@jkeith00 wrote:
Oh goodie… another “top contributor” to ignore the actual complaint and tell me how wrong my contextual information is. 🙄
I'm really not trying to be argumentative here. But since this is not a customer service channel (it's a peer-to-peer forum) all we can do is provide info based on our knowledge of how things work at Southwest. You'll need to contact Southwest directly if you're looking for an explanation of how the system failed you, a refund of your EBCI fee and/or compensation, or, as I suggested, potential help before your return flight. Otherwise, you're going to get unvarnished opinions from strangers. That's how the internet works. 😉
I will point out a few personal observations:
-- The rep who gave you preboarding, it can be assumed, thought they were being helpful. They apparently had no idea that your desired seat was in the exit row (and this was not expressed to them).
-- Anyone who has traveled on Southwest enough to earn A-List should be aware that preboarders aren't allowed to sit in the exit row, as this is part of the pre-flight gate PA announcements. If you honestly weren't aware of this (perhaps you've received A-List as some sort of promotion and aren't overly familiar with Southwest) I can see how learning this on the plane in the manner you did would be upsetting.
-- Even with your BP marked for preboarding (or being given a preboard slip) you still could have chosen to board either at the end of the A group or at your originally assigned position.
-- The flight attendants on board the plane have no idea why a particular person has pre-boarded. They do know, however, that per FAA rule preboards cannot sit in an exit row. They are required to enforce this rule.
-- I suspect they were unable to verify your "reason" for preboarding since the person who gave that to you was not at the gate area, but back at the baggage check desk. (Although I'm not sure if it would have made any difference at that point, since you had technically preboarded.)
In the end, it absolutely does sound like you were caught up in a series of errors that led to a less than wonderful flying experience. It's unfortunate. But sadly things like this do happen.
At this point, you have a few options available to you, all of which have been stated earlier.
Good luck!
