Here we are, again and again and again, on a Southwest flight with unreliable wifi.
I travel weekly for work. I generally take a two-hour flight from DAL to DEN, attend meetings, and then take a two-hour flight back the same day. I rely heavily on the wifi for four hours of productivity during otherwise unproductive time. Could I travel during non-working hours? Sure. But if I did, I wouldn’t see my kids at all on travel days. And for a company that has built a foundation on values, I believe Southwest would find that unacceptable.
A few years ago, when I made weekly trips to Denver I rarely had to worry about wifi connectivity. Recently however, an unreliable connection has been the rule rather than the exception. In many instances over the past year, I haven’t bothered to send a complaint because Southwest has such exceptional customer service as it relates to any other issue that I generally let it slide. In past months, I have sent a few communications regarding wifi through customer service only to receive the same verbatim, sorry-less, copy and paste response from a “customer service agent” which is clearly composed by a talentless PR team.
Sure, your free content almost always works and I suppose that’s enough to keep most occasional travelers satisfied. But I see a LOT of business travelers who likely rely on the wifi as much as I do. My assumption is that Southwest receives a fair number of complaints on this issue. This assumption is based on flight attendant reactions to my inquiry. They are tired of hearing about it too. And they’re trying to be kind.
I certainly would not interrogate any flight attendant about the wifi - or lack thereof. I know they don’t have control over the situation - and seemingly possess very little knowledge. But it is shocking that this has been an issue for an extended period of time and Southwest’s decision makers continue to put their customer-facing employees in this situation.
No need to respond with your plan to change providers, or that you’re upgrading equipment, or that you’re testing new things on flights between select cities. None of those things apply to me or make up for my unproductive time. I don’t want to change airlines or airports. And I certainly don’t want to tell everyone I know that Southwest forced my hand in making a change by ignoring a critically important issue and/or making changes at a snail’s pace.
I would like to thank you for providing me with this unproductive time so that I could compose this communication on a device that doesn’t require wifi to work. I look forward to a response that illustrates that Southwest cares about their customers, or maybe their most loyal customers, or at least their own reputation.
