an Irish jail.)
I hope you get every one of your 200,000 miles back, and then some! Yes, stuff happens, and flights are delayed for various reasons, and most people understand that. Then, it’s all about how the airline acts to address the situation at that point.
The truth is, the airlines don’t think far enough ahead or truly care about the passengers. If they did they would be considering the repurcussion of this treatment. If you consider everything that all of you have been through, I wouldn’t be surprised if people with medical issues can document illnesses or health issues that are related to or even a direct cause of this inhumane treatment. What will it take? 1 year, 2 years, 5 years? Truth is, being exposed to sewage is unhealthy and if you already have health issues, who knows how much worse it will be as a result of that exposure.
Toilets on a plane are nothing more than a sophisticated bucket and proper waste removal has been a cultural and heath related need for millenia. Sure you have a place to “go” but you really don’t expect it to stare back at you when you are done. However, if we were expected to deal with this with ANY regularity in a city, there would be significant outrage. As a result, if you can’t make sure the plumbing is working in this modern day, then what does that say about a company when they force their customers to “live with it?”
I have had too many negative experiences when I have flown to believe this story is indulgent or make-believe. I believe this person because I have had more negative than positive experiences when flying. Flying may be the safest way to travel, but it certainly is NOT the most convenient.
Ha ha, “InContinental”. That’s funneh.
Sue them all. God will know His own.
I had no idea this had happened at all until I saw a link in a blog. This is one of the most horrific stories I have ever heard concerning air travel and mechanical issues that did not result in a crash. My sympathies go to you and your fellow passengers. No one should have had to deal with that.
I don’t fly nearly as much as some of the others I have seen make comments here, but I do fly fairly regularly. I know that I could not have lived without a bathroom on my last transcontinental flight, especially if they were still giving you food and water the whole time. Not to mention you were exposed to some major health hazards in a closed air system. I hope that you are all able to get your money back, and more. And I know I will never fly Continental again.
To all of you jerks sniping at this woman for (rightfully) complaining, I say this: YOU try sitting on a sewage-filled plane for 8 hours. People PAID for a basic service, and it was NOT rendered to the customer’s satisfaction. She has a right to complain and a right to be satisfied in a reasonable way. Jeeze, you’d think she was griping about not being served food on silver platters and waited on hand and foot! There is no excuse whatsoever for Continental to expose their passengers to inhumane, unsafe conditions, period. I hope they get taken to the cleaners for this.
I recently flew Continental and while my experience wasn’t anywhere near as bad as this, I can certainly sympathize. My flight was delayed several hours, such that I missed my connection and they could only rebook me for a flight the following day. I shall leave out all the annoying details, but when I finally managed to speak to a “customer service” representative, I felt like I was in some kind of Middle Eastern bazaar, haggling for accommodation, meal vouchers, anything. She was snide, inconvenienced by my patently unreasonable demands, patronizing, and all in all, a useless incompetent bitch. I read somewhere that there is a class action suit in the works about this. Best of luck and I hope that the passengers manage to extract some justice from Continental.
A few notes:
1. The writer did not pay for her trip. So, stop taking the role of paying customer - actually the other passengers paid for her trip.
2. The only thing Continental did wrong was to take off with broken WCs. All other things (having no food at the airport, luggage claim to take 2 hours, not having porters to help those with too heavy luggage, not having 5-star hotels, etc) are accidental. It is not fair to expect any airline to be able to arrange perfect conditions after landing - in emergency - at some accidental airport. There is not so much free capacity anywhere to make it a perfect and pleasant.
As for sueing: if one has too much free time, go for it. Otherwise, get on with your life. It sucks sometime.
My wife and I had a similar experience coming from Venice to Columbus, Oh. We ended up clocking 62 hours total and ended up on a bus from NYC to Columbus. It was horrid. However, we had the news meet the bus at the airport terminal, made a huge stink, and got our tickets refunded 100%. Stay on those bastards, its a waiting game. They figure that if they stall and stall you’ll give up. Screw them! Stay the course.
Matti Kinnunen,
Do you work the airlines? Your comment about the writer not paying for her trip is crazy. She isn’t asking for Cash refund, she’s asking for her miles back. The airlines have a contractual responsibility to provide the service that a first class ticket warrents (or coach for that matter). She has every right to demand a refund. Shame on you! Do you know how much money these supposedly bankrupt airlines are making! You should be ashamed.
So I found a link to this while just surfing around, and when I saw articles and reports I just skimmed them and read the headlines, and I thought “hey that’s pretty funny.” Well there certainly isn’t anything funny about this, what you and all the other passengers went through was truly horrific.
I cannot believe all the grief people are giving you, this is a blog people! She has the right to speak her mind, she never said that her writing was specifically about how Contintental mistreated her, it was about the entire excruciating experience.
In a few weeks I’m going to China and I can’t for a minute imagine flying there (or anywhere really) without the use of a lavatory. If people are gonna harp on you for your experience, ignore them until they sit on a flight for 8 hours with excrement flowing down the isle, they have no right to give you grief.
I hope you come out on top for this, you deserve it!
-Laurel
I flew trans-continents, and I know how painful it is to be on a journey with problematic lavatories. My sympathy goes to all these passengers.
To Matti : 2. The only thing Continental did wrong was to take off with broken WCs. All other things (having no food at the airport, luggage claim to take 2 hours, not having porters to help those with too heavy luggage, not having 5-star hotels, etc) are accidental.
From reading the postings and comments, it’s clear that most of them are a bunch of reasonable people. They’d understand the difficulty on arranging such emergency logistics in these situations IF ONLY Continental would tell & explain to them about it.
Instead, they’re rarely informed, and most of the time those communications are pretty useless and/or not considerate of their situations.
I feel pity with both the good passangers and staff of Continental (Captain Customer Service excluded, of course), and they should sue Continental. This is the only way they may learn something from this — nothing else.