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Compensation for delay after delay

catoilet
Explorer C

I am really frustrated with Southwest today and I wasn't sure where to go to handle it. So, I guess posting here might lead me in the right direction.

 

I had travel booked today from Providence (TF Green) to Salt Lake City, via Midway. Bring a 5:35am flight, I was up super early with close to no sleep. My scheduled itineratry would have me in Salt Lake just before lunchtime.

 

I got to Providence TF Green airport an hour before my flight, and was at the gate minutes later. And that's when things started getting worse. Anouncements started that there was a problem with the plane. Eventually, the flight was delayed and we were told a plane was being flowsn in from (I think) Baltimore since our current plane had a maintenance problem. The gate attendants scrambled to get everyone booked on new connections in Chicago as we were delayed further and further. I was given a new connection leaving a few hours later in Chicago, getting me to Salt Lake around 3pm, and keeping me on the delayed flight out of Providence to get to Midway. I saw that there was another route to SLC thru Baltimore, and wanted to use it due to not depending on a plane to get to Providence from Baltimore. But, the gate attendents would not deal with any customer individually. They, instead, were trying to get everyone re-booked in groups.

 

I regret not being more pushy about getting moved to the routing thru Baltimore. The replacement plane arrived late to Providence and didn't get in the air in time for me to catch me new connection in Chicago.  My flight from Providence landed at about the same time the flight was leaving for Salt Lake City.

 

Back in Providence, the gate attendents gave us a $200 VOUCHER for the delay due to a mechanical failure. At the time, I thought it was fair if I were going to only be a few hours delayed, and thus would still make one of my meetings in Salt Lake City that late afternon.  But, by the time I landed in Chicago and found out I missed the re-booking from Chicago to SLC, and found out I was now booked on a 7:45pm flight ( over 7 hours later!), I really felt the compensation wasn't fair enough.

 

And now, it's 4pm in Chicago and I recently recieved a text telling me the 7:45pm flight is now also delayed. at this point I won't get into Salt Lake until amlost midnight, roughly 12 hours from when I was supposed to get there. And, I will officially miss all my meetings and will need to find a way to get to where I'm staying since I no longer have a ride.

 

How do I let SWA know that I don't feel the compensation is good enough for the mess of a day they cause with the maintenance poblem and not letting me re-book on a better intinerary to get my to SLC without depending on the replacement plane showing up on-time?

 

The $2oo doesn't cover the cost of the flight, all this frusrtation, my missed meetings, and the added travel costs at the destination.

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

-Pat (Adelbert)

4 REPLIES 4

Re: Compensation for delay after delay

catoilet
Explorer C

And, I forgot to mention, I went from a B1 boarding number to a C3 due to the re-bookings due to the maitenance problem.  Why am I penalized?

Re: Compensation for delay after delay

bec102896
Aviator A
Solution

Sorry to hear of your rough travel day.

 

I would recommend reaching out to customer relations after travel is complete to see if they are able to offer any additional compensation. You can call them at 855-234-4654 or send a DM to southwest on Twitter. 

 

Hopefully your flight from Chicago will make up some of the delay. 

 

-Blake 

Re: Compensation for delay after delay

elijahbrantley
Aviator A

Agreed with @bec102896. That is a rough day, and I'm sorry you have had that experience. Many of us have been there. 

Kudos for SW for giving you the voucher! Keep in mind that the coucher was most likely for the delayed original flight; the person who awarded it may not have been looking out beyond that flight to connections. 

Def reach out to customer relations or even the Twitter team to share your feedback. 

-A List, Companion Pass holder

Re: Compensation for delay after delay

jksobonya
Aviator A

That's rough! $200 is fair compensation but I can agree that you would want a little something extra considering all the other problems that you encountered. My only experience in this area was a flight en route to Vegas with a stop in Chicago last January. Got to Chicago no problem, but there was an issue with the plane preventing takeoff to Vegas, and a snowstorm coming that night. If the flight was cancelled, I would be stuck in Chicago for sure for who knows how long. Thankfully the plane did end up leaving, 4 hours later, and Southwest did give everyone a $100 voucher for the trouble. That was good enough for me!

 

--Jessica