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Flight cancelled no help whatsoever

Maryshumaker
Explorer C

Southwest texted me at 4:20 AM to tell me that my flight was canceled with no explanation and they rebooked me on a flight that leaves 7 hours later.  I called and it was because not enough people were booked on that flight so now I’m stranded for 7 hours.  My boarding position is far worse and when I called to find out what happened they were of no help. I’m not sure why they didn’t realize there weren’t enough people  booked on the flight before 4.20 AM the morning of so that I could have possibly looked for other alternatives. 

10 REPLIES 10

Re: Flight cancelled no help whatsoever

elijahbrantley
Aviator A

Did SW specifically say that was the reason? I ask because regardless of how full, they still need to get the plane to where you were going for the next flight. And was this the same day?

 

-A List, Companion Pass holder

Re: Flight cancelled no help whatsoever

Maryshumaker
Explorer C

I called Southwest this morning  and they said that was the reason. They did rebook a flight for me but it was 7 hours later than my original flight.  It was for the same day.  They said there weren’t enough passengers on the flight from JAX to ATL for their 10:05 AM flight this morning so they rebooked me to the 5 PM flight.  I had already checked in and had a really nice place in line for that flight and my connecting flight but they said they couldn’t   change my boarding place for the rebooked flight even though they cancelled the original flight a little less than 6 hours prior to departure. 

Re: Flight cancelled no help whatsoever

dfwskier
Aviator A

Sorry to hear about your flight difficulty. Two things here ...

 

1) When he airline rebooks you, you have the no cost option of picking a better flight (if one exists). You can do that thru the SW website.

 

2) When SW rebooks you within 24 hours of the new flight time, it really can't give you a a great boarding position because others on the flight have already checked in and taken the "best" boarding positions.

Re: Flight cancelled no help whatsoever

Maryshumaker
Explorer C

A better flight option wasn’t available and it’s surprising that an airline can’t identify there aren’t enough passengers on a flight any earlier than less than 6 hours prior to departure. If they had contacted me 24 hours prior to departure to notify me that the flight had been cancelled I could have booked on a different airline or at least checked in 24 hours before the rebooked flight on Southwest.   

Re: Flight cancelled no help whatsoever

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

@elijahbrantley wrote:

Did SW specifically say that was the reason? I ask because regardless of how full, they still need to get the plane to where you were going for the next flight. 


+1

I call BS on the claim that Southwest said there weren't enough people. The aircraft's next flight, ATL-BNA was also canceled, perhaps a mechanical or crew problem. No way they just say "let's just cancel all that aircraft's flights today".

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Flight cancelled no help whatsoever

Maryshumaker
Explorer C

I’m not sure if that is the actual reason they cancelled the flight but the person I spoke with at Southwest who identified themselves as Tiffany put me on hold for 10 minutes and let me know that the hold was because she was waiting for their help desk to answer.  Then she said that there weren’t enough passengers for the flight from JAX to ATL.  So I’m not sure if you’re saying that what I am saying is BS but I believe they record all calls so they would have a record of the conversation. 

Re: Flight cancelled no help whatsoever

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@Maryshumaker wrote:

I’m not sure if that is the actual reason they cancelled the flight but the person I spoke with at Southwest who identified themselves as Tiffany put me on hold for 10 minutes and let me know that the hold was because she was waiting for their help desk to answer.  Then she said that there weren’t enough passengers for the flight from JAX to ATL.  So I’m not sure if you’re saying that what I am saying is BS but I believe they record all calls so they would have a record of the conversation. 


You heard what you heard - it would be pretty surprising to find out that was really the reason though, Southwest wouldn't disrupt the flight schedule like that based on one leg of a plane's daily itinerary being light. 

 

The rep might have mixed up the messages that load factors are too low in general and some change to the schedule resulted, or maybe the plane was needed elsewhere on an urgent basis.

 

They haven't been shy about changing the network schedule and would generally do this days or weeks in advance for anything predictable like light traffic from JAX to ATL.

 

But most importantly I hope you found an alternative route from JAX to get to your destination and sorry to hear about a 4 a.m. change to the schedule which is very late in the process to let you know. I'm sure they also didn't know ahead of time, they aren't saving that cancelation in case a whole bunch of people book the day before.

 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Flight cancelled no help whatsoever

Maryshumaker
Explorer C

I called their corporate number and the person I spoke to said it was cancelled due to the discrepancies with weights and balance and that they cancelled a number of flights because of those issues.  It makes sense and I understand but my main concern was the short notice. 

Re: Flight cancelled no help whatsoever

SWFlyer007
Aviator C

Sorry to hear of your situation, but I'm glad to know you were given the correct reason for the flight being canceled.  Like others, I didn't find "not enough people" as a valid argument.  I've done my pleading multiple times to customer service, and have been pleasantly surprised with what they gave me in return.  Give it a try.