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Upgrade to business class

Fairjoan
Explorer C

My son recently paid for a round-trip ticket to visit his friends in Austin, TX (a BIG deal for him!).  I wanted to surprise him and so paid the extra $250 to upgrade to what I "thought" was the "normal Business Class" FOR ONLY THE WAY HOME, as I was printing his initial part of his trip as we have experienced it with the other airlines. 

Boy, were we mistaken and surprised when he returned home - what a joke!!!  It is the biggest rip off going.  We thought for $250 he would get at least a nice meal and some extra attention.  No way, what he paid for was a "seat" and an alcoholic drink (he doesn't drink).   I contacted Southwest to ask about it - surely there must have been a mistake and received a form letter back. 

This has really soured me on this airline which my son takes annually to compete in a special charitable bike ride.  

Has anyone else been misled like this?  How can an airline get away with this p

"play on words?"

I welcome anyone with similar experiences.  Thank you.

2 REPLIES 2

Re: Upgrade to business class

chgoflyer
Aviator A

Southwest's unfortunately-named "Business Select" is nothing but a dressed-up fully-refundable* fare. Southwest only has a single class of service, so Business Select isn't in any way similar to other carriers' "Business Class" offerings.

 

That said, Southwest details pretty clearly exactly what you get when you buy Business Select.

 

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Sorry you learned this lesson the hard way.

 

*Note: Not even full-refundability is guaranteed. If any changes are made to the itinerary, astonishingly you lose the ability to receive a full refund. Yes, this makes absolutely no sense.

Re: Upgrade to business class

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

Even as a relatively seasoned Southwest flyer I hadn't noticed the distinction about changing a refundable fare making it non-refundable until someone (probably yourself @chgoflyer) mentioned it on one of these boards.

 

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