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What’s up with Southwest’s Re-Routing recently???

Matt4202
Adventurer A

In the last two weeks I’ve had reservations for May/June/July re-routed which isn’t an issue.

 

The issue is that some re-routings have been set up so they mis-connect by 2 hours, others have been routed in non-existent routes resulting in 11 hour total trip time. That’s an issue because I can go online and see several other possible alternatives that are from one destination to another, instead they’ve booked me on a multi-city flight that doesn’t exist.

 

Then when I have called SW they’ve looked at it and said why did you book it this way? I’ve said I didn’t you guys rerouted me this way for some reason.

 

An example -

 

Airport 1 - Leave at 12:30pm CST

Arrive at Airport 2 at 2:05pm CST

Depart Airport 2 at 7:35pm CST

Arrive at Airport 3 at 9:45pm PST

 

Travel Time 11:05hrs

 

Meanwhile if you search for flights from Airport 1 to Airport 3 there’s a flight leaving at 5:45pm CST and arriving at Airport 3 at 9:45pm PST. Travel time of 6 hours instead of 11:05hours on a non-existent route. The above route doesn’t show up anywhere to get that route even booked you’d have to go to the Multi City option then pick Airport 1 to 2 then 2 to 3. It’s not an option even if you’re searching from Airport 1 to 3.

 

I’m not sure why they’d do this at all as it makes no sense it even leaves the Customer service reps baffled when I’ve called in. Since they’ve booked it this way you can’t even change it online either you have to call in to make any changes. On top of that they need a managers approval to change it due to the way it was booked even though on the reservation it says you can make changes free of charge.

14 REPLIES 14

Re: What’s up with Southwest’s Re-Routing recently???

AndrewICT
Explorer C

This might be a long shot, but could it be because of the COVID-19 pandemic? Maybe the systems are acting weird because of flight cancellations in the future?

Re: What’s up with Southwest’s Re-Routing recently???

bec102896
Aviator A
Solution

I have had several crazy reroutes as well due to the schedule changes I have no idea why some of the changes are as crazy as they are but until they work on the system all we can do is take advantage of the free change that SW gives us so you can move to a flight that works better for you or if the change is major you could reach out and ask for a refund if you have no plans to travel. If you get an error when trying to change online I would try using the in app chat feature as it will be easier than waiting to talk to someone by phone. 

 

I would also recommend reaching out to Southwest on Twitter, Facebook, or email that way they can at least document the complaint so they can pass on the possible issue to the technology team. 

 

-Blake

Re: What’s up with Southwest’s Re-Routing recently???

Matt4202
Adventurer A

I’m not looking for a refund and I understand rerouting due to COVID-19 but the routes they put me on are non-existent. If you read my whole post you’d see I mention the availability of other flights on the same day but they opted for one that’s not even listed. Which is very strange for SW.

 

As far as Chat I’ve tried but it’s always unavailable 😞 FB is nice for small things but my situation they said I need to call.

Re: What’s up with Southwest’s Re-Routing recently???

bec102896
Aviator A

Your not alone with some of the crazy routes that aren't bookable online. 

 

Here's one example that affected me. Original flight AUS BNA MCO last night get an email moving me to a AUS DAL STL PIT MCO all on the same plane from 4hours 30min to almost 9 hours flight time. When I look at the schedule for that date there were 2 other flights that departed within 2 hours of my original flight and only arriving 1 hour 45min later.  The 3 stop no change is not an option for people to book on that date. Why the system came up with that routing I have no clue all I can do is deal with it or change it to another flight. 

 

All we can do is let Southwest know that something isn't working right then hopefully they will fix the bug in the system sometime soon so we don't have these issues. Systems break that's just the way it is so that's why I say to report it. 

 

-Blake

Re: What’s up with Southwest’s Re-Routing recently???

Matt4202
Adventurer A

Yeah, I suppose it’s just a little baffling how the system comes up with that at all though even for Southwest’s Customer Service.

 

That sounds like a long haul. 

Re: What’s up with Southwest’s Re-Routing recently???

AustinRiley
Explorer A

The routes their computer system comes up with are comical.  This might be a good $9.69 investment by Southwest's IT Department.

 

AustinRiley_0-1587647118208.png

 

Re: What’s up with Southwest’s Re-Routing recently???

jksobonya
Aviator A

You are definitely not alone, I have a flight booked that got changed by Southwest to a flight that technically doesn't exist by booking directly. I am contacting them via social media to inquire and get a resolution ... I would think that this was done in error and that they can correct the flight path to be a more reasonable one that exists 😉 

 

--Jessica

Re: What’s up with Southwest’s Re-Routing recently???

nutsoverSWA
Explorer A

A lot of my 're-bookings' end up being 'non-existent routing' due to massive layovers not allowing a 'connection' (within their allotted time frame), so you get a whole lot of additional flights as segments, rather than connections. (This should help with your 'tiers' 😉   but I doubt they will allow that!)

Re: What’s up with Southwest’s Re-Routing recently???

bec102896
Aviator A

@nutsoverSWA wrote:

A lot of my 're-bookings' end up being 'non-existent routing' due to massive layovers not allowing a 'connection' (within their allotted time frame), so you get a whole lot of additional flights as segments, rather than connections. (This should help with your 'tiers' 😉   but I doubt they will allow that!)


Unfortunately I don't think it will help with tier status because it's based on a one way flight including connections. The only way you could get multiple credits towards tier status is if your flight was booked point to point or if you book one way flights for each segment.