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Constantly Changing Itineraies

MDEGHETTO
Explorer C

I fly well over 100,000 miles a year across several airlines.  I understand COVID is challenging for all .... but ... in a short period of time SWA has gone from being the best airline to the worst.  I book my travel well in advance ... I have now had five consecutive flights changed .. The algorithm to rebook is seriously flawed .. there is no consisderation given for when the booking was made or the duration of the flight ... I had one flight changed to where the connection was prior to my scheduled landing .... I have had another flight changed to take off the wrong day and then lay over a night ... this was for what is normally a four hour flight.  Customer service cannot help and frankly I have been hung up on several times when they cannot help  ... What a joke ... When will you stop cancelling flights ????  Once in a while is understandable ... but not when it becomes a norm in how to do business ..  We cannot depend on you any more ... SAD 

15 REPLIES 15

Re: Constantly Changing Itineraies

chgoflyer
Aviator A

@MDEGHETTO wrote:

I fly well over 100,000 miles a year across several airlines.  I understand COVID is challenging for all .... but ... in a short period of time SWA has gone from being the best airline to the worst.  I book my travel well in advance ... I have now had five consecutive flights changed .. The algorithm to rebook is seriously flawed .. there is no consisderation given for when the booking was made or the duration of the flight ... I had one flight changed to where the connection was prior to my scheduled landing .... I have had another flight changed to take off the wrong day and then lay over a night ... this was for what is normally a four hour flight.  Customer service cannot help and frankly I have been hung up on several times when they cannot help  ... What a joke ... When will you stop cancelling flights ????  Once in a while is understandable ... but not when it becomes a norm in how to do business ..  We cannot depend on you any more ... SAD 


 

Unfortunately, the pandemic is far from over, and as Southwest continues to lose on average $17 million every day just keeping their operations running, flight cuts will likely continue until travel demand picks up significantly again. And that's not likely until a vaccine is available and widely adopted by the public. Southwest seems to offer an optimistic schedule months out, that then requires major cuts as it gets closer, when it's clear that load levels don't support it.

 

I absolutely agree that the automated flight change system is a mess. And the oddly formatted notification emails often add further customer confusion. I think the system is just overloaded, and functioning beyond the scope of it's capabilities. I doubt it was coded with the expectation of such massive schedule cuts -- the most recent was something like 40% of the schedule. Not offering this as an excuse, just an explanation.

 

I'm sure you already know this, but your best recourse is to make the needed changes yourself online, whenever you can. If not, try the chat function through the app, or reaching out via direct message on Twitter or Facebook. If no flights work for you, remember you can always request a full refund (back to original purchase method).

 

 

Re: Constantly Changing Itineraies

MDEGHETTO
Explorer C

This was the first honest and coherent reply I have received to my question.  I now sit here with another changed flight with invalid connections .  We just rebooked them ourselves online and paid about $100 MORE per person .... we shouldn't have to pay more when you cancel / move flights  

Re: Constantly Changing Itineraies

gsking
Aviator C

You don't have to.  If your flight is moved, you should get the ability to move it online for no charge, even to adjacent airports and different days.

 

If this offer wasn't presented, you should call and talk to an agent.

Re: Constantly Changing Itineraies

SWFlyer007
Aviator C

@gsking   I think that only applies if you do it in the 3 day window, which i've been caught on a couple times because I just don't have time.  

Re: Constantly Changing Itineraies

bec102896
Aviator A
Solution

@MDEGHETTO wrote:

This was the first honest and coherent reply I have received to my question.  I now sit here with another changed flight with invalid connections .  We just rebooked them ourselves online and paid about $100 MORE per person .... we shouldn't have to pay more when you cancel / move flights  


Unfortunately when southwest rebooks you on a misconnect flight or a flight with an overnight layover Southwest is having to do manual rebooking instead of the normal system and you can't change the messed up reservations online. I would reach out to southwest on Twitter in a DM to speed up the rebooking and they should be able to do it with no fare difference collected. You could also call reservations at 800-435-9792 but hold times may be long because they have made 2 months of schedule changes.  

 

-Blake

Re: Constantly Changing Itineraies

jksobonya
Aviator A

I have had the invalid connections problem as well - it was impossible to change online so I contacted Southwest via social media channels (Twitter) and they were able to resolve it for me. 

 

--Jessica

Re: Constantly Changing Itineraies

cer123
Explorer C

The pandemic is well on its way to being over but my flight still keep changing.  One occurred hours after I rebooked following the second flight change.  Becoming not worth it to fly the airline I once really liked.

 

Re: Constantly Changing Itineraies

gsking
Aviator C

 


@cer123 wrote:

The pandemic is well on its way to being over but my flight still keep changing.  One occurred hours after I rebooked following the second flight change.  Becoming not worth it to fly the airline I once really liked.

 


The airline doesn't respond to the pandemic.   It responds to customer demand,  which hasn't recovered. 

 

And when the public is continuously fed such absurd directives like "The CDC now says you can go outside without a mask...IF you're vaccinated", I'm not sure when things will get back to normal. 

 

The FUD machine is running strong in the political-media complex.   Until it gets shut down,  air travel will suffer.   And it's not any better on the other airlines. 

Re: Constantly Changing Itineraies

MommaL
Explorer C

I am having the same problem with changing itineraries and the connecting flights don't match.  One trip - family vacation for 6 people......working on SECOND change to itineraries because SW changed flight times and connections don't work.  First change - we agreed to 'pay to stay overnight at hotel in Denver airport'.....NOW, the return flight has been changed and SW can't get us back to our original destination.  I'm exasperated....MUCH money already spent on vacation at destination, booked our flights well in advance and now we're stuck.  Just got off the phone with SW....they don't have a flight AT ALL on our return day.....Their solution is that we can fly home a day later??? BUT offer no help with accommodations....really??  I have been a faithful SW customer...but this is not good business....or good customer relations