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UnHappy with just a CREDIT and NO REFUND, contact information.

apm
Adventurer C

If you are unhappy with how poorly Southwest Airlines is treating it's customers during this pandemic. If you need a refund and not a travel credit due to COVID !9 and State travel restrictions. Do not just take what SW is giving you. File A BBB complaint, File a complaint with your State ATTY General's office, Sign an online petition on Change.org All are easy to do online. Tell everyone you know in person and (social media about how poorly SW is treating their customers). Write to the officers of Southwest, they need to know how unhappy you are. They most likely won't budge now as they are only concerned with their own compensation and stock options. They even take $$ from the government while keeping our money. Their GREED is showing! For years SW prided themselves on LUV for their customers however their inaction to make refund exceptions for customers who can not fly due to state stay at home orders or health concerns are reprehensible.  How much will SW profit from unused travel credits from those who are too sick to travel or die during this pandemic?

Business Management

  • Mr. Gary C. Kelly, President/Chairman/CEO

Contact Information

Principal

  • Mr. Jerry Davis, Customer Relations Manage

Customer Contact

  • Mr. Jim Ruppel, VP of Customer Relations

Other Contacts

  • Mr. Anthony Whaley, Customer Relations Manager
  • Mr. Michael Van De Ven, Executive President & COO
  • Ms. Carolyn Lewis, Operations Specialist

Additional Contact Information

Fax Numbers

  • (972) 656-2561
    Primary Fax
  • (214) 792-5099
    Other Fax

Phone Numbers

  • (800) 445-5764
    Other Phone
  • (214) 792-4000
    Other Phone
  • (214) 932-0333
    Other Phone
 

Email Addresses

Gary Kelly
Chief Executive Officer
2702 Love Field Drive
Dallas, TX 75235
(214) 792-4000

13 REPLIES 13

Re: UnHappy with just a CREDIT and NO REFUND, contact information.

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

No airline is providing cash refunds on non-refundable tickets unless the airline cancels the flight.

 

You cancel your flight = travel fund credit 

Airline cancels your flight = cash refund 

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: UnHappy with just a CREDIT and NO REFUND, contact information.

Aussie
Explorer C

That’s not completely true. United Airlines refunded our fare when I explained that we were coming from Australia and would not be able to use the credit. We are already losing a lot of money because of accommodation places not giving refunds. I thought South West would be more understanding. They obviously don’t care about international travellers or good will to their customers.

Re: UnHappy with just a CREDIT and NO REFUND, contact information.

JF
Explorer A

Thanks for info I will contact as many as possible. SW runs its like a shell game. I hadn't flown with them since the 1980's so when I looked up their menu they had 3 options. when you look among the 3 options they had a policy on the first option to refund to your credit card so I figured all 3 would be the same. When I cancelled as the virus epidemic got worse I felt that if I flew I risked giving my friends wife the virus if I picked it up from traveling. Other people must have felt the same as when I cancelled I noticed the fare for my flight dropped from $659.00 to $99.00 . Thus, I was shocked when I discovered the SW would not put my airfare back on my credit card as I was not preventing them from getting a $659.00 airfare as no one was flying. I dont understand how some of these Consumers can read my complaint ignore the real issue and defend the Evil Airline? Southwest was disinfecting their planes once per day while the other airlines were disinfecting between flights. An epidemic calls for people working together and realizing a credit for up to one year later when people are laid off and have higher costs due to the Epidemic speaks of Greed. I will always remember how SW has changed for the worse and never fly their Greedy Airline again. Can you write to Doug McMillan President at Wall-Mart and ask him to consider another airline for their annual meeting. He gave bonuses to the employees and probably should know how SW treats its Customers. I have US Cellular and they are waiving all overage data charges as they realize people are working from home. Based on these Nazi Comments defending SW I wonder if those people aren't paid or somehow bennefit for sucking up to these Monsters at SW? Wal-Mart Flys 5000 associates to Dallas every year. Id love to see SW loose that account. If you could write to Wal-Mart too it would help they are so caring for their employees thru this Virus. Thank you, for caring & God Bless you for your high Ethical Standards.

Re: UnHappy with just a CREDIT and NO REFUND, contact information.

dfwskier
Aviator A

@JF wrote:

Do you get some kind of gratification from cutting and pasting the same post multiple times?

Re: UnHappy with just a CREDIT and NO REFUND, contact information.

apm
Adventurer C

Yes I do and not only in this forum. On several sites and organizations. Every post that is read will influence someone. Some "homies" like yourself can never be swayed but that there are many that will also learn to dislike SW. I will continue to post often everywhere and with now over 6000 views between all sites and messages, the message is getting out there. The goal is to cost SW more in future lost revenues than they would have spent just refunding people who need the refund instead of the credit. me I need the refund now and would have flown with them when able to in the future by buying a new ticket. Now that will never happen and I see the same sentiment from many others. Just plain shortsighted on SW part. You see and hear about all the good things large and small companies are doing to help their customers out in these unprecedented times. Many company officers are taking pay cuts to help keep their company afloat and keep employees onboard. SW officers received hundreds of thousands of stock options in January and have done nothing to reduce their compensation to help their employees or customers. Yet they keep the money from their needy customers when they could gain so much press and good will by making exceptions for their customers who request a refund. By you just stating that "other airlines aren't doing anything" is just like the small child pointing fingers at the other bad kids. Shame on SW for not taking a customer centric leadership role. Shame on the leaderships corporate greed. The goal with these posts was to obtain a refund, as that seems impossible now the new goal is to keep SW officers, customer service and legal team busy responding to complaints for customers and organization and states. Again the cost in time and resources will be more than the refunds and that is satisfaction. You are entitled to your opinion but if you take off your rose colored glasses and try to place yourself in another persons situation perhaps you would do the same. Until then. And as I have plenty of time on my hands here is a report for you.

If you are unhappy with how poorly Southwest Airlines is treating it's customers during this pandemic. If you need a refund and not a travel credit due to COVID !9 and State travel restrictions. Do not just take what SW is giving you. File A BBB complaint, File a complaint with your State ATTY General's office, Sign an online petition on Change.org All are easy to do online. Tell everyone you know in person and (social media about how poorly SW is treating their customers). Write to the officers of Southwest, they need to know how unhappy you are. They most likely won't budge now as they are only concerned with their own compensation and stock options. They even take $$ from the government while keeping our money. Their GREED is showing! For years SW prided themselves on LUV for their customers however their inaction to make refund exceptions for customers who can not fly due to state stay at home orders or health concerns are reprehensible.  How much will SW profit from unused travel credits from those who are too sick to travel or die during this pandemic?

Business Management

  • Mr. Gary C. Kelly, President/Chairman/CEO

Contact Information

Principal

  • Mr. Jerry Davis, Customer Relations Manage

Customer Contact

  • Mr. Jim Ruppel, VP of Customer Relations

Other Contacts

  • Mr. Anthony Whaley, Customer Relations Manager
  • Mr. Michael Van De Ven, Executive President & COO
  • Ms. Carolyn Lewis, Operations Specialist

Additional Contact Information

Fax Numbers

  • (972) 656-2561
    Primary Fax
  • (214) 792-5099
    Other Fax

Phone Numbers

  • (800) 445-5764
    Other Phone
  • (214) 792-4000
    Other Phone
  • (214) 932-0333
    Other Phone
 

Email Addresses

Gary Kelly
Chief Executive Officer
2702 Love Field Drive
Dallas, TX 75235
(214) 792-4000

Re: UnHappy with just a CREDIT and NO REFUND, contact information.

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

@apm @At least try to get your facts right.

 

You said:

"SW officers received hundreds of thousands of stock options in January and have done nothing to reduce their compensation to help their employees or customers." 

 

Fact:

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly is cutting his own pay as coronavirus wallops industry

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public-health/2020/03/10/southwest-airlines-ceo-gary-kelly-is-cuttin...

 

You said:

"Shame on SW for not taking a customer centric leadership role" 

 

Fact:

Southwest continues to lead the airline industry in customer service. Other airlines simply met what Southwest does everyday.

 

Yes, it matters and is important to say that no other airline is doing more. If you complain about Southwest not going further because you just feel they should then who sounds like the small child yelling and pointing fingers? 

 

Sincerely your homie, 

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: UnHappy with just a CREDIT and NO REFUND, contact information.

apm
Adventurer C

Middle Seat,   Yes, I stand corrected Gary Kelly did announce a 10% pay cut to his 750,000.00 salary on 3/10/20 to the SW employees. Call that window dressing. His total 2019 compensation was over $8 million and up $1m from prior year. Many company CEO's are taking NO salary during this pandemic and many senior management exc's are taking larger reductions. Many companies large and small are doing extraordinary things to help their customers, from discounts in auto insurance polices, to free products and services. All I want SW to do is refund the money (on an exception basis) that was paid them for a ticket that could not be used due to stay at home orders issued by the state. They did offer a future credit (which is normally fine, but these times now are not normal) Cash  refunds are needed now as banks do not take flight credits for the mortgage and grocery stores do not accept them for food either. I am not talking about what Southwest does daily for their customers I am talking about what they are doing now in this once in a century pandemic. They can do more as what they are doing is not enough for many. By their policy they do not have to do anything however they will be more remembered for what they do in this time of need then what they do normally.  I am not alone in this thought as their message boards are filled with many customers also upset and wanting/needing a refund.  You can continue to respond as this only highlights my message and no matter what you say it will not change the fact that Southwest is not making a percentage of their customers happy. Question: Will Southwest refund the $ to customers families who they issued credits to who die or get sick from this virus and thus never able to use the credit or will they hold on to that money to boost their stock price and increase the value of the over 900,000 shares of stock that select company officers received on 1/28/2020? This is not about executive compensation and I am sure they are all nice guys, deserving of their pay. This is about SW holding their customers money and just issuing credits for future flights when in this pandemic people need their money back and may never even be able to use the credit. I understand that it is SW's policy to just give the credits and normally that is fine but these are difficult times for many. This airline has prided itself in the past by being the most customer friendly airline, so that is the expectation standard they set and now can not achieve. In this pandemic they are not being customer centric. They still have time to review their position and make changes to be the leader in the industry with setting customer centric standards, if not they will be remembered by many for how they acted in this difficult time more so than how they acted in their glory days.  Just so you don't say I misquoted the compensation figure here is the 2018 compensation of Mr. Kelly for 2018. Glad you brought this subject up to be posted. 

$750,000
Base Pay
$1,418,400
Bonus + Non-EquityIncentive Comp
$2,168,400
Total Cash Comp
$5,250,019
Stock Award Value
$0
Option Award Value
$5,250,019
Total Equity
$235,324
Total Other
$7,653,743
Total Compensation

Re: UnHappy with just a CREDIT and NO REFUND, contact information.

AustinRiley
Explorer A

Thanks for the info apm.  Impressive you are going through all this work, and I enjoyed reading all of the truths you have posted.   Great work on exposing these disappointing facts!

 

As I mentioned to "dfwskier" and "Middle Seat" last week, I find their posts very entertaining.   It is shameful how these compensated "homies" for Southwest take a total black & white stance on issues and, in their minds, Southwest can do wrong.   They appear to have totally lost sight of the facts that people just want to pay money and get on a flight, and most people are not experts (nor do they care to be) of all the nuances of Southwest's website and experts on all the rules and laws of Southwest and airline travel in general that may or may not help them.    They hide behind curt posts with language such as "you can just change your flight!" or "I am done talking with you!".

 

And then as I did, if you ask them a simple yes or no question, they do not reply because no matter how they answer it, they would be forced to acknowledge either their airline or one of its employees may have been wrong or, at a minimum, displayed poor judgment.  Pathetic.   They clearly display a pattern of never going on record of saying anything negative about their airline, or even an imperfection.

 

What's worse is that these "Top Contributors" apparently have license from Southwest to belittle people who post legitimate criticisms about Southwest on this site and these Top Contributors can insinuate untruths about people.   And many of these people they belittle are loyal, long standing customers.   In my case, per my company's records, Southwest has gotten over $290,000 of money for plane tickets in the last 18 years just for my own travel.  And on top of this, there are tens of thousands of more dollars they have gotten from me for my personal non-work travel as well as that for my wife & kids that I book on my own.

 

To be honest, I do not see myself reaching out to politicians or other third parties to bring light to the terrible treatment Southwest has recently been displaying (and I say "recently", because as I posted last week, in fairness, this airline by and large was fantastic up until 2019).  I am in the camp that thinks these efforts run a high chance of having a minimal impact, and I don't want to waste my time.  However, even before I posted my complaints last week, my company (which employees about 10,000 in the US, many of which are road warriors, and has a dedicated Travel Dept) had already taken measures months ago to reduce our business with Southwest because of the bad service.   When our Southwest account rep heard of this, he condescendingly complained to our Travel reps and minimized the many complaints our company has had with them.  Sound familiar?   The account reps must get the same training as dfwskier and Middle Seat - admit no wrong and talk down to customers.

 

And the post thread I started last week voicing some legitimate complaints about Southwest and the less-than-classy responses by dfwskier and Middle Seat have all been forwarded to my company's Travel Dept and have gotten a lot of attention that will further garner the type of impact you are striving for.  

 

In addition, an acquaintance of mine works for Southwest and she told me she has heard that Gary Kelly reads the private messages that are sent to him via this community.   While I struggle to believe that, particularly in today's environment, I did forward the thread I started last week and asked that he respond to me as I would like to know his thoughts.  

 

Keep looking out for us regular folks apm!   You strike me as a very good person.

 

Thanks,

Austin Riley

 

 

 

Re: UnHappy with just a CREDIT and NO REFUND, contact information.

tappingmom1
Frequent Flyer B

Per AustinRiley: "As I mentioned to "dfwskier" and "Middle Seat" last week, I find their posts very entertaining.   It is shameful how these compensated "homies" for Southwest..."

 

Yeah, I quit reading right after that sentence.  They are not compensated.  Full stop.