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"Travel Funds..."

MACappuccitti
Explorer C

My wife is from Barcelona, Spain. I have spent 20 years ripping on European customer service.  Today, SWA fell to that level of garbage.  On January 16th our flight from MCO to BUF was canceled.  I received no email.  In fact I received no indication of any change to my record whatsoever.  When I went to check in for my flight, all I got was an error message indicating that there were no legs left on my journey.  I reached out to SWA customer service via email the next day, after Frontier Airlines got us home from Orlando, and today--almost 2 weeks later--there was still no response.  My name/record locator combo yielded nothing on 'manage reservation' and in 'travel funds' I was told that my name or record locator, or both, must've been incorrectly input, as there was no record of anything to do with this reservation.  So I called.  And I waited.  42 minutes on hold.  Finally I got someone on the line and was informed that since I hadn't reached out to them in a timely fashion (which is not accurate, as I emailed them within 24 hours of accidentally discovering my flight had been canceled), that my residual funds were now in my SWA travel bank for use within a year.  Problem is, I cannot access them in my so-called 'SWA Wallet'.  The system doesn't recognize me, nor my confirmation number. And I'll be damed if I have to wait on hold for 3/4 of an hour to rebook a flight on an airline that is clearly a shell of its former self. Not good.  And not acceptable.  According to this woman, the travel funds are now untouchable as a means of being converted into a refund.  It is unfathomable that this is the same airline Herb Kelleher created and fostered into the absolute model of customer service.  That spirit of LUV is clearly now dead.  I have reached out to American Express and have to open a dispute for the remaining value on these tickets.  It's my only recourse.  Sad.  Very sad.  

9 REPLIES 9

Re: "Travel Funds..."

dfwskier
Aviator A

Sorry to hear of your troubles. With all of the flight cancellations  / delays wait times via phone are bad. I'm surprised you only had to wait 45 minutes.

 

My advice is to reach out via e-mail. That also gives you a paper trail. Click on "contact us" below to proceed.

Re: "Travel Funds..."

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

 A tad bit of an overreaction perhaps?

As said earlier, these types of issues are handled much better via written messages that leave a paper trail and allow the customer service agents working on the issue the appropriate amount of time to resolve the issue.  On the phone there is just not ample time to gather all the needed information.  Find the contact us link at the bottom of the page, use the send a message option and clearly identify your issue without the additional commentary added.  I would bet your issue will be quickly resolved.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: "Travel Funds..."

MACappuccitti
Explorer C

Overreaction to what? A once-perfect company that now holds customer money hostage? I did reach out via email and twitter dm both on same day with basic outline of my issue, and only got an auto reply from both sources. However the promised follow up to those auto replies never came.  All good. Amex is charging back the outstanding funds and taking care of this for me. 

Re: "Travel Funds..."

jksobonya
Aviator A

"My wife is from Barcelona, Spain."

 

What an odd way to begin a rant about a predominantly American airline. 

 

--Jessica

Re: "Travel Funds..."

MACappuccitti
Explorer C

What an odd thing that you’d bother reading customer rants only to post a ridiculous reply like this. You need a hobby. 

Re: "Travel Funds..."

bwallet
Frequent Flyer A

@MACappuccitti My wife is from South Africa. You should try African customer service...

Re: "Travel Funds..."

MACappuccitti
Explorer C

Classic. I can only imagine. 

Re: "Travel Funds..."

YATI
Explorer C

 

I also have travel funds that will expire sometimes in march. I tried to book a flight for my husband and myself to attend our grandson's graduation in May and was told it can't be used.  I called customer service and was told by the agent that nothing can be done at this time  but to  wait for  it expire next month to call back but be aware that   $100 will be deducted from the fund by which time the prices must have increased; pay double on the fare and also penalized by deducting funds which doesn't make sense.  I  explained that we cancelled our initial trip  because of the pandemic and travel restrictions but didn't care.  Southwest customer satisfaction services has declined heavily. I'm now contemplating on going with a different airline hopefully they can reason with us. 

 

 

Re: "Travel Funds..."

dfwskier
Aviator A

I would be VERY surprised if "different airlines" will be any more reasonable than Southwest

 

Once their versions of travel funds expire, they take ALL YOUR MONEY.