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Southwest Airlines Community

Priority boarding

Frustratedashec
Explorer C

Frustrated as hec... sums up how I feel about your Customer Service. Have been trying to get a response from Southwest since NOVEMBER! Purchased round-trip tickets Detroit to Los Angeles, change at St. Louis both ways. Then Southwest stepped in and changed our itinerary. Change was OK in Chicago on way out to LAX, but then they re-routed us via Baltimore on return flight, which was an additional 1000 MILES to our journey. We were advised that layover time was short, but were told that there would be no problem with ongoing flight to Detroit, due to arrive at 7:50pm . Then flight was delayed "due to maintenance". We were advised to purchase priority boarding passes at $50 each, cost of $100 for husband and myself, so that we could be first off the flight at Baltimore. Boarded flight, Pilot's intercom message said flights were being held for all passengers. Arrived in Baltimore. Intercom message then said "Passengers to Detroit please meet your Southwest ticket agent for rebooking"... and we had More than 5 1/2 hour wait because the NEXT flight was also delayed. We were not the only people scammed by this Priority Boarding hustle and flight delays. Later, we discovered that the same problems had occurred throughout the week we traveled. Southwest desk personnel were well aware of delays and subsequent missed flights. When I tried calling your Customer Relations number, I was on hold for almost 40 minutes. Spoke with a pleasant young woman, who gave me another number to call, so I did that... only to be asked for Rapid Rewards number... WE DON'T HAVE ONE. No way to get to speak with a real person on that call. Tried emailing a message to the Southwest website, but have heard absolutely NOTHING since then. The booking agent gave us a $100 voucher for future travel... actually worth only $50 after we paid the priority boarding fee that was supposed to be useful always enjoyed the ease of travel with the airline. At this point, we don't know if we're ever going to fly Southwest again, which is a pity, as we have had good experiences before this nightmare.

4 REPLIES 4

Re: Priority boarding

bec102896
Aviator A
Solution

Sorry to hear about your experience. Flight delays and schedule changes are not fun but they do happen from time to time.

 

With the schedule change you do have the ability to make one change to your reservation at no charge to another flight that works better for you (within 14 days of original flight) so in the future keep that in mind in case there is another schedule change. 

 

Did you call 855-234-4654? If not that is the number to call for customer relations. I believe you would then hit option 5 for past travel complaint. You can also send Southwest a message on Twitter or Facebook and they can help through those channels as well. 

 

With not receiving a response to your message be sure to check your email spam/junk folder just in case the email landed in there by accident. 

 

-Blake

Re: Priority boarding

dfwskier
Aviator A

Sorry to her of your trouble.

 

The unfortunate truth of the matter is that kind of situation happens frequently on all airlines.

Re: Priority boarding

jksobonya
Aviator A

When did your flight change? If it was prior to when you actually flew (and not day of for example), you should have received an e-mail noting the change. When Southwest changes your flight(s), they give you a window to rebook your flight at no additional cost if you are not happy with the changes made.

 

"We were advised to purchase priority boarding passes at $50 each, cost of $100 for husband and myself, so that we could be first off the flight at Baltimore."

 

^Not entirely sure I agree with this advice. When you purchase priority boarding, there's no guarantee that you'll be first off the flight. It's possible that you could have gotten very similar seats without priority boarding. 

 

--Jessica 

Re: Priority boarding

Frustratedashec
Explorer C

Jessica... Our original boarding passes were Group B. With the Priority boarding, as first to board the plane, we had first choice of seats, so chose seats in the first couple of rows, thus also ensuring we would be first to deplane in Baltimore.