Thank you for your thoughtful, thorough, kind and compassionate response. And yes, unfortunately it’s happening to a lot of people. I only wish the gate agent had been as thorough. He just said that they don’t offer refunds if it’s a weather event. Period. That’s how they get around their poor emergency preparedness. Blame it on the weather and the passenger will pay. Very frustrating to find the system does not give more flexible options, for example, to keep my connecting flight and cancel the first leg of the trip (the problem child) which I could have possibly booked with another airline, albeit, at my expense. I felt locked into what THEY wanted me to do. And very frustrating having to wait on the phone for over two hours (TWICE) and then it went silent both times. Adding insult to injury, SW tells you that if YOU cancel, EARLYBIRD fees are also not refundable. They had better waive this rule. I know I am not alone, but Southwest had plenty of time to scramble other planes and personnel. It always comes down to the almighty dollar and resource management. Their passenger communication was atrocious. Only a couple of gate agents moving from gate to gate at O’Hare. O’Hare international airport! During the holiday season. Not like it was a sudden surprise. Storms, yes, but they should be prepared for anything. Additionally, providing incorrect information on the departures board which was mirrored at the gate as an on-time departure, then blaming it on the city who controls the board. What? Yes, that’s what the gate agent told me. The app was telling us that the flight was delayed when we logged in early in the morning. The SW gate agent told us to IGNORE the board instead directing us to the app for correct information. We did. It then said flight was on time. Oh, wait, refresh it again. Same. Refresh it again. Now it’s delayed over two hours. Then it flipped back to a half hour, then an hour and a half and back-and-forth like that for hours. I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt because I like Southwest, but they just managed this so poorly. Could they have put more planes in service and had paid crews to standby to fly them? Better than ruin holiday travel plans around the nation. Oh, but I’m sure they prioritized the flights to Cancun and overseas vacation destinations because of business partners/travel industry demands. More money. I bet they knew they were going to cancel this flight (and others) early in the morning. They just wanted to get us to the airport, string us along and try to shuffle us around until their flights were full and completely booked up and THEN cancel. I get it, if a crew is delayed beyond a certain time they have to follow guidelines per the union, FAA, face fines, etc. and cancel the flight because it’s the most profitable and least problematic option. THEY WOULD BE NOWHERE WITHOUT US, YET WE ARE THE LAST TO KNOW ACCURATE INFORMATION SO THAT WE CAN MAKE INFORMED AND INTELLIGENT DECISIONS REGARDING OUR TRIPS. We are at their mercy. Sorry for the capitals. I’m dictating and it got stuck.
