10-29-2018
11:20 PM
My girlfriend and I were traveling from Seattle to Oakland Sunday night, then my girlfriend was catching a connecting SW flight to Reno. There was 45 minutes between the connection. The into Seattle was late and we left about 45 minutes late. Upon arrival in Oakland, the flight crew said for those who had connecting flights to see the gate agents. I was surprised that they didn’t ask the local passengers to let the people with connections debark first? While she waited in the line, I ran down to another gate, which had a SW flight going to Vegas, then connecting to Reno. The agents there took a while to figure out what I was requesting and said the flight from Vegas to Reno was full and that the couldn’t overbook. We went back to the original counter, where they offered the room voucher & flight out Monday morning. We opted for the $300 voucher and my girlfriend borrowed my car and drove the 4 hours to Reno, so she could be at work Monday morning. On other airlines, I have seen them anticipate the close connections and hold the outbound flight. Since we landed in Oakland at 1915 and my girlfriend’s flight to Reno was scheduled to leave at 1915, why didn’t SW hold the flight for 5 minutes? When I asked the gate agent this same question, she said the Reno flight “had to push”. I usually am very lenient when it comes to the SW arrival/departure times, but was not happy with the lack of effort the SW team showed last night. MRK
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