On the morning of 9/11 myself and my family took a flight on Continental trying to get to Maine to visit my little sister for 6 days. It was our 4 yr old twins' first flying experience.
While in the air the attacks started and we landed as scheduled in Cleveland to catch our connecting flight to Manchester, NH. Upon arrival at the airport we were told what had happened and that all connecting flights were canceled and to evacuate the airport. We were told we would not be getting our baggage b/c they were not unloading it. We stood outside on the sidewalk helplessly. There was no shuttle service, no rental cars, no cabs and no help from the airline.
After about two hours milling around we took a commuter train into Cleveland & called my mother & mother-in-law who drove 6 hours up to Cleveland from Indy to rescue our family and take us home. It was a harrowing experience. But even more harrowing was getting through to the airline and asking about a refund.
I called 1-800-we-care-2 (do not be fooled—they do not care). After a few attempts I finally got through on 9/25; I spoke to a "customer service supervisor" named Michelle Meleen. She told me that despite the generous $15 billion airline bail-out package of taxpayer money from the feds last week, and contrary to what was published in the business section of the Star on 9/19 about their new policy (SEE accompanying), we would not be getting any refund.in fact we would not even being getting credit or a voucher to use on another flight (even though I am sure their planes are half full at best i.E. It would be no skin off their back.) The only thing that they would offer us is the remaining 3 legs of our flight TO USE BEFORE 7/15/02. I told her I did not want to go to Maine now b/c it is getting cold (PROBABLY WILL NOT WARM UP TILL LATE JULY) and that we have no way to get to Cleveland. She said their is "no value left in the ticket" but I feel there was no value for us to go to CLEVELAND, IN FACT IT BECAME A BIG LIABILITY.
Why should I pay them several hundred dollars when they could only deliver us 1/3rd of the way to our final destination!!!??? I never wanted to go to Cleveland&flight confirmation #VV4TYL
Jim Holland
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