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Business Class Not Fulfilled with Service Animal - NO REFUND

kristin12
Explorer C

I booked a guaranteed business class seat that was five times the cost of a regular seat because I was traveling with a service animal and wanted to ensure we would be able to get on/off as quickly as possible. Yet, when I boarded there were no seats available. Southwest is refusing to even partially refund me (all I asked for was the difference between the regular versus business class seat). I understand SW doesn't assign seats but if you are paying extra for medical purposes being in the first 15 rows should be fulfilled. It is as simple as checking someone's ticket/what they paid for. This policy is ridiculous and as a frequent traveler I can confidently say that I will never fly Southwest again. DO NOT PAY EXTRA FOR ANYTHING WITH SOUTHWEST. This was an absolute scam and customer service could not have handled this in a more unpleasant way. This would cost the airline, at the most, a few hundred dollars to have a happy customer who would continue flying with them for decades. 

2 REPLIES 2

Re: Business Class Not Fulfilled with Service Animal - NO REFUND

chgoflyer
Aviator A

@kristin12 wrote:

I booked a guaranteed business class seat that was five times the cost of a regular seat because I was traveling with a service animal and wanted to ensure we would be able to get on/off as quickly as possible. Yet, when I boarded there were no seats available. Southwest is refusing to even partially refund me (all I asked for was the difference between the regular versus business class seat). I understand SW doesn't assign seats but if you are paying extra for medical purposes being in the first 15 rows should be fulfilled. It is as simple as checking someone's ticket/what they paid for. This policy is ridiculous and as a frequent traveler I can confidently say that I will never fly Southwest again. DO NOT PAY EXTRA FOR ANYTHING WITH SOUTHWEST. This was an absolute scam and customer service could not have handled this in a more unpleasant way. This would cost the airline, at the most, a few hundred dollars to have a happy customer who would continue flying with them for decades. 


 

 

Unfortunately, Southwest has no "business class." They do sell a perhaps questionably-named Business Select ticket, which guarantees you'll receive a boarding position no higher than A-15, which means you'll be among the first 15 non-preboard passengers to board the plane. I'm curious as to how you could board that early and find "no seats available"? Perhaps you didn't realize that you needed to be at the gate and ready to board before boarding began?

 

In any case, there was really no reason to "pay extra for medical purposes," as your disability would likely have allowed you and your service dog to pre-board. This would have very likely given you your choice of almost any seat on the plane.

 

Hopefully you'll find this info helpful for the future.

Re: Business Class Not Fulfilled with Service Animal - NO REFUND

bec102896
Aviator A

If you are traveling with a service animal you can request to pre board. You didn't need to pay extra to get the "business Select" ticket. 

 

With seats not being available I only see 3 ways that this happens 

1. Your on a connection flight and your first flight was late and your 2nd flight had started boarding before you arrived

2. You were late to the gate at boarding 

3. Southwest has flights that go from A-B-C-D also called a thru flight in this case if someone is going From A-C on the same plane they get to stay on the plane when the plane arrives at midway point B and FAs usually allow those staying on the plane to switch seats before your flight boards. In this case I occasionally see lots of thru passengers but the most i have seen was 57 (a group booking that i was apart of and another volleyball team) that was 4 years a go. Now days the most I have seen is 19 (was actually last night on a DTW-BNA-PHX route) even with this many people it won't make every seat taken. sure maybe the bulk head is full but rows 2-11 should have at least 1 seat for you if you boarded in your A1-15 group when it was called. 

 

Your welcome to Contact Customer Relations however I'm not sure there is much they can do other than document your feedback. 

 

-Blake