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Long day on my favorite airline

LarryM
Explorer C

Scheduled on a 1:45 out of Ft. Lauderdale connecting through Orlando to Chicago.

- Flight 1559 was delayed leaving by an hour

- Gate agent in Ft. Lauderdale dismissed my idea to get on a different flight because of the tight connection (now) in Orlando.  She assured me that OPS was holding the Orlando to Chicago flight for the 8 connecting passengers

- Landed in Orlando at gate 109 and was told that OPS was holding the Chicago flight out of gate 110.  Hustled down that football field length to find that connecting passengers from Ft. Lauderdale were not allowed to board (door still open) because we couldn't be assured that our checked baggage would make it.  I had carry on only - yet the gate agent wouldn't let me board.

- got booked on a flight 5 hours later and received $100 Luv certificate and $17 food voucher.  was handed boarding position C@% - my original position was A23.  requested a comp upgrade to A1 - 15 and was denied

- headed down another 2 football fields to Gate 128 hoping to buy an upgrade for the 8:15 flight to Chicago.  no agent there - too early for the flight

- Gate agent at 126 offered to get me on a connecting flight through Columbus that left in 10 minutes.  He booked me and I hustled back down the field to Gate 109.

- they closed the door early because of approaching weather and I was denied boarding

- the gate agent at 109 rebooked me on the 8:15 flight and handed me a worse boarding position that I had 20 minutes earlier

- she was glad to take my $40 to upgrade after 20 minutes of working with Command Central on why I had been scheduled on 2 different flights in 10 minutes

 

so...my recommendation: if SWA has a A-List or A-list Preferred customer who gets bumped around and put through the hassle, the least you can do is offer a complimentary upgrade to A1-15 on the next flight - certainly if they were already close to there in the fist place.  

 

Nice people from SWA all along the way through this bungled journey.- but not resulting in customer satisfaction.  I am sure I am not the only road warrior who has experienced.

 

Thanks for reading the rant.

7 REPLIES 7

Re: Long day on my favorite airline

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

I'm impressed you went through all that and still managed to post a calm, non-expletive filled summary of the events.  Hopefully your future travels are all better than today

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Long day on my favorite airline

SWDigits
Aviator A

Ugh.  Shaking my head in the wrong direction as I read.  I would also send a snail mail letter with this same summary, the address is found in the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page.

 

My personal experience with businesses is that written letters receive elevated attention.  This is also primarily a customer forum and you want the right leadership folks at Southwest to know about your experience.


Customer | Home airport DCA

Re: Long day on my favorite airline

dfwskier
Aviator A

@SWDigits wrote:

Ugh.  Shaking my head in the wrong direction as I read.  I would also send a snail mail letter with this same summary, the address is found in the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page.

 

My personal experience with businesses is that written letters receive elevated attention.  This is also primarily a customer forum and you want the right leadership folks at Southwest to know about your experience.


 

Yeah that was pretty bad. Multiple fumbles. Sorry it happened to you.

 

I agree with SWDIGITS about sending a letter. I'd send it to Gary Kelley. He probably won't see it, but it will probably end up on the desk of the head of customer relations. You'll get a meaningful response.

 

Gary Kelley

CEO

Southwest Airlines
P.O. Box 36647 
Dallas, Texas 75235

Re: Long day on my favorite airline

bec102896
Aviator A

Sorry to hear you had a rough travel day from start to finish. 

 

I recommend reaching out to Southwest on Twitter so hopefully they can review everything and maybe offer some further compensation for the struggles you had today or as mentioned above you could send a message by clicking on the contact us link at the bottom of the page and someone from Southwest will respond as soon as they are able to. 

 

Hopefully your future flights will will be less eventful.

Blake

Re: Long day on my favorite airline

chgoflyer
Aviator A

That's no fun. I'd definitely let Southwest know directly, for what it's worth.

 

You're aware that A-Listers who receive anything other than an A position can always board after the A group, ahead of the B one -- essentially at A61+ -- right?

 

FYI: Gate agents aren't officially able to comp an A1-15 position, but Customer Relations has the ability to refund that cost after the fact.

Re: Long day on my favorite airline

CareforNOLA
Frequent Flyer A

Along with other fellow post-ers, I express my sympathies, and have had some long travel days myself.  The gate agent who said no when you only had a carry-on bag?  That one would have crushed me.  

 

I am glad you eventually made it safely to your destination.

Re: Long day on my favorite airline

NicoleAshley
Employee
Employee
Solution

We're very sorry for letting you down, @LarryM. As a peer-to-peer support forum, we are not equipped to assist you here, but we encourage you to contact Customer Relations via the options at Contact Us. Thank you!

Nicole
Community Manager