Terrible customer service experience

[Loganton84]

I paid for a flights several weeks in advance. Destination flight was decent but when I arrived at the airport to return home, m told my flight is cancelled and I need to contact customer service to request a refund. I was stranded at Hartsfield INTNL airport at 640am on a Sunday, with no way home! The customer service rep at check in said they could refund me but to wait at least 72 hrs to see the refund and that they could book me on another flight but not until 2 days later. There was no remorse, no attempts or offers to book me thru another airline or even help cover any costs. My original round trip tickets thru southwest were $240.....because of terrible customer service and an u willingness to assist, I had to book a one way flight thru DELTA (leaving 7 hrs later) for $644!!!!!

I literally had no choice because I have to work the next day. Flew into GA to see my 8 ur old for a daddy-daughter dance and ended up being slapped by SOUTHWEST AIRLINES for something I had no control over. Called customer service, they say sorry but there's nothing they can do. Not everybody can just toss around $644 at the drop of a hat like this airline can! 

Website days they think of themselves as a customer service company that happens to fly planes but I TBOROUGHLY disagree! At this point, me nor my family will be using southwest again. I'm extremely disappointed and upset at the lack of accommodation that I recieved!!!

[dfwskier]

Sorry to hear that your flight was cancelled.

I understand your frustration about not being able to get home. It has happened to me, too.

But the airline cannot give you a seat if it does not have a vacant seat to give you. Hence the 2 day wait. Seats open and close frequently, so a seat could have opened up 10 minutes later or 2 hours later, but not be available now. Another option would have been to try to fly to a different airport near your final destination (you didn't say where that is). The key in these situation is to try to stay flexible.

As far as your additional costs go, I presume you were dealing with a weather event. NO AIRLINE in America picks up costs involved in an act of god. Airlines do pick up costs when  it's not an act of god (ie broken plane, flight crew doesn't show, etc). That's just an unfortunate reality.

You might want to e-mail customer service to ask for accommodation. To do so, click on "contact us" at the bottom of this page and pick e-mail from the methods of contact listed on the top left of the ensuing page.

[Loganton84]

I understand weather as a reason. I can understand being flexible. I needed to fly to detroit and I WAS THE ONE giving options which is a problem. I suggested flying to flint, Toledo etc. With this happening, I have no choice but to be flexible but a handshake and a have a nice day doesn't support stellar customer service....especially when other airlines are flying to the same destination the same day. The best action yo preserve a reputation would to say "let's see if we can do d you a flight with another carrier." Understanding that I booked a flight on a day for a reason. I may be just one person but it doesn't make me any less important than the other people, who had the same flight, in that position.

As stated, customer service will continuously hear from me via whatever options available because I refuse to believe that is fair/normal for a companing that prides itself in customer service.

[chgoflyer]

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@Loganton84 wrote:

I understand weather as a reason. I can understand being flexible. I needed to fly to detroit and I WAS THE ONE giving options which is a problem. I suggested flying to flint, Toledo etc. With this happening, I have no choice but to be flexible but a handshake and a have a nice day doesn't support stellar customer service....especially when other airlines are flying to the same destination the same day. The best action yo preserve a reputation would to say "let's see if we can do d you a flight with another carrier." Understanding that I booked a flight on a day for a reason. I may be just one person but it doesn't make me any less important than the other people, who had the same flight, in that position.

As stated, customer service will continuously hear from me via whatever options available because I refuse to believe that is fair/normal for a companing that prides itself in customer service.

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Cancellations are an unfortunate part of air travel.

Southwest has no interline agreement with any other carrier, so they will never put you on another carrier's flight. Never. It's an unfortunate reality of flying Southwest.

That said, even other carriers who do have interline agreements are loathe to transfer passengers these days, and that perk is generally reserved for their top-level elites.

Southwest's Contract of Carriage says that in the case of a flight cancellation they will accommodate you on the next flight with available space for no extra charge, or fully refund your paid fare. Unfortunately, the next flight can often be days away (although I would have suggested you try standby, assuming there were any additional flights to your destination on which to do so). If the cause of the cancellation is "weather" that's all any carrier does.

If you politely reach out to Customer Relations you may receive a goodwill gesture in the form of vouchers towards future travel. Good luck.

[Jwalsh3rd]

In my ten years of near-exclusive weekly flights with SW, I have experienced every level of frustration that one can  imagine.  I am absolutely positive that the people I encounter at Southwest are only human and like me have good days, normal days and really bad days, but they try!  It is often obvious that the system is having problems and it affects passengers and their stress.  But think about the people that have to deal with the problems, are expected to be expert and magicians.  Thes SW employees (as with all airport personel, including TSA) are for the most aprt trying to do a good job in a bad situation.  The MAX 8 is just one of the issues they face...computer shutdowns, weather in other airports, equipment problem cancellations and many more challenges we never see.  Then there is the rude, loud, mean spirited passenger to deal with.  A shout out to these folks for jus coming to work on days like this.  I have found that when things are tough, lines are long and the flyinf world is in disarray, that a nice thank you is a great lift for the stress they face.  Even better, for you A+ Prefferred, hand them a kick tail voucher.  You will be doing all those people in line behind you a favor by lifting the spirits of the one about to serve them.

[kegg45]

The truth is though that this was NOT weather related. People are posting weather reports from all over the United States. I was sitting at my gate, staring at my empty plane in Tampa and my gate agent who was booking my replacement flight for the next morning (which was cancelled before we  even left the airport) told us, "there is no crew, no pilot to fly it." The same thing was happening in Orlando, where they were busing in passengers from and Sarasota. I was talking to my family in Phoenix, who were flying into Florida on American, no weather issues or ATC issues, their flight to Miami was fine. So was my husbands family from San Diego and San Francisco to Salt Lace City and to Atlanta, on Delta. Why are all these other airlines and flights able to fly, but not SWA? Air traffic controllers are part of the FAA, so why are only SWA flights being cancelled? 

Why am I staying in a hotel with half a dozen other passengers that received hotel and food vouchers and ticket refunds, yet I am stuck paying for my hotel room, new tickets on a different airline and meals, just because I spoke to an uniformed agent? 

What gives? Where is the SWA heart now, when your customer base needs it most??

[bec102896]

@Loganton84 

I'm sorry to hear your flight was cancelled and customer service was not up to par. The weather has been rough lately which is why flights are being cancelled. Its also important to note with weather delays it may not be where you are departing from or going to but instead the weather delay (pushing the crew to time out) occurred from an earlier flight.

Unfortunately Southwest doesn't partner with any other airlines so they can't transfer your ticket to another carrier like united or delta. 

Also for your own protection I would recommend you edit your subject line to remove your confirmation number as this is a customer to customer forum and I wouldn't want your information compromised in any way. 

As suggested I would reach out to customer relations by email or you can call them at 855-234-4654 and they can look in to everything for you.

Blake