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Southwest Airlines LAST MINUTE flight cancellation

nhitruong0715
Explorer C

I am at an utter loss for words for Southwest airlines. I have always flown Southwest and yes, it has its hiccups such as delays and such- however, of all the times I've flown Southwest, it's unfortunate to say that this has been THE WORST customer service yet. First, let us just mention how they did not send any kind of notice through email, text, or phone call as to when or why they canceled our reservation. Imagine checking into your flight 24 hours before like you're supposed to and having no issues, but waking up to check on your flight and seeing that it has been suddenly canceled. Not only did we not receive any kind of email, text, or phone call that the flight has been canceled, but when we try and get a hold of customer service- it would place us on hold for a little over an hour and then hang up.. multiple times. They finally confirm the last-minute cancellation of our flight at 3:37 pm via text THE DAY OF THE FLIGHT (our flight was at 8:15 pm). Now, we are in a panic. Because after realizing that we would not be able to get a hold of anybody through the phone, we DROVE to the airport in order to speak with a representative that may be able to help us. I would love to thank Caterina and Mark (if these are even their names, they did not want to provide their member ID or any other information), the supervisor, of HOU, Houston Hobby Airport for their disingenuous, dishonest, and COMPLETELY disappointing service. Our flight was on Christmas Eve, and we had hoped to have made it to our family's Christmas..the disappointment we felt when they said that the only available flights were on the 26th because all the other flights were booked (even though we had already a booked flight that THEY canceled). I truly believe that another individual paid more for OUR SEAT and they "canceled" our flight due to a reason that they couldn't provide. After we went back and forth trying to find another way to get to California for Christmas, they said that they could do absolutely nothing about our situation. All they offered was travel credit, however, under their policy, it states that I am entitled to a FULL  REFUND via my original payment method EVEN if I booked a nonrefundable Wanna Get Away fare IF Southwest cancels the flight (and not me). Even after providing this information to Caterina and Mark- they completely disregarded all of the information and stated that all they would do for us is a travel credit (But tell me, who would want to fly Southwest after this kind of situation? An airline that cancels a flight THE DAY OF and provides no compensation, no refund, no nothing). I was extremely upset and just wanted a refund back to my original payment method because all other flight options were way too expensive for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. They informed me that I should speak to corporate, and so I asked for corporate's number and the hilarious part is that they provided me a card that provided Southwest's feedback website stating that corporate ran the website. I declined the card and asked for corporate's number again, and all they stated was that the card was all they had for me. Now, I have a flight reservation that they canceled, a card to provide feedback on their horrible service, and a lonely Christmas day with a broken heart. After this disappointing event, I never want to fly Southwest Airlines. 

30 REPLIES 30

Re: Southwest Airlines LAST MINUTE flight cancellation

dfwskier
Aviator A
Solution

Sorry to hear this is happening to you, but it is happening to lots of people on all airlines.

 

According to CNBC over 10,000 flights have been cancelled since Wednesday - due primarily to weather. If you assume that each of those planes held 130+ people that means there are 1,300,000+ people like you  out there struggling just as you are.

 

No airline  wants to cancel flights because it messes up people,  it messes up the airline and it costs the airline money. Airlines only cancel flights when they feel the REALLY need to. Sometimes that means they hold off on cancellations hoping things improve If things don't improve, you end up with   last minute cancellations.

 

It seems Southwest rebooked you on the next   flight with available seats on the 26th, but

Southwest gives people like you that the NO COST option of switching to ANY OTHER flight with seat availability regardless of the cost of those seats. Keep checking Southwest.com to see if anything opens up[. Check frequently because people like you are looking the same way you would be so seats that open up might not be available for very long.

 

  If no travel options make sense for you, you can cancel the flight SW moved you to and tell Southwest you want a refund - and you will get one. Airlines (Southwest, too) play a game with this. They don't tell you you qualify for a refund, but you do. You have to ask for it. You might want to let the travel madness subside a bit to make the request.

 

Hope things work out for you.

Re: Southwest Airlines LAST MINUTE flight cancellation

nhitruong0715
Explorer C

I appreciate your response, however like I said- I DID ask for a refund constantly and I was fully aware that I’m inclined to a full refund to my original payment method, however they were dishonest in stating that I may only be provided with a travel fund as compensation. That I just call corporate if I did not like their decision, however could not provide me a number or anything to contact corporate. Not only that, my flight has nothing to do with the current weather issue. I have images of the locations with the city and state of which flights would be affected and my departure city and my arrival city were both NOT on the list. It remained constant for two weeks that I was checking to see if there were any changes to the list. Therefore, weather is not an excuse for their last minute cancellations- not for my flight at the very least. As for the rebooking of the 26th, if my flight is meant for the holidays- which is Christmas Eve (24th) and Christmas (25th), then why would I want a flight for the 26th? They had plenty of people flying out that day and there were still flights flying out to the same location as mine. 

Re: Southwest Airlines LAST MINUTE flight cancellation

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

@nhitruong0715 use the contact us link at the bottom of this page and send a message requesting a refund. It's pretty straightforward.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Southwest Airlines LAST MINUTE flight cancellation

zuckerville
Explorer C

Anyone have a suggestion about getting on another flight?

Website says "you've been rebooked" but cannot find what flight I have been rebooked????

 

Re: Southwest Airlines LAST MINUTE flight cancellation

zuckerville
Explorer C

any suggestions when SW states "you've been re booked" but we can't find where the new flight is???

For returning to Phoenix tomorrow, Christmas Day

Gail

Re: Southwest Airlines LAST MINUTE flight cancellation

nhitruong0715
Explorer C

You have to get on call with customer service or visit the airline itself in person in order to get another flight rebooked. From my experience, if you’ll be trying to contact SW through phone calls- you’ll be spending atleast 10 hours just dealing with the call failing, hanging up, or just plain busy. 

Re: Southwest Airlines LAST MINUTE flight cancellation

dfwskier
Aviator A

@nhitruong0715 wrote:

You have to get on call with customer service or visit the airline itself in person in order to get another flight rebooked. From my experience, if you’ll be trying to contact SW through phone calls- you’ll be spending atleast 10 hours just dealing with the call failing, hanging up, or just plain busy. 


That is not accurate.

 

You can rebook yourself at Southwest.com or contact the airline via the app chat function or social media to do the same.

 

https://community.southwest.com/t5/Reservations/Advice-to-people-on-hold-with-Southwest-HANG-UP/td-p...

Re: Southwest Airlines LAST MINUTE flight cancellation

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

As stated by @dfwskier you can request a refund a will get one. That's standard for a flight canceled by an airline.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Southwest Airlines LAST MINUTE flight cancellation

tf1078
Explorer C

I just got news my flight that's been booked over a month returning home on Christmas so the roundtrip part was rescheduled. LESS than 12 hours before the flight was supposed to take off. No where to stay, no where to go and the biggest heartache is my family and I will be not be together tomorrow. I guess SWA wants me to stay on the streets for 3 days. Never again