Could not get refund even SouthWest cancelled my flight

[lindnguyen]

My buddy and I were supposed to fly to from OC to Vegas on 5/19 for EDC. Southwest (SW) delayed our flight then cancelled it. SW then put us on a connecting fly to transit at Phoenix which was like 2x longer than our original flight. Then the fly from Phoenix to Vegas got delayed again. We couldn't bear the risk of our flight got cancel since we need to be in Vegas for the festival which we paid 1k+ for the ticket. When I cancelled, SW only gave me a credit and a message telling us to contact Customer Service for a refund. Called Customer Service for it and talked to a very rude lady on 5/26 @ 11:02am. She told me that at the end we are the one cancelled the flight not SW so she cannot do anything and that all Vegas flights will get affected up to Aug. This is Vegas airport runway issue not SW so customers get to bear on the risk, not SW. WTH??!!! What kind of customer service is it?!! I don't bother to argue with her cuz its pointless to talk to this type of ppl. Point is if SW continue having your front end people having attitude to customers like this, we would rather choose other agencies over SW.  

[dfwskier]

I'd advise having a twitter chat with SW. Start by asking   SW  to engage you via DM so you are not divulging information for the whole world to see.

[SoCalFlyer97]

Hello! Sometimes a simple misinformation of the facts received of an issue from Southwest may cause a CSA phone rep to say "no" to a refund even if you're entitled to one. Since this forum is Customer-to-Customer and posts do not get relayed to Customer Service automatically, I would try calling Southwest's Customer Service again but escalating the matter if possible, and carefully focus on and describe the facts once again from start to finish of what happened:

• Original Itinerary of your flight including your scheduled event at LAS
• Flight # of the original cancelled flight from SNA to LAS.
• Flight # of the rebooked but delayed flight segment from PHX to LAS.
• Location of you where you were when the PHX to LAS segment was reported to be delayed + length of reported delay
• If you have it, the name of the rep who could not help you

Alternatively, if the phone solution doesn't work again, I would try initiating a contact via Southwest's Twitter which should trigger a private Direct Message discussion. That way, there is a written private paper trail in case you feel your transaction needs to be further escalated via a transaction dispute with your bank.

One other factor: I have taken a few flights to/from LAS earlier this month all through their runway maintenance project as they currently have three out of four operating runways. On Southwest's "What you need for your LAS trip" emails that I get the day prior to departure, I'm notified of the following advisory:

Delays at LAS: Ongoing runway construction is causing delays for all carriers at LAS. This may affect your travel. Please check your flight status for the latest updates.

During these trips, the actual delays were at most 15-20 minutes but mostly 5-10 minutes. In some instances, 30 mins. The queue of planes I've seen have been at most 5-7 in line for take off. For arrivals, I believe the plane would be held at the departing airport on the tarmac if Air Traffic Control detects plane traffic congestion at the arriving airport (back in March, my flight from LAS to SAN was held on the tarmac taxiway for 20 mins due to projected arriving plane traffic at SAN; after 20 minutes, I've heard the tones and "we've been cleared for departure!"). Thus, I think the rep's statement of "that all Vegas flights will get affected up to Aug. This is Vegas airport runway issue not SW so customers get to bear on the risk" may have been mis-presented.

I would give this another shot...

[DancingDavidE]

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@lindnguyen wrote:

My buddy and I were supposed to fly to from OC to Vegas on 5/19 for EDC. Southwest (SW) delayed our flight then cancelled it. SW then put us on a connecting fly to transit at Phoenix which was like 2x longer than our original flight. Then the fly from Phoenix to Vegas got delayed again. We couldn't bear the risk of our flight got cancel since we need to be in Vegas for the festival which we paid 1k+ for the ticket. When I cancelled, SW only gave me a credit and a message telling us to contact Customer Service for a refund. Called Customer Service for it and talked to a very rude lady on 5/26 @ 11:02am. She told me that at the end we are the one cancelled the flight not SW so she cannot do anything and that all Vegas flights will get affected up to Aug. This is Vegas airport runway issue not SW so customers get to bear on the risk, not SW. WTH??!!! What kind of customer service is it?!! I don't bother to argue with her cuz its pointless to talk to this type of ppl. Point is if SW continue having your front end people having attitude to customers like this, we would rather choose other agencies over SW.  

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I can't tell from the description if you flew from SNA to PHX and then decided to cancel I don't think it will work.

If you were still in SNA when this happened, then I think you should boil it down to one major point:

• The changed flight wouldn't meet your needs for timing therefore you canceled. 

However if the other flight was delayed but your event was the next day, then I don't think Southwest will refund necessarily.

If you can show that the delayed flight from PHX would have been too late (and you found another flight that worked?) then they would be more likely to refund.