Bereavement - Customer Service

[mutze001]

I have been a Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Visa card member for over four years.  I have spent thousands of dollars on this credit card relating to Southwest Airlines vacation packages and other outside expenses. 

Several months ago, I booked my SW Rapid Reward points to pay for my daughter and I round trip tickets from Dallas Love Field to Las Vegas to celebrate my granddaughters 11 birthday and tickets to her favorite singer “Shanai Twain”.  We arrived in Vegas on Friday; 5/10 morning and I received a call later that evening (6:30pm) Vegas time telling me about an unexpected death in our family.  My daughter immediately called SW to book me a flight out that evening which could not be done, so they booked me on the first flight at 6am on Saturday, 5/11. 

This call took almost two hours as your agent canceled my daughters flight home after promising her that he would not compromise this flight.  Then, the agent made me pay over $400 for my one-way ticket home and put me in the C35 position of boarding!  First, is this really how you treat your long-time customers who have spent thousands of dollars with your Visa card and your business?  We explained the entire situation with your agent, so there is no excuse there.  I didn’t expect to incur no fees – as this would have been customer service that no longer exists in this world.  However, a change fee and maybe A type boarding would have NOT been too much to ask.  Instead, the long walk to the back of the plane of which there were several open seats, was embarrassing as I was trying to hold my grief inside the best I could. 

I will allow you (Southwest Airlines) the next days to make this right by me.  This will determine how I move forward with this communication further.

*Reminder – there are several travel credit cards to select when you have great credit, so when yours is selected, you should take care of your loyal customer as you commit to in your advertisements.  You fell very short in this case!!!

[dfwskier]

Sorry to hear of your loss.

When your daughter booked you a new flight home, that is what it was: A NEW FLIGHT. When one books anew flight, one has to pay the going rate for the flight. That is apparently what ahppened in your case. Tickets boguht for travel in "the next few days" cost lots more than tickets bought in advance -- that happens at all airlines including Southwest.

 Since you say you hve been a RR CC member for over 4 years, i presume tht means you at least occasionally get on a plane. So you should know that people start checking in for flights 24 hours before departure. That means that when you got your ticket Friday night for a flight on Saturday morning that window to get boarding positions had alredy been open for half a day. LOTS OF PEOPLE had aleady checked in. There was no way for an agent  to "give" you an A boarding spot becaue they had already all been handed out.. You got the best position that was available at the time you checked in.

[bec102896]

I thought the credit cards came with free upgraded boarding several per year depending on the card you have. You charge it to your card then you get a statement credit for it 

[DancingDavidE]

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@bec102896 wrote:

I thought the credit cards came with free upgraded boarding several per year depending on the card you have. You charge it to your card then you get a statement credit for it 

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There is still a tier that doesn’t include it, I forget the names of the card tiers. 

[05bardic]

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@DancingDavidE wrote:

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@bec102896 wrote:

I thought the credit cards came with free upgraded boarding several per year depending on the card you have. You charge it to your card then you get a statement credit for it 

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There is still a tier that doesn’t include it, I forget the names of the card tiers. 

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The card with the lowest annual fee (only $69) offers EBCI instead of Upgraded Boarding. I think that one is called the Premier RR card. 

[StAugustine]

Yes. I have the $69 annual fee card and get 2 EBCIs per year. But in the OP's case when the flight was booked the EBCI window had already closed as it was less than 36 hours before the flight.