Southwest Airlines Reviews

She flew back to school after the holiday & noticed the odor of peanuts and immediately felt faint, and face turned red and hot on the flight. She stood up and told the tall, bearded attendant that "I have a peanut allergy and the odor was evident." He never went to see where she was seated or if anyone around her had peanuts. No announcement was made, and she was symptomatic, could go into a full blown systemic reaction. She asked for help and suddenly felt intimidated and she should just sit down. He said it is probably in the ventilation system. She put her head in her jacket took medication and held ** close.

I reported that night - email and phone. The Customer Service Representative was respectful. He said that they take these issue seriously. After no one responded to my email I called and spoke with M in the Relations Dept. He told me "sorry, no guarantees." His statement tells me that if you have an allergy to peanuts/tree nuts we should NOT fly SWA??? Enter at your risk???

We panicked when we discovered that one of their legs was cancelled and they would be spending the night alone together at the airport. But Southwest employees, understanding our concern, took our children into a safe room where they had cots. They even went above and beyond buying them both dinner and breakfast! I panicked again this morning when I discovered that my children had missed their flights due to the baggage drop-off. We thought we'd arrived in time but both processes took far longer than normal. Southwest once again came to the rescue and re-assured my stressed teens that they would get home. Thank you for getting my boys on the next flight. Thank you Southwest, there is a reason we fly with you! Thank you for being human and treating us with concern and humanity!

I have noticed the last several times I have flown your airline the quality of personnel has diminished significantly. As a former Pan Am flight attendant, recruiter and personnel supervisor of 15 years, I recognize this. Upon landing, the gentleman across the aisle from us was asleep with his head on his tray table. Very disappointed with Southwest and their service.

The desk agent said "the 7:05 flight is delayed for 3 hours. We can go ahead and change it for free." As it turns out we later learned from the supervisor the flight was not delayed, it was overbooked by 7 people. He then said the 7:05 flight may be full anyway and we would be doing them a favor by switching to the earlier flight. So we said "yes. Get us into our final destination earlier!"

Throughout the whole process the agent was confused and disconnected. He did not inform us of the consequences of switching and he was not truthful to us. He placed transfer tags on the 5 luggage we checked in and provided us with 2 sets of boarding passes - one to Baltimore and one to Providence (our final destination). What he did not warn us about was: 1. He was only changing our flight from Nashville to Baltimore, not the entire path which would get us back to Providence earlier. 2. We would lose our early bird boarding number and have C boarding. I had paid for early bird check in and will now have to pay an extra 30 dollars per person if we want to guarantee we sit together.

When I saw what the agent did, I asked him to please switch us to the earlier flight getting into Providence from Baltimore since we thought he was doing that initially. He said he would have to ask his supervisor for permission. That's when the supervisor entered the picture. She said no they will not do that. We then asked to be switched back to the 7:05 pm flight as I had already paid for early bird on it and we can sit together. They switched us back to our original flight but, what they didnt tell us was we would at this point lose our early bird spots. The agent called the manager back over so we can explain what happened. The supervisor at Southwest in Nashville refused to help our family and was very rude, heartless and scary. She said the following:

1. "We booked you on the earlier flight because we are overbooked by 7 people, not because there is a delay. You said yes to the favor, therefore you need to deal with the consequences." 2. "Call customer service to get a refund on your early bird. I can't help you get an earlier seating but you can pay $120 to get on early with advanced seating." 3. "We don't need a favor on the second leg of your flight, therefore we won't change it."

We basically went round and round, back and forth. We explained we were taken advantage of, we are not millionaires, not to mention when traveling for work we are able to take an earlier flight out of D.C. She was very unpleasant the entire time. She was holding on to our boarding passes and at last stated "I'm not going to let your family fly out tonight. You'll have to fly out tomorrow morning because we are getting nowhere." At that point we apologized and said we will pay the extra fee at the gate so we can all sit together. We got our boarding passes back and walked away in shock and tears.

When we arrived in Providence our luggage was not there. The baggage officer checked our luggage tickets and said the desk agent had made a mistake and checked our bags in to Baltimore, not our final destination. At that point we explained what had occurred and she said there was a disconnect with what he did. Something was not right with him. He was easily distracted, confused and made many mistakes that made our trip miserable. We have Items such as medicine, food, clothing, electronics and school books that we need right away. We were separated from our luggage, and have no idea who has had access to them.

Although the woman at baggage claim (in Providence) was helpful & considerate, she mislead us by saying the luggage would arrive in Providence at 7:30 this morning and would be delivered to our house by 8:30; it did not. After making a few calls to a number which was very difficult to find, I finally found that the luggage was delivered on much later flight. My husband had to drive all the way back to the airport, pay for parking, rent a luggage cart and grab the luggage off the luggage belt. I received no phone call that the luggage had arrived, even though we specifically told her that we had perishable items that needed to stay frozen as well as medicine in the bags. There was no human decency, empathy or heart.

They say the definition of insanity is to keep going the same thing over and over expecting different results. Well if you fly Southwest after one non weather related cancelation, delay, lost bag (bags fly free and get delivered wherever they want), forced to sit a middle seat between the two fattest people on earth or for any other reason that was not the "way you wanted it" then shame on you because you have been warned. BEWARE they will screw up any vacation, or trip you are using them for.

On 12/14/16 I missed my flight inbound to San Francisco. SW Canceled my trip. I flew on Virgin to SF. On 12/15/16 I called because my Return flight appeared to be cancelled as well. SW informed me that by missing my first flight my return flight was also cancelled and my fee was forfeit. My return flight is 12/16/16. SW charged me for my 12/16/16 flight but will not allow me to ride the flight home. SW informed me they would be happy to help me purchase a ticket for the 12/16/16 flight even though I already paid for the same item. I believe this is against the law. I spoke to Agent ** from the Georgia office 12/15/16 via phone.

On our return journey again, we were told one day before that we would be flying into Orange county instead of LAX. We booked the shuttle service again to come back home from Orange county airport. Few hours later SW informed us again that we would land in LAX. We had to move our ground transportation again back and forth. This was very frustrating. After returning to Los Angeles, I called Southwest customer relations this morning and the representative was rude, forthright, and said they would not refund one night hotel fee that we lost. She kept arguing that it is not SW's fault. I am very disappointed with the crappy service and poor customer relations. No professionalism whatsoever!!

Once I got to Burbank, the SW employees had a hard time trying to figure out how to "check-in" an international flight as they had not been trained in 3 years. A supervisor was called and he couldn't figure it out either. Ultimately, they called what I assume is the SW head office and were told that flights to PVR that day and the following day (my day of travel) were canceled. I couldn't believe it because I had received NO NOTIFICATION whatsoever. You would have thought we I tried to check-in online initially, that at least the notification would tell me I couldn't check in because the flight was cancelled instead of telling me I had to check in at a SW kiosk. Now I am in a quandary because I am all but ready to go on vacay.

The SW agent said they could book me on a flight from OC. I had her put me on the flight because I thought at least I can get there and my return flight wasn't canceled. Although going to OC is an 80-mile drive for me. Once I got home, I called SW to inquire if my return flight would be cancelled as well since the reason for SW canceling the outgoing flight was because there was an issue with the paperwork to fly into / out of Mexico. The SW agent said she did not know but it was likely that it would be cancelled since my return flight was on Sunday. I could not take the chance of getting stuck in Mexico as I had a standing commitment upon my return. The agent suggested to change my return flight to fly back into OC.

Unfortunately, the flight was not Nonstop and stopped in Denver for 4 hours (if not stuck there due to snow). I wouldn't make it to OC until 10PM and that's before customs and the 80-mile drive back home. I ended up canceling the flight altogether. The agent suggested I contact Customer Relations for a voucher or credit since the cancellation was not my fault. She said she couldn't tell me how much the credit would be but that I should be sure to contact them. So the following day (the day my flight would have been), I called Customer Relations and spoke to a Supervisor, who to my surprise and dismay, told me that there was nothing they could do since this was not Southwest's fault. They refunded my points and that's it.

They weren't going to offer me a $10 voucher or 5 flights pts. In other words, I get absolutely nothing for having to cancel a vacation. I called back and spoke to a different supervisor who had me on the phone for at least 20 minutes only to finally tell me the same thing after telling me that Southwest was just as surprised as the customers that Mexico didn't accept the paperwork for the new route. I told her I was never notified of the cancellation. She then said SW sent out an email the previous morning. I told her it was funny that I have received EVERY email from Southwest with the exception now of this (mystery) email. Now even more frustrated, I decided to send SW a complaint via email. I explained how I had to cancel a vacation, I was previously informed of the cancellation, and I purchased flight miles specifically for the flight that was canceled.

A day later, I received the following response from SW: "Thank you for your email. Your concerns are of the utmost importance, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond to your concerns regarding the change to your itinerary. We sincerely apologize for any dissatisfaction that arose when you learned your flight between Los Angeles (LAX) and Puerto Vallarta on December 8 was canceled especially if your frustration was compounded after speaking to our Customer Relations Representatives by telephone. Please allow me to explain that a new agreement between the United States and Mexico was implemented this year in an effort to increase air traffic between the two countries.

"Southwest Airlines became the first carrier to operate new flights under this agreement, and we are fully compliant with the terms of the agreement. However, as with any new endeavor, unexpected challenges arose, and we are having to work through certain issues created by not having received administrative paperwork from Mexican aviation authorities. In order to minimize Customer's inconvenience associated with delays or misconnections, and considering the impacts those changes would have on the operation, we made the decision to proactively cancel our flights scheduled Wednesday, December 7 through Friday, December 9 (in both directions), between LAX and Cabo, Cancun, and Puerto Vallarta.

"Although we did our best to notify affected Passengers and work with them to find alternate travel plans, I regret if you did not receive this notification and were inconvenienced as a result of this flight irregularity. That being said, I understand that you chose not to be re-accommodated, and I confirmed that a refund of your airfare was requested. However, while we recognize your frustration in this situation, we must respond unfavorably to your request for travel credit for this experience. We are sorry for any disappointment in this regard, and we have shared your feedback with our Senior Leaders. We wish that we could erase such an unpleasant memory; unfortunately, we cannot, but we can encourage you to let us create a new one by traveling with us again soon. Your patronage is very important to us."

Below is my response back to Southwest: "Southwest - You could have saved your canned dissertation about Southwest's reasons for canceling customer flights to PVR. That is so not my concern. For your information, I chose to not be "re-accommodated" by SW because doing so would have 1) added 10+ hours to my trip; 2) forced me to drive 160 miles to catch the "re-accommodating" flight (which is another 3+ hours depending on LA traffic, and 3) cost me an additional $150-$200.

I understand that I was "refunded" my "points" (as I should have been), but the bottom line is that I wouldn't have forked over the cash for those points if not for booking the flight to PVR. At no point, did anyone at SW suggest re-accommodating me with another, dare I say "RELIABLE" carrier. If I had read through the numerous complaints about SW beforehand, I wouldn't have been so surprised to witness Southwest's complete and total lack of any best practice customer retention efforts.

Of course, things happen that are out of ones control, but in the end and in this situation, YOU SOUTHWEST are accountable, not Mexico and not the customers. How dare you make customers feel as if it's THEIR mistake / THEIR fault for booking with SW in the first place. How dare you make customers feel like their TIME doesn't matter. Way to provide EXEMPLARY CUSTOMER SERVICE, SOUTHWEST. And one last thing, the last paragraph of your response to my complaint is the absolute height of hypocrisy: "We wish that we could erase such an unpleasant memory; unfortunately, we cannot, but we can encourage you to let us create a new one by traveling with us again soon. Your patronage is very important to us."

Clearly neither my nor other customer's patronage is important to you SW. Give me a break. Feel free to share this feedback with your SENIOR leaders as well. I imagine it will be yet another exercise in futility. In summary, I should have simply booked with an airline that has an "established" and reliable route to PVR. When I told one of the Customer Relations Supervisors that they will be losing a customer, she responded "You have to do what you have to do". Well alrighty then and Merry Christmas to you too."

They called customer service, I called customer service and SOUTHWEST was unapologetic and unmoving - no certificate, no boarding. We canceled the flights and my daughter and her family ended up DRIVING from Texas to OHIO to be able to spend time together as a family at the holidays. Southwest may do fancy marketing and their CEO may have written a clever book, but as often as I fly them my experience does not match the brand promotion they try to espouse. Clever marketing does not make up for chronically late flights, lost baggage and inept service/uncaring/unflexible service. After this event - I actively try to look for other flights even if I have to take a connection or pay MORE on some other brand. Frankly Southwest is NUTS in the way they dealt with the situation.

Southwest's website is broken in that it does not update the points balance until you log out and start over again. Their customer service personnel are well aware of this problem but will do NOTHING to refund your money once it's gone. Now I'm stuck with a nearly $200 charge on my credit card that I cannot reverse, and I can't even call anyone at the company in charge, as they have no listed customer service phone number. Basically Southwest has shifted all responsibility to this Points.com company, which is shady as hell and doesn't even have any contact info. It's ridiculous. I am absolutely disgusted with Southwest over this, and will hopefully never fly them again with my own money. It used to be a great business 10 years ago but now it's just another dishonest US carrier like all the rest.

Upon our return I contacted Southwest AIRLINES to see if we could be compensated something for our expense incurred due to their judgment to cancel. They have informed me that they are not at fault and therefore we are not even eligible travel vouchers. Although I completely agree that no one can control the weather, I do feel that Southwest Airlines cancelled on us way too soon without any options to get us to our vacation in a reasonable amount of time. Even if they waited another 24 hours, they would have realized that the storm never hit Orlando, the airport was reopening and they could have flown in on Saturday without problems. They left us high and dry and didn't care that it cost us more to fly down to our vacation than it did for the entire vacation. I will never even search for a Southwest flight again for fear of their unreliable service.

The first rep I spoke with, Charlotte, told me that I was mistaken when I was checking out and that the points were never there. Then I spoke with her supervisor, Marissa, who explained that the section of customer service I had reached was unable to make any exceptions and to call 1-855-234-4654 and hit option #5. Once I called this number, I spoke with Wes. Wes explained that nothing could be done and he "didn't know what they thought he would be able to do anything." He told me that there are zero people working at Southwest that are able to make an exception and add the points back to my account.

He would not be able to have the tech team look into it and explain what happened for me and that he believed that I would have received an error message anyway if I had completed the reservation in the first place. While I understand that points have expiration dates and that it would be difficult to see what I was seeing on my screen 24 hours prior to a phone call, I do not believe the treatment I received was deserved. To not be willing to look into this issue or provide some sort of resolution is unacceptable.

This company wanted $400 extra dollars to do such a thing. Luckily, I didn't have to pay that fee because I absolutely refused to pay any more into this airline and THANK GOD I didn't because THAT flight was canceled. Why? I don't know because yet another person in Jacksonville said it was fine and all other airlines (other than Southwest) are flying into that airport today. As I called to rebook my flight for the third time, I was told the Orlando airport was opening back up tonight (Saturday), but customers had been moved to those flights already and were filled.

As a customer who was ORIGINALLY supposed to fly into Orlando in the first place, I should have been called and asked if I would be able to take a flight once the Orlando airport opened up. This is the ONLY company canceling flights into FL right now. I don't know if it is because you guys are trying to soak every penny out of people for trying to rebook flights, but it this is getting out of hand and TRULY has made a lasting impression on which airline I will NEVER fly again. Also, I will be posting on social media, as well as speak to family and friends, recommending they never fly this airline either.

They were given a new directive and told they can NOT deviate from it. I'm all for companies making money and in the past I would have paid a little more to fly SW since they were the best airline to fly. Goodbye SW, I'm on the hunt for a new company. Hopefully a new "friendly" airline will surface. Watch your customer base decline over the near future with this type of underhanded stealing of customer's money and your lack of customer service. I will miss the old Southwest Airlines. You know how to get in contact with me if you want to make it right... but until then I will post on every social media site so people know the OLD SW Air we use to all love and support is history.

Some other lady came from the back of the counter and my sister asked her if she could help us. The lady got out of the counter and walked towards my sister who was right behind me and told her to read the label. My sister was clueless and there was a small print behind the label. We were running out of time and started sticking things like we thought it was. My sister was having a hard time with the sticker as it is the first time doing it. We were unsure whether we were supposed to keep a part of the label or not, we asked again and the lady came back and impatiently said "I can't believe you don't know". She took the label and also got very closed and spoke close to her face in a very intimidating manner.

The lady scolded my sister in front of everyone and kept repeating every time we were trying to speak "Read the label", "read the label". At that time we desperately needed help not to miss our flight and she was sassing around and scolding us. I could not take it anymore. The attitude was almost making me cry! We needed help and she decided to emphasize how wrong it is to be late and how we are supposed to read the instructions. We asked for help because we are late. She kept repeating "that's why you are supposed to be on time, 2 hours early". I know I am late and I feel horrible for it, no need to scold.

I, my sister and my two kids stood in there taking it. It was like talking to us was insulting to her. I became very upset after taking it all I stared at her tag to see her name. After that, in a very challenging manner she said "you can take my name if you want". I was not planning on saying anything at the time. I was curious about her name, but her getting closed to me and raising her voice I immediately felt threaten and I said to her, "You are disgusting!" She then told me "oh hell no" and she turned around and dropped the task that she had not yet finished, because instead she was busy scolding, then she went to the other Southwest lady a third person and started screaming like I had just committed a crime. She told the other employee to call someone else. For a moment I thought they would call security on me and I felt like a criminal. The supervisor of this lady (the third person) refusing to help or even talk to us, she wouldn't even look at me.

Are we supposed to take this kind of treatment? Talking so close to people and raising her voice is very humiliating and unappropriated and threatening. We stood there and we didn't know what to do with our bags. We asked a guy that was behind the ladies if he could help. He just made a gesture with his face signaling the ladies. Like there is no other way. We had to wait for some other supervisor to come, some security guard, or someone who seemed like one had already showed up too. I only remember his name (Alex) he helped us take the bags. Missed the flight by 2 minutes.

The Southwest team of ladies teamed up on us very horribly. The ladies had a really bad disposition and very abusive. Unfortunately we lost! As customers, we missed our flight, at the same time we had a very sour moment. This ladies realized they had the power to help and it is up to them. We need something from them and they know it. They can make you suffer or they can facilitate the travel. What they did was abusive and should be illegal! The way they act provokes customers and if the customer reacts to their treatment the customer loses. Southwest ladies at the front desk in DCA might be good at something, but they sure are not safe with people.

Southwest has no direct contact with hotels and is actually making these reservations through Orbitz. In the process it restricts cancellation, though it gives notices on its website which may or may not be read by the passenger. This is misleading because the passenger believes that there is an advantage in booking the hotel, car and the air ticket together. There is actually a disadvantage - which misleads passengers.

Southwest provides booking all three aspects of travel on their website but as far as hotels are concerned Southwest provides a disadvantage to its passengers for cancellation. This is a sharp practice of pretending to offer a service but actually behind the scenes subcontracting it to others to the disadvantage of the passengers. There is no monetary benefit or negligible monetary benefits by booking through Southwest. Southwest should cease this practice as it is disadvantaging its passengers when they can obtain the same services from hotels directly on much better terms that hotels generally provide.

After I completed the reservation I realized that the extra ticket I needed would have cost me only around $400 if I bought the ticket with cash. Instead I paid $600 for points for the exact same ticket. When I contacted Southwest to complain about this deceptive sales practice (no mention of a fee was given prior to buying the extra points) and to request a refund, a customer service rep laughed a bit and said, "Poor baby, we don't give refunds. You'll have to contact Customer Relations." She then told me that the points are sold through a 3rd party company and that they do not control the transaction fee the company charges (what a dismissive attitude that SW customer service rep exhibited!).

I've reached out to SW Customer Relations several times but they are doing nothing about my problem. It is not that I waited for a few days before I contacted them about what had happened. I reached out to them immediately after the initial reservation was made when I realized what had just happened to me. Customer service at Southwest is nonexistent. Well, no more. I'm done with Southwest. They herd you like cattle onto their planes and they treat you like cattle when you ask for help or submit a complaint. Southwest, shame on you!

She then came by and said, "Jaime, my name is Jaime!" I said, "Oh my gosh, please just go, leave me alone!" We then moved seats, explaining to the other attendant why we needed to move. Jaime shot up to the front, and I was taken off of the flight to talk with a supervisor, who then told me, "She was probable just being friendly." I replied, "There is a pilot back there, ask him, and if he thinks she was being friendly then I am crazy." I told the supervisor, "I just want her to stay away from me and go on the plane to go home!" Very frightening, as who knows what this attendant could have made up and maybe had me removed from the flight! I will not be flying those with those friendly skies again! BEWARE!

Not only did they delay me for those many days claiming a "technical outage" (partially true), they lied right to my face while doing so since I personally saw - and filmed - the picketers at Love Field in Dallas. It wasn't only a technical issue, it was an embarrassing labor relations issue that they're still working diligently to hush up. Since then I've been repeatedly delayed, lied to continually with their BS company line, and never able to talk to a supervisor (who are conveniently never available no matter what)...and now they took nearly $400 out my pocket. Do yourself a favor and AVOID SOUTHWEST AIRLINES.

Upon arrival in Denver asked the S.W. agent what gate the flight was boarded at and he said gate 44. I went directly to the gate. Margo, the gate attendee was unaware of my circumstance and did not have me booked on the direct flight to Florida but instead on another flight departing later and routed through Houston, Texas. The Florida flight was now full. I was discontent and expressed my disagreement. There was no raised voice, no abusive language, I had not been drinking. I walked away from the counter for 2 seconds and returned saying "This cannot be so, that S.W. wants to add another stop. I won't arrive in Florida until late this evening."

Margo became angry and said "You're not going to talk to me this way and if you don't stop I won't service you." I said "I have just got off a 6-hour flight that should have been 2 hours." She said "I am notating your account." I said "You are threatening me?" She then said she was calling security. I asked for a supervisor and she demanded that I move aside.

When the supervisor arrived Margo, told him that she was not servicing me because I was rude. The supervisor asked me what happened but was supportive of Margo, stating that she had every right to notate the account if there is an incident. I said what incident. Because Margo perceives that I am rude, is not an incident. And if Margo has rights so do I. Now she will have to contend with a formal complaint against her refusal to serve myself. I asked for a boarding pass on the flight that Margo could not book me on because it was full. He said that it was Labor Day weekend and the flights are full. I said this is not my concern. If southwest weren't trying to maximize their profits by limiting routes and flights then they would have some wiggle room.

He took my boarding pass and went to the computer. When he discovered the reality of my circumstance and the delay myself and 150 other passengers had been through he became apologetic. He also had a cancellation and gave me a boarding pass. A second passenger from my flight approached the counter and explained her position and Margo Said "stand over there, we're working on it" No ma’am, no please. There was another cancellation and the second passenger was given a boarding pass.

The connecting flight was delayed 40 minutes as well because of fueling issues. And then delayed another 30 minutes because of weather. Margo, shame on you... Southwest, wake up and hold your gate attendees responsible for unprofessional behavior. Thank you to the supervisor that was helpful and did the right thing. You got a hug.

Again, when you see "Cost of points: $350", it verifies me again that 35,000 points is equivalent to cost $350. At the last "Total Charge: $350", which tells me that I would be charged for $350 in total for the transaction, which is the 35,000 rapid points in total. For the whole transferring process, you won't see any clear instructions that you will be charged for any transfer fee. All the information on the transferring website try to mislead you to believe that you won't be charged for transfer fee, but only for rapid rewards points(35,000), which equals to amount of money($350). But the truth is that, I was charged for 35,000 points and $350 in total, which is not matching the website saying "Total Charge: $350.00 USD" either!

After I finished the transaction, I realized their cheating "tricks". I called them to ask to cancel my transaction, refund or anything they could do for my lost. But they keep saying there is nothing they can do for now! The only thing they could do is to document the complaint about their transferring points website to improve it. I googled online about the transferring points complaints from Southwest and found that there are many other persons having the same cases from long time ago. If they did have improved their website and gave us very clear information about the transfer fee, I wouldn't transfer it! I can't agree more with the person saying that "THIS IS A SCAM!"

And she was compensated with a voucher for a future SWA flight that certainly did not cover the inconvenience of 60 hour delay, not to mention her having to make alternative arrangements to stay an extra 3 nights, her missing a family funeral and visit with family from abroad and from the other side of the country, and a 6 day trip shortened to 3 days. The customer service by Southwest was simply atrocious. Would highly advise against flying this airline, even when they offer the lowest rates. It's simply not worth the hassle.

We finally get up to the desk and the employee we dealt with was extremely rude and unapologetic. She told us that she could not get us to our destination until 2.5 days later which was completely unacceptable since we already had tickets and activities booked. We needed to get out to Vegas that day. I then asked her if she could assist us in getting a flight with a different airline and she said no, that they do not help with other airlines. Now if you have a massive line of people that you know are dealing with cancelled flights, should you not have an employee going out to the line notifying people that you do not assist with getting flights with different airlines?! That would have been nice to know 3 hours sooner when there would have been more flight options still available.

By the time all of this happened there was only 1 flight option left with Delta and because it was such a last minute flight across the US it costs us $600 a person for one way. That is more than we paid for both of our original roundtrip airfare combined but again we did not have a choice because there were no other options left by that point. We also had to deal with a layover in JFK which our original flights were nonstop. With all this chaos and layovers and delays our travel time ended up being 21 hours. We lost pretty much our entire first day of our trip and also had to pay that $1200 for the last minute flight.

It is now August 8 (This all happened on July 21) and we have yet to be refunded for our cancelled flight. So I called their customer support line today because I also emailed a complaint 2 weeks ago and have never heard back. After spending 2 hours on the phone with them today nothing has been resolved. They claim that everything is delayed from that glitch and that we should be getting our refund soon, and they are doing nothing to make up for that $1,200 we had to spend because of their mistake. The only thing I was offered was a 50% off coupon which is pretty useless considering we won't be going on another trip anytime soon. I requested to have 2 roundtrip free flights to make up for this and he said he could not do that only the 50% coupon.

I don't understand how you can't offer customers free airfare to make up for this especially when it costs us so much unexpected money. When I explained what a terrible experience this has been and how it was the worst customer service I've ever dealt with his response was "Well Delta just had an outage too so it happens to other airlines too." Well let's hope that Delta actually cares about their customers and handles their outage better than you.

Original Review: July 31, 2016

Flight 4545 to Ft. Lauderdale was supposed to leave on July 28 at 9:00 p.m. First delay 10:50. Second delay 11:15. Cancelled 12:00 in the morning. The gate handler at A-3 in BWI announced that the flight was cancelled for lack of a co-pilot, something no one else I later spoke with would admit. The gate attendant then proceeded to be extremely unhelpful and nasty. He wouldn't answer any questions about what to do next and there wasn't anyone from SW to address concerns. No announcements about baggage. People had to stand in line for 30 minutes to discover where their luggage was (on it's way to Ft. Lauderdale) and how to retrieve it. It was like a scene from a third world country. I'm disgusted with Southwest. In fairness the people I've spoken with on the phone have been wonderful, patient and helpful, and the check-in people on Thursday night were also very pleasant.

I finally arrive at St Louis and to my surprise my flight to Chicago already was in air. There were 10 people who were supposed to be on that Chicago flight and they couldn't wait 15 minutes. And worst part is that the SWA agent gives me attitude and was rude in St Louis and was not apologetic for this situation. She doesn't even provide me a hotel voucher since there were no flights for Friday night. After talking to her for 40 mins they gave me a hotel voucher and put me on a early morning flight. I'm sick of this airlines and to think I would travel rest of the year with these idiots is a big eye opener. I don't care about their stupid sale.

What does that accomplish for all of my prior and extensive relocation arrangements made for this day? She went on to tell me SWA has no inter-airline agreements, so it's SWA whenever or you have to buy a O/W ticket home. She also made a point to tell me that my tone was too confrontational(!??). My advice: fly a legacy airline, and you'll get to your destination more quickly than hollow promises from a presumed airline discounter. SWA has completely lost my trust.

The parking fee was $112 for the 7 days. Not only was this beyond inconvenient driving 3.5 hours with two kids both there and back when we arrived at 9:30 at night, not getting home until 2:30 AM (because when you're with kids you have to make stops), but this fee was nothing we planned on. Southwest so far has refused to do any refund on the return which is horrible customer service (or relations!) but we also have incurred this parking fee along with gas driving for 7 hours, not to mention arriving 2.5 hours later in the middle of the night.

We did get an email saying they would give us half price tickets if we bought them by October 31 and used them by January. We are not wealthy people. Our travel is limited to at MOST once a year and after this trip weren't planning on going for another 2 years. Now in order to get any reimbursement we have to travel in the next six months? Southwest is going to get a horrible reputation if this is how it handles their mess-ups. I used to like this airline, but apparently they are only okay if everything goes according to plan.

Coming back on Monday, 07/25 the same thing happened on the flight from Jamaica. After having us sit there from 11.15, they finally cancel the flight at 10 pm. Did not leave Montego bay Jamaica, until 07/26 at 9:30. Got to Houston at 12:05, then had to sit there from that time until 8:50 pm. Landed in Charlotte NC after midnight. To add insult to injury, the agent attempted to tell me that this did not warranted my getting a food voucher, had to get a supervisor involve to give to me. They do not need to fly international until they work out the kinks in their systems.

I got another flight for the next day but I was nowhere looking to fly again in Southwest Airlines after such disastrous experience. The Southwest Manager, Charissa **, at DCA airport, was very rude, disrespectful and least bothered, even after knowing that, 2 consecutive flights were cancelled within hours and spending hours to get into the flight. My wife dialed to customer service phone, but the agent over the phone also turned out to be least bothered and was very rude. I'm never going to fly in Southwest Airlines, which is never bothered about the customer problems. I don't recommend this flight to anyone!!! I 'm giving rating one because there is no option to give zero rating!!!

He went on to tell her SWA has no inter-airline agreements, so it SWA whenever or you have to buy a O/W ticket home. I had to spend an additional $400 on United tonight, but at least she will get home within a day of the cancelled flight. As for getting a refund from SWA, I have read other's complaints of it taking a year for a refund. My point here, fly a legacy airline, and you'll get to your destination more quickly than hollow promises from a presumed airline discounter. Trust is what you earn, and SWA has lost ours.

When items were lost, instead of being helpful and accommodating, the customer service agent working in lost baggage was very brisque, took out her anger on us and actually yelled at us, and then refused to do something as simple as validate a $7 parking ticket for my husband who had to park and come in to help me with the situation since I was traveling alone with our 6 month old. Finally, when we were flying home to Denver, our flight was delayed 3.5 hours and then cancelled. The entire time the woman working the gates to the flight was yelling at people and being extremely rude. We all had to wait 1-2 hours in line to rebook our flights, and then we found out the next day when we called in that they never even rebooked a flight for us.

We will be leaving 2 days after our expected and paid for departure date. On top of all of this, we have not been compensated for any of these inconveniences. Apparently, it's a lot to even ask for an employee of Southwest to be polite, respectful, apologetic and understanding towards their customers in a difficult situation that they have created. This behaviour and treatment of paying customers and families flying with Southwest Airlines is unacceptable. I think Southwest has officially lost their touch. We were going to get credit cards through Southwest but after these recent experiences we will no longer even fly with them. It's very unfortunate to see an airline that used to pride themselves on customer service, fall to such an extent.

Later when he was passing out drinks and I complained about it being hot Cary said in a dismissing way it's because the doors were open for so long at the last airport and that it would take awhile for it to cool off. This was not my first airplane ride I gotta say, and I knew that line was crap. Basically, none of the flight attendants smiled and when you broke the slightest rule they acted like you were endangering the safety of everybody on board. All I have to say is they (Cary in particular was very rude and unprofessional).

A stewardess came to our seats and said "you three need to get off now and we are flying you to Florida, and you will stay the night there." My wife explained my medication was in our checked baggage and we only carried on enough for our flight to PR. They proceeded to loudly tell me how and where my medication should be kept and it was my fault if I didn't have medication with me. At this point they said "you need to leave the plane," so I grabbed two of my dogs while my wife and family member carried the other dog and the two carry on bags. When I stood up and started walking the stewardess loudly said, "Sir you're gonna have to move faster."

I tried to quietly tell her I had Parkinson's disease and was moving as fast as I can. The stewardess loudly said "Sir, you're going to cause all these people to miss their connecting flights," and she actually walked up behind me and used her body to push me and my dogs down the aisle. The entire time I was having bad tremors and could barely walk. Once we were off the plane a stewardess said they did find a flight so we could make our connecting flight to PR. It was apparent I could not walk because of the tremors and we only had 15 minutes to make it to the next flight. My wife asked 3 workers for a wheelchair and no one did anything.

At this point we had to make our flight so my wife ran ahead to tell the next flight her husband was disabled and please hold the flight. Once we boarded the second plane we went to the back seats by the toilet, this is where I must sit because I can't walk on a plane while it's in motion because of my disease. When we Sat down the stewardess said, "Sir, I'm allergic to dogs. Can you move to another row?" I explained to her I was disabled and must sit where I have safe access to the toilet. At this point we continued to sit down and get ready for our flight.

Once we were sitting we heard the stewardess call and asked to be moved to another flight or moved to a different section because a man refused to sit elsewhere with the dogs. At this point her supervisor came up and proceeded to ask us to move to another seat. Once again I had to announce my disability and told her "I had to sit here." The supervisor and stewardess went to the back and we could clearly hear them talking. The first stewardess said "that ** man isn't disabled. He needs to move." They came back to our seats and again asked us to move again. This time my wife said "I'm starting to feel like you are discriminating against us for my husband's disability and our race."

Once she said this both flight attendants exited the plane, then the other flight attendants left. Meanwhile our family member was outside still waiting to board the plane wondering what was taking so long. At that point she saw all of the crew by the door and they actually stopped the boarding and were discussing kicking the ** disabled guy off the plane because of the flight attendant's allergies. Finally they continued boarding and we arrived in PR. During the entire flight the same stewardess waited on us and never showed signs of allergies nor even acted as if she had a problem.

During our flight we heard several racial and discriminatory remarks made behind our backs and were generally treated like prisoners. Like I had done something wrong for having Parkinson's. The above is only a small fragment of what we went through. This was the worst treatment I have ever experienced, and to be called out publicly because of my disease is unforgivable and unacceptable. The story gets worse when my wife called Southwest to complain. She called and filed a complaint and asked for a refund, they only offered a 200 dollar voucher and said the flight attendants needs come before a passengers.

My wife once again told them I was disabled and the supervisor she had on the phone said, "It doesn't really matter. Our policy is to move the customer to a different flight if we have an employee with a dog allergy." They refused to refund our money even after the abuse and discrimination we suffered. At this point my wife told the lady "this is a clear case of discrimination by a Southwest Airlines employee, not just one but 6 employees." Southwest didn't care, they said "that's our policy and you will not get money back."

During our flight we were humiliated and made to feel guilty for my disease. Our poor sweet pets were locked in their carriers for 15 hours without a break and were crying in agony because of cramping and they needed to potty. We originally had everything worked out so our dogs could potty and stretch between flights but the airlines made sure that didn't happen. The story is too long to write but this is a short of what we went through.

We experienced numerous discriminations based on my disability and our race. The calls to Southwest made by my wife were traumatic to say the least, it was obvious Southwest doesn't care how their employees treat customers with disabilities, not to mention a service dog. I will say this again, this is only a small fraction of what happened and we are needing an attorney to fight this. Also, the early bird flight check in is not what they claim. Just another form of legal fraud to take money from passenger.

Original Review: July 8, 2016

I booked a flight for myself and a friend. Everything looked fine from my end at booking. However, apparently through some glitch it only booked my friend and not myself on the flight, but charged me for the two tickets. I didn't notice this until I checked my reservation a week before travel. I talked to a couple levels of customer service and they even confirmed that their historical records show that the going rate on the day I purchased was half of what they charged me per passenger, thus proving my case as straightforwardly as possible. Simple, right?

Well, they refused to fix the situation by giving me a 2nd ticket or even allowing a refund. Their argument is that somehow I made their system charge me more and I chose to pay twice as much for one ticket, because they're system only ever showed one passenger, refusing to acknowledge that if the glitch happened at the initial completion of the purchase, that's exactly what they'd see. The cognitive dissonance required to see I paid twice as much as their own records show I should have paid for the 1 booked ticket, yet still claim everything is right, is beyond words.

They offered me nothing except to CHARGE ME EVEN MORE for a 2nd ticket, at the bogus 2x rate they charged for the first one. Because they were holding the rest of my trip and reservations hostage at this point (and refuse a refund anyway), and at 1 week out competitor prices are no longer better, I had little recourse but to give in to their ransom. Clearly I will continue to contest this going forward.

Their policy only allows families to board first in order to sit with your kids if your kids are 6 and under, so be aware if you have a 7-year-old or up you may NOT get to sit with them! On one of the flights (we had 4 flights) a man offered to move in order for me to sit by my daughter, which was very kind of him. But because he did the stewardesses were in return very rude to me and made me feel like I was a horrible person for taking this gentleman up on HIS offer even though it was his suggestion, not mine. So yes, this was my fault for not checking out the seating policy - first come, first serve (which I will now be aware of), but to all who may want to sit with their children be advised! I will make sure I fly in the future only with airlines who have seating where I know I will be able to sit with my kids.

They are stealing my money and refuse to allow me to use them 5 days after they supposedly expire (9 months after issue). I want him to fly on September 21st. This is ridiculous. The money was spent on December 3rd not September 16th. I am so disappointed in Southwest and want everyone to know they are stealing my money.

I call to file a complaint with customer relations (what a joke). The flesh on the line Tiffany takes my complaint and assures me that she will call me back at 10 am on Friday... She didn't. Turns out they can't return the calls. She was lying to me... Strike 3. I talk to customer service today which is a subordinate of customer relations and the flesh named Elaine who is a "supervisor" tells me they don't call back, that Tiffany misspoke and that the only way they will investigate and return a call is if I put it in writing... Strike 4. DO NOT FLY this airline has I have made it my personal mission to let the public know how bad this company is!!! I know that this unethical company just a scam on TEXAS. Shame on SWA!!! Shame on Gary C Kelly. This is not the same company that Herb Kelleher strived to build!

Anyway, I filed a complaint immediately to be told that Southwest is not responsible which is amazing since I have no clue who would be responsible. Certainly I am not responsible for them employing thieves. I was responsible right up until I turned my bags over to them. This has left a bitter taste in my mouth as well as wasted money from the hundreds of dollars I spent while shopping. I promise you that I will let every site that is a site to review, know of my bad experience. Southwest was always my go to airline but I think I need to run away because I don't have money to just waste, especially since no one is responsible. Southwest needs to do a better job with screening before hiring. You never want to be represented and looked upon as thieves.

I'm a very good Southwest customer. I do all my flying with them and charge everything I buy with their credit card. I also do my rental cars with them and sometimes hotels. Since the mistake was made by their website I and I was such a good customer I was sure they would make the change for me but they would not. I asked to talk to a supervisor and they said "won't do you any good they won't change it." They gave me the number for headquarters but said they weren't open until Monday, this was Saturday. I called Monday morning and got the same response. Nothing they could do. Not a very good way to take care of a good customer. I'm going to rethink my airline choice and not use them any more!!!

So then 2 hours later we run to get something to eat and sit by the gate. They then tell us this plane has mechanical issues, to go to gate 50 and if we were on the plane then just use our Id. We walk across airport and sit at the gate. We hear our name on the intercom saying to go back to gate 27. So we think the plane is leaving, we run back to get 27 only to be give our pass for gate 50??? So then we go back to gate 50 and then that plane has mechanical problems.

Let me mention my wife flies companion because of my cc. And I fly business select, so remember if you get moved by Southwest you lose your business select but still have to pay for it. They offered everyone 100 dollar certificates. Really??? My daughter had a function at 5pm, I missed the whole thing. Thanks Southwest Airlines for being cheap and full of excuses. Anyone flying to Harlingen beware. Southwest has done this numerous times and my opinion is they like to delay them to fill flights up. One other thing after 3 flights later which all had mechanical problems. The plane we are on now feels like the ac is broke.

In both flight they send me the flight notification just few hours to my email which I can not see on my phone, they never call me to make sure I was aware of the situation. Plus in one of the emails I got they were very apologizing saying to call to a 1800 number to ask for a refund for the inconvenience. When I finally did the call they were just rude and did not help me at all even when they knew it was their fault I missed my shuttle from Vegas to St. George. Unbelievable that they made me go through the same situation in both of my flights. Southwest, it was a pleasure to met you as you really are.

After a long silence he replies that he's busy with something and to wait a minute. I said I was sorry so okay, no problem. I thought that was that. I get to my seat all the way in the back of the plane near where all the Flight Attendants sit during takeoff. Then I hear his voice talking about me and what happened earlier with a fellow Flight Attendant and calling me an idiot. Like, I'm sitting RIGHT in FRONT of you! Am I invisible? Very unprofessional and rude. Yes, I used to work at a job that I hated and would talk about customers too but at least I'm careful not to do it in earshot. I would have confronted him but I was in disbelief that this actually happened to me. Never flying at this rude, unprofessional and ** airline any longer.

This women is out of hand and should not have the position she does because she clearly does not know how to make a good judgment call. Just because I have a work trip in Vegas does not mean Im drinking, and even if I would have, what would have been wrong with that. Southwest serves drink on the plane. She never gave me an explanation on what it was that I exactly did that made her think I was out of hand. I do look ugly after crying and with no make-up on, but I don't think that should be cause for me not to be allowed to board.This flight was out of Las Vegas on a Monday night at 7:30pm.

Many passengers asked to verify this before boarding and were again assured that connecting flights would be held in Baltimore and we all would make our connections. In preparation for landing, the flight attendants instructed us all to go directly to our connecting gates. After landing, we ran straight to our connecting gate only to be told by the gate agent, "Sorry, the flight left on time". It was now after 11:00 pm and the airport was basically empty at this hour. We asked what we should do and we're instructed to go out through security to the Southwest ticketing and they would re-book our flight.

When we got to the ticketing area there was a group of approximately 15 angry passengers looking for some accommodations. The only answers we received were, "We are sorry but there is nothing we can do". They did not have any rooms to offer so our only alternative was to stay all night in the Baltimore airport until our reschedule flight at 10:45 am the next day. We tried to lay down in a corner on the cement floor which we gave up on after an hour. We spent the night in those uncomfortable waiting room chairs (with arms so you could not lay down!).

Needless to say, our assessment of Southwest Airlines Customer Service is a "ZERO". Most of the group were senior citizens and two were in wheelchairs. The way we were treated should be classified as criminal. The biggest indictment of Southwest is that they did not take any proactive actions at the time to assist stranded passengers (because of their actions and intentionally misleading instructions) or have not attempted to contact us since. They basically mislead passengers knowing they would not make connections and that they would be stranded overnight in Baltimore. Customer Service? REALLY???

Today 5/20/2016 I'm still going back and forth. I'M VERY FRUSTRATED. I'M NEVER FLYING SOUTHWEST EVER AGAIN. I beg, cried, and plead. I can't afford to pay for daycare. My car will be shut off so therefore I'm not able to work!!! I am very piss and I'm don't doing business with RushCard. I never been this piss in my life. I would love to speak to corporate to expedite my request - ASAP!!!

They tell us to walk only a short distance to the reps at another gate to be re-booked. That rep (and soon several other reps that joined her) told all 18 of us that they called FLL and were told that they never said that the plane would be held. So it got a little ugly, and I eventually chimed in saying "so are you saying that all 18 of us conspired in the short walk over here, making up a story, when we have never met each other?". That seemed to set off a whirlwind of other complaints boasting the same thing, to which the rep finally said "we do not offer free anything for weather related issues (some folks asking for free hotel stay), but we will give you all $200.00 vouchers for another flight. That was nice, but after reading all of these other complaints I fear how easy it will be to actually use them in the future.

So now we are re-booked for 6am but have no hotel. When we finally get one, we only stay for 4 hrs since we need to be back at 4am. Well here is the real kicker - our tickets didn't show it and the rep didn't say that we were making 2 stops before getting home. May seem like no big deal, but we thought we had a super long layover in Baltimore and planned to eat there... We were so damned tired and Tampa had very little to offer at 5am for food. So we were shocked when they announced we were landing in Raleigh-Durham. We were scared that we were on the wrong plane. We find out the reason but had to bed the flight attendant to let my husband off so he could run and get something to eat and board before they boarded everyone else. They did let him and he ran fast and got back, but this was very upsetting and added to the whole crazy ordeal.

Reading all of these other reviews, though, I realize that our situation was not bad comparatively. What I am sad to learn is that Southwest is not a good airline to fly after all. If my complaint was the only bad one, then I would not say they are bad, but given everything else I am reading I think I will join the others and not fly with them again... That is after I attempt to use these vouchers they gave us. Perhaps I will be back on this site again after that trip with more "fun things" to report. More to come...

A half hour before we were supposed to leave from our home in Provo for the airport, I received an e-mail from Southwest saying our flights had been cancelled due to storms in Denver. I immediately called the airline to see what our alternatives were, and they told me our best option would be to drive to the airport and meet with a Southwest representative there, who would be best equipped to help us out.

So we made the hour-long drive to Salt Lake, waited in line, and met with one of their agents at the check-in desk. Despite her genuine efforts to be helpful, she said the best she could do was get us on a flight 48 hours later. In other words, we would arrive on Monday night, after Columbia's new-student events were over. When we told her this wasn't an option for us, she apologized and said that Southwest would refund our fare but company policy prohibited her from attempting to book us a flight on another airline.

When I told her that the best same-day alternative flight would be a $595 one-way flight on Delta, she suggested that, were I to contact Southwest's customer relations department when it reopened on Monday, they might be willing to compensate me either in flight credits or actual money for the difference between our original fare on Southwest ($195 per person) and the replacement fare on Delta ($400 per person higher). With this encouragement, I went ahead and booked the Delta flights, assuming that Southwest would cover most or all of the extra $1,200 I was paying because of their inability to get me on a flight sooner than 48 hours after my original scheduled departure.

After arriving in New York on the Delta flight, I followed the airport agent's instructions and e-mailed Southwest's customer relations department to request compensation for the $1,200 in additional fare I had paid. The next day (Monday, April 18), I received a form letter of sorts saying that they regretted my inconvenience but that Southwest had a firm policy against compensating its customers who were forced to rebook because of weather-related cancellations. If this weren't disappointing enough, the e-mail came from a "no-reply" address, essentially suggesting that this wasn't open for discussion.

Still hoping I hadn't been misled by Southwest's airport agent, when I was back in Utah three days later I called the customer relations department to explain the situation. Unfortunately, the results were the same: they were very sorry for my inconvenience but, despite other airlines' practice of rebooking bumped passengers with seats on rival airlines, paying for a seat on a rival carrier was something Southwest would never do.

Galled by the disconnect between my experience and Southwest's much-vaunted reputation for putting the customer first (e.g., their webpage boasts, "We like to think of ourselves as a Customer Service company that happens to fly airplanes," - on schedule, with personality and perks along the way). I took my case to their corporate head of customer relations. Once again, I received a response from a "no-reply" e-mail address saying that they felt my pain and hoped I would give them another chance but they would under no scenario consider covering the difference between my original and rebooked flights or offering any other sort of compensation.

Increasingly realizing my case was futile, on Monday, May 2, I e-mailed Southwest's CEO, explaining that it was impossible for them to treat customers like I had been and to still call themselves a "Customer Service company that happens to fly airplanes." This time, I received a call the next day from a customer relations representative, but his message was the same: "We're so sorry, but there's no chance whatsoever we're going to make this right, regardless of what our rivals do in similar situations."

So here's where this becomes a public-interest story rather than one man's crusade. Sometime in the coming months a family in America is likely to book a family vacation on Southwest and then have their flights cancelled because of a tornado in Oklahoma or lightning in Dallas. They'll then have the choice of waiting for Southwest to rebook them (which, at least in my case, would have taken 48 hours and would have resulted in two non-refundable nights of expensive pre-paid lodging in Manhattan) or paying for exorbitantly priced last-minute seats on a rival carrier and hoping that Southwest will abide by its code of putting the customer first.

If it's a large family, this could mean that their original decision to book with Southwest could end up costing them thousands of dollars in unexpected charges. Meanwhile, had they booked on another major carrier, they perhaps would have paid a bit more upfront, but they could have rested easy that that carrier would get them to their destination with relatively little delay, even if that meant purchasing seats on a rival carrier.

About four hours later, they flew to Dallas and then offloaded the passengers to tell them that they would not be continuing to Charleston SC, the flight had been cancelled. My sister who was alone and inexperienced was told to stand in line. After a long period of time she was then told that they had no flights available until 24 hours from then, and that was iffy. They had made no effort to rebook her. They would not set her up with another airline so she could get to Charleston. She decided to go home the next morning at 6:45 AM rather than wait days at the airport. They told her a hotel was available only to find out that wasn't true either. My sixty two year old sister spent the night on the floor of the airport, alone.

I tried to reach customer service this morning to query about a refund as I am not sure what her state is at this point. I was told if the ticket was used in any way they could not help me. I had to talk to Customer Service that was only open 7:00AM to 6:00PM Monday through Friday CT. The was the frosting on an absolutely inexcusable flight experience. Never again. American has a 24 hour Customer Service Line. My Sister finally got home at noon today, with no compassion or humanity to be found anywhere.

UPDATED ON 05/12/2016: Southwest refunded $218.00 of my $454.00 fare. I have talked to Southwest several times with the same response. "The remaining $280.00 of your refund is in accounting getting approved and they are about 30 days behind, and we don't work weekends." Wow.

EXTREMELY long story short, we waited in line and due to the amount of people waiting, checked our bags 43 minutes before our flight. We were concerned about the amount of people in line at security; but were REPEATEDLY told, "Southwest knows you're here..." i.e., we checked in, so you'll be fine and ultimately arrived at the gate FOUR MINUTES late, with six other passengers, to find our flight back to Buffalo WAS GONE!!!

To say the Southwest Reps. could care less is again, an understatement!! We were offered NO OPTIONS... Other than to fly standby, but were informed all remaining flights were full and it was unlikely we'd get "home" anytime soon. We eventually decided to fly to Philly, rent a car and drive from there. At the end of the day, the time, money and inconvenience of flying Southwest was NOT WORTH IT!! We could have flown first class on another airline out of Syracuse and been "ahead"!!! PLEASE consider the "self serve" seating, lack of communication and "demeanor" of their reps...before choosing Southwest simply because their fares are reasonable!!

For 30 years I flew this airline. I held the highest reward, which is a complain pass for a year. My history was before the SW representative and she acknowledged the facts. The SW representative had received the complaint before, was sorry, but could not do anything about it. I think it false advertising to say points do not expire, and then take them away from you. HAPPENED TO OTHERS?

That's when the Persian woman in front of me said "Give him a chance". That's when I chimed him and said "Please give him one minute, he needs to talk to his doctor". I repeated again "Just give him a chance". Neither of us were yelling or confrontational. We just felt bad about the situation the man was in. That's when the other flight attendant walks into the situation. That's when the original angry flight attendant threw her hands up in the air and said "I can't deal with these people". Here are my problems:

1. Have sympathy. We did not take off until a good 10-15 minutes after the fiasco, which probably lasted about 5-7 minutes. So what is the big deal about 1-2 minutes on the phone with his doctor? If his luggage was not lost, there wouldn't be a phone call. There wouldn't be a situation. Should he have to risk a possible health mishap because of Southwest? And what if something did happen on the flight? How would that reflect on Southwest?

2. Paying customer should not be talked down to like a mother scolding a child. A flight attendant's tone should not be threatening. A flight attendant should not refer to paying customers as "these people". I can't help but to look at the situation without considering the obvious physical facts. He was African American, other woman was Persian and I am Korean. All minorities. So is that what she meant when she said "these people"? A detail I'm going to add... the man was a Vietnam War Veteran.

3. I approached both flight attendants about my concern after the dust settled. The other flight seemed to be understanding and was very good at trying to diffuse the situation. However, the angry flight attendant, was until the end, very confrontational and kept arguing with me. Not professional at all. I have flown Southwest many times, I participated in a sponsored design branding experiment with my class in college for Southwest Airlines... I always held Southwest in high regards because of how they treat their employees, passenger, and general public with such love and humanity.

4. As we were leaving the plane another gentleman said to me. "You know I agree with the flight attendant, it's her protocol and she is doing her job". I said "fair enough". But if Southwest did THEIR job, the flight wouldn't be delayed, the man's luggage wouldn't be lost and I wouldn't be writing this complaint. Booo. What a let down.

I cannot believe we have been treated so poorly by an airline that I already hate for their market take over in Milwaukee, offering less non stops each year, awful boarding methods, cramped seating, pricing that is through the roof. It's not like Milwaukee has much choice anymore. This airline experience the worst in the 40 years I have been flying.

SW Airlines finally called me after I reported to Oakland PD that SW Airlines employees received my keys and fob and stole it. SW Airline HQ employee (Leanne) said the airline has no liability and their L&F operations are a cutesy. She repeated "no liability" several times. Since I have never seen this statement in any SW Airline advertisement, I must assume SW Airline attorneys required this to be written in microscopic font and put it somewhere only they can locate. Finally, when pressed on why SW employees are not required to log or photograph what is delivered to them, I was told that it would take a full time employee to do this.

I doubt that. A photo and automatic entry into a database would take all of 30 seconds and would reduce the amount of time people like me would take grilling them over their lackadaisical system. Which I believe is one of gross negligence which, due to no checks or balances, encourages their employees (and their subcontractor's employees) to steal. SO BE WARNED! SW Airlines is doing us a favor by dumping all our lost valuables into a system that encourages theft.

However, I was not able to rent a car at all when I needed it because my card wouldn't arrive in time. I notified SOUTHWEST, after first DENYING the charge, they finally admitted it! Referred me to their Customer Relations department and did NOTHING but apologize for the inconvenience. All of this happened a day before my flight and car pick-up, so SOUTHWEST basically kept me from renting any other car, because I had to get a new credit card! So again I warn you, do not rent a car through Southwest.com or southwest period!!

I did not try to use a % discount on a sale item or try to use two discounts on one purchase, or try to use reward point or miles. The gift cards were not expired. It was cash that was given in advance to Southwest Airlines in good faith that it would be available for us to use at a later date. This practice that Southwest uses devalues the gift cards and in essence steals money from the consumer. If we were given cash to use towards the wedding we would have received the $400 savings on the vacation and Southwest Airlines would not have lost any money in the transaction.

I would understand not being able to use the full amount if the gift cards total of $400 was more than the flight portion of the vacation package. However this was not the case, the flight portion exceeded $400 (even if the complete package discount was applied to the flight portion). And even if that was the case that should have left us with a balance on the gift cards to use at a later date. Southwest Airlines wasn't losing any money on the vacation package by letting us use the money they were given in advance. I'm not looking for a voucher or a $200 gift card, I want the money to apply to my credit card balance.

This suggests this is an attempt to disguise a fine for breaking a contract. Should I have agreed to the voucher, I would not receive it for 7-10 days, after the travel date--which would render this diminished refund useless. The customer service agents were rude, laughed at me, put me on hold for long periods of time, then picked up the phone with "Are you still there" suggesting the motive behind the wait was to get me to hang up, and refused to put me through to any higher level manager. This would be a swell class action lawsuit. Think of the sheer number of people who are being charged $100 in fees, if the refund department is backed up 8 days per the customer service department's claims.

I asked her what she meant and she refused to answer me. I started to have a panic attack. I've maybe only ever had one before but I've been trained in first aid and recognize the symptoms. When she brought him back some ice, I said "I think I'm having a panic attack", to which she replied, "Well what do you want me to do about it?" while she rolled her eyes and flipped her hair. It really was the most outrageous behavior I've ever seen from someone who is supposed to be in the service industry.

At this point I started hyperventilating and needed a bag. The bag in the seat in front of me was not paper, but plastic, and smelled of some sort of deodorizing chemical. The gentleman in the seat next to me (not the coughing kid, but on the other side), recognized my distress and asked if I would like to get up, he was very kind. I did and went to the restroom. When I got out of the restroom (which was very dirty and still only had the smelly plastic bags), the same stewardess confronted me about being in there so long. I asked her for a ginger ale and she obliged, and tried to explain to her that I was not trying to be rude, that I had a hard day, a compromised immune system, and that kid was coughing all over the place without a tissue or anything and he needed help as well. She just shook her head at me and said, "I am DONE, I am DONE with you, go back to your seat!"

I screwed up my nerves and went back to sit down. The rest of the flight was just completely miserable with that kid coughing all over me. I mean he didn't even have a tissue. When it came time to land, the same stewardess, instead of asking me to please raise my seat, came over to me and banged on my seat back as hard as she could three times and shouted "I NEED YOUR SEAT BACK UP MA'AM" like I had been asked but refused, which was absolutely not the case. I mean is was really just awful. When I got to the front of the plane I complained of how awful she had treated me to the pilot who was sitting and laughing up front with her, and they both just laughed in my face as loudly as they could. I mean it was really just outrageous, the worst experience I have ever had on an airplane, and I will certainly never be using Southwest EVER again.

Many phone calls later, I have spoken to 5 people and I get the same response, "Did you file a complaint. It's a pending status. When we find it we will call you. There is nothing else we can do. If it doesn't show up after 5 days, call us back". What am I supposed to do without my luggage? Someone needs to tell me where my luggage went. It should have been on the same flight. Don't tell me the excuses that maybe the plane was full so they put it on the next flight. Well, they didn't and it is now missing. Don't tell me you are sending an alert to the baggage claim office to check the incoming flight, because you didn't. Several flights later, no one knows where it went. This is disgusting. Never again!!!

Original Review: March 3, 2016

I had some unknown funds that expired due to a mix up on a flight they were responsible for, not me, approx 50.00. I became aware of that 1 day prior to exp. I was told they only extend amounts over 100 and that would be the amount over a 100 like 175 you get 75. So a hidden fee and only extended to high amounts. I have flown them for over 40 yrs. This is not the way I was ever treated in the past... Free bags, yes. Acting like Delta, no! I see a hundred dollar fee here. What do you think. A lot of us seniors can't afford this... Next time put my bags on the right flight if there is a next time! I am livid. I fly for my med care regularly and would have used this had I known! Southwest customer service made you #1, lack of can take you down also!

I took another trip and I had $21.99 left. I used that trip for travel and I was supposed to be visiting a friend in prison. The prison went on lockdown so there would be no visits. I cancelled that trip and just found out that even though I paid $405 for this ticket, ALL of that needs to be used before my August expiration date, instead of when I purchased this most recent ticket in January. I swear I'm never flying with them again. It was a good deal, but I feel like this is bad policy when you consider that your new trip gets its own confirmation number. They could easily track that I only used $21.99 from the previous voucher and I have $380 that I put on for this trip. It's ridiculous. I'm done.

The attendant, at a different gate, gave my husband a new boarding pass without requesting ID and then, asked, "does your wife need one too?" I was not present at that gate for, I was seated in the gate area where we were to board our plane. Our return flight in California, we went to check our bags and receive boarding passes. The attendant gave my husband both our boarding passes without looking at my ID. With two airports lack of security we don't feel comfortable to fly SouthWest ever again.

We called once again on Saturday (23rd) to see if the flight had officially cancelled and again were advised that once it was officially cancelled we could call customer service to have the additional booking fee reversed. We have since called twice and were told this is not true and they will not refund our difference. We were told they don't refund for customers attempting to be proactive. It would've been nice to train your customer services reps on your policies as we would've cancelled our trip that day and banked our funds.

This "manager" when I asked why they waited the 2 hour layover to tell me this, her response was "we wanted to wait and see how your dog was doing"?? She clearly violated my ADA rights. One excuse she said was the dog had cried on the previous flight. THE DOG WAS A BIT STRESSED! I got her calm and quiet. She also mentioned that the dog "had to sit on a seat" which is incorrect as the flight was not full and I had 2 empty seats next to me. NOBODY on that crew asked me to put the dog on the floor in front of me which I would have been happy to do so. Her "reasons" were absurd. I had to get a cab and stay at a hotel, book a flight on American Airlines the next day in which my dog was perfect and was laying at my feet and perfect on this flight. The staff at American Airlines took exceptional care of me. I have always flown SW Air, with and without service dogs. I have never been treated so bad as I was at the gate in Las Vegas!!!

When we asked the customer relations person, Becka, what the next step is she said that there was no other step. This is their first and final decision. I asked Becka why we had to call Southwest for an outcome and why they had not tried to reach us. She said they did on Nov. 6th. I said "we did not get a call and was a message left." Her response - "yes". I said "what was the message?" She said she didn't know because they don't have a record of that. Becka also informed us upon questioning about an appeal there was no appeal process and we couldn't speak with anyone else because, per Becka, she reports to the VP of Customer Relations and this is the final decision. Well folks, how about that! No appeal process and a $100 voucher. Shame on you Southwest - very poor customer service!

Original Review: Jan. 8, 2016

Beware voucher screw-up at Southwest. We can't do anything about it!!! I recently booked a 2/3/16 trip to Charleston that attempted to use vouchers Southwest had given me. I booked the flight online, entered the voucher numbers, saw the ~$90 balance for fees/taxes (not covered by vouchers) that was charged to my Southwest credit card, and thought I had only paid $90 out of pocket for the flight. Instead, three weeks later, I discovered that the entire price of the trip was charged to my credit card, defeating the use of the vouchers for a vacation.

I called customer relations to have the situation corrected and they said that if I had contacted them within 24-hours of booking, they could have done something about the system snafu but that they couldn't make changes retroactively since weeks had gone by. I said there was no way of knowing there was a voucher/billing problem until the credit card bill arrived. They told me that the flight itinerary would have indicated in red ink that X amount of the cost had come from vouchers and that I could have flagged the problem then. The problem is that there is nothing on the print-out of the itinerary that says that "if you're using vouchers and they are not reflected in the bill, call us with 24 hours or words" to that effect.

So they tell me that there's nothing they can do about it short of me canceling my flight and re-booking at the risk of not getting the same flights/times/price. So I tried to cancel the original booking and re-book using the voucher and was surprised to learn that the tickets were non-refundable. In other words, they would only give me a Southwest credit, not a cash refund applied to my credit card even though I was trying to book the same flight with Southwest.

They not-so-helpfully suggested that if I can't use the vouchers, I can always give them to someone else. And lose the opportunity to use them myself. Thank you very much. The $500 of vouchers that I have, while still valid for a while, would require booking another flight that I may or may not need (at hundreds of dollars in additional cost for hotel, food, etc.), in order to take advantage of the vouchers that I got for previous inconveniences (delayed luggage, bumped flight/seat). Talk about adding insult to injury. This was a very disappointing experience.

They also provided a phone number for me to call and request reimbursement. Why on Earth should I need to REQUEST reimbursement? I paid them for a service they did not provide; reimbursement should be automatic. I called the number (a couple days later, as that night the wait was way too long and I was more concerned with my immediate travel plans) and the agent asked if I had gone online and cancelled the reservation. No, I told her, "I did not cancel the reservation, they cancelled it for me." She said I was still supposed to go online and cancel.

I told her I tried, but their website wouldn't allow me to do anything because the reservation was "in the past". She said I should have dealt with customer service via phone or in person that night. I told her the estimated phone wait time was 90 minutes that night, and I wasn't about to wait that long to request reimbursement when I needed to deal with my immediate travel plans that evening. The agent told me she would submit my reimbursement request "for consideration", then I should follow up in 7-10 business days to check the progress. What is there to consider? I paid Southwest Airlines for a service they did not provide. I paid for it in anticipation that they would actually provide the service I was paying for. It's a contract.

I understand the cancellation due to weather, it happens and is generally beyond their control. They should reimburse their customers in these situations automatically. I wasn't paying for the mere opportunity that--by chance--they would actually provide the service I was paying for. This isn't the lottery. Why should I have to mark my calendar for 1-2 weeks for now to follow up with them to see if they've actually done their job?

Only an airline would have the bald-faced audacity to charge you for a service, not provide the service, then make you take positive action and further waste your time for the "consideration" of receiving a refund for the service they did not provide. Any other business would simply reimburse you automatically when the service was cancelled. Why do airlines make you do this? It's 2016; they have the technology and could automate this process. The only logical answer is that they know they can get away with this. They know (probably) every other airline will do the same thing, and you have no recourse (try driving home for Christmas when the drive will take 3 days each way... They know you will book a flight rather than drive).

If you were at an electronics store and swiped your card at the checkout to purchase a new TV, then they found they did not have that TV in stock and could not order you one, the store would immediately refund/cancel your purchase. No need for you to follow up weeks later. If you signed paperwork to purchase a new car, then when the salesman went in back they found out they didn't have the car, and were no longer able to order you one, they would cancel your transaction/refund your money.

You would not need to call a different number, and schedule a follow-up weeks later to make sure they've done their job by reimbursing you. I recently ordered something online from Walmart, and from Kohls, and in both cases the products were found to not be available. Both stores automatically refunded me my money back to my credit card and sent me an email to notify me of the situation. Easy and painless. That's 2016 customer service.

Only airlines would look you in the eye, make you do their work for them, and act like this is normal business practice and pretend to be surprised when you are upset at their lack of customer service and obvious "shell-game" type tactics. They want it to be convoluted so they don't have to refund you. This way, they get your money for doing nothing at all. Shameful, Southwest Airlines. Simply shameful. Unfortunately, I predict most other airlines would do the same thing. I'll update this post if Southwest delivers in some truly professional and respectable way regarding this matter. I don't expect I'll need to.

Now, I understand that things happen outside an airline's control. Flights get canceled. But what happened in this case is that my son's Monday night, Dec. 28th flight was canceled. The best Southwest would offer was to get him on a flight on Thursday night, Dec. 31st. This is not reasonable. They should be able to do something within 24 hours or buy you a seat on another airline. He had to be at work the next day so the only choice I had was to rent a car one-way for him to drive back. So, not only was I out an airline ticket, I was out a rental car which cost just as much.

He was one of the lucky ones. He was still near home. There were people there connecting who Southwest would not even help out with a hotel room. So, basically, their connecting flight got canceled and Southwest could care less what they do for three days. What really irks me is the response I got from Customer Service when I complained about it: "We can only imagine how disappointing it was to encounter irregular operations during your December travels." Really? They refunded the one-way fare which was missed, but would not help with any other arrangements, and told me that in the response.

Bottom line is this: My business travels will go back to Delta and American. I cannot be stranded any place for 3 days waiting for Southwest to get me home. I would think that a company as large as Southwest would realize that, from time to time, it just might be better to spend a little to help a customer out than to lose that much future business. Bags fly free, yes, but customer service is abysmal.

Geesh SW, not to mention your staff had the worst attitude EVER. I mean showing up for work is crazy, no wait it's not!!! SW you have truly disappointed me and trust. FREE bags doesn't make up for poor customer and rudeness, but no worries, I tell everyone I know and few strangers, choose ANY airline EXCEPT Southwest!!! TERRIBLE.

There was ONE customer service rep in the baggage office to filter many, many, many incidents of missing luggage. I actually felt sorry for her. Why would you leave her alone to handle all of these passengers? Where was a manager? Nowhere in sight... home with his/her family for Christmas Eve? There was luggage everywhere, there was no system at all. It was as if this was their first busy travel day rodeo. If SW truly cared about customer service they would have been staffed and prepared. It is not genius level to know that if you cancel flights that you are going to have to have staff to help the passengers. Traditionally, if you come in on a particular flight then your luggage is on a designated carousel, but there was luggage spread out among three different carousels with no apparent rhyme or reason. We waited for four hours after our flight landed to see if our luggage would show up with incoming flights... NO!!

We gathered our kids, who had been up almost 24 hours to drive an hour South of Atl at 3 in the morning. The best they said they could do was get our luggage to us the following Monday, but probably Tuesday, with no compensation. My husband drove back on Christmas Day to get our luggage. SW offered us nothing for their lack of competency. I learned a hard, but very valuable lesson. I will never fly SW again. I will fly Delta where I receive excellent customer service. There was a total disregard for the passengers and the lonely CSV agent in the baggage office.

My connection to Orlando should have departed at 8:40am. Many of the passengers were asking, because they too were going to miss their flights. No one on the plane would give us any information until we arrived at the airport. Then the attendants told us they were holding some of the flights for us, Orlando being one of them. My goddaughter and I hustled to the plane. I purchased upgraded boarding for all our flights. One- so I could sit with my goddaughter, two- because I am a nervous flyer and I sit by the window. I always take Valium to fly and am able to sleep with my head rested against the interior wall.

When I boarded the plane in Atlanta it was packed. My goddaughter had to sit several rows away from me. I had to sit between two strangers. I voiced my dissatisfcation about the seating and also that I needed to use the restroom because I had not been able to since boarding in Richmond at 5:30am. I went to the restroom. While I was in there a attendant told a joke over the pa. "How do you keep a passenger in suspense?" I yelled from the rear bathroom, with the door closed, " fly Southwest". I returned to my seat and buckled in and took my Valium.

Just before we were leaving, I looked up to see three Southwest employees at my row confronting me. In front of a full plane asking me if I had a problem. I told them the story above, but told them I had taken my Valium and I should be fine (I.e., I wouldn't be nervous flying). One flight attendant said they needed to get the captain because she thought I was impaired and couldn't fly. I told her my medication was taken as prescribed by my doctor, specifically for flying.

Then the next lady (whom I believed worked at the Atlanta airport for Southwest), started in on me. She kept saying over and over, do we have a problem here, because if we do we need to take you off the plane and get it straightened out. Over and over she made that threat to me. I was powerless to make any complaint because if I did I would miss my flight. Not only that, but all the monies I had paid for me and my goddaughter to go on a cruise. The male attendant that was standing there said nothing, I guess he was there for intimidation purposes.

I fly at minimum of 6 times a year. I take cruises about twice a year. I am middle class working American, I save in order to take these cruises and go to Florida because my grandmother is in a nursing home there. My sister was also in Florida until her death in September. So, I went to Florida often, to see her and also be with her while she was ill and dying. I have never been treated so poorly. Having airline employees wield power and threats over their customers is beyond words. It is the absolute lowest you can go. I am unfortunately pre-booked on a Southwest flight in February. But, in the future I WILL NOT FLY ON SOUTHWEST AIRLINES ever again. I don't care how cheap they are - you get what you pay for - and it is NOT worth it!!! Go JetBlue or any other airline - avoid Southwest!!!

Although I have flown before several times on SWA with baggage carrying carefully-packaged wine without problems, Beatriz insisted this time it was a major issue. Short story... just because I asked an immature SWA counter employee to do her job and act as a professional, she ended up wasting my time and charging me an extra $60 for additional, unnecessary packaging of wine and threatened to tack on another $75 for the extra luggage box necessary to encompass the unneeded packaging (almost doubling the cost of my flight)! My experience with this young SWA employee was disgusting and scam-worthy. Cannot fathom why this highly-regarded airline hires people like this and fails to train them properly?

Because it was a fog issue in Chicago, Southwest will do nothing to accommodate my situation. So, I get back to NC a day late, at an airport that is now a 3 hour drive for Vince after sleeping next to an unprotected door. Here's my advice: NEVER FLY SOUTHWEST!!! If you never hear from me again, it is because I was mugged or abducted or whatever from SAN at the ticket booth at Southwest at SAN. That's where police can start the search for my body.

He missed the wedding he was in which started at 1 pm. Oh yes did I mention, that his luggage did not arrive when he did. So he had to buy clothes and the trip was for nothing. I believe that everyone on that flight should have been compensated in some form for the total inconvenience and blatant disregard for a person's reason for travel. Poor customer service. They have thus far offered nothing and I cannot get through to speak to a live individual. You live and you learn.

So next day it took them hours not only to alleviate my fears and call me but pretty much the whole day to deliver it to me. Then I get home looking for the voucher and it isn't there. Instead they CHARGED ME $50 to deliver MY luggage that THEY lost to my home and said that was the voucher. It baffles me how big companies will nickel and dime a loyal customer who has flown with them for so long while also treating their property like garbage. It's not like it's their job to transport objects from one place to another...

When I file complaint I was told Southwest will not do anything to remedy the problem. They said they will not take responsibility for the damage. They were nasty rude and made me cry in airport. I have all receipts and damaged luggage bag. I asked for a supervisor and the supervisor said there was nothing she could do and told me to contact customer relations & she said they're not going to help you either and this was at the Buffalo/Niagara airport.

The only way to stop this is to STOP flying them. Complaining does NOT work. I have preferred status and my opinion means nothing. The only thing that means anything to this airline is money. They are going to start flying "true" international at some point - Europe, Canada, etc., and with today's terrorism threats not having a passenger manifest with assigned seats will at some point cause a problem and then it is too late! Write to FAA, TSA and whoever else you need to write to because they will not change this policy on their own.

Our PM flight ended up being delayed TWICE. After finally getting to Chicago, we sat on the runway for an HOUR waiting for our gate to open, all the while six other Southwest planes that arrived after us were docked and unloaded. No explanation, apology, anything from Southwest. Weather delays are understandable, but lack of preparation is not.