FareCompare.com subscriber Catherine Carlozzi enjoyed a perfectly lovely vacation in Amsterdam earlier this month, and, expected a perfectly uneventful flight home. Unfortunately, Continental flight 71 to Newark was all too eventful: It was dirty, and it was disgusting.
And it smelled like hell, too.
The problem? Well, for starters, all the lavatories quit working. So the jet was diverted to Irelands Shannon for repairs. The passengers sat in the plane, and waited. And waited and waited. Hours later, it was decided everyone would overnight there, while those malfunctioning toilets were taken care of.
But the next day (June 14), the sun was shining again: the toilets were fine, the passengers cheered, and the jet took off. But the cheering didn't last long! As soon as the plane got airborne, some of the toilets overflowed. And they overflowed right out the lavatory doors and into the aisles. We are talking raw sewage here. Stinking, liquid sewage. One woman had the misfortune of seeing this mess ooze right up to her sandal clad feet. Ultimately, only two of the toilets could still be used, and they had to be used very gently. Let's put it this way: passengers told us they were asked not to use any toilet paper.
Meanwhile, some of the flight attendants did what they could to contain the seepage, but nothing seemed to work. Some of these flight attendants, by the way, wore plastic head coverings, gloves, and masks. Were the passengers offered any such protection? No, they were not.
Did the passengers mutiny? Did they scream and moan and threaten the crew? Absolutely not. According to Catherine, folks on the plane rose to the occasion: they bonded with each other, and were "kind" to each other. And Catherine. for one, was never happier to see Newark: We had to hold it for most of the flight; thought I'd die getting to a john when we landed!
So did the survivors get a refund? Did they get any money back on this trip to hell? Well, no. But they did got a voucher, worth $115 toward a future Continental flighta voucher Catherine isn't sure she'll ever use: The thought of getting on a plane fills me with revulsion. Something else that fills her with revulsion is her failure to hear a direct apology from Continental.
We at FareCompare.com contacted Continental, asking for their side of the story, and public affairs spokesperson Mary Clark emailed us the following statement:
Flight 71 from Amsterdam to Newark on June 13, 2007 developed an unusual problem shortly after departure that caused the lavatories on the aircraft to become inoperative. Despite a diversion to Shannon for repairs which ultimately necessitated an overnight stay, the problem recurred the following day while the aircraft was airborne over the Atlantic . Upon arrival in Newark , the problem was eventually traced to a foreign object clogging the system.
Continental has apologized to passengers for the inconvenience and discomfort caused by this unfortunate incident. Following the flight, Continental's corporate staff contacted many of the passengers to discuss the incident and the airline's response. The airline has presented travel certificates to all the passengers on the flight as a gesture of our appreciation for their goodwill and patience.
The gesture's not good enough for Catherine, or for Laurie Grossman who's feet touched the sewage. Grossman's proximity to the mess may explain why she was offered a $500 voucher; the amount of the vouchers seems to vary from passenger to passenger. Why that was, Continental won't say.
Oh, and they finally figured out what the foreign object was, that clogged the system: latex gloves. Huh?
Meanwhile, a visit to Continental's website brought us to a section called Customer First which spokesperson Clark characterized as the airline's commitment to its passengers. Nothing in it deals precisely with the matter at hand but there is a paragraph that reads, "Continental will make every reasonable effort to provide food, water, restroom facilitiesonboard an aircraft that is on the ground for an extended period of time" There's also a section that begins, "Our goal is to make every flight a safe and pleasant experience"
Look, we don't think Continental is a terrible airline; after all, this year, Continental won headlines for having the most satisfied customers among U.S. network carriers, according to the latest J.D. Power and Associates North America Airline Satisfaction Study.
But, every now and then, even a good airline, can do really stupid things. Just ask Catherine Carlozzi and the others who took the horror flight.