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UNFAIR FLIGHT CHANGE PRACTICES

JohnRauscher1
Explorer C

How can any airline, especially Southwest, practice unfair flight changes without sending even an email advising a customer of the change?   My departing flight from DAL to BOS has changed three times with only two emails advising me of two of the changes.  Instead of an easy 4 hour one-stop flight, I now have a two-stop 9 hour flight.   Is Southwest getting as bad as American Airlines?

5 REPLIES 5

Re: UNFAIR FLIGHT CHANGE PRACTICES

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

All airlines are making a number of changes to their schedules for a variety of reasons.  Just today Southwest announced they are having to pull a number of planes from the fleet for inspections.  It's unfortunate, but schedule changes do happen.  When your schedule is changed you are able to either revise your schedule to something more preferable to you or, if the change is substantial, you may be able to cancel and receive a refund to your original form of payment.  To discuss your options or pick different flights you'll want to contact Southwest directly.  Contact Customer Relations  I would also suggest using the live chat function in the Southwest app or sending a private message on Facebook or Twitter.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: UNFAIR FLIGHT CHANGE PRACTICES

jksobonya
Aviator A

Changes are happening all the time due to increasing or decreasing demand due to the pandemic. You should get e-mails acknowledging changes but it doesn't always happen 100% of the time in my experience. One of my flights was moved up an entire day due to flight cuts on the route; I was e-mailed about the outbound flight but not the return due to the cut. It's just something that we need to deal with until we return to pre-pandemic flight levels. I recommend constantly monitoring your flights for changes so you are not caught unaware. 

 

--Jessica

Re: UNFAIR FLIGHT CHANGE PRACTICES

MAD-A-LISTER
Explorer C

As an a-lister I especially agree, this has happened to me and they changed me to a 1-stop flight from a non-stop, effectively making my 1 1/2 hour travel time 7 hours.....I could have almost driven to my destination, and I had to change some very important meetings.

Re: UNFAIR FLIGHT CHANGE PRACTICES

dfwskier
Aviator A

@MAD-A-LISTER wrote:

As an a-lister I especially agree, this has happened to me and they changed me to a 1-stop flight from a non-stop, effectively making my 1 1/2 hour travel time 7 hours.....I could have almost driven to my destination, and I had to change some very important meetings.


When SW changes your flight, it also gives you two options;

 

1) The ability to make a no cost change to any other flight with available seats - with the same originating and destination cities as on the original ticket

 

2) Full refund t the form of payment used t buy the ticket.

Re: UNFAIR FLIGHT CHANGE PRACTICES

5280Av8r
Frequent Flyer C

I would second what dfwskier said, and I would also say that flight schedule changes are in the terms & conditions that you agree to when purchasing a ticket. Basically every time you buy a plane ticket, you agree that the flight schedule could change including from a nonstop to stopover flight. I just don't know why Southwest wouldn't just automatically reschedule people to the new nonstop time. Sometimes it makes sense and Southwest keeps your original departure time other times it goes from an evening departure to a morning departure, but that's usually on once a day routes.


DEN (CLT) Based | Aviation Enthusiast | Full of Passion for Southwest