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Appalling customer service - baggage claim

sandybeachs1981
Explorer C

I had the most appalling experience of my life last night.  I'm hoping my reach out on this forum, as well as placing a formal complaint, will result in this experience being rectified for myself and the other individual whom I would imagine is unhappy as well.  Otherwise, I see myself and my family never flying with this airline again.  My husband in a rush to get to me outside of the terminal, made a genuine error and accidently picked up someone else's bag.  To try and keep a long story short, after multiple attempts to get the southwest person to stop yelling at him and identify a solution, we received a threat from the south west employee that they would call the police and have them come to our house in the middle of the night if we did not immediately get back into our car and drive back to the airport.  We live 2 hours away from the airport and this was at 11:30p at night.  Upon arriving at the baggage claim, I was met with the most insensitive group of employees I have ever met.  To keep it simple and to the point, I was told "NEXT TIME, READ THE TAG!"  These employees had no consideration for the lives of others and their well being.  Any attempt to work with them was met with threats and rude behavior.  I will be making sure to share this experience publicly on all social forums that I'm involved in, including any responses I receive back from southwest customer service.  My hopes is that my story can end positively with a response from southwest that support and demonstrates a culture that supports family life and well being.  

10 REPLIES 10

Re: Appalling customer service - baggage claim

jksobonya
Aviator A

@sandybeachs1981 wrote:

we received a threat from the south west employee that they would call the police and have them come to our house in the middle of the night if we did not immediately get back into our car and drive back to the airport.  We live 2 hours away from the airport and this was at 11:30p at night. 


This seems ... highly unusual.

 

--Jessica

Re: Appalling customer service - baggage claim

sandybeachs1981
Explorer C

Agreed Jessica which is why I’m reaching out.  I hope to hear something from a southwest representative today. A formal complaint has been filed. 

Re: Appalling customer service - baggage claim

jksobonya
Aviator A

@sandybeachs1981 wrote:

Agreed Jessica which is why I’m reaching out.  I hope to hear something from a southwest representative today. A formal complaint has been filed. 


Southwest does not resolve customer complaints via these forums, you will have to use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page to contact them via the usual methods (phone, social media, etc.)

 

--Jessica

Re: Appalling customer service - baggage claim

sandybeachs1981
Explorer C

Already did. 

Re: Appalling customer service - baggage claim

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

I mean, you do admit to taking something that didn't belong to you.  Accidental or not you need to get it back to the airport ASAP so it can get to the owner.  I imagine the owner of the bag you took was pretty upset and angry at Southwest so obviously they want you to get it back to the airport so the owner can be appeased.  

 

--TheMiddleSeat

 

 

Re: Appalling customer service - baggage claim

sandybeachs1981
Explorer C

Hi Middle Seat. My concern is the manner in which they communicated and the lack of concern they had for our well-being.  A threat to have police come to our house was uncalled for and I have since learned today is untrue.  We were not refusing to return the luggage.  When we attempted to discuss options we received the response from the southwest employee I shared (yelling and threat). To your point about the unintended victim, it was so late that the gentleman had already left when I got there in the middle of night.  

Re: Appalling customer service - baggage claim

bwallet
Frequent Flyer A

@sandybeachs1981 I disagree. I believe that the Southwest employee did entirely the right thing. You, through your carelessness, caused injury to someone else, and the Southwest employee demanded that you take immediate steps to fix the damage that you caused. You do not know the circumstances of the gentleman who's bags your carelessness and thoughtlessness caused you to take. He could have had a critical job interview or business meeting the next morning. He could be going to his child's wedding.

 

If you were 2 hours from the airport, that means it was at least 4 hours after the flight landed that you deigned to return his bag. Rather than wait for you, he was probably trying to get a few hours sleep.

 

You may have caused enormous damage to someone else, and your thoughts are on how inconvenienced you were. Sorry, but I find that appalling. I hope that you wrote an apology note and attached it to the bag.

Re: Appalling customer service - baggage claim

parpitt1
Frequent Flyer A

Agreed @bwallet, the only victim in this was the man whose tagged luggage was removed from the airport by @sandybeachs1981 's husband. Sorry if that sounds insensitive. Take it as a lesson learned. Actions have cascading effects and create unpleasant reactions, not really appalling customer service as the thread title indicates.

BTW- I am sympathetic to @sandybeachs1981 being berated by a SWA employee, mistakes were made and figuring out a solution isn't helped by making threats. 

Re: Appalling customer service - baggage claim

bwallet
Frequent Flyer A

@parpitt1 I suspect that the threat came after @sandybeachs1981 refused to immediately return the bag. She's complaining that the employee refused to help her find a solution. The employee gave her the only acceptable solution, and that is that her husband immediately get into his car and drive back to the airport with the bag. They didn't like it and sought a solution more amenable to them. That is when the employee did what they were forced to do.

 

At first, I was willing to give them some points for at least calling Southwest and reporting what happened, but then after a moment of thought, I realized that they did this because they wanted to get their own bag back. They probably wanted Southwest to have a courier bring their bag to them and take back the errant bag.