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Jan4 - Mar4 Companion Pass never issued; no response from SW Customer Relations

RayB
Explorer C

I registered for the SW Companion Pass promotion on 9/8/22 and booked a round-trip SW flight from 11/13/22 to 11/17/22, meeting the requirements of the promotion. Southwest cancelled my return flight due to weather and booked me on an equivalent flight the next day (11/18/22). However, the Companion Pass for 1/4/23 to 3/4/23 was never issued. I filed "escalated cases" on 1/4/23, 1/13/23, 2/1/23, and 2/15/23 (and made follow-up calls on 1/25/23, 1/8/23, 3/1/23, and 3/8/23), but have never received an email or phone call back from SW Customer Relations. I was told by the customer service representative that there is no way to directly contact Customer Relations, as they stopped accepting outside calls during Covid. Are there any suggestions for next steps?

9 REPLIES 9

Re: Jan4 - Mar4 Companion Pass never issued; no response from SW Customer Relations

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A
Solution

Not the answer you want to hear, but now that the promotion period is over nothing is going to be done. There's no good process in place to handle exceptions to the earning criteria which would be required as your 2nd flight was outside the qualification period and there's no process to grant you Companion Pass for some period of time outside of the promotion window that ended March 4.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Jan4 - Mar4 Companion Pass never issued; no response from SW Customer Relations

RayB
Explorer C

I appreciate your perspective, but don't see how this is a "solution" to the issue. Every Southwest customer service agent that I've spoken with indicated that Southwest should have honored the promotion because Southwest cancelled and rebooked the return flight. If Southwest's systems are not set up to grant a Companion Pass for another two-month time period, then they should refund the original ticket, which was purchased solely for the purpose of obtaining the Companion Pass. It's unconscionable for Southwest to ignore the issue and bar customers from communicating with its Customer Relations department. I'm hoping that one of the forum members has a suggestion for reaching a decision maker at Southwest.

Re: Jan4 - Mar4 Companion Pass never issued; no response from SW Customer Relations

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

I agree the situation was not handled well, my point is there's nothing that can be done now. Perhaps Southwest will offer you some sort of voucher if you clarify that you only took the flight to earn CP, however I would not expect a "refund" for the flight. You'll want to put the request in writing, use the contact us link at the bottom of this page and send a message or mail a letter.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Jan4 - Mar4 Companion Pass never issued; no response from SW Customer Relations

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@TheMiddleSeat wrote:

I agree the situation was not handled well, my point is there's nothing that can be done now. Perhaps Southwest will offer you some sort of voucher if you clarify that you only took the flight to earn CP, however I would not expect a "refund" for the flight. You'll want to put the request in writing, use the contact us link at the bottom of this page and send a message or mail a letter.


I agree, the best case here would be to ask for a voucher for the inconvenience. A lot more people at the company can give out vouchers than can give out Companion Passes.

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Jan4 - Mar4 Companion Pass never issued; no response from SW Customer Relations

dfwskier
Aviator A

@RayB wrote:

I appreciate your perspective, but don't see how this is a "solution" to the issue.  

 

I didn't mark the post as the solution, but I can see why someone might: It was an honest assessment of where you were/are with the process.

 

Computers monitor the situation - not people. Computers verify

 

1) Did the person register first - yes or no

2) Did the person make a reservation within the required dates - yes or no

3) Did the person fly within the required dates - yes or no

 

A no on one or more of the 3, and you don't qualify. Yeah it's unfortunate that your flight got cancelled and you had to move to a flight the next day, but that move did disqualify you. It was not a plot against you. It was just dumb bad luck

 

It is a tough break. As said up thread, you could complain and jockey for a voucher. I honestly believe that is the best you will do.

Re: Jan4 - Mar4 Companion Pass never issued; no response from SW Customer Relations

RayB
Explorer C

Thanks for your constructive replies. The Southwest customer service agents who I spoke with checked the fine print on the Companion Pass offer and confirmed that if Southwest cancelled the flight (and not me), then I should still qualify for the offer. This is why they filed multiple, expedited cases with Customer Relations. I was sympathetic at first because of Southwest's meltdown during the holiday travel season, but it's been almost three months since I raised the issue and I've received zero communication from Southwest (other than the daily promotional offers). As you suggested above, the voucher may be the best I can hope for at this point, and I'll persist until this is resolved.

Re: Jan4 - Mar4 Companion Pass never issued; no response from SW Customer Relations

dfwskier
Aviator A
Solution

When dealing with other firms with non responsive customer service people, I have resorted to contacting the CEO of the firms. I don't do it often, but I have done it. The CEO normally hands the thing off to someone else with the request to - "let me know when this is resolved."

 

I worked for a Fortune 100 company and absolutely hated getting one of those. It basically meant that I had to drop everything and work on the CEO's request.

 

I can't think of a time when I did not receive a response to one of my CEO letters. .

 

You could try to write 

 

Bob Jordan 

CEO

Southwest Airlines

P.O. Box 36647 
Dallas, Texas 75235

 

Good luck

Re: Jan4 - Mar4 Companion Pass never issued; no response from SW Customer Relations

RayB
Explorer C

I sincerely appreciate your advice and will give this a try. My "companion" has surgery planned in mid-June and we were hoping to do some traveling before then. Fingers crossed for a positive resolution. Thanks again.

Re: Jan4 - Mar4 Companion Pass never issued; no response from SW Customer Relations

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@dfwskier wrote:

@RayB wrote:

I appreciate your perspective, but don't see how this is a "solution" to the issue.  

 

I didn't mark the post as the solution, but I can see why someone might: It was an honest assessment of where you were/are with the process.

 


I might have marked it, I forget - it can be unmarked if you think there is more information to be had out there @RayB - the summary seems to be mailing the CEO, and if that doesn't work or in parallel I'd suggest to mention to whoever you can get ahold of that you'd appreciate a voucher for the trouble.

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.