Dear Mr. Gary Kelly: The purpose of my letter to you is to make you aware of an unbelievably negative customer experience I was subjected to by your airline. My family and I were passengers on your airline June 22nd from ATL to BOZ and again on July 1st, from BOZ to ATL. During our attempt to travel from BOZ to ATL on July 1st, 2021, my family was subjected to the most egregious customer service I have experienced in the past five years. Upon our arrival at Bozeman on July 1st, we were greeted by two very polite and knowledgeable ticket agents. They worked efficiently to check in myself, my wife, and my two minor children, as well as six pieces of checked luggage. Unfortunately, this was my last positive experience with your airline: · When we arrived at the gate, the flight to DEN was announced that it would be delayed. · Upon arrival in DEN, the automated text messaging system began to notify me of several delays. o First delay notification, FLT 24 delayed until 4:25 PM o Second delay notification, FLT 24 delayed until 5:45 PM o Third delay notification, FLT 24 delayed until 6:50 PM o Fourth delay notification, FLT 24 delayed until 5:00 PM o Fifth delay notification, FLT 24 delayed until 6:20 PM o Sixth delay notification, FLT 24 delayed until 6:50 PM o Seventh delay notification, FLT 24 delayed until 7:20 PM · FLT 24 boarded at approximately 7:45 PM o Cabin crew announced that the flight was delayed further due to refueling issues with the ground services. o At approximately 8:45, the cabin crew announced that due to the delay, the First Officer had “timed out” and a new First Officer was enroute. o At approximately 9:15, FLT 24 pushed back from the gate. o At approximately 9:45, the cabin crew announced that due to the delay, the Captain had “timed out” and that the flight was cancelled. At this point, Southwest’s customer service failure began to escalate to the point where I am now compelled to write to you with the purposes of detailing the complete and utter collapse of customer service by your subordinates. · After waiting in line for more than forty-five minutes at a ticket counter, I was informed of the following: o My family was to be re-booked on FLT 3927 on July 3rd. o Southwest would not provide any assistance with accommodations from July 1st to July 3rd, effectively leaving my family without shelter. o Southwest would not allow my family access to our checked luggage, essentially leaving my family without clean clothes, prescription medication, and personal hygiene items. To summarize the above, Southwest basically abandoned a family of four in an unfamiliar city for two days without clothing, shelter nor basic necessary items. As a result of Southwest’s actions, and its untenable solution which required almost forty-eight hours without clean clothes, safe and secure shelter and basic personal hygiene effects, I took the following out of pocket action(s) · Procure lodging. · Secure transportation from DEN to Denver, CO (downtown). · Secure transportation from train station to hotel. · Obtain basic personal hygiene items. · Research and purchase alternate travel services from DEN-ATL that would arrive prior to July 4th, 2021, at 12:45AM. Sadly, the customer service failures of your company were not yet finished. I was informed by your ticket agent on July 1st in Denver, that my checked baggage would be sent to ATL on the first flight on July 2nd, and that the baggage would be waiting on me. When I arrived in ATL on July 2nd, I was informed by the baggage manager, Mr. Dee Good, that your employees in DEN routinely misinform passengers of the status of their baggage in the attempt to deflect their job responsibilities and assuage the passenger’s concern until they have departed DEN. When I arrived in ATL on July 2nd at approximately 9:15 PM, my baggage was not yet in ATL, in complete misalignment with what your DEN employees had promised. Around 10:45 PM, the baggage from FLT 24 arrived in baggage claim and I was able to collect my items and depart the airport. I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to praise Mr. Dee Good for his exemplary customer service, as he took the time to personally ensure that I received all my items and apologized for the inexcusable actions of your DEN operations employees. As a result of the entirety of the above listed facts, I incurred the following additional costs in order to prevent my family from being left on the streets of Denver for forty eight hours without clothing, shelter, nor prescription medications for chronic hypertension; Purchase train fare from DEN to hotel: $42.00 Purchase Uber transportation from Union Station to Sheraton: $30.77 Secure safe accommodations: $269.86 Obtain alternate air travel to ATL prior to July 4th, 2021: $1,165.70 In addition to the original airfare, I am out of pocket a total of $1,508.33, due to Southwest’s direct and indirect actions, which include over committing flight availability versus the availability of equipment/type air crew who are current on their training. This is evidenced by numerous news and trade articles reflecting Southwest’s pilot shortage due to leave of absence status and the backlog of pilots needing to re-certify at your training facility. While I understand your motivation behind increasing the flights to increase revenue, unfortunately, absent of a substantial response to my ordeal with your airline, I can assure you that Southwest Airlines will not be my choice for the indefinite future. Future business relationships should not be sacrificed on the altar of quarterly fiscal performance. I look forward to hearing from you personally within the next ten business days.
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