Southwest Airlines

Right before they converted to the new points system, I had acquired 15 flights. I don't know if anybody remembers but you need 16 flights to get a free round trip ticket. The week before they converted to the new system in the spring of 2011, I called them to ask if I should just book a flight to make sure I get the free flight. After the 16th, they would always just mail me a voucher for a free round trip ticket that was good for one year. The guy tells me that the new change would be seamless for me and that I had nothing to worry about. It turns out that I trusted the guy and now 6 of the 15 flights have "expired" as credits and I now have lost them forever.

I thought that maybe the 9 that I still received credit for would be worth something. It turns out even if I bought more points to make up the difference, it would cost more to buy the points than pay cash for a round trip ticket from San Diego to Denver. What a rip off. What's sad is that neither the customer service department nor investor relations (I am a financial advisor with a large Wall Street firm) will do anything to amend this. I will say this, I will never recommend SWA as an investment for any of my clients or portfolios! If it's all about the shareholder, well then, you just lost a ton.

I have been a loyal Southwest traveler for more than 5 years for business and pleasure. I am very upset and frustrated over a situation that occurred on my most recent business trip.

Departed BWI on Sunday, January 15, 2012, 12:40 PM, flight # 2286 to Norfolk. I arrived at BWI at 10:30 am and checked in at curbside almost immediately. There was only one person in line ahead of me, and two people were working curbside check in. However, Security A & B was backed up at least 50 people. Only one security line was open. My flight was on time, but my luggage failed to arrive in Norfolk. After waiting a while, I realized my luggage was not coming down the conveyor. I reported it to the baggage claim person. There were three others whose luggage did not make it to the airport also. I was told to call later in the afternoon and they would deliver it to my hotel if it came in on the next flight. My luggage arrived at my hotel 5:00 pm that evening.

Return flight, Wednesday, January 18, 2012, Flight #200, 9:50 am from ORF. I arrived at the airport at 9:00 am. There was one man working curbside check in. He was assisting a woman and man, who were in the wheel chair. I waited because I thought another employee would come out to help. He did see the line forming but did not say anything to any of us. I was wondering why he did not call for more help. After thinking he was walking back to his post to assist us, he was side tracked again. At this point, I decided I had better go inside, only to find out there were people waiting. My bag was finally checked in at 9:25 am and labeled late check in, which I was unaware of at the time. After waiting at baggage claim almost 20 minutes, an announcement was made that the carousel it was coming on was changed, so I moved up to the newly assigned one. My luggage never arrived in BWI with me. I was told that it was checked in late and that was the reason it was not there. I had to make a special trip late that night to pick up my luggage.

I was told that evening when I went to pick my luggage, that if bags are not checked in 30 minutes prior to takeoff, this is the normal outcome. My bag was checked in 25 minutes prior. This to me seems unacceptable considering there are not enough people checking bags at the airport that their customers are treated this way.

Also, another point I want to make is the airlines and airports advertise the time you need to board before being left behind but there is no mention of bag checking times and this should be emphasized to customers. I felt I was unjustly treated for something that I do not consider my fault at Norfolk airport.

After opening my bag that evening at home, I noticed that my bag was not packed the same way, when I packed it that morning. What was on top was now on the bottom. It appeared to have been opened or it must have really been thrown around. I know from past experience that a note is left in the bag if it is opened for inspection. This time, no note of a search other than my belongings was out of place. I am left to think, was this why my bag was late? Because it was searched or did my contents get spilled out and thrown back in by personnel?

I at least travel every other month with Southwest because they are reliable, prices are competitive, and I do like the pilots and flight attendants who are friendly and keep us informed. I hope this is not going to be normal treatment for their customers. I realize all businesses are cutting back on staff, but it is monumental when a person's luggage does not make it back with the person.

I originally had a credit of $109.70 on Southwest in August of 2010. I tried to book a flight using the credit in September of 2011 and was told it had expired two days prior. I then paid $50 to have them reissue a new voucher for $59.70. Which I wasn't able to use on my flight to Vegas in September/October because I never received it. They said they sent it via my email. I never received it. I then called in November again and was told they would resend the voucher to my email. Again, never received it.

I called again in January 18th and told them I was trying to book a flight to Vegas in February. They assured me I would have it within 24 hrs, I even gave them a different email address. I did not receive it the next day and called back and they said it was in process, but could take up to 48hrs. Again, never received it. I called today (Thursday) one week later and they said they sent it.

Now they are mailing it to me. The flights have gone up $160-$200 since last Monday when I wanted to book the flight. Also, I was told there was no expiration date on this new voucher, but was informed that it expires in March of this year! Southwest will not honor their credits and they put you off until the voucher expires! They should not be able to blow people off like that. I can't speak with a supervisor, nor will they have one call me back!

I had purchased two tickets for a friend and me to Phoenix. I had to cancel because I had gotten Pleurisy, which I also had C.O.P.D. The thing that upsets me is that I paid for both the tickets with my card and in my name. I understand that they are non- refundable, but I don't get is I haven't the option to get my credit back. On the other ticket or have the choice to put another traveler on the other one! It doesn't seem to matter to the airlines one way or the other because it's their policy and they have been paid already. I fly with Southwest because I liked their service, but when I went to type this complaint, I could not believe all the complaints that they have against them! I just don't see why they can't give me back a credit for the ticket I had bought for someone else. What's the big deal? Look up my cc # and see I paid for it and I want it back to use to fly again!

I had $57 credit from a previous ticket that was to expire on January 24, 2012. I used that credit to purchase a ticket to travel January 20, 2012 and the total cost of the ticket was $300.00. For business reasons, I need to move the flight forward one week to January 27, three days after the $57 credit expires. I am now told that I have lost the entire $300 even though I only purchased the additional $243 one week ago. I was told I could call in after the ticket expires on January 24 and they would give me a 6 month extension. Does it make sense to lose the entire $300 because of 3 days difference? Why not make the exception now and allow me to move the flight out one week?

I am generally very pleased with SWA. However, recently I have been disappointed with the drink coupons that are only eligible for the day of travel. I fly every week and pay a premium for Business Select. I fly out Monday mornings extremely early and I am issued a drink coupon available for that flight only, I cannot take advantage of the coupon due to the time of day and the fact that I have to work as soon as I land. Some flight attendants will honor the coupon on the return leg, but it is against policy and they are doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. I am not looking for a coupon that doesn't expire, but one that is at least viable for the return leg since it is the same booking. As a side note, I had 30+ "old" coupons that were void 8/1/11 with no forewarning.

I had a voucher for 203 from the previous flight that I did not make. I purchased another ticket in August and paid extra $100 for the extra fee for the ticket. On November, I was going through my email and noticed that my credit for the air ticket will be expired by Dec 10th so I called customer service to see if there is any way to use it for Christmas and if not, I'll used it the first week of Dec to go to AZ to see my sister.

The gentleman who helped me told me to call after Dec 10th, actually Monday right after my ticket expires and they will give me extension. So I ended up not using the voucher and let it expire and then called them. First a lady tried to issue me a new voucher but then she said she cannot then transferred me to different department and I had to be on hold for half an hour. Then they told me because the voucher is expired, they cannot do anything and cannot even refund the money because it is attached to the voucher. I asked to talk to their manger. She came to the phone extremely rude, constantly cut me off and finally said sorry for the inconvenience but it is what it is. "Our employee gave you wrong information and we'll make sure he gets the right guidance," and she hang up on me.

I basically lost $304 worth of ticket that I could spend going to Arizona if I was not given wrong information. Secondly, I understand my voucher is expired but why the money I just spent on my credit card cannot be refunded? And the worst is how she talked to me and treated me, made me so stressed out and ruined my whole day. I am so frustrated and angry. I will try to dispute through my credit card and will never travel with Southwest even though it's been my favorite airline so far and I will let all my friends and family know what happened to me.

Their new reward program is incredibly confusing. First, you earn credits, then you earn points, then you have to convert your unused Southwest converted credit to points, back to credits. I had two rewards expire, and Southwest has a $50 fee to reinstate expired rewards. When I explained to them how confusing their new system is, and how I had never, or would I ever let a reward expire on a clear day, they agreed that it is confusing, and said they would not waive the reinstatement fees. I wrote a letter to the president of the company, and got a response back repeating that they would not waive any fees, even the fee associated with the expired reward that was just yesterday!

This, after writing to them, with plenty of time ahead, to let them know the reward was going to expire, and that I need their help before it does. A week later they contacted me. A day after my reward expired, and now I have to pay $50. I've been a customer for over 15 years. I hope this $100 in revenue is worth losing me as a customer. I think this is a slippery slope they're on. I miss Herb! I am out $100 because of their own admission, that this new program is confusing, and because they waited until the day after one of my rewards expired to contact me. Shame on them!

I tried to check in to fly from San Antonio, TX to Baltimore, MD on 11/15/11 at 4:38 am. I was told I would need to purchase another ticket because of my size, in front of a line full of people and with other people checking in, in close proximity to me. There was no tact or discretion used. I was denied flight because I was not able to purchase another ticket based on what the rep saw. No seat test was taken to see if I could fit, even after I told them I have flown on their airline before with no issues. I was disregarded and sent crying from the terminal.

My wife purchased a ticket to Denver. She could not go on the original date. She called Southwest and they gave her a year to use the ticket. 4 or 5 months later, we were to go back to Denver. She called to get her ticket and Southwest gave the 'non transferable' ticket to some 'unknown person'. We have been going back and forth with Southwest and their response is that "we should be more careful with our information". They refuse to give us our money back. They are saying that someone stole our credit card number and ticket number and changed the flight to their name. We have had no credit card fraud on our credit card and no one has broken into our house. So, how did this person get the information?

Southwest claims that their website is secure. Well, beware. Someone knows how to hack their system. They refuse to give us our money back. I explained to them that what they are saying is "someone stole our credit card number". I called the credit card company to inquire if we booked any flights on an airline. The credit card company gave them the info for Southwest and that is how they changed the flight. The only thing they did with the credit card is change the flight. This is beyond belief! Either their web is not secure or someone at Southwest knows the person and gave them our ticket. You decide which you think is more reasonable. Don't forget this is a 'non transferable' ticket. I even wrote to Gary Kelly, the CEO, at his home and he has done nothing.

I have a flight 2553 out of Phoenix to Salt Lake on November 6th at 9:55 AM. I approached the service counter for this flight and spoke to Michael about maybe getting an upgrade on my seating and he pretty much said there was no reason to. I didn't think he was very much help. Right before the flight was to board, I walked back up to the counter to ask if the flight would be over booked and he had already started announcing it over the PA.

I was standing at the counter at the time and he looked right at me and this other lady ran up to the counter and said she would like to take those two seats on another flight into Salt Lake at a later time. I spoke up and said that I was there first and he just looked at me as if I were crazy. I am feeling that he profiled me because I wasn't dressed up. I was very casual. If you have a camera system in the area, you should take a look. That really hurt my feelings and I feel as if he owes me a personal apology. Not asking for anything but for him to acknowledge, he totally ignored me when I was at the counter first.

My daughter and son flew to Vegas on October 27,2011. The flight # was 2516. On their way back on October 31, 2011, my daughter's luggage was lost. The flight # on the way back was #652 from Vegas to San Diego and flight #1775 to Austin, Texas. The man that checked them in at Vegas was more interested in getting a tip than properly checking in her luggage. He got it switched with someone else's luggage.

My daughter called the 24 hour line on Tuesday Nov. 1, 2011. She was told by a lady that her suit case had been found and that she could have it delivered or she could go to the airport to pick it up. She chose to go to the airport the morning of Nov. 2,2011 to pick it up. She was then told that it actually had been found, but that it was not at the airport there in Austin yet. The person told my daughter that when it arrived at the airport that they would deliver it to her by 2:00pm that day. My daughter needed to go to work @ 3:00pm and called to see where the suit case was. The lady told her that it had been delivered and signed for @ 2:06. The guy that delivered it took it to the wrong address! After my daughter called to check on it, he went back and picked it up and re-delivered it to my daughter. Are you kidding me? This is completely unacceptable! She was given a $50.00 voucher towards her next airfare. That's it? I want my daughter to be compensated for her inconvenience!

On October 27, 2011, I flew from Ontario CA to Sacramento on flight 989. When I retrieved my suitcase in Sacramento Airport I noticed my suitcase was open with my clothes coming out, one of my sweaters had a rip and oil stain on it and my new suitcase was badly damaged as if it was dropped and dragged on the ground. It had a rip at the bottom and scratches all over it. Seeing this situation, I went to the luggage retrieval office trying to file a complaint.

It took me a while to get the attention of one of the two ladies that were discussing unrelated issues. When the lady finally showed up she told me that there was nothing she could do, their policy is that as long as the suitcase can hold merchandise it is not considered damaged. When I asked for a manager she told me she was in charge, so I asked for the corporate contact, at that time she finally told me that she could file a courtesy form and that wasn't going to do anything for us. I told her I need someone responsible to look at my suitcase and my wrinkled/dirtied sweaters. Once again she told me that as long as the suitcase holds stuff, then it is not considered damaged.

I am writing to the Southwest office expecting a follow thorough and an answer. I am also considering to write the consumer affair and any agency that monitors airline customer service. I like to be compensated for my damaged luggage and sweater.

I purchased two tickets for family members using my own credit card. But circumstances changed, requiring the cancellation of the flights. The incorrectly named "Customer Care" center refuses to have the credits placed in my name-- the one who paid for the flights. I'm not asking for a refund, only to credit the actual purchaser. Where's the logic?

Reception desk said we missed our check-in time. The clock on the wall said we were five minutes early and they already gave our seats away.

We missed our flight and needed to get a hotel in Seattle.

I purchased a ticket for my girlfriend at the time to travel to Houston from Chicago. We have split up. I used my credit card to buy the ticket, and wanted to bank the purchase amount for a future flight for myself. They basically said "too bad." I have spent several thousand dollars over the past one and a half years flying back and forth to the Chicago area and this is the appreciation that I get!

I checked my luggage in at the curbside check-in of Southwest Airlines at Midway Airport (MDW) in Chicago and when I arrived at my destination in (PHX) Phoenix Skyharbor International Airport, an airline employee or TSA agent had stolen my GPS, Apple Macbook laptop, and jewelry.

I have made police reports, contacted both TSA and Southwest, as well as a few other agencies. Southwest has still not come to a conclusion on this incident and my business is suffering due to their shady employee with sticky fingers.

On television, they look like a great company. But when it comes down to trying to contact them with a problem, the only decent employee they have that responded to my case was via Twitter. Unfortunately, the thief is still employed by Southwest or TSA because of their slow process in investigating this theft and is most likely still stealing from passenger's checked luggage at Midway in Chicago.

I purchased a ticket for a passenger other than myself last week, using my credit card billing info. Approximately 2 days later, I requested a cancellation and for Southwest to apply them to an internal "travel funds" account that I could access to book future travel. This is all accessible via their website and previously had been very easy and hassle-free.

After cancelling the flight and attempting to rebook, I was prompted (online) that I cannot change the passenger's name on the flight even though it was all along my credit card info and that my Southwest account is out of credit, absolutely zero dollars! Further, there is no difference whether I fly, she were to fly, or if I bought the fare for someone else as it's a designated "seat" that I'm buying, not the person.

I am not requesting for me to be refunded the amount of the purchase in cash/check, but simply to apply it to future travels on Southwest. I understand their business must operate on guaranteed revenue and thus my reasoning for not asking for a direct refund, but simply a credit towards flights that I can use. Under the current policy, I have no plans whatsoever of booking a flight again for this particular person nor do I have any recourse of recovering the funds from her for the ticket - thus Southwest is, in my opinion, unfairly "holding" nearly $500 that will never be used in the future.

I explained the situation to the customer service line on 9/20/11, who escalated me to customer relations in Dallas. After holding and recalling for approximately 1.5 hrs, I was basically told "too bad" and they couldn't care less that I paid for the ticket and desired a refund. I also wrote their corporate office but received an auto-reply message basically stating they may or may not get back to me.

Please feel free to contact me with regard to specific questions or if I did not provide adequate clarity.

Jeff

On March 2011, my fianc and I purchased tickets for my mother, step father and sister for our wedding on September 24th 2011. My sister had to cancel 15 days before she was due to arrive because of work related issues. We called and tried to cancel the airline ticket for my sister that we purchased. Our response was that if we cancelled, then my sister would get the credit and if we wanted a refund, then we would only get half back in cash. We called back the next day to see if we could get a different response.

My fianc told the lady that we needed to cancel a ticket; he gave all appropriate information and before he had a chance to ask what our options were, she says that the ticket has been cancelled and that it's non-refundable and non-transferable. So now, my sister has a credit for a future airline ticket that she didn't purchase. I am extremely upset about this. She didn't pay for it; we did and we should have received the credit. Unfortunately, we are using Southwest for our honeymoon trip but after this trip, I will never use Southwest again. Refunds and credits should be issued to the person who purchased the ticket and not on whose name it is in.

Now, I am out of the money that I used to purchase for the ticket and I can't even use a credit towards another airline ticket in the future. I don't make very much money and I had worked hard for that money to do something nice for my family since they live in Portland, Oregon and I am in Trenton, Missouri, and they don't have money either. It wouldn't be a big deal if I was loaded.

Southwest needs to change their policies.

On September 7, 2011, we flew non-stop from Phoenix, AZ to Kansas City, MO. Both my wife and I had TSA locks on our suitcases. When we arrived in Kansas City, MO, her TSA lock was not on her suitcase. Since her suitcase was unsecured, anyone could have gotten into it. Only the TSA in Phoenix had access to the lock, so they obviously lost it. We want Southwest or TSA to reimburse us for the loss of the lock.

On our return flight from Kansas City and when the pilot landed the plane in Phoenix, he was traveling too fast, and landed hard. Inside, we were jostled left and right, until the reverse thrust and brakes sufficiently slowed the plane. After touching down, the wheels made a sound like the plane was not completely on the runway, but of course we have no proof of that being the case.

I bought a ticket for a friend in March 2011. She canceled her trip and I canceled her ticket with the understanding from Southwest Customer Service Representative on the phone that I would be able to use the $536 travel funds for future travel for myself or anyone else. When I tried to book the travel in August 2011, I discovered that I could only book travel for the original passenger named on the ticket even though it was my money that paid for the ticket. Southwest has essentially confiscated my money. No wonder they are making a profit. They started enforcing this policy that has been in place for some time, on April 29, 2011, without notice to people who had travel funds for tickets they had purchased in someone else's name. No warning, they just took the money.

The gate agent at the Raleigh airport pulled a passenger on flight 703 out of the line for boarding because he felt she was too big to fit in a seat. The passenger told the customer service representative that she has flown several times before and could fit in the seat. The customer service representative told her it was to make the other passengers comfortable. She was harassed to pay for another seat even after she told them she didn't have the additional funds with her. The supervisor escorted her on the plane and again, in front of other passengers, harassed her to pay for a second seat. This was after he saw that she could fit in the seat.

The flight attendant had to diffuse the situation by telling the supervisor that the passenger was OK. When asked about the policy of paying for an extra seat when making a reservation, the customer service agent at the gate said: "It's online but you have to look for it". This was a horrible breakdown in the usual great customer service we come to expect from Southwest. Especially since the supervisor and gate agent didn't humble themselves to apologize for humiliating one of their passengers.

Leaving it up to a gate agent to eyeball and size up passengers for whom they deem should take up two seats is not a fair way to apply this policy. The flight wasn't full so even if the passenger was a little heavy, there was no reason to single her out. What about the comfort of other passengers when crying babies disturb them or another passenger has had too much to drink or smells? Where does the fairness of "who should pay an additional fee" rest? This situation of allowing gate agents to discriminate at will has to be addressed and ceased. I am counting on Southwest to do the right thing.

Southwest Airlines has delayed our flight from Baltimore BWI to Dallas DAL for five hours without any information as to why the flight is delayed. Other flights to Dallas have left on time but have had no seats available.

We are traveling to my father's funeral and this delay will require us to get a hotel in Dallas before completing our travel tomorrow by car.

My son was flying back from overseas. He was in LAX for a long layover. He thought he could do the company and the environment a favor, if he flies standby, fill up an unused seat, and and get home a little sooner to see his family but Southwest charged him an extra $250 to fly 'standby'!

It would have been cheaper to cancel his existing reservation, take the credit, then pay the $250 for their full fare 90-minute flight!

I work in a market that involves very great customer loyalty and respect. That being said, well before the jet had even fired up, during her drink menu rounds, I was reviewing my bullet notes and listening to my iPod, oblivious to the movements around me, yet very aware of waiting for the loud speaker and or the jet to fire and move, when she waved her hand vigorously just a centimeter or two from hitting my face and leaning over and on the passenger beside me. As I pulled my ear buds, thinking there was an emergency, she was snapping her fingers and asking very disrespectfully, "Do you want anything to drink sir?" I replied no and the man seated to my left shrugged his shoulders, implying, "What was that?" I went back to my work.

Then, she came back and waved her hand in my face again, so I pulled my ear buds and she was again snapping her fingers and saying, "Sir, sir, sir, are you with me here," in an awful and condescending tone that was enough to embarrass me and catch the attention of half the cabin in fear that there was probably something terror-like happening. The woman at hand here seems to be very overwhelmed and under-qualified to manage stress on the job, as if that were even possible as an attendant. She demanded something of me that I didn't understand and was pointing at the seat next to me saying, "Move it up. That seat needs to moved forward." Very confused, I tried to locate the button while my hands were already full and she then leaned in and said, "Here, I will get it," and exhaled with disgust while shoving my hand aside.

I was absolutely shocked by and displeased by this behavior. I normally choose a different carrier due to the fact that I fly for business weekly and we use a corporate account, but on this particular day I booked the flight myself due to the fact that I'm trying to escape from my work for a week, so I personally booked this because your rates were $10 less than your competitors and you offered free luggage check in. Also, I booked a non-stop from Portland to San Diego and a non-stop back from San Diego to Portland, but on the way down to San Diego, we were set down in Sacramento where the experience grew after staff changed poles.

I'm not sure what kind of pow-wow you guys need to have with her, but I feel unhappy enough to ask for a full refund and maybe some sort of nice corporate gesture on top of the refund. When issues between my staff and client come up, I immediately speak with my staff in question while immediately refunding without the client asking and compromising their next visit to our business. Whether my staff insists on it not happening the way of the complaint, I impress the fact that there are always two sides of the story and listening with a solution is the safest choice and the professional choice.

Again, I pretty shocked, and as of right now, I will not re-book with Southwest. I will most likely be booking a return flight with another carrier for the 6th of February. Thank you for your time and for listening.

As a disabled traveler who requires a wheelchair to get from point-A to point-B, it is sometimes difficult enough to get around a busy airport and to handle my own luggage etc. And today Southwest Airlines made traveling as a wheelchair user 1000 times more difficult. I was treated as a second class customer / citizen by an employee of Southwest Airlines, an employee who is supposed to help customers like me. I have people from my flight who witnessed this incident and saw how the employee treated me with absolute rudeness and uncalled for behavior. She refused to assist me with my bags and told me that she "hoped I could figure out how to get in the airplane because she was not helping me". This Southwest employee severely embarrassed me, made my trip horrible and discriminated me due to my disability. This is blatant discrimination.

I have witnesses whom I have never met until today and will be filing the appropriate complaints with my state's "Equal Opportunity offices" and will be contacting several people in the National media to be heard. I will not stop and refuse to be discriminated against. I will not tolerate discrimination due to my disability! I will not be 'talked down to' because of my disability! I will not be treated as a second class citizen by any airline or it's employees. This will not be tolerated by me - period. I will be contacting every media outlet that will hear me out, as well as all social media available (i.e. Facebook, twitter, national media television programming shows, local news stations, as well as all National Disability advocate and ADA groups.)

Furthermore, my complaint is also regarding this employee while she was boarding early passengers holding the "blue" early board passes. I was holding an early board pass due to the fact that I use a wheelchair and have a permanent disability. I have flown Southwest several times and understand completely all the "rules" regarding early boarding. I am also an intelligent, educated 41 year old professional. This Southwest employee named Vanu, literally began scolding me as I approached the front of the line to board early. Keep in mind, I was on time to board early. Previous Southwest employees instructed me to be back there in 25 minutes at 10:10am - to board early. I was there at 10:05am! I tried to explain this to Vanu, but she did not want to hear it! Instead, she continued to yell at me in front of all the passengers, like I was an incompetent child. She also refused to help me down the ramp and would not help me with my bags. I dropped them from my lap several times and she refused to help pick them up. I have at least two witnesses that heard some of this and offered their names immediately - in case I wanted to file a complaint against this employee.

Vanu continued to raise her voice scolding me, saying "that being in a wheelchair I should know better and to be early". I want to reiterate that I was early. Next, she told me since I was late that she would not help me to get into my seat on the plane. She said I would have to "figure it out on my own". She very rudely refused to assist me. In short, I am very very embarrassed, felt discriminated, angry and simply disgusted by the behavior of your employee. You should be ashamed. I would like to suggest that you send your employees to a more informative customer service and anger management training, before something worse happens! This situation was heard and witnessed by several passengers and I was told that they were very put off by this behavior.

If Vanu would have actually gotten physical with me, you would have a major lawsuit on your hands. In fact, since I do have witnesses, I will be filing some type of lawsuit against Southwest Airlines. I will contact everyone in National media relentlessly, until I am heard! I will not stop. This caused me a great deal of embarrassment, anxiety and fear. My vacation was ruined due to your airline and your employee. She was so rude and loud that I wasn't sure if she was going to escalate the situation in a more physical manner. Also, I believe Southwest should not have refused to assist me to get onto the airplane and into my seat from my wheelchair. That was unsafe and degrading, to say the least. I am a "paraplegic" and cannot walk at all. Yet, your employee refused to help me. This is called discrimination. She told me to "figure it out on my own". Then we will see, that's exactly what I will do now.

My sister was supposed to fly out of Denver and then change planes in Chicago before departing to her home destination which is Cleveland. She was told by a Southwest representative that her plane would not be flying out of Chicago and she would spend the night. She decided to fly out the next day. Her luggage, however, was on its way to Cleveland. We drove 2 hours from the airport and had her fly out today.

What is so frustrating is the fact that her plane from Chicago did continue to fly out, according to the flight status report and the confirmation by a representative on the phone today. What compensation did she get? $50.00 towards her next ticket. She told them that she will never fly with them again, and they said, "Okay, then we won't send you anything!"

So, to top it all off, it is currently 12:00 am in Chicago and my sister just called me here in Colorado, telling me that her flight was canceled due to maintenance and she had to spend the night there. They provided no coats and all food courts are closed. She is alone and scared. I feel so bad for her because I purchased the ticket only because the luggage was free. What a scam!

I had a possible glitch in travel plans, and called Southwest reservations to try to switch a flight. I was told by the rep that there is no charge for canceling a flight, hence, I merely booked another flight, in case (since it would be free to cancel whichever flight I didn't end up needing). Today 4 weeks later, as my plans have formulated, I called Southwest to cancel the unneeded flight, and was told that I would be permitted to use the $360.80 that I had been charged when I booked the flight online to purchase other Southwest flights through the end of the year. I said to the rep, "I was told that there is no cancellation fee" and she (Kelly) said, "there is a cancellation fee". I explained that the previous rep in no way attempted to inform me of the actual policy, and asked to speak with a supervisor.

I was given a Customer Care phone number, 214-932-0333, where I was told exactly the same thing by Brandy, who is an assistant to the President, Gary Kelly. I explained that the original rep, and all reps, should have made the actual policy clear. She replied that it was my responsibility to read the company policy when I booked the flight online, and would not relent. I am stuck flying three legs with Southwest, and paying for another which I cannot utilize. I am writing this so that others will know of the policy but, more importantly, to reveal the true nature of Southwest Air - which is not to treat customers with courtesy and understanding. By being literal and dogmatic, they have created bad will and karma. I hope never to use them again, and wish that you, too, will boycott Southwest and call the Customer Care number above and let Gary Kelly's assistants know that Southwest's deceptive practices render them no better than the rest of their unethical and inhumane competitors.

My wife and I pre-boarded Southwest. I lost an arm and have bad legs due to an accident years ago, I had no complaints. We waited 20 minutes for passengers from a connecting flight, I have no complaint. One connecting passenger, a large man with walker and left arm in a sling, fell on my wife's lap getting to his seat. My complaint is with the Airline for not making sure this man had ample room to sit in. His largeness was bad enough, though he had had an accident which may have cause the extra weight, his injured arm in a sling would not allow my wife to sit squarely in her seat. She sat between her seat and mine, causing much discomfort.

I explained to the Flight attendants our situation and they eventually moved my wife, trading seats with the man's wife who had been split from him because of late boarding due to the connect being late. The flight attendants were great and explained the man's condition should have been known to them before he boarded. One attendant stated she asked the person who wheeled the man onto plane if he (the passenger) shouldn't have been something like a special case passenger (the proper name she used, I don't know). This seems to me to be a problem of the boarding personnel, not the attendants. They did all in their power to accommodate my wife for our inconvinience.

However, something needs to be done to ensure the comfort and safety of all passengers. This was Southwest flight # **** from LAS to CMH, 12/11/2010. I would like to make a formal complaint to the Airlines. I have the attendants' names and their numbers and their permission to use them if needed. I need help with certain tasks and rely on my wife. With her sitting in back of plane and myself in front, I had to rely on attendants, who were outstanding, which is unfair to others.

I do not know what happened with this airline. They used to have their stuff so together, and they were so friendly and helpful. Now it's only a 25% chance that you'll encounter a happy-go-lucky, knowledgeable, competent Southwest employee. On my outbound flight from Denver to Long Island, connecting through Baltimore, my flight was at 6 am. Arriving at the airport by 5 am, by the time you get thru the check-in line, its 5:10, and the rep says, "Oh you're here only 50 minutes prior to your flight time--that's considered 'late check in', and you're lucky if your bags will make it to Long Island, and you'll be responsible for picking them up. "

Now I'm freaking out?! Why can't they get a piece of luggage from the check-in place to the plane in almost an hour? It was always 20 minutes before flight time that's considered 'late check in'--When did they change it to an hour? So now by the time I get thru security, I am the 4th to last person getting to the plane, so it was not just me that was running behind.

Now every single overhead compartment is full! And I have to carry on my medications. They need to be within my eyesight at all times. Of course the attendant grabs the bag and tries to shove it in some compartment towards the back of the plane. Now getting to Baltimore, I get off one plane, and immediately proceed to the next scheduled S.W. flight to Long Island. I see all these people in a line waiting to board a plane; I ask the S.W. attendant at the counter {w/my boarding pass}, "is that the line for boarding--are we ready to get on the next plane now?"

She says "NO- we're not boarding -- goes over there and sit down". Instead of saying, "We will be boarding your aircraft in 5 minutes at 'etc. ' gate no. and it's right over there-->pointing." she sends me to sit down at a whole other gate, where I proceeded to freak out for the next 1/2 hour wondering when/if my luggage would ever find its way to NY.

Then I hear my name being paged, I run up to the S.W. counter and say, "I heard my name being paged." She says "yeah, because you're supposed to be on the plane!" I had to run to a different gate, I was the last one on the plane, and one nice S.W. gentlemen was so kind--he said "We've saved a seat for you!. " But then to the S.W. female flight attendant on board, I was shakingly upset, "why did your rep send me to the wrong gate? Why wasn't I instructed to board? "

Blank stare then, of course, no overhead bins available for my meds. I just threw everything on the middle of the aisle of the aircraft, threw up my hands, and cried! "That IS IT!" I said, "I'm outta here!" Seeing how upset I was, she promised to take the extra step to ensure my carry on bag was securely stowed. But I was still so disturbed that I was 1 minute away from missing my connection, all because a S.W. flight attendant was too lazy to give me proper instructions. It was a genuinely harrowing experience flying Southwest, and being so used to flying Frontier lately, I guess I expected the same treatment out of S.W. NO, No, No--very different. I am so concerned about every flying S.W. again? Why are they good from N.Y. to Florida, but such a complete mess from Denver, and out of Baltimore?

We had booked round trip with southwest from Detroit to St. Louis expecting to depart St. Louis at 1810 on the 19th of October. We finally departed at 2025. Southwest may be the cheapest way to fly however this should not allow the airlines to routinely delay departures. A thirty minute or even 45 minute is acceptable but two and half hours I find this to be disrespectable to their paying customer. I will pay the extra amount with another service to keep to our schedule.

Southwest flight493 on Oct. 6th was to leave from Panama City at 6:05PM. I checked in an hour before my flight was to depart. The lady at the SW desk told me, after she loaded up the luggage, that my flight had been delayed until 6:50PM. After I was told that information, I went for a restroom break and snack. It was around 6:25PM when I discovered that I needed to send my carry-on bag as luggage due to some bath products that were liquid. I took care of the liquids and went to check this second bag (6:25). When I started touching the automated 2nd bag in process, that was when I was told that it was too late to put another bag on the plane because the plane left. The desk attendant said there were three others who had missed their plane too. I could not believe that I was told that my flight was delayed to another time of 6:50PM and then when I returned to the counter, I found my flight left earlier than expected.

My luggage was on the plane, not me. I told the lady, "you said the plane leaves at 6:50PM?". She said to me, "Oh, have you not done much flying in your life?". I was too stunned to reply and yes, I have done much flying in my life and never have I ever had this happen to me. I was in shock and then started to cry. I got to the airport one hour early and now, I'm stranded at the PCB with my luggage on a plane and no more flights are going out today. I asked the lady, "if they canceled the delay you told me about, then why didn't they make an intercom announcement?". The lady stated that they probably did make an announcement lifting the delay but since I had not crossed the security area yet, then I would not heard the announcement. Now, I'm even madder. Then the lady gave me a confirmation ticket for the next day air flight out to Nashville, my destination.

But this will top the cake. She then said, "But we won't charge you any extra". Ahhh! I'm thinking silently, "it is your (Southwest) fault and you aren't going to charge me extra when it was not my fault anyways?". Was I supposed to thank her for this remark after what all I have been through? She never apologized for screwing up. I was left with no motel, cab or luggage in this supposedly an international airport in the middle of nowhere. I am still furious with the way this was done. Oh, and the lady said, "this is how Southwest does it". This was a horrible experience and I hope it doesn't happen to others. I'm doubtful that I will trust Southwest to be in charge of my flight again. I feel that some sort of compensation should be awarded to me for my horrible experience.

Thursday September 30 flight 2014 departing 6:50 am from Macarthur NY (ISP) delayed maintenance problem. Arriving Balt (BWI) 8 am change planes at (BWI) for JAX flight 8:35 am arrive JAX 10:35am. There were 35 passengers scheduled for JAX flight. We were told by flight attendant they would hold the flight. When all the passengers arrived at gate the lady behind desk (slow as could be) told us to stand by boarding gate. The plane was still there then she announced the plane just departed.

What? We were livid departing with 35 passengers missing? The next flight out of BWI to JAX was 1 pm which did not depart until app 1:30. I had to wait 5 hrs due to both miss communication and inefficient employees not mechanical or weather related. Needless to say I missed my ride home from airport and missed my doctor appointment. I feel we should at least be compensated for this inconvenience.

I purchased two airline tickets from CA to Chicago well in advance. Knowing how they robbed me for $1900, who pays that fee??? I could have flown to another for that. My daughter was on the same flight with 3 tickets purchased at $1200.00. Southwest does not have first class! Not even food or TVs. Wow.

Almost 2 years ago, we checked with our rewards and told we had none. We booked a flight and the next day in the mail was a letter stated we had points for a flight. We called and they said it was too late to do anything, but they gave us some credit towards that trip and put the rest for a future trip. So now we are forced to go away with. Husband's disabled and money is very tight and his health is not great. We had until June. We couldn't go due to his health and his brother passed away. So after many calls, they extended it. We forced booking a flight for September 19th.

Now husband goes to the doctors and has to go for surgery on September 1st. Southwest will not give us a refund or extension for later when he heals. We cannot afford to lose this money. They wouldn't even put it back on credit card, upsetting us more. Husband cannot afford this aggravation. Results: aggravation and funds we cannot afford. Please help us. Thank you.

SWA claims the FAA endorses the flight attendants, using "humor" to liven up and get the attention of the passengers for the safety briefing. But are they aware the flight attendants are saying the dirty carpet is highlighted by the disco exit lights and that life vests make good toilet seat covers? Thank you SWA for letting me know you have my rear end covered. I certainly hope I never need to use one on their flights.

My husband and I were on a flight on July 26, 2010 from San Francisco to Milwaukee and were traveling with four children. Two of our kids are little and weren't able to carry on their two allowed pieces, so the last person in our group was carrying an extra piece of luggage. The flight attendant, Peggy, wasn't able to keep track of the count (i.e.: unable to count to 11) and we were told that because she lost count she would have to take the last carry-on and check it in.

What? We purposely didn't check any luggage in because our flight was arriving at 10 pm and my husband had to work the next morning, and we didn't want to spend any extra time waiting at baggage claim. Now we would have to waste our time waiting to retrieve that one piece of luggage. I tried telling the flight attendant that we had X amount of people in our group and were allowed X amount of carry-ons, but she rudely said, "move along, keep walking, thanks for understanding".

After we were seated, my husband went back and tried explaining that we were well within the allowable baggage count and that we wanted our luggage back. He was told there was nothing she could do, despite that fact that the luggage was within reach of my husband and the flight was not full. Needless to say, my son's asthma inhaler and other necessary items were in that confiscated carry-on. So now we are at our final destination, Milwaukee, and we go to baggage claim and of course, our luggage is not there.

We then spend another 45 minutes at the Southwest office trying to track and locate our one piece of luggage to no avail. 26 hours later, our one piece of luggage is delivered to our home. I start making calls to "customer relations" and after 10+ attempts of talking to the wrong people, busy signals, waiting and getting disconnected, etc., I finally get through the next day. I reiterate my story to the representative via a 16 minute one-sided conversation, and was told there was nothing they could do and offered me a very insincere and unapologetic quasi-apology and gave me a piece of advice..."next time tell the ticket agent that you have kids who can't carry luggage and that this person and this person will be carrying extra". What? Moral of the story? Don't fly on Southwest. If you do, load up your pockets with whatever you may need for the next day or two.

I was missing some items from my luggage and I made first a missing item report and then request reimbursement from the airline. I got a letter from Kerri ** denying any help. I have seen that Spirit airline was fined from the DOT for not meeting consumer's reports of missing items and luggage. I think that South West should be fined also.

Today I came by SW 473 flight from Philadelphia to Oakland. This is one two-stop flight with no aircraft change (at least this is what website says). Flight started on time and reached to Phoenix on time (it was 25 minutes early). Flight crew announced that we are early and that the people who are going to LA/OAK should remain in the aircraft.

Within couple of minutes, they announced that please leave the aircraft, you will get a new aircraft on same terminal. Your flight is delayed by one+ hour. Our flight was given to some other passengers as their flight did not arrive. I felt that it is very unfair from Southwest management part. If there is some issue with the flight weather or something unavoidable, I can understand, but this was just a Hippocratic behavior from Southwest management.

I never look forward to coming to Houston Hobby Airport and having to approach the ticket counter; these people are just rude, mean, and intimidating. Today I had the horrible experience of meeting Pam. I put my driver's license in the computer to check my bag and the computer would not accept my driver's license. I explained this to Pam.

Well heaven forbid I should need some assistance. She stormed at me and said, "well, use a credit card". I did and again this did not work. Pam made a very heavy sigh (I'm sure to make me feel stupid and incompetent; and it worked). I had checked my bag many times at Houston Hobby and it seems every ticket clerk is angry to be there and the clerks take it out on the passengers.

I have been working in Galveston since April and I will be traveling to Hobby many times, I just wished I looked forward to it. Pam informed me she did not have to give me her last name. I am dreading returning to Houston Hobby ticket counter.

We traveled from New York City to San Antonio, with a stop in Baltimore on this day, July 12, 2010. A series of storms moved through Baltimore and our flight was delayed for about one hour. A few minutes ago, as we opened our luggage, everything in the luggage was wet. I find it difficult to believe that if it is raining and personnel are loading the plane, the luggage would get as wet as it is.

Southwest was running a promotion called "Faster A-list" for their rapid rewards members for "A-list" seating (priority boarding) in half the number of flights (16 instead of 32). I signed up for this promotion and it was shown when I logged into my rapid rewards account. I bought 5 flights under this promotion over the course of several weeks and then suddenly the promotion disappeared off my account! Computer glitch, right? Call customer service and get it taken care of, right? Wrong.

So I called Southwest customer service and spoke with Sherrone, agent. She not only told me "tough luck" but is exceedingly rude on top of that! I basically got a big "***** *** buddy". I called back and spoke with another agent who had better phone mannerisms but basically gave me the same bottom line. Southwest would not help me even though the promotion had been reflected on my account for over a month and I had bought multiple flights under the illusion that this promotion applied to me. This is a classic bait and switch and would have cost Southwest absolutely nothing to fix. Even when I said I was going to file complaints, they refused to budge. I mean, when someone says they are going to file complaints, and all they are asking for is an existing promotion that would cost the company nothing (priority seating, really? ) you would think it would make sense for the company to try to help out. Not in this case. I asked to speak with the VP of customer relations, Jim ***, and they told me he was not and would not be available at any point.

On my way to bowling tournament, my bowling ball and shoes were misplaced during my connection from OAK to LAS. I had to purchase another ball and shoes. Needless to say, it affected my performance in a negative way. I simply want Southwest to reimburse me for the money I had to pay to replace my ball and shoes. I paid $261.86, an expense that I wouldn't have incurred had Southwest Airlines not misplaced my baggage. According to Southwest's "Contract of Carriage" article 75, "... is limited to the proven amount of damage or loss, but in no event shall be greater than $3,300.00 per fare-paying Passenger pursuant to 14 CFR sec 254.4. "

I lost my job as a pilot (upgrading Captain) with Southwest Airlines (retaliation) after reporting to the company Chief Pilot and to the SWA Union President that a SWA Check Airman had overruled my decision to have maintenance inspect our aircraft for a pressurization problem we were experiencing with our aircraft (forward entrance door leak that was reported inflight). I also reported this incident to the FAA and DOT over 18 months ago. The FAA inspector assigned to the case attempted to cover up this incident for SWA.

I have a tape recording in which the FAA inspector states that even though he was provided with a date of flight and a SWA flight number (1127), there was no way for him to obtain the aircraft tail number from Southwest Airlines in which review aircraft maintenance records that would in fact prove that the aircraft was flown illegally without proper dispatch and without proper maintenance from Burbank to Las Vegas.

I have since obtained the aircraft tail number myself by going to the private fueling company who fueled our aircraft on the day in question. I have provided this information to the DOT who has not taken any action against SWA or the FAA. I also reported this incident to Congressman Jim Oberstar who conducted the Congressional hearings in 2008. I can confirm that Southwest Airlines has put profit ahead of safety, has knowingly put crew and passengers at unnecessary risk. I was retaliated against and forced to resign from Southwest Airlines. I lost my home and financial security as a result. This came after flying nearly 20 years with the U.S. Navy (without accident) and over seven years of flying with Southwest Airlines. Herb ** presented me with a written commendation for action taken during a emergency return at Bradley International (Smoke and Fumes in the cockpit, Flight 481, March 7, 2000)

My husband passed away on April 18 of last week. In order to get my sister and brother-in-law in town for funeral service, I booked tickets online with Southwest Airlines for them both to fly into Love Field on April 20th and return to Los Angeles on April 27th. I received an email the same day I booked the tickets that included a confirmation number for the order. It was paid for with my Visa credit card. When my relatives got to LAX on the 20th, they were allowed to get their tickets, turned in luggage and went through inspection. When they went to board the plane and handed over their tickets, they were told they could not board because the tickets weren't paid for. They missed the flight and called me from the airport.

I called my credit card company and they confirmed that my card showed the charge from Southwest Airlines. I called Southwest Airlines customer service to find out what the problem was. They said a fraud alert had been issued and to contact my credit card company. I called Visa and they updated my home phone number, which I believe did cause the alert to be issued. I then called Southwest again to tell them I had communicated the new information to Visa and to get them on a later flight that same day. I was told they could get on the 12:50 flight, so I called them and told them what I was told. They were to go back to the Southwest counter and that they would be issued tickets for that flight. They did and were told the tickets were not paid for again. The Southwest employee that they spoke with refused to talk with me on the phone to verify credit card information or to clear up the confusion.

Again, I called customer service and told them what happened. That representative kept me on the phone for thirty minutes while she worked on fixing the problem. She issued me new confirmation numbers for a flight for the next day. That same evening, I decided to call Southwest one more time to ensure that my relatives would get their tickets with no problems. Again, I was told that there was a hold on the tickets and that they would have to pay cash at the counter or provide the actual credit card for verification. At that point, I told the rep to remove all the credit card info and that I would wire them the cash. So not only was I grieving over a husband I had cherished for 44 years and planning his funeral, I also had to suffer through something as simple as getting airline tickets. Three times I was assured the problem was fixed and it was not.

Due to this airline's incompetence, I had to spend $86 to wire my sister the cash so they could get their tickets. They spent $24 on cab fare round trip to the airport the 20th and could not get tickets. I spent $45 driving to Dallas that morning and had to turn around and come back because of the problem. Then to top it all off, when they showed up on the 21st with cash, they were told the tickets were already paid so I wasted time going to the bank and $86 wiring money that they didn't need. When I called to try and get back some of the money I had to spend due to their errors, the best I was offered was a $75 voucher towards another ticket.

I was told if I could fax receipts to them, they would try to possibly credit my card back but that wasn't something they usually do. The only receipt I have is for the Western Union money transfer. If I had known beforehand, I would have gotten receipts for gas and had my sister do the same for their expenses but at the time we incurred those expenses, we never imagined that this nightmare would happen. Losing a spouse is a terrible experience and Southwest Airlines caused me so much additional pain. I do not understand why I was never contacted by Southwest when a problem showed up on the tickets. They had my email and current phone number. Offering a $75 voucher is not sufficient for the grief they caused. I think that after what they put me and my family through, they should at minimum discount me the $993.60 I paid for tickets.

When we arrived home from Raleigh, I discovered some small watch/clock tools had been removed from my bag. They were small and cost $30-35.00 so the value is not all that great but the idea that someone feels they can go through my bags and after determining that everything is okay, they can then help themselves to my personal belongings is simply not acceptable. This happened on our return flight from Raleigh to San Diego via Phoenis on Sunday April 11th.

Southwest completely trashed my Travelpro luggage; both handles were snapped off, making it unusable. I understand they claim no liability for anything protruding from the suitcase, including wheels, handles, zippers, or straps. So, what type of luggage is safe from Southwest baggage handles, and we can expect to arrive in one piece? This is unacceptable. Beware Southwest Airlines!

Here's my experience with Southwest Airline. I booked one ticket from Houston to Tampa, FL on Feb 9, 2010. When I try to issue it within 24 hours, Southwest won't give me the original price. Instead of the original about $80 ticket, they increased me over $50. They told my travel agent that it is just a little $50. Since I have fixed my business schedule, I just paid this new price. It is just a rip off.

Nightmare is when I got up early morning and brought my confirmed e-ticket to the airport on Feb 24, 2010. The lady told me that I should have a real ticket with me instead of this ticket. My confirmed e-ticket doesn't have confirmed number. By then, my plane will leave in 25 minute before my security check. The lady with Southwest airline shows no sympathy and told me see their manager. The manager did not seem to care if I miss the plane and let me keep in line. Until it is my turn, he told me that I have to buy a new ticket for $298 in order to get on board even if I take the next plane. At this time, both my travel agent and I have no way to do nothing except to purchase this ticket again.

After I finish my trip, my agent argued with Southwest Airline and they agreed to give me my money back. But until I get my credit card statement, I see no credit back from Southwest. What a management it is? I told all my friends not to take Southwest Airlines, they just don't care.

I bought a gift card that never worked, so I called to get a replacement. They told me it would take 24-48 hours to get it. But I never received it so I called again three weeks later. Then, I reordered a new one. They told me it would take 24-48 hours, again, I never got it (via email). I get alerts and order confirmation numbers but never the card. I spent so much time calling.

Today, I called once again to ask why I haven't received my card and they tell me that they don't know, that they will reorder (for the third time) and to call back in 24-48 hours. The card is a purchased non refundable so I need to get it or I would lose my money. It has been such a pain to deal with this. Their hours are the same hours I work and I am wasting so much time on this. The service over the phone has been horrible and no one seems to care.

When I asked if I could standby on the second leg of my flight for an earlier flight, I was told I would have to pay $145, or else they would have me sit at the airport for another hour while letting an empty seat go to my destination. Having me fly on an earlier flight (assuming there is an empty seat), bears no expense to SWA. I consider this a ransom payment which I will never pay and will never fly SWA any more.

Southwest reservation has been giving me trouble since Thanksgiving holidays last year. I cannot check in online since Thanksgiving last year. Finally, one of SW representatives, Terry, found it last Friday (1/29/10). What happened? When I purchased tickets online, I clicked the suffix "PHD". PHD did not go into SW system with the confirmation number. I have been traveling for 5 years. All the rest systems have "PHD". That is the reason that I cannot check in online. I have been calling SW since Thanksgiving last year to check in for me manually. It's pain and neck. Sometimes, it takes more than 1 hour waiting on Thursday or Friday to call in. When they add PHD, my Rapid Reward number will be wiped out. They need to add Rapid Award number one more time. The new Southwest software has bugs, which need to be fixed.

I called Southwest phone number 1-800-435-9792. The representatives cannot solve it. They gave me customer relation phone number 1-214-792-4223. I called it hundreds of times from Thanksgivings. No luck. Either there is no one answering or it's a busy tone. I faxed to them at 1-214-792-4223 more than twice. There are no responses either. I e-mailed them more than 20 times. Only "No reply" is the response. I mailed to them also. Again, no response! Could you help to push Southwest to fix the software bug ASAP? It's been 3 months already and it seems to be going on forever in the future. Thanks a lot! I spend more than 1 hour to call Southwest at least twice a week to fix the online check-in problem and Rapid Award issue manually, which wastes my time and energy.

Flight canceled due to weather but when you call Corpus airport they advise no outbound flights canceled. Arrive at El Paso Int Airport and board states flight on time. But when I get to counter, I was advised flight canceled due to fog out of Corpus. Rescheduled two hours, 20 minutes later but board still says on time, travel to gate and board states rescheduled 10:20 flight until 11:15 but gate personnel state this is an error and not their problem.

Customer service, Daunte *** becomes loud with me and states not his problem. Mostly concerned about how the issue was handled, with rudeness. Mr. *** stated that if it was another airline, they would not give me the time of day. Up until 11:15, the 10:20 flight was still on the board, but no 11:15 flight to Dal. I wanted nothing just courtesy and not being treated poorly due to board errors. No call or email notifying cancellation. Flying used to be an adventure. Today it is a challenge. Thanks. Fear games played with cancellations due to weather when this is not the case.

I arrived at the airport 2hrs early with my boarding pass, had dinner and used the restroom and got to the gate 15 minutes early (5-10 minutes after starting to board). I was in B22 so I had plenty of time and was fine boarding in the C group if I missed my B group call. They had already filled up the plane! I told them I had my pass already and that means I get a seat but they said they gave it to a standby already. I said that wasn't possible and they said yes, it is our policy to give away your seat if you don't show up 10 minutes prior to departure, to which I said it is 12 minutes ahead so where's my seat? She said "I'm sorry, we already gave your seat away". All I can say is "wow". This is the definition of stupidity and probably a result of misaligned incentives to either go home early or board planes ahead of schedule at the expense of servicing paying customers!

I was on SW flt.829 fr San Antonio to New Orleans with one stop in Houston. When we got to Houston, I moved my seat up front. The crew took a head count for the boarding flt. and proceeded to leave the plane. There was supposed to be a new crew coming on.

In the meantime, us passengers were to sit there and wait. There was a six year old little girl flying by herself. There was absolutely no SW employee to stay and watch the child during the crew change. On the previous flight she had asked for assistance by the crew to help go to the bathroom and was ignored. The man sitting next to her didn't want to get involved. When I came up and took my seat she proceeded to ask me to help her. Being a mom myself the mom mode kicked in and I said I would.

I was prepared to stay outside the door and just make sure she was okay. But as it was January 3, 2010, it was extremely cold and she had a lot of bulky clothing on. She asked me to go in with her to hold her clothing. I shouldn't have agreed to this but she was very small and needed assistance. Nobody else was around to help.

As soon as she was finished, we departed the bathroom and took our seats. We were in the restroom for approximately 1 minute. The new flight crew then came on and one flight attendant (who refused to give me her name) found out that I helped the little girl and proceeded to go ballistic in front of everyone. She called Christine M, the ground operation supervisor. From the beginning they started accusing me of doing something to the little girl. They pulled me off the plane and started making accusations. As I am a mom, I was thoroughly embarrassed and humiliated. They even intimated that I was going to be arrested. However, Ms. M did say that she had talked to the little girl and that the little girl did say that she had asked me to take her to the restroom and to hold her clothes.

I told Ms.M the exact same thing as did, the man that had been sitting next to the girl from San Antonio. They proceeded to get abusive and ugly with me and kicked me off the flight. She said she would book me on another flt. She and another lady proceeded to take the whole incident out into the terminal and continued to abuse and humiliate me. They booked me on a flight later in the day. I also had a 4 hour drive back to my home in Alabama to pick up my son. Not only did they harass, humiliate and threaten me, but they also delayed my getting home to my own son on time.

I want to take serious legal action against Southwest Airlines for harassment, public humiliation,mental anguish, damage to my reputation, and false imprisonment. By the way, I am a respected citizen in my community and a Den leader for the local cub scouts. I am not going to let this go away, Ms. M also said she was going to call the parents of the little girl, however I can assure you she didn't tell the parents that they had left her child on the airline unsupervised by a southwest employee and with a group of strangers. So, I could still be accused of something I didn't do. I am under considerable distress over this situation and getting physically as well as mentally ill over the whole situation.

I purchased 3 airline tickets from Southwest Airlines on May 19, 2008. I cancelled my trip and was told by a customer service rep that if I didnt use my tickets by the expiration date it was going to cost me a $50 fee. When I called to make reservations yesterday I was told that the fee is actually $50 per ticket and I should call customer relations. I called customer relations and had the mishap of speaking with Lilly. Lilly then told me that not only was it $50 per ticket but my tickets were no good anyway because they expired. I was confused and explained to her what the rep told me when I cancelled my tickets that valued at $633.00. She told me it didnt matter and that there is nothing she can do.

I then ask to speak with a supervisor, she said there is none available. I ask what was the supervisors name she replield Kelly but refused to either one of their last names. In fact, she refused to give me the companies address. I then asked to speak to someone else. Suddenly Jesus #94 a supposeable supervisor gets on the phone. The conversation started off with an attitude because Lilly already filled me in on my story. Jesus told me if I cant prove that conversation took place with the Southwest employee there is nothing they can do. I ask him to go listen to their recorded conversations...he told me that was my job to prove. I have NEVER been so humilited in my life!! I have been a dedicated Southwest Airlines customer for years and I own two credit cards that I just cancelled. I am also going to make sure I dont book anymore reservations through Southwest Airlines for a company of over 10,000 employees. We dont so business with companies that don't value their customers and treat them with no respect!!!

after being told to arrive at least 1and 1/2 hours due to departure was told by a very rude curb side assitant that the flight had already been delayed 40minutes he also used profanity towards another passenger in my presents. after proceding to the gate and sitting at least 30 minutes my phone range it was a southwest rep advising me that the flight would be delayed another hour .I was given one excuse and my sister was given a totally different excuse and we were on the same flight. after finally departing when i finally arrived at my first destination to catch the connecting flight I had to literally do run from one end of the airport terminal a to terminal c with luggage and hand bag in my hand. although i did not require assistants with my travel i recentally had major surgery and this really took a toll on me. I ever experienced some chest pain and had to take pain meds when i got settled on flight.

We need your help! Southwest Airlines made us leave our sweet 15 pound rescue puppy in Little Rock, after they let us fly there. We met all the specifications to get the dog on board, and the main reason he did not get on the plane was because Southwest Airlines hired employees who are supposed to be in charge of checking the dogs, but hate dogs/ are deathly afraid of them, and do not know how to follow their own rules.

And now our puppy is in LR, he already has seperation anxiety, he had vet appointments today in SD, and all because of petty cruel employees. Also, Southwest does not seem to care enough to respond quickly to the situation, because we are just 2 nobodies as far as they are concerned, and think it is ok to let our family puppy be away from his loving owners.

Sunday morning, at 5:30 am Beren (my fiance) and I went to the Little Rock Airport with our 6 month old puppy Gatsby (half dachshund/half cocker spaniel, 15 pounds) to fly back to San Diego on Southwest Airlines. We had sedated Gatsby but Beren had him in her arms as we waited to check our bags and to purchase the pet boarding pass that we had already reserved. The Southwest lady finished with the passenger ahead of us in line, and so we walked up to her.

She all of a sudden noticed Gatsby in Beren's arms and freaked out. Freaked out bad, because apparently she was afraid of all dogs, even cute 15 pound puppies that are asleep. She told Beren to put him in the dog crate immediately, and she said that he had to be in his crate at all times, which we know is not entirely true, because you have to take him out to go through security, and the policy said that he only has to be in his crate once you go through security, so she was misinformed. She calls out her supervisor because she is so freaked that she saw a dog, even though it is part of her job, and so he comes out suspicious and slightly hostile. He then says that the dog is too big and that he is not getting on the flight.

We flew with Gatsby to LR from SD and have before, he is under 25 pounds, and meets all their policies regarding dogs, and they let us bring him here. Beren told him that Gatsby is 15 pounds and not too big. Then the supervisor said that the crate was too small for gatsby. We put Gatsby in the crate to show that he was erroneous. THen the supervisor said that the dog needs to stand up in the crate. Southwest policy says the dog must be able to move around comfortably and be able to stand up in the crate (There was a boarding pass on the pet carrier from the San Diego airport showing the dog and the carrier passed inspection there and had flown on Southwest just a week earlier).

We have the photos to prove that Gatsby can stand up in the crate and move around, but the man just was not in a good mood and was rude and just kept saying no and no and no, because Beren was crying and telling him that this is ridiculous, the dog had flown several times in that crate, he can stand up, he just wasnt at that split second because he was sedated to ensure that he was quiet in the plane for the other passengers. The man tells Beren she needs to calm down and that there is no way that the dog is getting on the flight (which was only half full, and we had reservations for Gatsby, and we had met all their requirements because we had traveled a few times with him).

Beren goes outside and calls her stepmother Ashley who dropped us off, and Ashley returns and attempts to talk to them. THe supervisor was already holding Berens boarding pass and wouldnt hand it over to me, luckily we had online versions printed off. Ashley walks in with Gatsby in the crate, Gatsby is standing up in the crate, moving around in it, and Ashley points that out, and the supervisor is being obtuse and stubborn and just says no. Ashley starts arguing, and eventually the police come over to see what the problem is, so I grab Ashley and tell her we have to leave.

Ashley takes Gatsby and drives home and Beren and I get on the plane, because we have obligations that had to be taken care of. Luckily our families live in LR, or we dont know what we would have done.

All this started because Southwest hired a woman who was deathly afraid of dogs, even though part of her job is checking in dogs. Then it being so early in the morning and the only supervisor working is not in a good mood and not a puppy lover, so they tell us our puppy can not go home with us. They let us fly to LR with our 15 pound puppy in his airline approved crate that he definitely fits in, but then because of ignorant employees in LR, we do not have our cute little puppy dog with us, who had vet appointments today and friday in SD, and who is an integral part of our little family. And the employees were smug about it, like, proud and happy they had kept a sweet sleeping puppy (who met all the requirements, and who SOuthwest had let go to LR) be forced to stay away from his family.

Beren and I are outraged, we are trying to talk to Southwest about it, but they are so slow to make amends, and probably wont do anything to their employees. We are looking into hiring a lawyer to sue Southwest if they dont play ball, and to sue the employees personally, for both apologies, negligence, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. ALSO TO GET OUR PUPPY Back to SD. My parents might fly another airlines to drop him off, but we have had such an emotional horrible experience, it is not easy to get a dog somewhere, and SOuthwest is so slow to respond to us, we are freaking out.

We knew their policies, we met their policies, and there was no need for any of this to happen. That puppy is like our little child and we want him back, we want those horrible employees fired, and we want Southwest to train all their employees on the correct procedures so this does not happen to anybody else. It is heart breaking. Flight Info - Flight number 3843. Flight date - Sunday November 29, 2009 from Little Rock to San Diego. Our puppy is still in Little Rock, we have gone 3 days without seeing him, my fiance can not focus or quit sobbing, I am exhausted due to stress, our puppy has missed his Vet procedure on Monday and he already has seperation anxiety and stress problems.

and said i have a pacemaker and heres my card and i know they have many cameras to verify this i am outraged

Arrive in LOS ANGELES INTL (LAX) at 10:05 PM

(Stops: .)As I picked up the the baggage and my wife opened the baggage next day entire baggage smell like fish.All my expensive cloths got messed-up. We were three of us in this flight.Total damaged to four bags between my son and mine is approximately $2,500. reason I could not claim before some family problems and my final exam to get promotion on my job in LA county district kept me very busy.Please let me know, how can get my expenses's reimbursements.

The customer care rep told me to call AFTER 9/8/09 to reschedule the flights and that I would be subject to a $50 fee per ticket. I said "that's fine, but could I get that in writing?" The rep told me that they don't have it in writing, but it's legit and to not worry. Skeptical, I called back and another rep gave me the same story, so I was more comfortable with it.

Fast forward to today, 10/5/09. I've been called the number Southwest gave me for over a month now and each time I call, it's busy. I've called the main Southwest number and they told me that the customer service # provided is the only route to solve my re-booking issue. What do I do now? Just smile and know that Southwest just took my money and offered no help.

I was dragged out of my rightful line position by state troopers at gate A1E yesterday due solely to the fact that not one Southwest employee was available in the whole terminal area for quite a long time. If you are concerned about the safety of your passengers in your terminal area, why do you leave hundreds of people in a large area without one employee for at least ten minutes? A person with his wife, thought I was cutting in line because I had a A-31 boarding pass and stood at the front of the second line-up, which is where you have the position marked for A-31 boarding. His wife called me dyslexic several times and started to poke me in the shoulder when I ignored her. I finally turned to them and asked her why I was "dyslexic". She told me I was not standing in the right place. FYI, they were standing at the front of their line, in A-1, so I was not even in their line.

Well, I showed her my boarding pass and pointed to my A-31 pass and the sign on your front stainless steel pillar. I then asked her "So who's dyslexic now?" Her husband immediately told me I was disrespecting his wife and that I was a "f...". I was hoping to get a Southwest rep to come and solve the problem but not a single Southwest employee was in sight. After a minute or two of back-and-forth cussing and returning expletives, (I used a loud voice in the hopes of catching the attention of a Southwest employee who were nowhere to be found!), the Arab decides to get "security" to pull me out of line.

He returns with State troopers and they pulled me out of line. I lost my rightful place in the lineup because none of your employees were available to help me. The troopers were rude.

I believe the Arab and his wife thought it was "first come first served at the line-up". I just found out differently on my flight to Boston and made sure I printed a boarding pass the day before the return flight. (On my way to Boston, my wife and I could not sit together because of this) If you had an employee there to explain it to them, perhaps this would not have happened

I had a window seat on a Southwest flight a couple years ago. I fill my own seat but do not flow into the next and am able to put armrests down fully. On the isle was a very big guy, maybe 400-450 lbs. He filled his seat and overflowed into the middle seat taking at least a third of it. The armrest between him and the middle seat could not be lowered.

Last to be seated was a normal sized man, maybe 180 lbs, who clearly needed more than 2/3 of his seat. He had no choice but to pressed against me for the whole flight. About 4 1/2 hrs, from CA to TN. I was so uncomfortable I scooted up against the side of the plane so I was sitting more on one hip for most of the flight - and that just meant the middle guy filled more of my seat!

By the end of the flight I was really hurting and doing all I could not to cry. It's the closest I've come to a panic attack. No, I didn't complain. Neither of us said a word to the big guy. Everyone may have spared his feelings but it cost us big time. That's not right. But I knew the flight was full and I just wanted to get home. I figured if I caused a scene in this day and age, I'd get kicked off the plane!

I have nothing against larger people, I am not small myself, but we have no right to take up more space than the seat we pay for. I did complain to Southwest when I got home and received a $200 voucher good for a year. After that flight I totally support the 2-seat policy for someone who fills more than one seat. It's only fair to other paying passengers.

This incident happened on August 12, 2009 with Southwest airlines. I flew from Portland, Oregon to Las Vegas on 8/9/09. For my return trips I was booked on flight 1325, confirmation number NPRXIX from Las Vegas to Portland on 8/12/09.

This attendant supervisor came up to me while I was seated in my wheelchair at the gate waiting for my flight with people on each side of me and across from me. I was not able to remember her name, but this happened at gate C5. She had short Dark hair and was thin. She said I needed to have 2 tickets for my flight to Portland based on my size. I was baffled because I had never experienced this before. I didn't know what she was talking about. She said that it is the policy of Southwest that I purchase another seat. No explaination why. I explained that I fit in the seat just fine as I had flown from Portland, where I live, to Las Vegas without incident. She said that she was sorry I wasn't told before, but that I would not be allowed on the plane without the purchase of an additional seat. At this point I started having trouble breathing and having an anxiety attack.

I called my advocate, a close family relative, to speak for me because I became unable to speak. My advocate explained to the supervisor that I have a mental disability and that she was advocating for me. The supervisor gave the same stonewalling to my advocate and returned the phone to me. As soon as I was off the phone the supervisor came back....even after being told that I had a mental disability she insisted on pushing me further. I informed her that she needed to stop and leave as I was having an anxiety attack brought on by her judgments of me that were unfounded in fact. She persisted and I explained that she needed to leave again. All of this took place, not in a discreet and compassionate way, but a judgmental compassionless way. She had no regard what so ever to my mental disability. Nor any regard to the fact that I was surrounded by other people. Finally after asking for the third time for her to leave she did. My husband returned after getting food to find me in tears unable to catch my breath. He went to talk to the supervisor who gave him the same rude and uncaring attitude. My husband asked to speak to her supervisor to which she replied she does not have a supervisor and there is NO ONE above her that can be contacted.

My advocate was on the phone with Southwest Airlines customer service during this time explaining the issue and reiterating my mental disability and anxiety attack. They stated that since my husband was sitting next to me this should not be an issue. They agreed to call the supervisor. They got back on the phone and agreed to have a different supervisor come over, but said that the persons name was Scott.

Razzy T arrived and with an expressionless face and a tone to his speech refused to listen to me at all. We again called my advocate to talk to him explaining that I needed him to talk to her instead of me. Razzy refused to talk to my advocate. Razzy refused to let me have the phone near him so that my advocate could hear what he was saying. Razzy repeated over and over that it was a judgment call that based their opinion that i needed a second seat. I again explained that I did not require a seat as the arm rest goes up and down just fine. Razzy refused to listen to me and continued to harass me in front of the rest of the passengers. I told him that I could not talk to him anymore due to my anxiety attack. He still refused to talk to my advocate who I needed to speak for me due to my attack. I could not breathe, I could not speak and I was falling apart in the middle of the airport, again with people all around me.

Razzy would not leave. I repeated that I was done talking to him because he would not listen to me. In his same tone and expressionless face he repeated that I needed to purchase an additional seat. I informed him that he was discriminating against me based on disability. Especially when it was clear that he would not look at the evidence and refused to talk to my advocate. My advocate was necessary and on the phone with me during the entire conversation and heard everything Razzy T said. I simply had the phone up to my ear so that she could hear.

I kept telling Razzy to please talk to my advocate, he continued to refuse. It seemed to me that he did not want to resolve this matter in any way other than to force me to buy the 2nd seat. He didn't seem to want a witness to the mistreatment, but my advocate was able to hear the entire conversation and will attest to what she heard.

The way I was treated was unlawful and unacceptable treatment in regards to my disability. I was in a wheelchair and clearly having an anxiety attack. Not only the disregard for my mental disability, the fact that it was CLEAR that I was having an anxiety attack, but also the humiliation of this being done in front of the entire waiting area. Nothing discreet about that at all.

By the policy stated on the Southwest Airlines website, if the arm rest can go up and down it is NOT required to purchase a second seat. This was NOT an issue. I got from PDX to Vegas just fine. They refused to let me on the plane without purchasing another ticket in Vegas. I needed to get home to my underage daughter. I am on social security for disability, it's not like I have disposable income to buy a second seat.

Finally he left me alone....in full hysterics and I couldn't breathe. This was now the worst anxiety attack I have ever experienced in my life. I felt like I was going to die. The plane started boarding and we had our preboarding slip and were escorted onto the plane. Razzy and the other supervisor were not around. I had hoped that the issue had been dropped and I could finally just return home. Once seated we took numerous pictures of me seated in the seat with the armrest down. Furthermore we took video of me seated moving the arm rest up and down without issue. Razzy made the gate attendant then take me OFF the plane.....They explained I needed to talk to him. I get to the ticket desk and he ignores me. I try to show him the pictures proving I fit in the seat. He refused to look at it. My husband tried to show him the picture. Razzy does everything NOT to look at the evidence. He refused to look at it always diverting his eyes. He made it clear that he made a decision and no matter what he was not going to listen. He then said again that I had to buy the seat....in front of EVERYONE at the ticket counter. NOTHING discreet about this at all. Razzy was clearly discriminating against me based on his own personal opinion.

Even AFTER I had proof that I fit in the seat fine...the arm rest going up and down without issue. Razzy REFUSED to look at the evidence.....People were getting on the plane at least as big as me with NO extra seat. This one man who was larger than me got off the flight that had just arrived...I talked to him and his wife. He was not required to buy an extra seat either. I was targeted and it was clear I was targeted. We have pictures of other passengers with their permission who were NOT required to buy that extra seat. They made a spectacle out of me...they caused me to go full blown panic/attack mode....and they refused to allow me to board the plane to prove it...even though their policy has NO guideline about size...it simply states you must be able to fit IN the seat with the arm rest down....which I did without a problem. I was in a wheelchair because I am unable to walk more than a few feet. More and more evidence we had the less they paid attention. Razzy REFUSED to look at the video and photo proof. They refused to listen at all. So I spent 7 hours in panic mode unable to remain calm....because of someone's opinion. They admitted several times that it was based on a JUDGMENT call on their part....judgment of discrimination. They pushed me over the edge with no regards to what they were doing to me.

Disabled with a back injury and mental disability (Recognized by the ADA) and I was discriminated against and humiliated without regard to factual evidence. Had this happened in Oregon before flying to Vegas I would have had the choice to go home and not take the flight. Instead this happened where I would be stranded in Las Vegas with no idea of how I would get home to my underage daughter.

What happened to me was wrong, discriminatory and offensive. It was discrimination based on the personal opinion of 2 people who had no intention of listening to me. Not to mention that I was in a wheelchair....standard wheelchair and I fit in it just fine.....they harassed me over and over even after I told them they needed to stop due to my having an anxiety attack in the middle of an airport....This was the most traumatic experience of my life.....and it was completely unnecessary.

They can't enforce a policy some of the time and expect people to accept it. Based on my research others have had this same experience with Razzy T. Clearly this is not an isolated issue. But the policy remains vague and quite honestly discriminatory since it is up to the discression of certain attendants. You have to really search the site in order to even find the policy. This is not being honest and upfront. The fact that the ONLY way to get a refund is to have the plane not be full, not that the person can FIT in the seat, is shady business practice. It is no more than an attempt to fill seats on a plane.

We had to borrow the money to pay for the 2nd seat on a later flight. I spent the entire plane ride anxious and uncomfortable. The following day, August 13th, I was admitted to the hospital in the ICU due to the overwhelming stress of this even that had taken place. All because of the lack of sensitivity of 2 attendants and their blatant disregard to my disability that they were informed of. I have never been so humiliated or treated with such blatant disrespect and disregard of my disabilities by ANYONE in my entire life.

This isn't just about being asked to buy a second seat.....if I didn't fit in one seat I would have understood. But I DID fit. When the issue escalated and we were given no options for going above the supervisor it became a more serious issue. I do not for one second believe that there is NO ONE above these judgemental supervisors.

This is concerning airline theft. I had my cell phone charger in my checked baggage, and for some reason it disappeared. It was the kind that could be used to charge in a wall outlet or the cord puled out and used as a USB cord. This has gotten so out of control. We are limited as to what we can carry on the plane, yet when we put our items in our suit case, they steal them from us.

Everytime I book a flight with your airline, I'm told I cannot chech-in online because I have to show ID at the gate. I've flown your airline several times and everytime this happens. I"m sick of having to get on the plane last. When I fly the other airlines I don't have this problem. So what's this companies problem?

We looked forward to that ending the busy week.

Now we're in Vegas. Yahoo!-almost a full week to enjoy. We decided to forget about the airplane ride and enjoy ourselves. We do not leave the airport until Thursday, July 2nd at 1pm, direct flight to Bradley Internationl Airport.

Well well well...we check our bags for departure, and the lady asked for our id's and then followed it up by saying-"you know you were supposed to be here at 7AM right?" "WHAT?" i exclaimed in confusion.

I know for a fact that i requested the 1pm flight because there was no way my fiance would want to get up and be at the airport that early-i even snickered a little when the ticket saleswoman offered the choice. No No, i'll definately take the 1pm flight. i remember that!

i do not know if they tape these conversations while booking flights, i certainly hope so for peace of mind and answers to this experience.

So now we are on standby for an indirect to connecticut, last flight of the day. Another couple of hours to wait now just wasting away, hoping that something causes two people on this flight to not make it. "ok, there is one open seat available at the moment, you are going to have to wait until everyone checks in to see what is available, says the lady at the desk at our gate. Hours to minutes going by so slowly.

we now are a minute left, all have boarded except this family of three. yes yes yes i'm thinkin while looking 1/8th of a mile down the hallway. I see no running family as their name was being paged for the third time. "looking good" says the lady at our gate, who has been reassuring and mentally stabilizing us through this ordeal. Our carry ons in hand and standing smiling, feeling so relieved, knowing that we will get back to connecticut in the same day. Wouldn't you know, THE FAMILY WAS ALREADY ON THE PLANE!

Some communication problem was the answer to that. Unbelievable!

Now we are told there is no other flight out of Vegas till the next day, and that it will not be direct either. My girlfriend flipped out, i calmed her down before a scene broke out. Need i remind you, our bags were in route For connecticut. No clothes, no place to stay,no place to bathe, and with not to be spent-Also, we were dressed for connecticut weather for the ride back not for 100' degree weather.

Very Irritated, tired, hungry...what to do now? I wish i could remember the lady that was working the desk at our gate- she was trying to do everything she could to accomodate us. She assured us a flight out the next morning. She was so very helpful. She was on that next morning and stated that our flight home would be her first
priority. We thanked her for all of her help as she gave us that discounted hotel stay ticket.

Now, an extra 20 dollars for taxi ride back. We exchanged numbers with a couple that we had met at the hotel through the week.

Reluctantly, they allowed us to shower and sleep there for the night.I had to buy dinner in return respectably- another 100.00 out the window! Shorts and shirts for both of us because we were without clothes-80.00. Breakfast the next morning 10.00. Taxi ride back another 20.00
We did not sleep a wink because of our uncomfortability on the living room floor, and nervousness of any other problems involving our flight back. We both had to call out for our Friday shifts. Mike-Dietary MGR-$24/hour x 8=192.00
Crystal-LPN- 24.50/hr x 8=196.00

all together,$618.00 of just unnecessary monetary inconveniences- not to mention, our pick up had to be rearranged. that was not easy by no means.

To top it all off with a cherry, WE HAD TO SIT SEPERATELY AGAIN! Crystal-uncomfortly between two plus size staring gentleman that would stop asking her questions. Myself-window side next to husband and wife and crying infant. I have two of my own, but my tolerance was tried at that moment. We boarded again to our next and final flight to Hartford,CT. Again seated seperately because we can only walk to our gate on the other side of the airport due to my ankle injury, which made us board later than normal.
We were both just so fed up, we did not speak about it anymore.
This is a situation that my fiance' has been on my butt about for the last couple of weeks. i finally had the time at work to fill out this form. I apologize for all the negativity, but it is what we experienced.

Thank you for your time.

I am writing about a Southwest Airlines flight from San Francisco to Phoenix and then from Phoenix home to Cleveland. I was traveling with my 10 year old son and my 12 year old daughter. My son has a rare skin disorder called Epidermolysis Bullosa, he has very fragile skin and this causes recurring blisters and sores all over his body. He cannot walk a lot so he traveled with a motorized scooter. I took my son along with my daughter to camp in Livermore, CA. from Clevelnd, Ohio. This camp is put on by the Children,s skin Disease Foundation. My flight was scheduled to leave San Francisco at 11:20am on 6/27/09. I checked our bags at 10:56 which is 4 minutes late according to Southwest. The man at the counter told me that our bags were not guaranteed to be on the flight and I was fine with that. We were on our way home.

I explained that my son was handicapped and on the electric scooter but he refused to check the scooter in at the counter with the bags and said that I could take it as a carry on. This is a full size sit down electric scooter. He also would not call ahead to the gate to tell them that my son was on his way on the scooter. Security documents were issued to us NOT boarding passes. TSA security checked our carry on bags at 11:02am. The Southwest gate was only four gates from the security check in. When we got to the gate which was not yet 10 minutes before the flight they stopped us and said they had given two of our seats to people on stand by. The flight was still there and the doors were still open.

While I argued for well over 10 minutes how important it was for my son to be on that flight, they were not concerned and let the flight leave without us which brought my son and I to tears. I asked to speak to a customer service rep. He explained that was the last flight that would reach Cleveland for the day and that I would have to wait for the next flight which left at 6:50 Sunday morning. This left me in San Francisco airport for almost 24 hours with a handicapped son that needs constant attention and no luggage. By the way our luggage made it on the flight! Which I believe may be against Federal law being that we were not on the flight. Our luggage contained all my son's skin care items and his clean clothes, it also contained his electric scooter charger. My son has open wounds all over his body and these wounds must constantly be cared for in a sterile environment and kept clean or he risks serious infection. Wound care was not an option in an airport restroom.

When confounted with the situation, the customer service rep continued to claim we were not there 10 mibutes before our flight left so they had the right to give our seats away, he would not compensate us for a cab or a room because of this. I did not have money for a cab or a room in San Francisco. At no time was I offered the option of talking to the airports Compliance Resolution Officer that all airports must have available to handle ADA complaints. He said he would get back with me but I never saw or heard from him again. We had to spend the day and night in the airport until Sunday morning. My son's scooter ran out of power becauce I did not have his luggage which was already in Cleveland. I had to end up pushing his scooter with him on it through airports in San Fransisco, Chicago and Cleveland. No wound care was attempted on my son for this period of time. When we got to Cleveland our bags were in the Southwest office waiting for us. I have heard nothing from Southwest about this matter for the past 4 weeks and have sent complaints by email and by mail. I thought that the possible ADA violations and violation of Federal law by sending our bags without us on the plane might merit a respond but I guess that I was not correct.

I flew from Raleigh, NC to Albany NY with a transfer at Baltimore on July 11th 2009. The flight there was great! No problems. I have flown on Southwest many times and I have never had a problem until my trip home yesterday, July 14th, Wednesday.

We ended our vacation and headed back to the airport in Albany NY to travel back to NC. While we were waiting in line to check our bags, we noticed that one of the agents, a Tall, Blonde haired girl(She was working the counter between 1pm and 1:30pm), was seemly stressed out by the crowd of people....All 6 of us. It was her and 2 other agents who were each helping one person and then 3 of us on line. As she was finishing up with her customer, who you could she was being snippy with, she yelled over the counter to the man in front of us and said, "Next person to this Kiosk." The man didn't move. She looked annoyed and said even louder, and motioned with her Arm...."Next customer to this kiosk."

He camly said, "I have a question." She snipped, "Well, I'm not going to answer it from here and yell over there." Even though she already was doing that, then she said, "So step over here and begin your check in process and then I can answer your question." Then he said, again, with no yelling, no attitude, "Well, my quesiton is about check-in." She just looked at him and Yelled, "Next person to the next Kiosk." again, with an exagerated arm movement.

So, now, I check in on the Kiosk, not too jazzed about having to deal with any of these people because I hear them being nasty to everyone. I checked in, had my suitcase up waiting for it to be checked in when Blondy walks away into the back. Another woman comes out and puts all the stickers on my bag and then blondy comes back out again and says to me, "Are you Deborah?" I said yes. Well, I am about 5'4" and I am overweight. But not so overweight that it has ever been assumed that I can't fit into an airline seat. So, she says to me, "Have you ever flown on Southwest." I said, "Yes, many times." She said, "Have you ever been approached?" I said, "What do you mean?" She says, "Well, do you think you can sit in one seat, with both arm rests down comfortably?" I said, "Yes, of course, I can. I just flew hear 4 days ago on southwest with no problem. I fit in the seat and the seatbelt fits and I have slack in the seatbelt. By the way, saying all this to me out loud, not at all trying to be discreat. My travel companion just stood there in complete shock.

Regardless of my answer, she still wasn't convince. She said, "You appear to be larger than one of our seats can accomodate and we recommend you purcahse a second seat." Staying calm, I said to her, "I just told you that I flew here 4 days ago and not only do I fit fine in the seat, I have slack in the seatbelt." She said, "Well, if you don't purchase a second ticket here, they may not let you on the plane. Then, you will be forced to buy a second ticket at the gate. If the plane is full, you may have to wait to get on another flight that isn't full so you can have two seats." I just looked at her and said, "Miss, what part of 'I fit in one seat' didn't you understand?" Then she said, "Well, if the plane isn't full, they may not bother you, but if it's full, they may need you to purchase an extra ticket. (All I could think was, 'If the plane is full, then how am I going to buy a second seat to even sit in?)

We were 2 hours early to the airport because a friend dropped us off and I spent the next 2 hours totally stressing out and being upset. When we finally got to the gate, all was ok luckily. No one even looked at me twice and there were bigger people than me on the flight

I really felt discriminated against by this tall blonde who was probably a size 4. Just as I told her, I fit totally fine in the seat and again, seatbelt even had slack in it. It wasn't even extended as much as it could go. To give you an idea of my size, I am again, 5'4", an x-athlete so I am muscular and I wear a size 16 or 18. Not skinny, but not a big huge person.

The train of events and ramifications of this 'event' over the last 7 months(nov 30th 2008)caused by the over zealous rush to judgement of one Southwest airline 'incognito' person-continues ...

With one beta blocker tablet left for my hypertension-I reckoned I'd save
it and was anxious to get my tablets 20 hours later in Dublin.
I ought to have known-how bad things can get at any airport-but with good
grace-and politeness -I carried my pieces of luggage through-and trying to
dispel my usual claustraphobia-I calmy proceeded.

I asked of one official-"should I take my waistbelt off-as it usually does
not set the alarm off'. We joked and all was 'well'. Then-suddenly-
someone'. I say 'one' as he-in retrospect and post trauma--he NEVER-
identified himself-nor gave a number etc. He rushed over-with an
inordinate amount of energy(seemingly to stop any further outbreak of
humour and niceness')...
He came over to me-and brusquely-in a loud voice said-
'where are you going'I politely said.He interjected -"you're not going
anywhere'. Now the incredulity of an earlier 147 dollar taxi-ride for 40
miles , 2 and a half hours before -paled into insignificance.

Little did I think-then-that -the shockwaves-were to crescend from a minor
illness-to a major one.-over the next 7 months.
Little did this unidentified person realise thetrain of events-and the
continuing havoc and distress-that his errors of -'judgement'-has caused
me I remain incredulous-as to what this one screener was 'assuming--or
even thinking? If he was assuming or presuming that I was under some
influence-could I not have been tested in some manner-breathalysed-or walk

the line?

The ramifications and fallout are immeasurable-not least in terms of my
collapsed health. I spent 2 days going around Orlando looking for beta
blockers for my heart condition. When I couldn't walk another mile-only
then did I hire a cab. Little did I think that it would be 6 FRIGHT-FILLED
days (including trouble outside one pharmacy in Orlando-which almost led to
a shooting-and my reshecduled flight home developed engine trouble etc etc
etc and diverted for 36 hours-) before I arrived back in Dublin Ireland .

I reiterate that the assumption he made was totally wrong. 7 months later-when the TSA 'tracked him down-and found him to be a SW employee'-he apparently alleged again that I was stopped due to intoxication. The cost of this event to a budget traveller in sum certain alone is twice the cost of my month's vacation at Cape Cnaveral-but to this day-the ramifcations -and now the insult-is totally unacceptable.

After years of admiration of the hospitality of the USA:-I would be a little wary of passing through again(a return visit to Edwards AFB and Nellis in October 2009 is on hold)

I pray this recourse to US law is open to a 'foreigner'. sum certain in just minimal fiscal loss-$1395.50. Over 7 months-the havoc on every level is unquantifiable. If I could have Southwest 'do the right thing' as their coporate copy says-this $1395.50 would suffice

I travel frequently (mostly by Continental) and first I thought it is me only experiencing significant pain in my ear on a Southwest flight from Oakland to Houston. I inquired with fellow passengers and they complained the same. I thought it may be this flight only. Next day morning, there was blood in my throat mucus but I took it easy thinking of it as one time affair.

I experienced the same air pressure/ear pain issue on a Southwest flight from Houston to San Francisco after two months. In between, I flew using Continental & US Airways - No issue what so ever. My family flew from Houston to Los Angeles - all members of family HAD significant ear pains. My colleague flew from Oakland to San Diego on Southwest - Same issue..i inquired with him and he immediately said, his ears pained a lot. He said fellow passengers complained about the same. Our coach flew from Houston to Tempa - he & his wife were in pain when they landed because of ear problems experienced on Southwest flight. This all happened in last two (2) months.

It is not me...It is many people facing the same issue on Southwest flights. We fly on other airlines such as Continental and no issue. I thought about it and finally decided to write to FAA as it seems to be a cabin pressure/cabin seals related issue in most of Southwest planes. It is not only me..there seem to be many people. I decided not to fly Southwest at all. It doesn't seem to be good from in flight safety issues perspective.

I purchased airline tickets on Dec. 30 2008 for me and my family to fly from San Diego, CA to Orlando Fl departing on June 13 2008. In Feb. 2009 my husband lost his job, we were unable to leave for a week or spend any extra money considering we had no income. So I canceled our vacation, received a full refund from Disney World and was told by Southwest that I purchased non-refundable tickets,there is nothing on my confirmatition page saying non-refundable. All it says is to write a letter to there refund department to request a refund. So I did that, I received a letter saying that my curcumstances fall outsidse the parameters which they can consider an exception. So I decided to call there corporate office, it confuses me to how this is even legal, it's stealing in my opinion. So I get on the phone with a rep. and they than again tell me, there is nothing they can do. That if I don't use the credit by december 30,2009 I loose it. I asked how is that they think this is acceptable, I told her she was stealing money from me and it was wrong. I asked why is that they think this is o.k. what is the reason for taking consumers money in the fashion...Her response to me was "we need to make money too"

My wife and I flew SW from San Antonio to Providence, RI on May 16th. I might add that we reside in Mexico. Upon arrival her luggage was fine, my bag was soaked as if it had been immersed in water. Not damp or a little wet, but soaked. We arrived at night (Saturday) and I was advised to have my clothing dry cleaned. Try finding a dry cleaners open on Sunday in Rhode Island. We spread my clothes around the hotel room but Sunday morning everything was still damp. I noticed green stains on two articles of clothing, one a U Colorado sweatshirt, the other a Brooks Brothers dress shirt. Apparently dye from one of several books I had packed bled onto the clothing. My wife is a marine biologist and was busy with a conference in Newport.

I had an agenda that kept me busy from Cape Cod to Hartford, but managed to send the original damage report to SW, and a hand written letter noting the circumstances including our foreign residence and email addresses. I suggested that a hundred dollars would be acceptable for the damage to books and clothing. In return I received a form letter sent to our san Antonio address requesting that the damaged items be sent to the airlines. The cost of sending them from Mexico would be about 40 to 50 percent of the hundred dollar settlement I felt was acceptable, an amount that did not include time and inconvenience.

I am about to contact SW again, and am sending copies of my letter to the FAA, the congressional oversight committee, and a lawyer. I will initiate action in small claims court if necessary. I am quite disappointed and irritated with SW. The company was much better under the old management.

As a paid passenger, I was deprived of my customer's rights and then threaten by Southwest Airline employees. I missed my business meeting in Denver on June 11 and had to pay for all my party to stay in Denver for the next day meeting. I demand the Southwest Airline to investigate this incident and to enforce the legality and regualtion in the counter service at Gate B14 and 15 at SLC airport.

05/21/2009 I took a direct flight from Orlando to Phoenix flight 1164 leaving at 4:00 however it was delayed until 4:55PM. I checked my bag at 1:30 PM at curb check-in. The man took my bag gave me my boarding pass I showed my drivers license and he printed the bag number and bar code sticker and stuck it to my bag. I made it but my bag did not. Turns out the person who checked my bad is not a Southwest airline employee?

They have people working at a counter labeled Southwest airline. They have access to our personal information via Southwest airline computer systems to print boarding passes and the check our ID's then take our luggage. Also the bar code sticker is just for show as Southwest does not scan your luggage so they can not tell me if it even made it on the plane. I am sure the person who checked my Tumi bag is the person who took my Tumi bag.

Southwest can not tell me who that person was? Why would they deceive their customers into believing we are dealing with their employees and that our luggage has the ability to be tracked or traced? I really think there is a ring of people in Orlando that know how Southwest does business and they are stealing bags that look expensive. I think this needs to be investigated.

My bag had my name and information on the outer tag as well as inside the bag. The plane that went down on the Hudson they got their luggage back why is this so impossible to know who checked in my bag and what happened to it after it was checked in? To this date they have not located my bag.

I have lost not just clothes but things with sentimental value. Items I was wearing when I got engaged to the man I have been with for 25 years. They tell me they will cover up to $3,300 the values of the items total are closer to $6,000 and not to mention the amount of time spent of having to call them everyday. They said they would call me and I only received 1 call from 05/29 to tell me to send in my paper work because if it's been 5 days I am not getting my bag back.

I sat down on a flight from Las Vegas to Houston and then a very tall man that sat behind me. I could not recline my chair because his legs took up the entire space. That was not the issue. He then reclined and stuck his knee in my back I asked him not to put his knee into my back. He was either not able to keep his knee out of my back or was being a bully. The flight attendant was advised that I was not able to sit without this problem of his knee in my back. The flight was not a short flight or I would have tried.

What ensued after this request was some thing out of a high school. I was told by the flight attendant that I should tell the man not to put his knee in my back. I said that I had. She then said that if I did not like it that I should move. I agreed to move and sat in the back with two young men who moved to accomodate me. Then for no reason what so ever as I moved to make it comfortable for the front attendant trying to avoid conflict. The attendant in the back then takes it upon herself to tell other passengers that I was a trouble maker and refused to serve me water to take my medication with because my drink order was taken by the flight attendant in the front.

I then got up to go to the bathroom to get water. They said loudly out in the cabin while I was in the bathroom how they were going to notify the captain. My travel conpanion told me later. The whole time the flight attnedants were fawning over the man whose size had caused me to move offering him free drinks and refused me service until almost the end of the flight.At that time handed me a beverage can that had been dented on both top and bottom.

The one flight attendant kept hitting me on the shoulder and kicked my foot as she walked by in an effort to provoke an arguement.I remained calm and kept my eyes closed as to not make eyecontact. They were trying to get me to react angry.

I got to the airport and flight was delayed. bouthgt a business flight due to business situation. Asked for a voucher for my accomadations for the flight and Jan said no vouchers when I know [they] give vouchers for the inconvience. I had missed my business appointment as well as my ride from the airport and had to take a cab so I lost out on alot of money due to this mishap.

My husband and I flew from Rhode Island to Tampa Florida on May 7, 2009 on Southwest Airlines. We had no problems flying to Tampa, but our flight home on May 13, 2009 was horrible. There was a 2 hour delay due to the weather (which we obviously do not blame Southwest Airlines for) so we landed later than expected. Well when we boarded on the plane, about an hour later we realized that our stewardess was intoxicated. Intoxicated to the point she didn't charge anyone for their drinks. Yes that was nice not to pay for drinks, but what if there was an emergency? Are we suppost to wait for her to finish her nips before she tends to us?

Well we finally land and when we received our luggage it was drenched. Not just a little damp, but soaked where I could literally hand wring my clothes. Due to the delay, I had to proceed home as my ride was in a rush. So during the ride home I call Southwest Airlines to let them know about the stewardess and our luggage. After waiting for someone to answer for 20 minutes, I finally get connected to a representative. I then ask for a supervisor and wait another 10 minutes.

When I finally was able to speak to the supervisor she told me that there was nothing they could do since our luggage was not damaged, then after a few minutes she hung up on me. Not only was my clothes soaked, my souveneirs were damaged too!!!! I then emailed them and received a response the next day saying they will get back to me within 7-30 days. Ridiculous and I will NEVER fly with Southwest Airlines again. Also it has been almost a week and still no response back!

My son, his wife and their daughter flew to Colorado to visit her parents on Feb 26, 2009. The next day, Feb 27, my son went snowboarding and fell, breaking his neck. He was in the hospital 9 days--4 in intensive care. I and his father and sister all flew out to be there. We bought one day in advance, one-way tickets on United--online--that cost $109 each. Our daughter-in-laws mother had been dealing with Southwest in changing their return flights. She said they were very helpful in working with her as she changed their flight twice, charging her a small fee.

My husband and daughter flew home earlier than I did. It was decided I would stay until my son was released from the hospital so I could help them get on the flight and through the airport. This was because he was unable to lift anything, was in a neck brace, on medications and was in pain. His wife would have to manage the luggage as well as their 1 1/2 yr old little girl.

I wanted to purchase a one-way ticket home on the same flight as them. So, I phoned Southwest on March 6 asking to get on their flight. Even after telling them our medical emergency situation they quoted me the staggering price of $276.21!!! I was shocked! I knew that I could go on-line and purchase a ticket with Frontier for only $59. They said that was the best they could do. I said no thanks, as that was robbery, and purchased my one-way ticket for Frontier on-line the next day, March 7, for $59.

The only thing was that our flights were not at the same time. I would have to fly out 3 hours earlier and wait for them at SFO. Our daughter-in-laws parents were going to get them as close to their plane/gate as possible to help with the luggage and the baby. However, Sunday night, March 8 I became upset that Southwest was being so inhuman about this.I was willing to pay a REASONABLE price, not this highway robbery. It was like they had me between a rock and a hard spot, and instead of showing compassion they chose to be greedy.

I phoned them back asking to talk with a manager. I said they were showing a total lack of human compassion here. I said that at this point I thought they should put me on the flight for free! Realizing, of course, that that was an unrealistic request. However, I felt that maybe they would offer a reasonable fare and I would purchase that so I could help my son out. After talking with 3 different women, Lisa got back on the phone and said that her manager was prepared to offer me adiscounted ticket of $245!! How utterly insulting! No thanks!

I flew home on the Frontier flight and I have to say THEY were VERY accomodating. They offered to hold my luggage so I could hang out waiting for their arrival in the secure section of the airport to help them. As it turns out, their flight was delayed another 2 hours and I ended up waiting for them in San Francisco for 5 hours. Everyone involved in this terrible accident, from the ski patrol to the doctors to Frontier were wonderful. However, I will NEVER fly Southwest again if I can in any way help it. They were utterly cold.

Southwest airlines uses a cattle-call boarding system that can lead to angry, fighting customers in the airport. This is what happened to me and my daughter as we waited at LAX to board a southwest flight to las vegas. Obviously, people do not understand why they have a letter/number on their ticket. And southwest does not explain this system to the customers.

While waiting in line, a large group of people with B-55 on their tickets decided to walk to the front of the line (A's were boarding) where one member of their party was waiting. After five people had joined him in the group, they motioned for more members to come forward. As we had B-20 tickets and were standing in the correct area, I kindly asked this group to notice their line number and stand in the appropriate place. This led to one member of the group yelling and screaming at me with foul language. The airline employees did nothing to prevent/help this situation. Several people standing around me were shocked that Southwest did nothing to stop this situation.

After 4 flights with Southwest on this trip, I have made the decision to never fly with them again. Their line numbering system is a joke! It only leads to anger and frustration. I really do not need to be the line police but if Southwest can't enforce their policies, who will? Not me - I'm choosing airlines that book seats from now on. No more cattle calls for me!

I was traveling with 4 of my grandchildren on Southwest flight #24 from Kansas City to Detroit on March 31st 2009, my oldest granddaughter mistakenly left her art notebook onboard the aircraft. These drawing are her trimester grade and with-out it she will receive a zero for the class. We called the baggage dept in Detroit so that when they cleaned the plane they would be aware of the binder. It has been 4 days and we know the plane has been cleaned by now but no-one seems to have any concern for a student or her hard work she has put into thee drawings. I realize that leaving the notebook was her fault but now the issue is her grade not fault. It seems that if Southwest has a program to return left items they should act on it. The girl I talked to at Southwest told me everything has to be turned in and not just discarded. Some-one please call.

Briefly: The pilot of our flight was informed of the horrendous weather conditions and therefore was fully aware of the situation, but when we landed - I asked why we still flew, he responded by saying that he was required to. Our flight was extremely agonizing; the plane was like a horrific roller-coaster, which plummeted down and abruptly leaped up. This was on-going for the entire flight. People screamed and everyone panicked profusely. All the passengers and the crews' lives were at stake and placed under grave danger.

I am still traumatized by the whole ordeal and this just happened yesterday, March 22, 2009, flight 259 at 1035 hours. Why do such things happen and how come no one seems to be drastically concerned? DO WE ALL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL SOMEONE DIES? How come our safety is not the number one priority? This flight could have been canceled for the safety of everyone. Someone needs to investigate this matter and take proper and immediate steps to rectify such situations. This should not happen...ever!

Physical and mental trauma.

Frustration and difficulty in reconciling a damage bag claim with the SW Seattle Airport office.

Bag is missing TSA lock along with the zipper attached to lock.

Frustration and difficulty in reconciling a damage bag claim with the SW Seattle Airport office.

Bag is missing TSA lock along with the zipper attached to lock.

My companion and I booked a flight to albuquerque new mexico last year. (We were using a $100 gift card for part of the cost.) Since one of us became ill, we had to cancel our flight. SW was very helpful and said we would receive full credit if we booked a flight by april 09. However,we recently tried to book a flight for April 13,2009 and ran into a problem. When I first called, I was told that if the flight was not booked by april 9, we would be penalized $50, but that we would receive a $50 credit.

When I called again, I was told that if we did not book a flight by April 3, we would be penalized but that we could receive the $50 credit. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was promised a call back that day. When I did not receive a call back, I called again and when I talked to a supervisor I was told that I could not get a credit until after April 3 and that I had to wait until after that date to contact them and them it would take another 10 days to receive a voucher so that NOW we will not receive anything for our upcoming april 13th trip.

It seems that SW is abandoning good customer service these days and since that airline always had a exemplary reputation, we are, like others with legitimate complaints, suffering extreme frustration and, unfortunately, will alert others to some of these shady deals made by this airline.

We are now unable to use our gift card toward the cost of a flight to New Mexico. Since we are senior citizens, this creates a hardship both emotionally and financially. We wanted to alert others to SW's shoddy customer service!

Don't book any travel plans such as car rentals or hotels with Southwest on their web site. I booked a hotel and then had to change my plane trip for a few dayS LATER which SW was able to do for me; however, the hotel I had booked on the SW website refused to refund my money for the hotel room and took 100% as penalty and SW kept saying call the hotel and the hotel kept saying call SW and they even threw in ORBITs but the website where I booked was clearly the SW website. I know they want to start service in Boston soon; DON'T book any cars or hotels through SW as they have a no-refund policy and you can't even trace down who has your money and is keeping it.

I have lost the $600 that was charged to my credit card for the Embassy Suites Hotel as it was non-refundable .. small print that I never saw on the web site. I had to cancel my flight as I had no hotel at that point.

I was boarding the above-referenced airline & flight on 2/28/09 in Las Vegas. I approached the southwest airlines representative with concerns that our boarding passes did not print in consecutive order. We were separated by about 45 passengers and could not understand why. The representative at the gate said, I don't know why but you can't board until your group is boarding, he can. step aside. I stepped aside so others could board, told my fiance to board without me, and expressed to the representative again my question. He then replied, Now you can't board MY plane. Security to gate C21.

The Las Vegas Police working at the airport arrived within minutes and threatened to arrest me for trespassing and intoxication. They didn't know I had just arrived from Texas and had been sleeping for an hour waiting to board, they assumed I had been there in Vegas drinking - obviously their default excuse to arrest people rather than to protect and serve. I expressed my complaint to their supervisor and have written a letter of complaint to the VP of customer relations for Southwest Airlines. I am writing to state that security and police working the airports should be trained to recognize and respond to security issues, not be used to subvert providing customer service!

The TSA should fine airlines who call for security for non-security related issues, otherwise such abuse will continue to happen. Airlines avoiding customer service won't police themselves. If the TSA takes the role of security seriously, this should be considered similar to filing a false police report. I spoke to the supervisor of the police who responded and he agreed that I did not seem to be a security risk and no, they could not arrest me for trespassing or anything else. I was there, with a boarding pass to the second leg of a flight from Texas to California. My cell phone service provider can not call the police when I disagree with their answer to my concerns. Airlines should not be allowed to abuse airport police, TSA or the department of homeland security simply by virtue of being located in an airport.

I spent $200 on a hotel room. There weren't many choices available. It was the weekend of NASCAR races in Vegas. I spent $40+ round-trip on a cab from the airport to the hotel and back again the next morning. What a waste! I had been in Texas for my sons graduation from Basic Training. I could've spent more time with him on Saturday and left Sunday rather than leaving him at 1pm if I wasn't going to get home anyway!

Our brand new $300 double stroller was checked in for travel. It arrived in Tampa with a broken handle- on the return flight back to ABQ-the handle was broken completely off. SW claims refused to take my damage claim or a complaint that they wouldnt even try to resolove the situation

Handle arrived in ABQ-handle is broken off- I cannot correctly steer the 50 lb stroller correctly

Southwest needs to expand their IT services. Most airlines allow you to check-in numerous ways- Southwest only allows for 1 patient identifier (last 4 of the credit card number). Please recognize parents book flights for their children. And children will not have access to the credit card numbers or confirmation numbers- so having a name and flight number or destination should suffice for checking in for a flight on-line. The airline should look into providing this service, they have lost a loyal customer. In addition they do not have a way to email complaints. IT is definitely lacking.

Two other teachers and myself were scheduled to attend a conference in San Antonio, TX, from 11/19/08 - 11/23/08. Another teacher purchased the airline reservations for us, using her credit card. We had no idea of the airline policies, she just indicated she received the cheapest rate she could find and we had to reimburse her for each of our tickets. I was unable to attend the conference and requested a refund of the amount ($316) since I did not fly.

I was informed by A. Luppy and A. Whaley that I could not have a refund because the person that ordered the tickets had purchased them under cannot cancel terms of sale. I was unaware that this had taken place. All I knew was that someone had ordered my airline ticket and I had to reimburse that individual. I was not told of any conditions limiting the ticket in any way. I was told that I could use the ticket or exchange it or give it away to someone else up until July 2009 when it expires.

I am not going to fly anywhere and I do not know of anyone that is flying any time soon. The conference was a one-time event paid for by the school district and will not happen again. My co-worker believed she was doing all a favor by purchasing the tickets and then we reimburse her. I feel that I am being held hostage by terms of sale I knew nothing about. Another teacher had put the hotel reservations on her credit card, but I was able to cancel those without losing any money.

I am a first year teacher and do not make a lot of money. I have children in college, one in high school and student loans to pay. My income does not go very far. I would like a refund of the $316 I was charged and forced to pay. Mr. Whaley states, We look forward to seeing [me] onboard in the near future. This is his closing statement on all correspondence regarding this matter. I have contacted the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General Consumer Fraud divisions, all to no avail. I am being told, There is nothing we can do. I also cannot file a complaint with the credit card company because my credit card was not used in the transaction.

Flight from Orlando to Chicago (in January). Suitcases arrived completely soaking wet. All contents (including winter coat) drenched all the way through. Try putting on a wet coat in 16 degree weather! These were fairly new bags that are 'water repellent', so for this degree of wetness, they had to have been exposed to rain for a long period of time. How could the airline let this happen? Why would their crew not cover their customers' personal belongings? They could not have been more wet if they had been thrown into a lake. I'm so angry at their lack of respect.

Wife's new white blouse ruined. About a dozen items will need dry cleaned.

I usually have no problems with Southwest Airlines, but I must complain about the rude flight attendant. I noted that my seat back support was constantly going back instead of staying upright. I wanted to tell the attendant because I know the seat position must remain upright with landing. The flt attendant responded loudly and rudely, although I was very nice about my complaint.

So, in retaliation, My next 10 visits to Albuquerque will be by car from Dallas, Tx. Two of us go. So, this should cost the airline about $3000-8000 in lost customer charges. Southwest Airlines Flt 18 12-11-08. Mostly embarrassed by her and felt trapped in that she could then try to get me in trouble if I complained to her again.

On 12/1/08, a day of weather related flight delays the flight attendant on flight 1388 from Chicago to Denver was arragonant, unprofessionsl and insulting. Myself and travel companions, a retired US Air Force Pilot, his wife and my significant other were flying on flight 1388 from Ft. Lauderdale to Denver, through Chicago, to connect with flight 1344 in Denver to Sacramento, CA.

In Ft Lauderdale we were offered, without asking, pre-boarding passes because flight delays had reduced the estimated connecting time in Denver to 20 minutes which did not seem adequate during a day of weather delays. Upon boarding flight 1388 in Ft Lauderdale the retired AF Colonel, his wife and myself sat in the port side bulkhead seats and my significant sat across the aisle in the second row.

The AF Colonel and myself stored our carry-on luggage, including my CPAP machine for sleap apnea that is vital to my health. in the empty compartment above our seat.

The flight crew changed in Chicago and the head flight attendant, a blond haired, trim lady, maybe 30-40 age range with what I would categorize as a phony southern accent, arrived after the plane had been loaded under the supervision of the previous flight attendants.

She opened the storage bin above our heads on the port side and angrily declared our luggage had to be removed as this was her storage space. We protested that the other bins were full and we were up front specifically to get off quickly in Denver to meet our connecting flight.

She angrily announced the Captain would be consulted because the storage compartment was for her lughgage. She said we could move our luggage but by this time the storage compartments near us were full.

The Captain confirmed that the compartment was indeed for her and we would have to find other space for our luggage and my vital CPAP machine despite our protests there was no other space available that would allow us a quick Denver exit.

I ask the Captain if the space was specifially for Crew why was it not identified as such. Looks just like all the other compartments to me.

Neither the Captain or Flight attendant showed any concern about my CPAP machine, just put it anywhere. To one whose health/life is dependant on such a device that is inconsiderate to the extreme. Usually I place the machine under the seat in front of me but in the bulkhead seat that is not possible. After our luggage was relocated several aisles back the flight attendant told the Colonel's wife she would have to put her purse under a seat, when none were available, or in an overhead storage bin, where none were available.

In response to the wife's question "where would you like me to put it" the flight attendant insultingly remarked that we should have read the small sign on the bulkhead wall" a totally uncalled for and insulting remark.

I carefully observed the flight attendants actions during the flight to Denver. She seemed frenetic as if hyped up. I ask for her name and employee number which she flatly refused and when I exited the plane in Denver she had either removed or obscured her name tag.

The flight attendant had brought aboard in Chicago a large plastic drink container which she refilled from her personal carry on making me wonder what she was drinking that was not available on board.

During the 30 minute approach to Denver the flight attendant spent a considerable amount of time making what appeared to be sandwich(s) from fresh lettuce, cucumbers etc which she removed from her personal carry on luggage. Doesn't seem a responsible use of flight attendant time to me.

My opinion is that this particular flight attendant is not a credit to your company. She was to myself and my travelling companions arrogant, insulting and rude. She holds the distinction of being the only flight attendant I have ever complained about in my 60 plus years of airpline travel.

my mother 87 years old was flying out of bwi airport on oct 23, 2008 on the 9:05 flight to Albany, ny. At the check-in counter we had to ask for help. After patiently waiting to get some service. I asked for an escort pass to take her down to the gate. Which i did receive.

When we did get to her gate i went up to the man who was by the door to the plane entrance. I wanted my mother to be able to preboard the plane to give her time to walk. In a very rude manner he said we don't do that, can she walk? I said yes ,well then she will board the plane when everyone else does.

For the first time ever since we have used Southwest Airlines I was very disappointed. I always talk-up Southwest because I have loved flying with [Southwest], but I have a negative feeling about them now.

On 8-24-2008 my husband and i were flying Southwest Airlines from Columbus, Oh to Nashville then to Los Angeles because I was having brain surgery the morning of 8-25,2008. Due to mechanical errors, a weather delay etc we ended up missing our flt from Nashville to LA because they didn't hold the plane for us. We were put on a plane which we thought was going to LAX but when it took off we were on the way to Phoenix AZ. Once again we were told they'd hold another FLT for us to get to LA but We were never checked in with any boarding passes and the employees in AZ let the plane to LAx go. So we were stranded in Phoenix AZ with no flts to make it to my brain surgery!

We had to rent a car and drive 6 1/2 hours all night to get to the hospital just in time. We had been up for over 24 hours. The employees at SW said to call the customers relations line and that they would help us in anyway. Pay us back for our tickets and the renal car as well as are time for having to drive all night. This was clearly an error on SW's part because they had not even entered our names with our boarding passes. No one called a head to any gate and I had told the attendent on that flt that I was having brain surgery and they announced that our flt was being held but because they had not entered boarding passes in our names so they didn't know to keep holding the plane!

It's bad enough needing a craniotomy but to be dumped in the wrong state because of human error and then told there's nothing they can do is just terrible customer service! So I complained and the employees Caroline at SW relations said it wasn't SW's fault but they would refund a portion of that trip. I still have no credit a month later on my VISA card and even though I faxed a long letter have heard nothing back. The employees in Phoenix did call us multiple times during our drive to make sure we were still a wake, not lost and to tell us how sorry they were! I have no response from the airlines yet not even a statement to say they're sorry and hope your surgery went well

flight fees, rental car fees now being rented in one state and left in another and for additonal time and miles, physically we showed up for my brain surgery with me lacking sleep and completely stressed plus my husband had no sleep and was tired and stressed trying to get us form AZ to LA in time for surgery!

Brother left two $50 dollar bills with thank you note for me here in slc, to help with rental car and i put them in his wifes check-in bag. when they got to tucson, they were gone. Southwest here in SLC said TSA were the only checkers of bags and if so Southwest ought to have someone watch these folks. My brother just spent 75 days in ICU and after a short time came to SLC to see me before my treatment starts at the cancer center here. It really makes me upset that this happens as I can't afford to lose any more than anyone else.

Will appreciate anything you can do. If [they] need somrone to watch these PSA folks, I am available, even thou i am 70 years old . THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.
LOST FAITH FOR PEOPLE AND FEEL SORRY FOR MY BROTHER IN TUCSON AS HE MEANT WELL AND SO DID I.

I was boarding a flight with my 8 year old daughter from Detroit to Orlando. For some reason I was the last to board (I later found out that I needed to pre-register on-line). I mentioned to the pre-boarding personal that I needed to sit with my daughter as she has an anxiety disorder. I was told that I couldn't sit with her she was to sit alone because it is first come first serve for seating. I once again explained very calmly that I needed to sit with my daughter and the lady at the desk told me that if I didn't shut my mouth she would pull me off the flight.

My daughter was very shaken by the incident and felt frightened to go on the flight and in fact was upset about it for a whole trip to Disney. She was scared to death to get on the flight to get home. I don't know the name of the lady because she kept saying over and over one more word and your off so I was afraid to ask her for her name. This is the worst I have ever been treated in my life. I felt like a criminal. I wonder if there is anyone worth contacting at Southwest or if anyone has had any luck with complaints to them.

My daughter is still having nightmares about the incident. It terrified her. She has been diagnosed with a separation anxiety disorder by a doctor and this has cost me money in counseling fees as she has needed ongoing support to get past this.

I am a soldier on vacation leave I bought a vacation package on line.It included the air and hotel stay. Two round trip tickets and four nights stay leaving kansas city MO to LAS Vegas NV. When we left I gave the attendant our paperwork which they took and stapled to the back of the boarding pass. When i fly i always fly paperless on military flights so this was new to me.

When we got to vegas no problem checking in at the hotel. Two days before leave my wife asked where was the papers to see what time we leave. I said we didnt have anthing we gave it to the attendants when we left. So i called the 800 number the hotel gave me. The person said we just need a confrmation number. Then check into the kiosk. Then the phone disconnected. So we called back and was telling the person what happened but we wanted to know what time the flight left just to make sure then another person said n oyou need to purchse new tickets. We asked why we need new tickets if the airline took ours when we boarded the plane. They had all our information in the system about the flight back, so we asked for a supervisor, and they hung up. All the while I was using my cell phone adn they burned up all my minutes, and ruined 2 days of my vacation because I was on the phone back and forth trying to get this issue resolved so we could get home.

We called and told the next person the people keep hanging up on us,we werent screaming like we wanted to so there was no reason for hanging up, so my wife took the phone she was crying cause she was so upset and this lady told her they could get our tickets down to a hundred dollars per ticket and we could aply the money we lost to future tickets, then the phone hung up again the lady said she would clal back f it happened and never did. So we called again then the next person said youve been through a lot and it was no need for all that and we could use our confirmation number. So we finally get to the airport to leave, they check out bags,we get up to the gate and they say no you need new tickets.

Back to the starting point. SO we called the people we talked to againand didnt get anywhere they didnt offer discounts or anything. I said you know you guys are robbing us and you dont even care that we bought plane tickets that you guys took and now youre saying we need to buy more and they had us in the system for 2 reservations. Then flights were cancelled so the lady at the counter could care less at LAS. Other people were upset about cancelled flights and she was very rude to us. By the way our flight ended up being an almost 2 hours late. Which we believe we should recieve compensation for. They made us pay for being ignorant to how flying ad tickets work, they should pay for being late.

In the end we ended up paying $400 for new tickets toget home. Which wasant even the price we paid in the first place.We were taken advantage of and treated like 2nd class citizens,my job is to serve in the military to protect people and give people the freedom to do such things, it makes me furious. Please warn others and if anything can be done I would like that. Thanks in advance.

We lost 2 1/2 days vacation on the phone with unhelpful people.Acutally once you get disconnected you have to wait for an operator at leats 30 min. We have to pay overages on the phone bill for 35 cents a minute and we were on the phone for hours. Then to top it off pay for a late $400 flight.

I said I fly for business and do not have any issues with any other flight lines. I did not see this policy posted any where, and she kept saying it was South west policy. I ended up buying a second ticket because i needed to get to the place i was going for business, but i will never fly south west again. I mean i know i am a big guy ( about 450lbs) but this was handled totally wrong and i think it needs to be specified somewhere when purchasing a ticket. I was even more mad because about a year and a half ago i flied South West no problem and i was the same weight and actually might have been a little smaller.

I had to give in because it would have cost me my job if i did not give in, but it cost the price of an extra ticket (which may or may not be reimbursed depending if the flight was sold out. If it was sold out then i do not get reimbursed, but if it was not then i do) but the point that hurt the worst was i felt embarrased and felt like i was getting harrassed for being a big person. This is not a good feeling, i felt like i was being discriminated against because of a sickness, and if you are big you will understand it is a sickness, that it is not easy for us to be skinny or loose weight.

I just wanted to voice my outrage about Southwest airlines and the fact that they did not protect my grandchildren when they were flying with them. My grandchildren were flying Southwest airlines, Flight 3938 from San Diego to Denver on 8/1. We requested them to be unaccompanied minors, but southwest said no as my oldest Granddaughter is 16, the other two are 11 and 9. When they were put on the plane, Southwest split the kids up, placing the two youngest away from the oldest and placing the oldest next to a strangely acting man. During the flight, the man took out a roll of tape.

The flight attendant noticed it, but didnt say anything. Then the man handed my oldest granddaughter a magazine. When she accepted it, he grabbed her hands and taped them together. Although they screamed for a stewardess, no one showed up. The youngest one went over and had to bite through the tape to get it off of her wrists. Finally the flight attendant shows up and moves the kids to a new site. Then she says I saw that guy with the tape and thought he was strange.

When the plane lands Southwest lets the guy off the plane, never calls police and THEN lets the kids go to the baggage area unattended. The guy follows them which prompts my grandkids to turn around and request that someone take them to baggage claim. Southwest STILL did not detain that man.

After spending several hours with Southwest, my daughter-in-law was told she could have credit towards another flight, of which she refused. The next day my daughter-in-law spent the day on the phone and then went to the Denver southwest terminal to get someone to deal with this issue. She is so worried that this crazy man is doing other things to other kids. Southwest would not deal with this. She has contacted Homeland security and now the FBI is interviewing the kids and are looking to press two charges of minority assault when they find the guy. Airlines need to keep people and especially kids safe on their airlines. With all these cutbacks with airlines child safety should not be one of them.

My husband misread his flight papers and missed his flight by a whole day, no problem Southwest resceduled him for the next day for only $4.00! What other airline would have done this? Thank you so much Southwest, you saved my husbands vacation with his children! I will NEVER fly any other airline!

I booked a hotel through Southwes.com as I had been doing for several years. It is the same hotel that I have stayed in many times and never had any problems canceling or changing my reervation. I found that Southwest is now booking the hotels through Orbitz which precharges and does not allow cancellations.

I must either pay $167 for the rooms or drive each day for 2 hours to my customer's other site.

My family and I frequently fly with Southwest. On this particular flight from San Jose to Burbank, where I was flying with 8 of my other family members my mother, father, and I were verbally and physically attacked by a flight attendant by the name of Karen, Flight # 3243 (on July 6th at 2:50).

Six out of eight of us boarded the plane earlier and my parents boarded with the last group. My sister and I saved two seats and as my parents were approaching the aisle, approximately 6 rows down they were stopped by Karen. Karen physically stood in front of my parents who are in their 50's and are both physicians to stop and to sit where she instructs them...my mom said my daughters are in the back and have saved two seats for us (mind you that it was not a full flight). Karen replied, NO, YOU DO AS I TELL YOU! YOU CANNOT GO BACK THERE!

I got up from seat and walked towards them. I am FIVE MONTHS PREGNANT. Karen back into me and pushes me with her arms back and instructs me to go to my seat. I tried to explain to her that we had saved them two seats and that I was pregnant and needed them to sit by my side, however, she just kept yelling and throwing her arms around...she then called security and pulled the person working at the ticket booth into the plane. At this point, we all proceeded to sit down.

She comes back and threatens to have us ARRESTED FOR A FEDERAL OFFENSE while pointing her finger in my moms face! While we are seated??? I don't understand Isn't SWA praised for their customer service? Is that what their mission statement is about? Isn't there an open seating policy? I have never been so violated in my life!

I am pregnant, there is not need to physically or verbally attack someone? What was her reason?

I am writing this letter to you because I feel that I was discriminated against by a ticket agent for Southwest Airlines. His name was Jim. I was traveling from Buffalo to Ft. Lauderdale on Monday May 26, 2008. I had a stop in Tampa and when I went to the ticket counter to ask for a pre boarding pass because of my disability. I was asked by Mr. J weather I needed assistance on to the plane I told him that I was able to walk on the plane myself. But, I had problems standing for a period of time with my carry on items.

He asked if I needed a special seat. I did not know what was meant by a special seat so I said no, I did not require a special seat. He then told me then I would have to board the plane with my group. Then I ask him if I can speak to his supervisor and he tells me he is the supervisor. I asked him then I would like to speak to his supervisor and he told me that there was no one available that everyone was gone for the day.

Then another woman comes walking up and he asks her the same questions that he asked me and she responded the same way that I did and he gives her a pre boarding pass. I call Southwest on the phone and the woman advised me to tell Mr. J that I insist that he gets a supervisor and he again tells me they left for the day.

I go to another gate and ask for Mr. J supervisor and without hesitation the woman gets a supervisor on the phone and is on her way up. Her name was Denita. She explained to me that Southwest has changed your policies and I was not able to board the plane. After providing them both proof of my disability I find it outrageous that just because I look healthy and the woman was elderly that they could judge that my disability was not warranting pre boarding the plane.

I told the Supervisor Denita that I felt Mr. J was discriminating against me. She never offer to have me speak to someone from Complaint Resolution Officials (CRO)? I have never even been questioned once about needing a pre boarding pass. Let alone to find out now the ticket agents are picking and choosing who they feel needs to pre board. I would understand if I did not provide proof of my disability but I did and for Mr. Jensen to give someone else a pre boarding pass right in front of me made me feel discriminated against. It is hard enough to travel especially when you have a four year old. My wife can only hold so much.

I received a letter from Southwest that said they looked into the matter and the employees were right not to let me board the plane but they did not follow regulations by not filing a report regarding my complaint.

I recently went with a group of 6 to Las Vegas from Chicago, flight 2366 on May 21, 2008. My 10 year old daughter was among us. It was her first flight. Her boarding pass was A, but the rest of us were 50+ B. I asked how we could work this out, and the ground attendant said my daughter could board first, and if there were room we would sit together. Naturally she was hesistant to board her first plane alone and sit somewhere, waiting for us, so she just waited in line with us.

When we entered the vestibule, I asked 2 attendants, Lynda and Karen, if they could help. Possibly they could ask if there are any single riders that would be willing to take a different seat so my daughter and I could ride together. Not all 6 of us, just the two of us. Lynda looked at me and said, You're pretty much out of luck. Wouldn't even TRY to help. So we went to the back, which was full, and started to make our way to the front. Then Lynda and Karen started saying If EVERYONE would just take a seat, we could get going... They encouraged the other passengers to chastize us by saying Just sit somewhere!

My daughter was visibly upset, but no one cared....So much for the customer service. They wouldnt use the intercom to help, but Lynda sure used it to make her singing talents known. I dont think I need to mention that Karen stored a small bag and 4 breakfasts (which cost us nearly $22 at the airport) that I thought we could have during the flight. When I asked if I could have the bag, she pulled it out of the overhead, and someones hardback book fell and hit me on the head. No apology, nothing. It was an inconvenience to assist the troublesome passenger?

At the end of the flight, I was trying to get the food, only to be told to hurry up, there ARE other people behind you, you know. Im not very tall, and it was difficult to reach so I just left it there. I'll pay extra if need be for Delta, American, NWA.

I would like to follow up on your Southwest Airline show. I actually had the worst experience of my life on a return flight from Portland to Phoenix on Monday the 19th. Being a former flight attendant myself, I have never been treated so rudely and to top it off, I was greeted by the Phoenix Police department upon my arrival. In addition to the horrible experience with the flight attendants, apparently one of the police officers informed me that he was retiring that day and that he didnt give a --- about me! After saying that he shoved me to the ground while one of the other police officers took pictures! After they had their fun, I was released. Something needs to be done. I would like to get into more detail but I am still very, very upset and distraught.

My back from being shoved to the ground is terribly sore and I was not able to work today from the physical and emotional pain.

I am writing in regards to a recent encounter I was unfortunate to have with Southwest Airlines this past Sunday, April 27th. My family and I were returning from a family trip to Phoenix, AZ for my best friends wedding in which I was the Maid of Honor, my daughter, a flower girl. Traveling together was myself, my three year old daughter, my ten month old daughter, their father (Fulu), and my adult sister. We had taken Southwest flight 3315 departing April 24th to our destination from Detroit Metro Airport. We had one stop in Chicago and the flight crew changed at that point. For the entirety of both flights (taxi, take off, and landing included) en route to Phoenix, I was holding Adora (recorded by Southwest as a lap baby?) in her soft sided infant carrier, by the brand name of Ergo so that I could keep her what I believed to be, the safest in case of turbulence or her squirming. My daughter Sienna, was in her own seat and she was seated and buckled at all times. Our return trip to Detroit brought some very unexpected problems.

We were on Southwest Flight 2474 departing from Phoenix. As the plane began to taxi to the runway, a male flight attendant approached our seats in passing and quickly remarked you need to take her out of that? as he was doing overheard compartment checks. I was a bit confused as to what he was referring to as the statement caught me completely off guard. A few moments later, the same attendant returned and said very rudely, Are you going to take her out and I replied hesitantly, No, I dont really feel comfortable trying to hold her during take off?. He then said that due to some incident in 1988 where a baby was strangled, they were not allowed to be used.

I told him I had used the same carrier on the Southwest flight I had taken just days before and that several flight attendants were even crowded around me and my daughter remarking how cute she was, while she was in the carrier, and that those Southwest employees had not advised me of this. His response was a snappy, they were wrong!? He then ABRUPTLY said, Then we have to return to the gate.? And walked away in the direction of the cabin. I looked for someone who could explain to us what was going on. Another flight attendant (female) came over to our seats and said that the baby carrier I was wearing was not allowed during taxi, take off or landing. I asked her to see the FAA regulations stating this (as I was concerned with the conflicting information I was receiving from various Southwest employees.) The first gentlemen then returned to notify us that they were indeed, turning the plane around to let us off at the gate. The second attendant then finally brought me a copy of the FAA guidelines, and I read a sentence that vaguely stated that a baby cannot be strapped to a person or seat using any sort of devise during taxi, take off or landing.

At this point, still worried about the safety of my daughter but wanting to comply with the rules I had just been informed of, I took my daughter out of her carrier and prepared to hold her in my arms alone. At this point, a third flight attendant (male) approached us and advised us to follow him off of the plane. We advised him that upon reading the guidelines we had asked to see, we were willing to comply with the FAA guidelines but we were concerned as to why this policy which had supposedly been in effect since 1988 had not been relayed to us nor enforced on our flight days prior. We also asked why they were still attempting to force us off of our flight, when we were agreeing to take our baby out of the carrier. This flight attendant replied that they didnt trust that we wouldnt put her right back in it as soon as the flight returned to its course.

We then PROMISED that we would not use the carrier and relayed that we would just like to continue our flight home. This second gentleman listened to what we had to say, told us he would relay the information that we would no longer use the carrier to the crew/cabin and proceeded back to the cabin area. He returned quickly to report to us that the flight attendant (singular) is not comfortable with you remaining on the flight. We both looked at each other in utter disbelief. In the meantime, select passengers within direct earshot were making remarks such as, who are they to tell her how to hold her baby? We questioned WHY we were being thrown off the flight if all we had done was asked to be shown the guidelines which we were not made aware of, nor were enforced on the first Southwest flight we had just taken- and if we were willing to comply with the rules now that we were educated on them- what was the reason for forcing us to get off the plane?

This third flight attendant seemed to be a mere messenger and the initial attendant who reprimanded us never returned to speak to us again. However, the messenger made it quite clear that it was the initial flight attendant who wanted us off the plane. At this point, we said we would not like to deplane, as it was absolutely unbelievable what was happening. We had done nothing wrong and yet we were being denied passage home on flights we had paid for, just because a disgruntled Southwest Employee felt the need to exert some form of power over a family traveling peacefully with small children. The third attendant then relayed that if we were choosing not to get off the plane, he would call security. At that point, I was so disgusted by what was happening that I said aloud that we should just get off the plane. My children were beginning to pick up on the stress of the situation and I didnt want anything more to do with this horrible company anymore.

Fulu relayed to the attendant that we would be contacting a lawyer and that this was not right, nor was this the end of the situation. We then began to get our things, and another passenger came up to me and said, If I were you, Id sit right back down, I would stay on the plane. Exasperated, I then responded to her quietly that maybe I might as well start breastfeeding my daughter. After being escorted off the plane, we were corralled to the Southwest Service Counter at the gate. There was a confused employee looking at us who advised she had not been informed as to what was going on and I said calmly that I did not care to discuss it with her. A woman identified by this employee at the counter as a supervisor came over to the counter and without addressing us personally, responded to the employee at the counters inquiry as to whether we were going to be refunded, that we were not going to be refunded because we had been pulled.

I heard this, but had decided not to say another word to anyone working for Southwest as I had already witnessed firsthand the incredulous way they treat people. I just stood silently as the woman typed on the computer and didnt so much as look me in the eye. There were law officers gathering about 20 feet from us, complete with a drug sniffing dog, but they only spoke with Southwest Employees, the third male attendant who escorted us off the plane, and eventually the woman supervisor. They never approached us, never got our side of the story, and never took any action as, I am presuming- they realized this was hardly a situation with warranted law enforcement. We were advised that we would NOT be getting our luggage back as they would not take it on the plane, and it would go on to Detroit without us. After speaking to the law officers, the supervisor apparently had a change of heart as she did indeed process the refund which Fulu requested. We were then told that there were no more Southwest flights going to Detroit that day.

So here we were, with two young children, in an airport across the country from our home, with no luggage and no carseats (which had been checked as luggage). We walked to a different area of the Airport at this time to call my friend who lived in Mesa, AZ to advise of the situation, and only at that point did I begin to cry. My friends mother in law is a travel agent, and she advised that while the situation was absolutely insane, the main thing was to secure that we would be able to get home safe, and not be stranded, with our small children, in the Airport or across the country. After her advising, we request to speak with a Customer Relations person and Fulu made headway with him, and was able to have him arrange a flight home for us the following morning. He never apologized, but he did agree that it should not have come to this.

Overall, I am astounded and still in a bit of shock over what transposed three days ago. There was absolutely no reason to remove my family from our flight. I feel that after the fact, the attendant had some sort of vendetta due to me questioning the accuracy of his flippant remarks. After we were advised of the FAA regulations, we made it clear that we had every intention to comply with them. We were removed from the plane after the fact, for no reason we can see other than discrimination.

There are several things I am hoping to accomplish by writing this letter. For one, I am hoping to obtain an apology from Southwest Airlines. Secondly, I am seeking to educate other innocent mothers and children who will have to travel by air anytime soon. Thirdly, I would like the record to be straight, and for the detailed FAA guidelines in regards to lap babies be very publicly advertised AND enforced so that another mother does not have to endure this horrific situation. I have myriad friends who have used the exact same baby carrier as what they assumed a safe way to travel with a lap baby, (myself included on our trip to Phoenix) and they had NO clue that they were not permitted due to purported safety hazards. Please help me in this matter, for the sake of mothers and babies everywhere.

all my sons christmas toys lost, my clothes,make up,everything that I use on a day to day basis...its really heartbreaking....I can't afford to go back and re-purchase all these items.

On arrival home from a vacation one of my bags had the zipper broken. This bag had only been used once before. A representative said to figure out if anything was missing and report it within 30 days.

One day later, after unpacking all 10 of my bags (large family), we discover 1 pair of jeans (2 weeks old) and a brand new jacket missing. So I called and am told that there is nothing they can do because I needed to report it within 4 hours. It took me more than that to go through everything!

I was flying for a once a year event for my band. With all my promotional items and camera and 1500.00 pair of Cowboy boots. They lost it, had no idea where it was and now I am dealing with their head office. The thing that really gets me is that they aren't going to cover my camera. Because I didn't inform them that it was in the bag. Excuse me, but shouldn't it be clear on all of your stuff you get and on their website AND at the check in station that they won't cover it if it's in a checked bag? They could avoid so many people getting shafted if they would just make that plain. But they don't, and then they act like it's your fault.

I lost all the gifts that I had bought for my godchild and I had a terrible vacation with no clothes. I had to purchase a new wardrobe from various different clothing closets. My clothes were of very good quality but I am not able to afford them twice. Not to mention the mental stress that it has caused me. I have heart failure, diabetes, and high blood pressure

I was flying from Dallas to Austin TX Flight 747 05/24/2007 when I recieved my baggage it was so full of water that everything inside the bag was drenched. The lady at the Austin lugage service told me I should buy a hardcase lugage set. When calling Southwest airlines to find out what could be done. I was basically told not there problem. The quote the lady told me was that we all get wet when it is raining. Granted this is true but, my items were so wet it was like they pulled it out of a lake.

The customer service within this organization is less than concerned with their customers.

There is nothing being done with the issue from Southwest end of this. I am out a Several hundred dollars in damaged shoes, belts, clothing and dry cleaning bills.

In spite of the fact that I showed up 1.5 hours before my flight and checked one small bag curbside at Midway Airport onto a DIRECT four hour flight to Sacramento, Ca., my bag never showed up. It is mid afternoon of the next day and it still has not arrived. I find it inexcusable that a bag cannot be put on a plane with a one and a half hour leeway - and the plane was even early arriving at the Chicago airport gate so the excuse of a late arriving airplane will not work.

With all the security changes and more people checking bags, the airlines should show more concern - baggage agents at the destination city were unocncerned - it was an oh well attitude.

Lost bags! They lost two bags and have no record of them in the system.

I am not mad I am disappointed with this company because if their headcount isnt taken seriously -when is the next person sliping byu their staff to do do god knows what ... Serious security issue. Did I mention my parent was issued both boarding passes for the two legs of trip and they failed to notice she was missing onthe second half?

Disappointed and disgusted traveler

Family had to drive almost 400 miles to retrieve a tired, dehydrated woman from baggage claim at 3 am! With no offer of any compensation for gas, food or travel time.

I was unjustly forced to check my fragile souvineer that I, being 14 years of age had sworked incredibly hard to save for. This ruined my potentially fun vacation for me. I will never in the rest of my life fly with this pathetic airline again, even if it means not flying. I will encourage everyone and anyone I know to do thew same. Southwest airlines should force thier unintelligent baggage crew to reevaluate their system and learn to use common sense in moving peoples property.

My $9.75 chinatown authentic model sword was mutilated, being snapped in half numerous times. this caused me emotional damage.

My airline ticket was printed with my nickname Rolf instead of my legal name Ralph because my wife ordered our tickets and used my nickname. I asked an agent by phone a week in advance to make a change when I finally noticed it, and she said she fixed it. It wasn't fixed when I printed my Eticket. I asked an agent at the counter at Southwest Airlines at the Reno Airport to fix it, showed her my driver's license with my legal name Ralph, and my business card with my business name Rolf, and I soon learned that she tagged me for special security risk and I was scanned and questioned, sent through extra security, and all my bagged, checked and carry on, was gone through thoroughly, tagged, checked for explosives, run for chemicals, etc.

I was treated like a criminal. So some stupid agent at Southwest Airlines created for me long delays and personal humiation because some other agent failed to fix my name after I called a week in advance to fix the problem of the nickname and she said it was fixed, but obviously it wasn't due to the incompetence of airline employees who can't get it right and don't know what's happening and they should both be fired for stupidity and utter incompetence.

I was searched, delayed, and treated like a criminal by security after Southwest Airlines employees messed up their responsibilities.

Luggage and the contents were left on luggage carts in an open area next to the aircraft in a driving rain storm. The eigth pieces of luggage and all contents were soaked.

HAZMAT crews arrived in the baggage claim area arrived fearing the leaking baggage was hazardous spilled material.

The liquid was just water.

Recently purchased items were damaged beyond repair. Memrobilia was damage and lost forever. We retained receipts in most cases. All clothing was soaked. Some clothing is stained beyond repair.

I am actually sending a complaint for a friend of mine. He flies multiple times a week mostly through Southwest.The Flight itself is usually good, but lately their customer relation is horrible. I have a problem with the way they dont stick to their polocies.

They have a 2 carryon limit, but people abuse it all the time and the ones who end up suffering the consequences get treated unfairly. The last flight he took, he boarded close to last, he had a gift for his nephew, a gas a remote control car that cost upwards of 400 dollars. It fit right under the seat, but because proir passengers took 3-4 bags each they made him check it. No big deal, but they had no tag to let them know it was fragile and it got damaged.

When he picked his bags up it was crushed, they didnt do anything about it and I think it is bad customer relations. They should apply the rules to everyone to make it fair.Needless to say I doubt he will fly them again. They are so big they dont care about one customer, even if he spends thousands a month.

His company regularly uses Southwest to fly it employees to different customers because of the low pricing.You know what surprised me the most of this whole thing, the gar my friend had is nitrus powered, he tested it to make sure it worked and then emptied the gas out, but they allowed him to take it through the first tme on the plane. Wouldnt that be considered an explosive possibilty?Maybe I am wrong, just a thought!!

The car is so srushed it cant be fixed, we had to purchase a new one, so far nothing from Southwest appologizing for this or anything of the sort

This is a complaint that is probably long overdue. SW has an 'open seating' policy which is not that bad, but what it forces people to do in the waiting area is problematic.

On at least two instances, one involving me, arguments broke out as to who was ahead of whom, whether or not a bag holds a place in line or not, whether seats are part of the line and its becoming comical but a some point there's going to be a real serious fist fight over this. The open seating policy is illusory; its just a way SW has devised to pack their flight.

What I suggest is that SW publish some 'rules of the line' or monitor whats going on in their waiting areas. A simple sign would go a long way to avoiding these unpleasant situations and would increase passenger satisfaction. Something like Stay with your bag while in line or DO NOT LINE JUMP or NO BUTTING IN LINE or BE COURTEOUS, ASK IF YOU ARE NOT SURE IF SOMEONE IS AHEAD OF YOU ASK! signs along those lines would at least give people some guidance in the waiting area and discourage the people making up their own rules.

SW has good potential with its air service if it just starts caring a little more about passengers before they board.