Switched to an earlier flight before checking a bag but bag tagged on my original flight

[emh512]

After switching my flight to an earlier flight at the counter, the agent tagged my bag as going on my original flight. Two other members in my party did the same switch but had their bags correctly sent on the new earlier flight.  When I arrived at my destination, I was told I should wait until my bag arrives on the later flight or I could pay to have the bag delivered to my home. The agent would not budge and was adamant that Southwest would not deliver the bag to me for free (despite it being Southwest's error) because when you switch flights there is no guarantee that your bag makes it! But it was tagged to the wrong flight! This is not a case where it was checked and then I switched flights. So I am currently waiting at the airport with the other two people in my party for the later flight to arrive. Please advise who to speak with concerning this matter. I am understandably upset about wasting my time and the time of everyone else in my party.

[bec102896 · Accepted solution]

Sorry to hear about your situation it’s not fun to wait around for a later flight after you moved to the earlier flight. Did you check your bag tag receipt when you checked your bag? Anytime I check a bag. I will always check the receipt just to make sure it is tagged correctly because I had a situation similar to yours and I had to wait or come back the next day.

you can share your feedback with Southwest directly by clicking on the contact us link at the bottom of this page and somebody will reach out to you. If you paid the fair difference you might even politely ask them to refund that since you’re stuck waiting for that late flight anyway you could always provide your friends confirmation as proof that theirs was done correctly while yours was done wrong. 

In the future, always check the bag receipt before you leave the counter takes two seconds, and hopefully will avoid these problems in the future. 

[emh512]

Hi - Very true that I wished I had checked the flight number on the tag. I did see that the bag was going to the correct destination but didn't check the flight number.

I did not pay a fare difference since I am an A List member.

Thanks for your response. I will be following up with SW Customer Service today.

[dfwskier]

Sorry to hear that this happened to you.

The only way for this to happen is for the agent to print the bag tag before he/she made the flight switch. Once the switch is made there is no way for the system to print a bag tag with the wrong information.

As said up thread,  complain to SW. You are likely to score a voucher for your trouble, and if not, at least an apology.

[DancingDavidE]

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@dfwskier wrote:

Sorry to hear that this happened to you.

The only way for this to happen is for the agent to print the bag tag before he/she made the flight switch. Once the switch is made there is no way for the system to print a bag tag with the wrong information.

As said up thread,  complain to SW. You are likely to score a voucher for your trouble, and if not, at least an apology.

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Agreed - the agent can't arbitrarily send your bag on a different flight, they must have already printed the tags before you made the switch, and then accidentally put them on instead of printing new tags.

Once you were switched then they won't be able to print the wrong tags.

Not that this wouldn't still suggest a voucher for you, but I think the timing is different than what you are saying up above. The labels had to be printed while you were still on the later flight.

[floridaguy]

In my actual experience, once a bag is checked it is almost never possible to alter that destination.  The reasons are simple - imagine the back and forth once a bag is checked to pull that bag and reprocess the destination.

While it is tempting to grab an earlier flight, do so when you first arrive at the airport so that your bag is initially checked for the earlier flight.  

Once you check a bag, that bag's destination is almost always cemented in its original flight.

[emh512]

Hi Floridaguy -

I did exactly what you described. We did not use a kiosk and a customer service agent switched our flight and printed out the claim tags for us.

Upon arriving at the airport, the three of us went to the same SW agent to ask about switching our flight to an earlier flight that departed in an hour. After the agent said there was room on the earlier flight, all three of us (on separate reservations) checked our bags. All three of us received boarding passes to the earlier flight from the agent, yet my bag was tagged to the later flight, and my two friends' bags were tagged to the earlier flight. This is clearly an agent error, which I didn't catch because I didn't check my claim tag.

Yes, I wish I would have checked, but my failure to catch the agent's error shouldn't result in (1) my having to wait an extra 2.5 hours at the airport on arrival and (2) paying to uber home alone since I insisted my friends with the car at the airport head home without me. The worst part was perhaps the attitude of the employee at baggage claim, who robotically kept saying bags are not guaranteed if I switched my flight. Not only was I never told that, but my bag had no opportunity to make the earlier flight since it was mistagged.

[floridaguy]

Okay - I misunderstood.

From what you are saying the agent handled it wrong.  The rest of my post tells you the rest of the story, unfortunately.

This should involve a LUV Voucher to you as well.

[emh512]

Thanks - I will contact Southwest today and see what happens.

I appreciate your help.