Accessing Southwest from Overseas

[suzanne1009]

Hi. 

I am being blocked from accessing ANY www.southwest.com links/pages. I've seen this is an old and well known problem with this company. 

• How can I try to book with Southwest? 
• Any other websites allowing bookings or other workaround?
• Has someone from this forum contact Southwest and lodged a formal complaint? - I can't even access Customer Service to do so myself.  

Background:  I am physically in Hong Kong (for months on end for work) and I'm trying to book a r/t domestic USA flight Los Angeles-Chicago.  I don't want to wait on telephone hold for the over 1 hour wait times as it's an international phone charge.  No, I don't pay for one of the 'illegal' VPN services that ghost a location from a different country.  Thanks for any help!!

Messages recieved:  

Access Denied

You don't have permission to access "http://www.southwest.com/contact-us/contact-us.html" on this server.

Reference #18.d714c6cb.1536721963.34a13ea

Access Denied

You don't have permission to access "http://www.southwest.com/" on this server.

Reference #18.d714c6cb.1536722071.34a9edb

[Passenger1C]

@suzanne1009 I would be completely frustrated too!  Do you have the SW app? Just wondering if that would work? Also, do you have Twitter or Facebook?  You can message SW directly. I have always had quick responses from SW on Twitter. 

Fingers crossed on a good resolution for you! 

[dfwskier]

Morning.

Yes, yours is a frustrating situation that has affected others for a long time.

I agree with the other suggestion to try the Southwest phone app to see it helps you out. The aditional point I'd make about is to NOT use wi-fi in the attempt as the wi-fi connection will run in to

the same limitations as that you currently experience. Use the cell data connection instead.

Since you can view nothing on the Southwest website you cannot even find out how to contact customer service. Here's some help

twitter access:

https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir

phone access:

1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792)

[DancingDavidE]

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@suzanne1009 wrote:
...

Background:  I am physically in Hong Kong (for months on end for work) and I'm trying to book a r/t domestic USA flight Los Angeles-Chicago.  I don't want to wait on telephone hold for the over 1 hour wait times as it's an international phone charge.  ...

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One thing in your favor for the wait time will be that since you are on Hong Kong time, you can call during your daylight hours and find a time that shouldn't be as busy in the mainland USA. 

If you are A-list then use that number which also has shorter wait times. But even the general number should be relatively slow at 8 a.m. CDT which would be in your afternoon time, or call them during your morning which would be overnight hours CDT. 

Another workaround - if you have staff or relatives in the US that can make the booking for you have them do it. If you use WhatsApp it is encrypted to send your confidential information without making a phone call.

[dfwskier]

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@ 

One thing in your favor for the wait time will be that since you are on Hong Kong time, you can call during your daylight hours and find a time that shouldn't be as busy in the mainland USA. 

If you are A-list then use that number which also has shorter wait times. But even the general number should be relatively slow at 8 a.m. CDT which would be in your afternoon time, or call them during your morning which would be overnight hours CDT. 

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A word of caution about making a call. A Hurricane is scheduled to hit the east cost of the US within a day. Thus lots of people will be calling to reschedule flights. A call at ANY time of the next few days is likely to have a long wait time. You might want to wait til next week.

[DancingDavidE]

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@dfwskier wrote:

---

@ 

One thing in your favor for the wait time will be that since you are on Hong Kong time, you can call during your daylight hours and find a time that shouldn't be as busy in the mainland USA. 

If you are A-list then use that number which also has shorter wait times. But even the general number should be relatively slow at 8 a.m. CDT which would be in your afternoon time, or call them during your morning which would be overnight hours CDT. 

---

A word of caution about making a call. A Hurricane is scheduled to hit the east cost of the US within a day. Thus lots of people will be calling to reschedule flights. A call at ANY time of the next few days is likely to have a long wait time. You might want to wait til next week.

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Concur with that @suzanne1009 - if you can wait until next week I wouldn't call now.