Dear Continental:

I was a passenger this evening on CO 439 (MCO-EWR). Shortly after boarding and settling into my 3-day upgrade F seat on a 752 (Thanks!!) and the receipt of or pre-departure drink service, the pilot informed us of an ATC delay at EWR. Considering the weather that enveloped the NE corridor this evening, I am not all that upset by the delay that my flight endured (though that may just be the entire stock of red wine – yes, they ran out – plus a few V&Ts talking), nor the fact that we were asked to deplane and wait in the terminal rather than in the much more comfortable BF seats. The gate agents in Orlando and the flight crew were all very professional and kept us informed of everything going on throughout the entire delay process (though if you up the mic volume from gate 4 to actually reach the Azalea Café/bar I wouldn’t complain).

We finally got airborne about two hours late, and thanks to the delay a couple confirmed F pax deplaned, allowing me to get the ever elusive companion upgrade for my co-worker on the great 752 – he appreciates it as well. We actually made it from MCO to the Virginia area in about 1:30, which I pretty normal for the route. Sadly, at this point we started a holding pattern that actually lasted slightly longer than it took us to get to Virginia. And thanks to the details provided by the awesome flight map on the fancy IFE that you offer on your 752s, I am very aware that we traveled just over 2000 miles on tonight’s flight, more than double the booked 938 for the route. Having now been airborne for just about 4 hours for a 2 hour flight (plus 2.5 delayed departure), I want to thank the pilot for taking on the necessary extra fuel to handle such a rare event for EWR arrival (ATC/Weather delays) and also ask if it is possible to request that I be credited for the actual miles flown, rather than the scheduled route credit. True, the extra miles might not really mean all that much in the grand scheme of things, but with the extra 1000+ miles I believe that I can forego a scheduled Mileage Run to ANC to requalify for Platinum (Yeah, I messed up the planning on that one) and otherwise gain a few extra RDMs that I think I’ve earned by spending as much time circling VA and PA as I should’ve spent flying to EWR. True, we didn’t have to divert, and perhaps that is sufficient “compensation” (yup, I used that scary word, though I really don’t mean it), but the extra miles really wouldn’t bother me at all.

Thank you for considering this request.

Sincerely,
sbm12
CO HXnnnnnn
Platinum, but only barely