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If Southwest purposely makes me missed connect will they cover a hotel?

Matt4202
Adventurer A

So I booked a flight which Southwest apparently changed due to schedule changes.

 

The new flight goes like this -

 

Leave Airport 1 at 3:35

 

Go to Airport 2 connecting to airport 3 landing at 10:35pm 

 

Leave Airport 3 at 8:30pm (same day) to airport 4 and arrive at Airport 4 at 11:05pm.

 

Since it’d be impossible to depart at 8:30pm from Airport 3 it’s going to lead to a misconnect. This was Southwest’s doing as they booked us this way after a schedule change.

 

Just wondering if they’d be obligated to get us a hotel overnight waiting for the rebooked flight the next day? This isn’t due to weather, an Act of God or anything outside of their control it’s their system that rescheduled us this way.

8 REPLIES 8

Re: If Southwest purposely makes me missed connect will they cover a hotel?

chgoflyer
Aviator A

@Matt4202 wrote:

So I booked a flight which Southwest apparently changed due to schedule changes.

 

The new flight goes like this -

 

Leave Airport 1 at 3:35

 

Go to Airport 2 connecting to airport 3 landing at 10:35pm 

 

Leave Airport 3 at 8:30pm (same day) to airport 4 and arrive at Airport 4 at 11:05pm.

 

Since it’d be impossible to depart at 8:30pm from Airport 3 it’s going to lead to a misconnect. This was Southwest’s doing as they booked us this way after a schedule change.

 

Just wondering if they’d be obligated to get us a hotel overnight waiting for the rebooked flight the next day? This isn’t due to weather, an Act of God or anything outside of their control it’s their system that rescheduled us this way.


 

Are you sure of those arrival and departure times? Southwest's automated systems are creating some pretty crazy itineraries these days, in an attempt at keeping passengers from needing to cancel, but that particular one sounds crazier than anything reported so far.

 

Previously, a missed connection caused by Southwest could trigger a hotel voucher. But that wasn't guaranteed, and in the current environment, I'm not sure what hotel options are available at any given airport. 

 

If I were you I would avoid taking the risk.

 

Check online and see if there happens to exist a better routing that will get you to your destination. If so, reach out and have them rebook you, or do so online if that works.

 

Also, be aware that because Southwest canceled your original itinerary, you are entitled to a full refund. 

Re: If Southwest purposely makes me missed connect will they cover a hotel?

Matt4202
Adventurer A

The times may be off a little.

 

Here’s it exactly -

 

It’s showing up in the app saying arriving at Airport 3 at 10:35pm.

 

Then leaving Airport 3 to Airport 4 at 8:35pm arriving at 11:40pm. 

This flight is on May 28th I’m guessing by then much more would be open than is currently.

 

As far as other options there aren’t many for us literally going from Airport 1 to Airport 4 it shows 1 flight which is very early morning and hours away from where we’d be located. So it’d be better to misconnect and be rebooked the next day.

 

That’s why we’re wondering if SW is then obligated to get us a hotel since they booked it this way.

Re: If Southwest purposely makes me missed connect will they cover a hotel?

chgoflyer
Aviator A

@Matt4202 wrote:

The times may be off a little.

 

Here’s it exactly -

 

It’s showing up in the app saying arriving at Airport 3 at 10:35pm.

 

Then leaving Airport 3 to Airport 4 at 8:35pm arriving at 11:40pm. 

This flight is on May 28th I’m guessing by then much more would be open than is currently.

 

As far as other options there aren’t many for us literally going from Airport 1 to Airport 4 it shows 1 flight which is very early morning and hours away from where we’d be located. So it’d be better to misconnect and be rebooked the next day.

 

That’s why we’re wondering if SW is then obligated to get us a hotel since they booked it this way.


They're obligated since it's their fault, but that doesn't always mean you'll get a hotel room. 😉

 

Southwest's Customer Service Commitment says that if circumstances within their control cause you to miss the last possible flight (or connection) of the day to your destination, their agents have the authority to arrange for overnight lodging at no additional cost to you. So I suspect they'll try to put you up if they can. That doesn't always work though, sometimes agents are "out of vouchers," hotels have no vacancies, or won't accept the voucher. There's no guarantee.

 

They could also try to re-route you, if there is any way possible to get you to Airport 4 that night (including additional connecting flights.)

 

I think what is most likely is that the system will glitch on the itinerary when you go to print your boarding passes (if it doesn't somehow catch it before then), sending you to an agent who will see the issue. Big question is will that be at departure or one of the connections?

Re: If Southwest purposely makes me missed connect will they cover a hotel?

dfwskier
Aviator A

Since the airline rebooked you, you are eligible to change the routing at no  cost to any flight(s) on the same routing that have available seats. This includes dates before and after the one you selected.

 

If I were you, I'd check whether or not there is a more sensible routing, or as chgoflyer said, since SW cancelled your original routing , you can get a refund

Re: If Southwest purposely makes me missed connect will they cover a hotel?

Matt4202
Adventurer A

Trust me I’ve tried every route possible.

 

I fly this route pretty often (4x a year) and from Airport 1 to Airport 4 it’s usually only involving 3 airports, but they routed it in a way involving 4.

 

I’ve gone over this myself and with my wife about 10 times and can’t find a route that would work even through the Multi-City option.

 

The departing flight leaves from the LA area and has to be routed through either OAK, LAS, DEN, PHX or MDW to get to our destination. It’s being routed through 2 of these instead of 1 causing the delay.

 

As far as a refund that’s not really an option because we booked at that time when all bookings in March - May were really cheap (I think under $49). And we are flying back home to Airport 4 from Airport 1.

 

The two other issues are that -

 

The only available flight is really early and where we are staying is 2 hours away from the airport.

 

We have to depart from this airport specifically because it’s where we’ll have a rental car from. If not it’s about $150 difference if we have to drop it off at another location. 

We don’t mind mis-connecting and being stuck in the middle overnight. Just having to pay for the hotel would be a pain.

 

As far as them or the system noticing when printing the tickets that’s perfectly fine because I’ve checked every possible route and there’s no other route possible, even a longer own.

 

I think the two possible outcomes are -

 

We get stuck in the middle and mis-connect or

 

The issue is noticed at Airport 1 and they have to rebook us for the next morning.

 

If the second one happened would they have to “usually” issue a hotel voucher?

 

 

 

 

Re: If Southwest purposely makes me missed connect will they cover a hotel?

chgoflyer
Aviator A

I'm not sure. Hotel vouchers are usually issued locally, so you'd need to convince a rep at the airport you'd be stuck at to give you one.

 

Good luck.

Re: If Southwest purposely makes me missed connect will they cover a hotel?

dfwskier
Aviator A

Are you leaving from/arriving at cities where another airport is close?

 

You might want to see if any other routing makes sense. If it does, I would contact customer relations and explain   the situation, and ask them to allow to change the itinerary. I don't know if it would work, but IMO it's worth a try.

 

You can reach customer relations  via Twitter (@Southwestair), or phone at 1-855-234-4654  (Monday thru Friday - normal business hours).

 

I do know that in the event of weather events Southwest will allow changes  in departure / arrival  cities (example Oakland instead of San Jose) if it's the only option that makes sense

 

 

You are running into the situation where Southwest has cut A LOT of flights (something around 2500 out of 4000 a day). Other airlines have cut even deeper. Routings that used to be easy are now difficult, as you are seeing.

 

Another option - move your trip to a different date. The airline will let you pick a different date for your trip - at no cost - up to 60 days after the trip you have booked. It is my understanding that Southwest hopes to start adding flights back into the system in June.

Re: If Southwest purposely makes me missed connect will they cover a hotel?

Matt4202
Adventurer A

So online we have the option to change airports for free no need to reach out.

 

The issue we have with that is we need to fly in and out of the same airport because dropping a rental car at a different airport is $100-$150 difference as it’s a “one way”. We’ve checked every which way.

 

Though there are 5 LA area airports only 2 are currently running our route. We’d be willing to switch to San Diego in and out, but apparently that’s not considered the same region so they won’t do it. My wife refuses to fly into LAX just due to international travelers and out of an abundance of precaution. Not to mention the flight our out LAX we would take is 8 hours and we have a toddler with us which wouldn’t go over well. Which leaves us with the other LA area Airport which is causing us to misconnect.

 

We also have checked the 7 days surrounding and it’s the same flight schedule.  Any later than that wouldn’t work for us unfortunately it’d have to be May.

 

The mis-connect would happen in Denver I know the people there are pretty hospitable, comparing to workers in Chicago. We had a missed connection due to weather in Chicago and they wouldn’t offer a hotel or even let us get our luggage overnight. We sucked it up because it was due to weather that time.