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Cancelled Flight

Che
Explorer C

Has anyone experienced a cancelled flight by SWA? What is your tale? Were you notified prior to arriving at airport? Mine is not a pretty tale.

4 REPLIES 4

Re: Cancelled Flight

Gabie1966
Explorer C

My husband and I recently had a cancelled flight on our way to Sonoma.  We were flying into San Francisco and the flight was canceled due to fog (after being delayed twice).  Rebooking to fly into another airport was not difficult and I feel Southwest did a good job using multiple desks to handle the number of people affected.

 

This was the first time I ever experienced and canceled flight, so my biggest surprise was that our luggage was not going to be taken off the plane or redirected to our destination (going into a different airport).  If we were staying in San Franciso I guess it wouldn't have been a big deal, but we were driving over an hour away to stay in Sonoma for our anniversary and were told we would need to pick up our luggage the following day back at the San Franciso airport.  I carry medical supplies with me because I take insulin (part in my carry on and part in my suitcase) so in the end, we were able to get our suitcases rerouted and they arrived with us.

 

To be fair, I understand Southwest didn't cancel the flight voluntarily, the weather and subsequent delays made it impossible to keep that flight in the schedule without impacting all the other flights down the line.  However, I booked the flight and rental car through Southwest, had to pay over $100 more changing the rental car at the last minute to our new airport pickup and had to work to keep my luggage with me.  

 

I don't know that there is a viable fix, but it certainly changes how I prepare for a plan B scenario.  All in all, though, I feel like the employees we interacted with tried their best to take care of us.

Re: Cancelled Flight

onliinecjc
Explorer C

I had my flight cancelled on my way to Phoenix from Buffalo. I was not alerted to delay until 6:09 which didn't help me when flight was supposed to leave at 6:30. I traveled from Rochester to make this nonstop flight and was not given adequate warning to avoid being stranded in Buffalo.

 

Southwest employees handled the IROPS situation very poorly. They made announcement that flight was cancelled at 8pm after saying flight was going to leave at 7:15, then 9:30PM by text then 10:15 by text. They cancelled and reinstated a flight to Balitimore in the meantime but said the Phoenix flight was still delayed on June 30 2017. They stated no difference if you had luggage checked and confused passengers.

 

There was no orderly procedure and the line was over 100 people in minutes. They had no procedure like using the boarding position so people didn't have to stand in line for an hour and a half or more. I was not offered hotel accomodations. After 2.5 hours I was tired of waiting and went to get my checked luggage and I rebooked over the phone and had to find my own hotel

 

After this bad experience, I'm considering other airlines or transportation. Southwest needs to improve procedures in IROPS situations and not tell customers to call customer relations at 855-234-4654 on Monday morning for a flight that was supposed to leave a 6:30 PM on a Friday.

 

Employees were mostly frustrating, supervisor Christine apologized for the incorrect info in Texas call center. Only one employee treated me with sympathy and respect. She was the person who finally rebooked me at about 10:30pm.

Re: Cancelled Flight

Agip27
Explorer C

Sitting at Burbank and the 7:00 a.m flight to SFO got cancelled. The plane was there, and just like that...cancelled! The United flight leaving at 7:05 took off on time....I guess, I choose the wrong airline......

Re: Cancelled Flight

chgoflyer
Aviator A

Southwest is notoriously bad in IROPS. It was said that the new booking system would help, but right now it's made things worse.  I'm not super confident things will ever improve.