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Canceled and changed flight

brittonlockhart
Explorer C

Can someone please explain how this can happen. My family and I booked a flight in December for a departure on 2/17.  We checked in 24 hours prior to our flight that was scheduled for 7:30 PM on 2/17. We were successful and in group A!

Then 1 hour and 17 minutes later, I get a text that the flight has been canceled.  Then 17 minutes after that, I get a second text stating that we have been rebooked on an earlier flight at 4:20 PM on 2/17. That is great and all EXCEPT for my job and my family who has school and work.  Now we are scrambling to see what we can do to either keep our rebooked reservations for the 4:20 flight, or reschedule for a different day.  But we have a rental car and a paid hotel room at our destination based on our original flight.  We also were not going to miss any work or school with our original flight.  This is very inconvenient.  

I tried "talking" through the app with a robot and didn't get any where.  Then we called SW.  1 hour and 51 minutes later, we finally got a human.  I explained our situation for about 5 minutes and then was put on hold again for another 10 minutes.  There was nothing they could really do but offer us spaces on different flights IF there is room.  That is convenient for SW, but not for my family.

Has anyone else had a similar situation or problem like this and how was it resolved?  I am extremely upset because I have been scrambling to try to make changes to my schedule to make it work for the rebooked flight and SW doesn't seem to care.  I even asked for Luv voucher and that wasn't an option, but I could file a complaint to see if my complaint is valid.  I don't normally vent and complain, but SW says they are transparent and care about there customers and I don't feel that is accurate in my situation.

Thanks for listening...

7 REPLIES 7

Re: Canceled and changed flight

bwallet
Frequent Flyer A

That's just part of travel. Unfortunately, these things happen. One thing that you can know for sure is that Southwest didn't cancel your original flight for fun. There was a reason. Perhaps the pilot is sick, and they can't find another. Perhaps bad weather in Omaha last night caused a canceled flight that cascaded down to your flight. Unfortunately, that's just life. When you fly, you need to build some degree of flexibility into your schedule. Life happens.

Re: Canceled and changed flight

brittonlockhart
Explorer C

I understand, but it was very frustrating when we arrived to our destination after all the changes to see the original flight still happened and touched down. I’m not sure why we were “canceled” when we had gotten our boarding group “A”. 
I know it happens, but it seemed very inconvenient for me and my family. 

we still managed our trip and enjoyed it despite the setbacks that SW caused. 
thanks everyone 

Re: Canceled and changed flight

chgoflyer
Aviator A

It's possible that a plane swap occurred, from a larger 737-800 or MAX8 (175 seats) to a smaller 700 (143 seats). Unfortunately, it's no one's guess but Southwest's as to why your particular group was moved. But these things do happen, as said above it's all part of air travel.

 

Once your trip is completed, I'd suggest you reach out to Southwest via the web form "email." A short message highlighting the inconvenience you experienced may garner a small voucher as a customer service accommodation.

Re: Canceled and changed flight

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

A flight that departs 3 hours prior to your original planned departure is inconvenient, but a 3 hour adjustment is hardly worth getting upset about.  As @bwallet said, that's just part of traveling.  I'd hate to see how you would feel if the flight was cancelled and no other flight was offered to you, as has happened to me on other airlines.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Canceled and changed flight

dfwskier
Aviator A

@TheMiddleSeat wrote:

A flight that departs 3 hours prior to your original planned departure is inconvenient, but a 3 hour adjustment is hardly worth getting upset about.  

 

I have to disagree with themiddleseat a bit about that. If the 3 hour change requires you to make significant changes to your plans, you probably do have a reason to be upset.

 

As both previous posters said though, these types of things happen every day on every airline. Cancellations happen. Inconvenient rebookings happen. It is an unfortunate reality. of air travel. That sometimes requires travelers to be unpleasantly flexibile.

 

SW will allow you to make a no cost change to the reservation. People cancel reservations all the time, so my recommendation would be that you look at the website several times to see if something better opens up. If it does, snag it.

 

Good luck

Re: Canceled and changed flight

bwallet
Frequent Flyer A

I certainly would never say that there isn't reason to be upset. It sucks. I have a flight next month that was canceled, and I'm going to have to miss a half a day of work because of it. I'm upset. But, that's the way life happens, and you need to just figure things out and adjust. It isn't fair, but many things in life are worse.

 

What gets me is when people say that their flight was delayed/canceled, and they missed a cruise or a wedding or something else. If something is that important, you have to build slack into your schedule because that's what is involved in flying.

Re: Canceled and changed flight

Wiscswest
Explorer C

Sometimes people just need to vent.  I think this chat area is great but hearing what southwest would say to the customer may be true, but doesn’t really offer what they came here for many times.  I had a similar situation that bumped me into the next day, causing to miss a paid day of Airbnb, car, etc.  

This was about 18 months ago and Covid was high, but after calling, I was offered substantial vouchers for all parties.  I understand.  I had about 9 flights last year with southwest and every flight changed somewhat.  They have a business to run, get it.  But they also need to keep their customers happy.  Hope your vacation was great!