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Getting to Bonaire: Continental service
Bonaire Talk: Getting to Bonaire: Continental service
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By superd (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #126) on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - 11:43 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I thought it appropriate to share with you the communication I have sent to:

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/Contact/solutions/default.aspx

If you are also tired of the service and support at Flamingo you might also choose to comment. When I see the piles of luggage and lines there I find it truly frustrating. We deserve better than this and need to let it be known.>>

Continental flies to Bonaire BON either from EWR or HOU and we fly both routes and the comments apply to both services.

1. Departing flights either route are handled very professionally and smoothly.

2. The problem arises when your luggage is tagged priority!! BON is a small airport and the priority luggage is ALWAYS the last off the plane and on to the carousel. This results in all the first class passengers being cleared first thru immigration and waiting crowding the luggage area until most of the passengers have retrieved and cleared customs before theirs even arives on the carousel.

3. The early morning departures typically leave around 7.00am it is beyond frustrating that at 5.00am there is seldom anyone at the CUTE terminals and the line is out of the terminal and down the block. Typically sometime after 5.30am someone will arrive to assist in checking elite access and first class. Sometime after this an additional line opens for general checkin.

4. Typically anyone arriving after 5.00am essentially only has time to clear security and walk to the plane. This is invariably compounded when flights are departing both to EWR and HOU on the same morning. Invariably complete boarding is a protracted and delayed event.

5. It is impossible for me to be exactly specific about this because the flight times are seasonal. This is a routine occurence on a route that we fly at least every other month. The experience at this airport BON is a direct effect of your ground service there and is a total contradiction from the experience that we have had throughout the rest of your system.

6. Being an Elite status on your line we fortunately are relieved of some of the aggravation that I have outlined but every morning that I have to bypass the general check in I regard your service as an insult to your loyal customers. I am posting a copy of this on a forum www.oldbonairetalk.com you would do well to monitor the comments there. You have a lot of customers there and we deserve better than this at BON and certainly receive it in the rest of your system. If you really appreciate our business and hope to see us again soon you need to do some serious but simple service upgrades here.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Patrick Matthew White (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #142) on Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 12:12 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Superd:
I agree with all of the above. I would first ask for more reasonable travel times for a route that I believe has been very lucrative for Continental. I will also send my sentiments to the above. All of what you speak of could be improved. If it isn't: "at least let your customers endure this at a decent hour after a good sleep and a full belly"!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Vince DePietro-www.bonairebeachcondo.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3390) on Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 7:36 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Departing Bonaire with the long lines at Flamingo airport @ 05:00 is always a bit of a nightmare.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By GlassFloat (BonaireTalker - Post #12) on Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 8:51 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Please share any response you get with us! It would be great for travelers and the islanders for Continental to hire more counter staff and ground crew. They are certainly making enough money off those packed flights.

BTW you can always ask around the cabbies and drivers when you get to the airport - they seem to have the most reliable, timely info on delays. You might have time to go to breakfast then come back when the lines are shorter. If the incoming flight is 1-1.5 hours delayed there's no point waiting around.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Denise Johnston (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #6) on Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 2:47 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Based on this and several other posts I've read, I take it that if leaving BON on the 7:30a flight to Houston, we should get to the airport no later than 5a? This would be the Sunday morning flight rather than the Saturday morning flight if that matters.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By superd (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #127) on Sunday, January 16, 2011 - 3:42 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

fwiw:

Thank you for the correspondence regarding service provided by our Bonaire airport agents. Your e-mail came to my attention at the Continental Executive office, and I appreciate this opportunity to respond.

I sincerely apologize for any negative impression that may have been created. The resulting frustration and disappointment are understandable.

Your comments are taken seriously and have been forwarded to our airport supervisor there as well as included in an internal report to senior management. We hope you will notice a marked improvement in service there during 2011.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kate Hickson (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #386) on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - 8:13 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

superd-
So, is there no point, really, in arriving at Flamingo at 5:00am if you are only going to stand in an interminable line that doesn't even move for another hour and a half? I am flying this route in Feb for the first time, and standing in a mile-ong line at 5:00am, tired, and getting bitten by mosquitoes sounds pretty frustrating. If we all have assigned seats, why can't I just show up at 6:30 and get in line?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By superd (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #128) on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - 2:26 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Kate

imho there is no good option. Arrive at 5.00 and the line is out the terminal. Arrive 6.30 you will be last on the plane. No matter what you do there are lines. At checkin, for tax. security and now the computers are so slow at immigration it backs up thru security. We have often been sitting on the plane 20 min late still boarding stragglers, no overhead for them having to check roll ons. Every so often one gets lucky and it is very smooth especially away from the holidays. If KLM is off schedule then all bets are off!!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kate Hickson (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #387) on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - 5:12 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks, superd...that's pretty much what I thought, right down to the waiting 20 mins past take-off time for "stragglers" who were just caught at the end of the line. Well, I'll just go and enjoy my vacation and the last day is what it is. I'll probably arrive on the later side since there seems no point in being one of the first in line (you just wait longer), and still there's no guarantee you'll get any overhead space since they call by "groups", don't they? PS- LOVE the people who sit in the back of the plane but put their stuff in the overhead bins of the first couple of rows! I watched a woman do that at Christmas, along with the bags of her 2 kids.

 


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