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Considering a new airline! 😡

Katie64
Explorer C

My husband and I were notified yesterday that our upcoming non-stop flight from Las Vegas to New Orleans (3 1/2 hours) had been changed. It was now going to be a 10 hour travel day!!! You know.... fly from Vegas to Omaha to Denver and then to New Orleans. Because..... THAT MAKES COMPLETE SENSE???  Seriously???  We booked this months ago. To top it off, there are still non-stop flights available for that day (just later in the day) and also flights that go from Vegas to Houston to New Orleans, which makes a whole lot more sense.  You CANNOT get thru to Southwest on the phone to discuss reasons/changes.  AND..... This is the second time this has happened. We completely cancelled the other trip. Looking at other airlines. Not sure what to do with this one. We have been Southwest Airlines customers for years. My husband uses them for business as well as leisure travel. He is an A-list member. AWFUL to be treated this way. Just don’t know that we can continue being customers. 😕

5 REPLIES 5

Re: Considering a new airline! 😡

chgoflyer
Aviator A
Solution
 

@Katie64 wrote:

My husband and I were notified yesterday that our upcoming non-stop flight from Las Vegas to New Orleans (3 1/2 hours) had been changed. It was now going to be a 10 hour travel day!!! You know.... fly from Vegas to Omaha to Denver and then to New Orleans. Because..... THAT MAKES COMPLETE SENSE???  Seriously???  We booked this months ago. To top it off, there are still non-stop flights available for that day (just later in the day) and also flights that go from Vegas to Houston to New Orleans, which makes a whole lot more sense.  You CANNOT get thru to Southwest on the phone to discuss reasons/changes.  AND..... This is the second time this has happened. We completely cancelled the other trip. Looking at other airlines. Not sure what to do with this one. We have been Southwest Airlines customers for years. My husband uses them for business as well as leisure travel. He is an A-list member. AWFUL to be treated this way. Just don’t know that we can continue being customers. 😕


 

Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, with less people flying due to the pandemic, Southwest has reduced their flight schedule, which results in a lot of flight changes. Sometimes, changes that are made automatically by the system don't seem to make any sense. If there are better flight options available, you can change to those flights online yourself. Just see the instructions in the notification email you received.

 

If that doesn't work for whatever reason, don't call -- contact Customer Relations via direct message on Twitter or Facebook. They will be able to help you quickly, especially if you've already found alternate options to suggest.

 

If you absolutely need to discuss flight options with a phone agent, you should call the A-List number, which should have less of a wait time.

 

Good luck!

Re: Considering a new airline! 😡

SWFlyer007
Aviator C

Just this evening I found out a non-stop direct flight to LAX is now a go through Denver to get there due to changes in flight schedule.  This is actually the 3rd one that has been altered.  However, just like you, I will have to view the schedule and take a better route than suggested.  So since we are in the same boat, we should have gotten the same email.  In the email, it states, "If you're not satisfied with the suggested flight change, you have 3 days to make your own changes.  So since you already said, you see other non-stop flights only later in the day, I don't understand your issue.  (other than leaving later and getting there later) it makes more sense than multiple stops.  It bothers me too, but just like any business in the country, not just airlines, they are adjusting to all this no more or less than everyone else.  I seriously doubt they singled us out, it was just what makes sense to keep the whole operation from shutting down.  I'd rather be annoyed a bit, then pissed because no flights at all are flying anywhere because airlines have to shut down.  I do hope that you use the avenues to address this to the ways mentioned, but for now, just book the later non-stop flight you mentioned before they are gone. 

Re: Considering a new airline! 😡

jksobonya
Aviator A
Solution

Changes happen, especially these days. Normally when Southwest modifies your flight you get an e-mail about the change, and an option to change your flight *at no cost* within a certain amount of time after the change was made (typically around 72 hours). Did you try this? You could have switched your flight to a nonstop one, for free. If for some reason you did not get an e-mail, you would receive the same notification on the Southwest website or app if you tried to change your flight. 

 

--Jessica

Re: Considering a new airline! 😡

bwallet
Frequent Flyer A

With a change like this, you are also entitled to a full refund if you wish.

Re: Considering a new airline! 😡

SWFlyer007
Aviator C

Not quite the solution.  You're assuming that there is another non-stop flight.  I have a trip from NM to CALI which was a non-stop (actually to of them) One to LAX and the other to San Jose.  Both were non-stop, now they both are with connections.  When I got the email to make a change I went in and looked.  NONE, ZERO, NODDA, non-stop flights at all even at red eye times.  And we are talking about flights for less than 2.5 hours.  I'm just saying.