Kyle Tress

Update: Please see the update at the bottom of this post.

It is popular to complain about air travel. Body scans and rude passengers are hot news right now. The truth is I don’t mind these minor (and often rare) inconveniences. So when I arrived in Newark on Sunday night to check-in, I expected the best. After all, I chose Continental Airlines as my carrier based on the great service I had with them last time. They were professional, courteous, and helpful.  Something was different Sunday. The agents were rude, spiteful, and mocking. Here’s my story.

As I wheeled my bags to the front of the ticket line, I overheard two Continental agents having a rather crude discussion – an older women with tinted glasses and red hair (we’ll see her again shortly) and a younger woman. The redhead wasn’t discrete.

“She’s one ugly bitch. What’s he thinking? I would rather have sex with my dog. My dog, you know? My dog!”

I should have known then that this wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience. When I arrived at the automated check-in machine, I requested assistance checking my 3 bags. Agent #1 comes over.

“I have 3 bags tonight ma’am. One is overweight.”
“How much does it weigh? Put it on the scale.”

We weigh the bag. It’s 78 pounds.

“That bag is over 70 pounds. It’s not traveling with us tonight.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t leave it behind. I’m on the US Skeleton team and I have a race this week in Germany.”
“Well you’ll need to find another way to get it there, or you can take weight out”
“It’s a solid piece of equipment Ma’am, I can’t remove any weight.”
“Not my problem.”

I’ve been sliding for 8 years and I’ve had this discussion with ticket agents before. Something was different this time. Maybe she was having a bad day. Time to switch tactics.

“I’m an amateur athlete training for the Olympics. Continental has been so good to me in the past, is there anything you can do?”
“No. I just told you that”

I can feel panic starting to set in. How will I get my sled to Germany? Why was it allowed last time? Frustration creeps into my voice.

“You’ve let it on the plane before. Please! I don’t have the money to ship it.”
“That’s not my problem. You need to calm down, sir.”

Calm down? What a funny request to make when you are essentially telling someone “go to hell”. Agent #2 overhears and joins us. I repeat my story to her.

“it’s over 70 pounds, no exceptions.”
“I’ve taken it on the plane before.”
“Not with us you haven’t.”
“Yes Ma’am, I have.”
“Calm down sir, just calm down.”

Now I’m aggravated. Agent #1 agrees to ask her supervisor for a weight exception. I thank her and remind her that Continental has been good to me in the past. Agent #2 takes offense to this.

(shaking her head with attitude) “Ooooh, you just keep your mouth shut!”

Now people around us are listening. The redheaded agent from earlier strolls over to offer her input. She is spiteful from the start of the conversation.

“Are these your bags? What are they doing here?”
“The ticket agent helping me is getting a supervisor.”
“Why?”
“She’s asking if you can make an exception tonight and allow my bag on the plane”

She looks at the scale as I repeat my story a third time.

“So what? What do I care?”
“You are merging with United. United is an Olympic partner. I chose this airline for a reason “
“Do you see United up there? This is Continental. Olympics? Who cares? That stupid thing isn’t getting on this plane, ever.”
“You’ve let it on the plane before. That’s why I chose to fly with you tonight”
“So what? I don’t care. It’s not coming tonight.”

Whew. Now I really do need to calm down. The supervisor shows up and I repeat my story to her.

“We usually don’t take things over 70 pounds. Can you take weight out?”

I open the bag and remove my pillow and sled cover. Redhead shakes her head disapprovingly.

“I told you he could take weight out. he’s got plenty of weight in there. Unbelievable. Can you believe this?”
“These weigh 4 pounds ma’am. It’s not going to get below 70.”
“Well then take more out.”, she replies.

We go back and forth for several minutes until the supervisor relents. She instructs the original agent to charge me an overweight fee, but she can’t seem to decide on a price.

“Just charge him, $100. No, $150”.

Red hair pipes up.

“$150? You’re only charging him $150? It’s heavy and it’s a third bag. It looks oversized. Does it look oversize to you?”

At this point, I have nothing left. I hate confrontation and I just want to get my equipment to Germany in one piece so I can race. I sat there as this wretched woman did everything in her power to screw me like her dog.

“That will be $250 Mr. Tress, plus another $50 for your second bag.”
“I have no choice, I have to pay it.”

Before the supervisor walked away, I received one last lecture.

“I want you to know that we are making a one time exception for you tonight. Don’t ever do this again cause we won’t allow it. You can’t just show up to an airport with a bag this size and expect to travel. We did you a favor tonight.”

You sure did. Thanks for the $300 lesson on customer loyalty, focus, and service. It was worth every penny.

Update: There was quite a strong response to this post on Twitter, airliners.net, flyertalk.com, and other sites. I’m happy to report that Continental took the time to respond via Twitter, and they had a supervisor greet me in Newark to make sure everything was satisfactory on my return flight. The ticket agent in Frankfurt was courteous and efficient ($200 fee, and checked without clarification or incident in less than a minute). Although I’m not entirely satisfied with Continental’s response, I’m thankful that my complain didn’t go unheard.