Message-ID: <5969291.1075859545975.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 08:31:00 -0700 (PDT) From: gdavid@mdck.com To: elizabeth.sager@enron.com Subject: FW: FULL REPORT Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: "DAVID, GAIL" X-To: Elizabeth Sager X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Elizabeth_Sager_Dec2000\Notes Folders\Sager - general X-Origin: Sager-E X-FileName: esager.nsf HOPE THIS GETS TO YOU... > -----Original Message----- > From: Sekula, Marc [SMTP:Marc_Sekula@bmc.com] > Sent: Thursday, September 16, 1999 6:00 AM > To: 'GDavid@mdck.com' > Cc: 'ESager@enron.com' > Subject: FULL REPORT > > Gail, > > How's Ms. Kitty? We will moving to a different hotel in Stockholm on > Friday. We are currently staying at Hotel Ornskold, Nybrog 6, 11434 > Stockholm, Sweden. Phone 0114686670285. Our new hotel will be: Hotell > Diplomat, Strandv. 7C, s10440. > Telephone 46-8-663 58 00. > > The first leg of our flight left Houston 3 hours late. We missed the > connection to Amsterdam here in Newark. Continental Airlines had no > information or other assistance prepared for all its Boeing 777 passengers > deplaning here at 11:00 p.m. in Newark's airport. > > By 12:00 a.m., we learned we had already been re-booked for the same > flight > one DAY later (without consulting us, I might add). After we finally made > it through the line of other angry travelers, Continental informed us they > weren't required to, but were going to generously put us up in the closest > hotel that had rooms available. Saddle Brook, New Jersey. Howard > Johnson's Motel. > > What could we do? They claimed there were no other hotel accommodations > available. We went out to the end of the Monorail line where the ticket > agent had told us there would be a shuttle service waiting to take us the > 30-minute drive to the hotel. It was raining. And it was now 1:30 a.m. > > Which would have been fine, except for the fact that there was no > shuttle. > And there never was going to be a shuttle. It turns out, it just doesn't > exist. But we didn't learn of this until 2:30 a.m. (it's still raining at > 2:30 a.m.) > > So we trekked back into the terminal, where (naturally) the person who had > told us to use the shuttle was, by now, home and in bed and couldn't be > reached. We decided to take a cab anyway, risking the fact that there > might > not be a room available for us, there might not be a Howard Johnson's > Motel > in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, and, in fact, there might not even be a > Saddle > Brook, New Jersey. > > There is, as it turns out, a Saddle Brook, New Jersey. And there is a > Howard Johnson's Motel there. (Now think about the image in your head as > to > what a Howard Johnson's motel room looks like. I have no doubt that you > hit > the nail on the head: everything you would think it would be, and a lot, > lot cheaper.)But at least Continental Airlines gave us these very nice > vouchers for a free lunch at Howard Johnson's Motel for the next day. > > Which would have been fine, except for the fact that Howard Johnson's > doesn't serve lunch. And again, it's raining, and there are no cabs in > Saddle Brook, New Jersey. So, we decided to walk 6 blocks in the rain to > a > local breakfast place that had been suggested by the 3'7" hotel clerk at > Howard Johnson's (I'm not even going to go into that one.) The clerk had > suggested this breakfast place, and it was exactly what you'd expect to > find > in a town that smells like dead fish and machine lubricants. The waitress > talked to the guy at the next table about divorcing her husband of 26 > years, > while the guy she was talking to said he was going to "O.J. my wife." And > you can get your eggs any style you want: scrambled or sunny-side up. > Poached? No. Hardboiled? No. Soft-boiled? No. But any style you > want. > > > We are definitely in New Jersey. > > Continental Airlines, after learning of their earlier lies, volunteer to > give us a shuttle ride back to the airport this afternoon, on this bus > they > hired to go through Saddle Brook, New Jersey to pick up their various > stranded passengers. The bus indeed did pick us up on time, and we began > ride back to beautiful Newark. > > Which would have been fine, except for the Mack truck we rear-ended on the > New Jersey turnpike. > > Now, Gail, you know I'm not clever enough to make this stuff up. > > And our latest run-in with the customer service people in, it turns out, > the > Denver, Colorado office of Continental Airlines (led by Scott Sims, just > for > your records), and the charming and highly-educated Newark, New Jersey > staff > (led by a woman named Sonia Mirada, also for your records), has been the > worst experience I have ever had with an airline. But that would be the > subject of another email. > > Marc