SWA - Have you ever been bumped????

[Minnie]

On our last flight we were bumped from a direct STL to MCO flight to a STL-Chicago-MCO flight that got us in quite a bit later.

The weather was not an issue.

Has this ever happend to anyone else???????

On our Airtran flights this has never happened. However the SW deal right now is much cheaper.

 

[Vivianne]

I surely hope this doesn't happen to us. We're flying to LAS and are paying more to be able to fly non-stop.

 

[NotUrsula]

I fly that particular route on SWA fairly often, and DH flies it at least once a month. In 15 yrs., neither of us has ever been bumped. Which flight was it, and on what day of the week? Also, when did you check in?

The only time I've ever seen anyone bumped on this route in STL was when they failed to check in within 15 minutes of the start of boarding. Once all the checked-in passengers are on the jetway, if there are empty seats left they will call out the names of checked-in passengers who have not boarded -- only once -- if you don't answer they will leave without you, or give your seat to any standbys who are waiting for it.

If you are officially connecting and your flight hasn't landed yet, they may wait a little while, but unless it is the last flight of the night they won't wait more than about 10 minutes.

 

[Minnie]

It was on a Friday in December 04.

We checked in plenty early but the entire flight not just us was bumped. They held the Chicago flight so that we could get to Orlando. What a mess!

I am so happy to hear that this was an odd not an every day regular occurence. You have but my mind at ease.

 

[NotUrsula]

We checked in plenty early but the entire flight not just us was bumped.

That wasn't a bump, it was a flight cancellation, which is a TOTALLY different kettle of fish. That HAS happened to me here, but not on a flight to MCO.

Cancellations do happen, usually on an evening flight due to weather in the city the plane is coming from, or mechanical failure that cannot be fixed by the time the station is due to close (in STL, that would be about 11 pm.) If your plane is coming from Omaha, let's say, but they find out in Omaha that an engine is going bad and they don't have another plane to send in its place; your flight is going to be cancelled if they can't get that plane that's sitting in Omaha fixed and landed in STL in enough time to get it headed to MCO before 11 pm. (Same deal if there is a blizzard in Omaha and the plane can't take off.)

In winter it happens more often southbound, in summer it happens more often northbound (there are often groundstops in summer for lightning storms in early afternoon, especially leaving Florida.) I wouldn't say that it happens *frequently* at all, though.