11-04-2018
08:02 PM
It is almost incredible after so many years of customer requests, and customers' having to put in extra time and effort, that Southwest STILL does not offer a *simple* way to download an invoice for a past or future flight, instead forcing customers to search their emails for a 3-page statement that is not an invoice although it contains payment information. Just about every other retailer today offers a simple self-service way to print out a basic invoice for a past or pending order. It makes me wonder if there is a structural reason Southwest does not want to provide easy access to invoices, even though it would make their customers, especially business customers, much happier. Here are some possibilities: 1) Southwest doesn't want anyone to easily find out what someone or some company paid for their flight. Perhaps the discount price offered is a sensitive and confidential contractual price. Thus to get the information, you must go through the rigamarole of parsing 3-page emails, making it difficult to analyze, say several hundred flights to find a discounting pattern. 2) Southwest wants you to see the advertising and other irrelevant marketing information in the email every time you want to check your flight details, including payment information. I don't think this is the case, but if so, it's pretty sad. 3) Southwest does not have the technical capability to set up this simple, ubiquitous DIY service that every other company provides to its customers. I very much doubt this is the case. 4) Perhaps Southwest does not want to take the risk that someone with online access to invoices might hack into financial or other systems. If so, then at the least Southwest could just send a simple PDF invoice that we can file (and submit for reimbursement) -- rather than the 3-page email that sure doesn't look an invoice to a corporate accountant. it's neither professional nor business-friendly. It's a real mystery, but it would help if Southwest could explain why they're dragging their feet.
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