Here’s their response:

Dear Mr. Stockton

Thank you for your concerns. I sincerely, apologize for the rude behavior that you described on flight 1557 August 07, 2008 from our flight attendant.

I value your business and hope you will not judge us based solely on the behavior of the employee you encountered.  This experience is not typical of the level of service we expect from our co-workers.  Your concerns were submitted to a monthly Customer Care report reviewed by all of our respective Airport General Managers and senior management as an opportunity to improve our local services.

It’s especially helpful that you were able to provide me a physical description of the employee.  I am confident every effort will be made to locate the employee involved and immediate corrective action will be taken.

For more information on our commitment to provide you the highest level of customer service, please visit our website at  http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/customerfirst.aspx

Regards,

Gwendolyn Harris
Customer Care Manager

Any ideas on how to milk this more? Maybe get money back or a free flight that I can only hope to get abused on as well?

To Whom It May Concern,

It is my understanding that Continental Airlines tries their best to provide top notch customer service every step of the way from initial flight reservations to stepping off the plane at a customer’s final destination. In order to make you aware of my experience, hopefully future conflicts can be avoided for other customer’s sake and Continental can continue to be an airline dedicated to superior customer service.

On Thursday, August 7, 2008, I was on flight CO 1557 YN, IAH to DEN leaving at 2:35PM and arriving at 4:00PM. I was under the impression from the in flight crew and numerous announcements before boarding that it was preferable to place my carry-on bag underneath the seat in front of where I was sitting in order to make room for other passenger’s bigger bags since it was a full flight. Again, I was told this at least 3 times from various people and announcements, and also thought it was a good idea. My carry on bag measures 22″ long by 14″ wide by 9″ deep which is 45 linear inches–well within your allowed carry on specifications. I thought that it would be no problem whatsoever to go ahead and place my bag underneath the seat in front of me. Since I am 6’1″ and enjoy having more leg room, and would be more than happy to help passengers out of the plane in the event of an emergency, I chose to sit in the exit row, seat 12A. It occurred to me that having a bag underneath a seat that is also an exit row might be a problem, but when I put it under the seat, I made sure that it was in no way in front of the emergency exit hatch.

This is where the problem arose. A tall, black, male flight attendant was standing in the aisle ready to do the in-flight demonstration of how the seat belts, air mask, etc. work, and starts looking at me and then away  several times with a strange face. I didn’t make anything of this until he started staring at me. He then proceeded to ask me in a loud voice, “Why is your bag under that seat?” I answered, “I thought I could put it there.” After several more moments of making more funny faces, looking away and grimacing with his eyes tightly shut, he almost shouted, “No! It can’t be there! This is an exit row.” He sighed heavily, looking at me and then saying in a belittling and drawn out tone, “On every flight, there has to be one. There’s always one guy, and you’re that guy!”  I was speechless, and awaiting further direction. At that point another passenger joined in and said to the flight attendant, “Are you going to make an example out of him?”  He replied, “No, I’m going to make him clean the plane after this.” He then gestured for my bag, and in a demanding tone said, “Alright, Give me your bag!”  I gave it to him. He held it up high in the aisle, pointing to it several times, while making more contorted faces, and then pointed at me several times, to make sure everyone knew whose bag it was. After putting my bag away in an overhead bin, he pointed at me again and asked, “Is that thing on?!”, referring to my iPhone which I had turned off before entering the plane, and before the multiple announcements that all electronic devices should be switched off. Bewildered, and utterly shocked, I simply replied, “No.”

To say the least, I was appalled. The whole exchange that happened was embarrassing, belittling, frightening and downright disrespectful. I would have been more than happy to move my bag myself before the plane had started moving had one of the many flight attendants who passed by multiple times who no doubt saw my bag underneath the seat in front of me had said something earlier. I would have not even put it under the seat in front of me had I known that there would be a problem having a bag underneath a seat in an exit row even if it wasn’t blocking access to the emergency exit hatch.

I am relaying this information in hopes that I can be assured that:

1) This kind of conversation or experience will never happen again on a Continental Airplane.
2) I can recommend Continental Airlines to friends and family.
3) I, myself can fly Continental with the peace of mind that I will no longer have to worry about something like this happening again.

I also hope to hear from someone who can make this right very soon. Please feel free to call or write me as soon as possible.

Regards,

Dann Stockton

Stay tuned for the exciting Continental response!