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Complain about Boarding

Okida
Explorer C

Dear all,

 

I would like to complain about my last experience with Southwest. The attendant on the boarding gate was extremely rude and so was the crew on board. 

 

Our flight was from LAS to SDF on 4th of July, number 107 @ 6:50pm.

 

We tried to board but the attendant at the gate told us that it was not our turn. So we went in other line and again she told us that it was not our turn. We are foreigners and obviously we were not understanding the boarding process. Than we decided to wait until the last passenger board. 

Just after the last passenger go in, she asked if we were going to Louisville and we answered, Yes! and begin to get our bags to go onboard. 

After that she closed the gate’s door in our face without say a word!!! 

Almost ten minutes later she came back from the tunnel and did our boarding (acting as if nothing had happened). 

 

For the things became worse, when we arrived at the plane the crew was making jokes because we were the last passengers to go onboard!!!

 

I can not believe that this behavior is what Southwest expects from yours employees. We are frequent flyers and never passed thru this situation in any other company all over the world. We felt extremely disrespected and we hope this never happens again with another passenger.

 

Sincerely,

Diogo Nunes Okida

3 REPLIES 3

Re: Complain about Boarding

Passenger1C
Aviator C

As another passenger, I’m sorry for the experience you had. I’m sure you felt embarrassed and a little bit let-down. The gate agents with Southwest are usually the best in the business. Sorry you walked away feeling that you were treated poor. Also, assuming that this was your first time on Southwest, the airline does things a little differently from others.

 

Just like other airlines, there is a standard boarding process. It sounds like your confusion was with your boarding group? On    Southwest’s website (https://mobile.southwest.com/boarding-the-plane) it clearly calls out how the boarding takes place. Sorry that this was not explained to you.

 

As for the crew making comments about you being the last to board, its the culture of the airline and not meant to be hurtful. The humor is one of my personal favorites about Southwest. 

 

If you would like to express your concerns with Southwest you can contact them via Twitter in a DM or you can call customer relations at 855-234-4654 and explain your experience.

 

SWA Passenger, Community Champion

Re: Complain about Boarding

CareforNOLA
Frequent Flyer A

I am so sorry this happened to you.  As @Passenger1C mentioned, Southwest’s boarding process is different.  I am sad that the gate agent did not ask the simple question of “is this your first time?” Or that they did not notice your number and say “you will board with the last group so line up by the posts showing your number when I announce the C group should line up.”

 

 The gate agent must be used to the experienced passengers and missed your confusion.   I am very sorry this happened and hope the rest of your journey went well. 

Re: Complain about Boarding

LindseyD
Retired Community Manager
Solution

Hello @Okida,

 

Thank you for sharing your story with the Southwest Community. On behalf of Southwest, I'm truly sorry for the way this situation was handled. We should have taken time to explain the boarding process to you if you weren't familiar with it. We do board differently than other airlines, and I'm sorry that instead of offering to help, we left you confused. One of the things we try to focus on is providing Hospitality to our Customers, but I can see that in your situation we missed the mark. 

 

I hope that you'll give us another opportunity to serve you. I am very confident that we can do a better job and provide the kind of experience that you deserve and expect. Sincerely, we thank you for the feedback so that we can make sure we're training our Employees to handle these situations better in the future.