Southwest Airlines Community

Hi all, I wanted to reopen/restart this conversation since a seemingly-random Southwest Employee decided to prematurely close the thread. It seems like they are now proactively trying to discourage productive conversations amongst customers, as their cascading, catastrophic failure has come to light.   I want to thank everyone who has contributed to telling the story of the ongoing debacles here on Southwest Airlines own community feedback board. Considering the incredible responses I received on this board, and the substantial negative exposure Southwest has been receiving in the national news recently, it is clear I was not alone in my awful experience flying Southwest Airlines this past weekend, and that my inconveniences were actually relatively minimal. I was extremely saddened to hear of the family with three small children who did not have clothes and to hear of all those who were unable to spend the holiday weekend in the comfort of their families, because of the malfeasance of the airline.   I really hope everyone was able to have, and is having, a warm, safe, and enjoyable holiday and New Years.   BTW, I did not mention it, but I had medications for a chronic illness in my checked baggage (the format makes carrying them through TSA pretty difficult), which were impossible to replace on short notice over the holiday weekend in a winter storm. I have been suffering withdrawal effects of stopping some of those medications in the last 5-6 days.   Additionally, I do use Apple airtags, to the poster who suggested that-- and, as I stepped onto the plane and took of my jacket, realized it was in my pocket and not in the checked bag. The comment actually felt like rubbing salt in my own, stupid wound. That said, while it would have provided peace of mind and maybe saved the 30 minutes standing around at the baggage claim area, I'm not sure it would have helped much in the way of actually retrieving the baggage.   Re: tracking baggage using barcodes, and the fact that the attendant seemed to know exactly where the bag was when asked, the bag was removed due to a 'weight imbalance' and Southwest's system knew from the moment we taxi'd down the tarmac where the luggage was. As someone who works in tech, the comment that implied it would take an enormous capital investment to make this information available to passengers via the Southwest website or app is absolutely ridiculous. They even ask this in the customer feedback form: 'how would you like us to provide updates on where your bag is?', SMS/Email, etc. It seems like they are already thinking of implementing some kind of customer-facing tracking system; this needed to have been done yesterday.   It absolutely should not have taken me even the additional, next-day phone call to receive the $100 LUV voucher, or any form of additional customer service benefit in exchange for this inconvenience (worth noting- I actually still have yet to receive it in my email, as they said I would, btw). It 100% should have been offered up-front by one of the three separate customer service professionals I dealt with. It also is a company voucher, which I can only use if I ever choose to fly the company again (or if we assume they aren't class-actioned out of existence when they fail to reimburse passengers for all of the baggage and flights they've mishandled this past weekend).   UPDATE: it has been 5 days without any update on the bag, so I will be filing a claim immediately with Southwest and intend to replace every and all items that were lost, as I need them for the upcoming week and Southwest has not provided any type of ETA or status update on the baggage. I read the Contract of Carriage closely and will not exceed the $3800 limit. The truly criminal part of all of this is that it requires me to come out of pocket in full and trust that the airline will actually reimburse me in some kind of speedy time. I do not have that much faith in the carrier and do not have so much disposable income to come out of pocket all out at once to replace lost items.   To some of the responders: @TheFloridaGuy - As far as I am concerned, you are a remarkably compassionate individual and the champion of the thread. Your comments in my defense were truly appreciated. Thank you.   @TheMiddleSeat - I truly did not appreciate your lack of compassion or the tone of your earlier posts. It actually made me sad to see someone freely defending such a significant corporate entity (which, it turns out, did royally mess up for the better part of the last week), and I would encourage you to broaden your viewpoint to better understand the perspective of others.   Southwest: You very, very obviously, messed this one up. It will be interesting to see how and/or if you can recover, as this also, apparently, is not the first time that this has happened. DO BETTER. And, if it turns out you really cannot be trusted to follow through on the obligations of the Carriage of Contract, can you be trusted to safely transport or even interact with customers at all?   Again, wishing everyone reading or posting a safe and happy holiday season. Please keep the conversation productive. Southwest, please fix this immediately, or get out of the transportation business. ... View more