I beat Continental!

I beat Continental at their own game.

In mid-May, I saw a price of $329 to Vegas. I almost booked. But, because there were multiple flights, I called my brother for his opinion. He lives near the airport, so I go to his house and he gives me a ride. Saves the airport parking fee.

But by the time he responded, the price shot up to $579. So I didn't book.

On June 2, the price came down to $379, so I booked it.

Then, every day since, I've been checking the rates. Two weeks ago there was a rate of $329, so I called. I was told that after 24 hours, and within 30 days, I could get the lower rate, for a $50 fee. So this change would do nothing.

Last week, I noticed a different flight for $239. I tried to get that, and was told that a flight change costs $150, so this change would cost $60. Sigh. That flight has been $239 ever since. It never occurred to me that, in reality, the change would cost $10.

Today, all the flights that day, including the flight I'm on, is $239, so I called. After about 25 minutes on hold, I finally got to the person that would eventually help me. The first thing she said is that the lowest price she has is $329. I told her it's $239 online. She asked "Continental.com?" Yep. Back on hold.

After another 15 minutes she comes back and starts chatting. She's been in this business for 40 years, originaly worked for Eastern, and has never seen anything like this. Part of the problem is the flight NUMBERS changed. Possibly due to the merger with United going on.

Anyway, she tells me she saw the $239 price on line - even though it's STILL not coming up on her terminal. She is giving me the $239 price, and is over-riding the $50 fee!

$150 saved! Ka-ching!

It's not a cash refund, but a travel voucher, which needs to be used within 12 months, but is transferrable. That's close enough to cash for me.


Had my brother responded sooner, or had I bitten the bullet and booked at $329, I never would have re-checked.

Had the agent last week told me the change would cost only $10, I would have taken it.

Instead, I'm on the flight that I actually wanted, got the lower price, and didn't have to pay a dime in penalty fees.

SWEET!

Nice job. I actually like Continental -- my favorite of the majors. They've consistently given me good service and a good price. What more can you ask for? I will miss them once the United merger is completed. Hopefully the new company will be more Continental-United than United-Continental.

Nice catch!!

Yeah, there's all sorts of craziness going on with the UA/CO merger. Same flight with different flt #s from both airlines priced differently, flight # changes happening all over the place (including the reuse of UA 93 - the 9/11 flight that crashed in PA.) My trip last week got 4 change notifications. One for the flight number and three more for various time changes (all +/- less than 5 minutes).

$239 r/t for EWR-LAS? Hm... I might need to see if they have the same deal for IAH-LAS. I've got 2 days to burn out there.. Maayybee..

Quote: teddys

Nice job. I actually like Continental -- my favorite of the majors. They've consistently given me good service and a good price. What more can you ask for? I will miss them once the United merger is completed. Hopefully the new company will be more Continental-United than United-Continental.

Skip to 1:25 of this video

When you merge a big, bad company with a smaller, better company you just end up with an even bigger, bad company.

(Actually, that's a funny video for anyone who does enough flying to care about airline status levels)

Quote: PerpetualNewbie

Skip to 1:25 of this video

When you merge a big, bad company with a smaller, better company you just end up with an even bigger, bad company.

(Actually, that's a funny video for anyone who does enough flying to care about airline status levels)

That is fantastic! I've definitely been on both sides of that conversation. I actually bought (without flying) the 2 segments ($75 each) that I needed to get to UAL's Premier level for this year. So far, I've been upgraded on 26 of 40 segments flown in 2011, so I think that investment paid for itself nicely. On the flip side, my coworker flew from MSP to SFO to Sydney, Australia and stayed for 3 hours in order to get to UAL's 1K status. She flies a lot more than I do, but I can't imagine that was worth the approx $2k that she paid for that trip. I'd imagine the terrorist line from the video would apply to someone in this situation, too. No luggage and no stay-over on a 15 hour international flight??

Also, congrats, DJ! It's nice when you can beat the system. It sure doesn't happen enough.

Quote: teddys

Nice job. I actually like Continental -- my favorite of the majors. They've consistently given me good service and a good price. What more can you ask for? I will miss them once the United merger is completed. Hopefully the new company will be more Continental-United than United-Continental.

The only thing I don't like - make that HATE - is the pricing games they play.

There was a point where I could have booked non-stop from Newark, or a one-stop from Philly. The Philly option was so much cheaper that the difference would have covered the gas and parking, an still been cheaper than non-stop from Newark.

Of course, that one stop was in NEWARK!

Oh for the days when all airlines by law charged the same price and except for some "ghost destinations" there wasn't much you good do. (Ghost Destination: NYC to Atlanta cost "x", but NYC to Dothan with first stop in Atlanta cost half of "x"...and you simply get off in Atlanta).

Now there are even these Price Following and Price Predicting sites such as kayak.

Oh if only I could fly by private jet and not have to go through Atlanta all the time. I hate that airport.