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Flight delay and compensation

gretch0628
Explorer C

I use to use Southwest as my “go to”airline. I repeatedly read articles on how great the service is but I have had the worst experience today and now am thinking of switching to Frontier Airlines as my main travel between Buffalo and Tampa.i was booked on a 6:55am flight today to Tampa. Flight# 460. Direct flight buffalo to Tampa. The first thing that was odd was the flight scheduled to depart around the same time but had Baltimore as the destination was getting announcements that their flight was being relocated to our gate. After they boarded all of them they announced that we would be switching to the next gate- the one that the Baltimore people were st originally. At this point they told us OUR flight was delayed until 12:40pm due to a mechanical issue and the attendant told us that the Baltimore flight was loaded into OUR plane!! So obviously people were furious! Our flight, our plane was in working order- you gave it away! That is ridiculous - the worst in customer service I have ever experienced. Why is their time overall more important than mine?? It’s not! My flight to Tampa was well timed purposely because my 87 year old father was scheduled for a colonoscopy this afternoon!!! Now it’s not a routine one- he had colon cancer and is sick again- and I needed to be by his side if he finds out he has cancer again. He shouldn’t have to ask a neighbor in his senior apt complex be with him for such a crucial appt! His daughter should be. Now, He has had to postpone because he is afraid to go through this without me! know they will say the $200 voucher given out should be enough compensation / but for me in my case it doesn’t come close. I’m going to have to fly down there multiple times for his rescheduled appt and further cancer testing. I have  no idea how much this is going to cost but it’s going to be way more than $200.  I feel like this compensation should be adjusted. Every case is different. I know that. I work in customer service too. The stress and anxiety this has caused both me and my dad in immeasurable. I hope that Southwest can be the company I always knew they were. First in class for customer service and make this right. I thank you for taking the time to read this .. and most importantly I hope my delayed flight actually gets off the ground this afternoon on time. 

9 REPLIES 9

Re: Flight delay and compensation

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Been there, done that, it definitely sucks getting delayed. I understand it's frustrating, but I wouldn't want even my worst enemy to fly Frontier. When things go well most airlines are fine, they get you where you want to go. But, when things go wrong, such as bad weather or mechanical issues, Frontier is the worst. They don't have the number flights and planes other airlines like Southwest have and they will often cancel the only flight of the day, leaving passengers stranded. Additionally, all the extra charges for bags, seats, and beverages drive me crazy. 

 

Good luck today and hopefully future Southwest flights work out better for you.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Flight delay and compensation

bec102896
Aviator A

Hello

 

sorry to hear of your experience today I would recommend calling customer relations at 855-234-4654 to discuss your experience once travel is complete to see if additional compensation may be available if you don't want to call and speak with customer relations by phone you can email them from the southwest website by clicking on the contact us link at the bottom of the homepage. I do know that aircraft swaps are annoying especially if it delays you because your plane was given away I know there are a lot of factors that go in to swaps such as crew times or number of passengers of course I can't say for sure the reason behind this swap but hopefully they get you to Tampa as soon as possible.

 

hope all goes well with your father

Blake 

Re: Flight delay and compensation

CareforNOLA
Frequent Flyer A

@gretch0628,

I also hope that all is well with your father.  What a bad day to have a flying snafu.  They can happen with weather, mechanical issues with planes, software systems and human error - which lists them from the least controllable to the most controllable.  Unfortunately, humans will make occasional mistakes no matter how many systems are in place.  When plans get interrupted for any of these delays, it can be upsetting, but especially when it relates to family emergencies. 

 

Hopefully you will give Southwest another try, especially if multiple trips are required.  It might have been a similar or different problem for another airline on another day.  I would be shocked if calling customer service or even better, writing them a letter laying out all the facts, did not garner a response from them with some decent options.  Headquarters has more ability to respond than a gate agent or a supervisor at the airport.

 

 

 

Re: Flight delay and compensation

LindseyD
Retired Community Manager

Hi @gretch0628,

 

You're right, your father should not have to face such a difficult procedure alone, and you should be able to expect that you can count on the schedule you arranged for yourself. We fell short on an important day in your life, and we are so sorry. 

 

The Southwest Community is a peer-to-peer discussion forum, so we aren't able to address specific Customer Service issues here. That said, I want to make sure we take the time to look into your situation, so please reach out to our Customer Relations Department either on Twitter (@Southwestair) or by calling us at 1-855-234-4654.

 

Re: Flight delay and compensation

gretch0628
Explorer C

Thank you for writing in and your compassion. I did communicate via email with Customer Relations. Sarah Watson from Southwest wrote back that they were sorry it happened but an airplane switch was needed to minimize delays elsewhere. The vouchers issued to everyone on the plane was their blanket compensation and nothing more would be done except they will "document our feedback via their monthly summary" with the Senior Leaders. I am still flabbergasted at this response and that they will do nothing more. If they would have even looked at my situation and saw the reprocussions I had to deal with because of this they should have at the very least offered a refund of my points spent. Even a partial reversal would have been going above and beyond and something I would expect of Southwest. I work in customer service so I know that no matter what happens with our product we can ALWAYS control our service to our customers and at the very least have them leave knowing they were treated more than fairly. I thought Southest had the same belief system.

 

Re: Flight delay and compensation

ethanscott
Explorer B

Ohh this seems so sad. My condolences. I hope you reached on time to be with your dad.

Sometimes these things happen and I know how irritating it can be. Either way it is just depressing when all of this happens.

Re: Flight delay and compensation

Bpoppie46
Explorer C

Unfortunately Southwest is not the airline they used to be, 7 flights in the last month and all of them delayed.  Sat in NYC for a 5 hour delay two weeks ago!!  I am joining you in jumping to another airline, bye Southworst!

Re: Flight delay and compensation

Jockey1967
Explorer C

Yesterday I was scheduled to travel from Fort Myers, Florida (Flight 2783) to Islip, New York (Flight 2566) with a layover in Baltimore, Maryland. While on board the Fort Myers-to-Baltimore flight, I received a notification from Southwest that the connecting flight was cancelled due to bad weather. I was not told in Fort Myers that there may be trouble with the connecting flight otherwise I could have rescheduled. Upon my arrival in Baltimore, the ticket agents could not have cared less about my predicament. I ended up travelling via shuttle to the Amtrak station and taking a train to New York and then transferring to the Long Island Railroad. When I called Southwest to see about any compensation I was put through hell with their customer service telephone service. When I finally was connected to an agent, I was told sorry about the bad weather but we can't provide a refund and no offer of any future travel voucher was offered. It was just sorry about your bad day and good bye.  Well, I guess they are right about the good bye because I will not fly Southwest again.

Re: Flight delay and compensation

NicoleAshley
Employee
Employee

We're so sorry for letting you down, @Jockey1967. As a peer-to-peer support forum, we aren't equipped to assist you here, but we encourage you to reach out specifically to Customer Relations by phone at 1-855-234-4654 or on Facebook or Twitter @SouthwestAir. Thank you.

 

Nicole
Community Manager