Trouble with Southwest??

[Kristie911]

I booked and paid for our flight. Then someone mentioned, in a forum on FB, their SW flight had been changed so I checked my reservation and my flight is gone completely!!! I wasn't contacted. It's no longer showing in available flights that day and when I try to pull up my account it goes to an error.

Has anyone else run into SW cancelling flights? Or is this maybe a glitch in the system? I e-mailed them so hopefully they will get back to me quickly but I thought someone might know if there's a problem with the system and maybe I'm panicking for nothing!

 

[cmwade77]

There are various reasons I would never fly Southwest and this is one of many. But may I suggest calling them?

By the way for those living in other countries, you can use Skype to call toll free numbers at no cost, other than if you have bandwidth costs.

 

[Dizzyworld]

I'd call them. Good luck.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Unlike the legacy air carriers, Southwest does not routinely change its schedule after it's released. (The legacy carriers release flights 11 months in advance, while Southwest only releases flights a few months in advance.)

Of course, a flight can be cancelled due to weather or mechanical issues, but this is something that usually does not happen until the day of the flight.

You'll get the fastest answer with a phone call. Then please let us know what you find out.

 

[paults]

There are various reasons I would never fly Southwest and this is one of many. But may I suggest calling them?


By the way for those living in other countries, you can use Skype to call toll free numbers at no cost, other than if you have bandwidth costs.

What are you various reasons? We fly SW all the time and never had a cancelled flight.

 

[goofy4tink]

I have had flights 'disappear' with SW before. Sometimes it's was a glitch. More often the flight wasn't available anymore...it was full.

 

[macraven]

i have a booked ns flight with SW for September.
set it up back in April.

over the weekend, i noticed the flight i already paid for changed times.

today i received a call from SW to tell me they are removing some of the AT flights and consolidating them with the SW flights.
they have started to stop the AT (or drastically limit them) at the airport i am using.

i was told the flight i booked now is an early morning 5:50 am departure.
agent told me i could be put on that flight or one of the others.

i went with that first flight out even though it was much earlier than i had planned.

agent told me she has now booked me on that flight and will receive an email to my change.

no extra money to be paid she told me since SW is now calling those already booked/paid to switch them to other dates or flights.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

i have a booked ns flight with SW for September.
set it up back in April.

over the weekend, i noticed the flight i already paid for changed times.

today i received a call from SW to tell me they are removing some of the AT flights and consolidating them with the SW flights.
they have started to stop the AT (or drastically limit them) at the airport i am using.

i was told the flight i booked now is an early morning 5:50 am departure.
agent told me i could be put on that flight or one of the others.

i went with that first flight out even though it was much earlier than i had planned.

agent told me she has now booked me on that flight and will receive an email to my change.

no extra money to be paid she told me since SW is now calling those already booked/paid to switch them to other dates or flights.

Please do not change the default font/color. Your post is extremely difficult to read.

There will be many hiccups and changes with the merger of Southwest and AirTran. Don't expect things to always go smoothly.

 

[Kristie911]

I got a phone call (which I missed) and an e-mail that they changed me to a 9:15am flight. I now have the pleasure of a 4 hour layover in St Louis with two kids. And a husband who may not even be able to go because we now have to leave for the airport by 6am and he works until 7am that morning.

I'm in tears.

I'd just book a different flight with Delta but we can't afford to pay another thousand dollars for another flight. Southwest won't refund they'll only hold the money for a different booking. And we rarely fly...so that's about as helpful as a stick in the eye.

 

[Kristie911]

Air Tran didn't even operate out of the airport we are using, so I don't think it was that.

 

[Gracie09]

Are you sure sw won't refund? Is there another flight on that day that would work better for you? If so call and ask to be placed on that flight.

When jetblue changed our flight by a few hours we were able to get a complete refund of that leg and we then purchased tickets from united. So just because they don't normally do it doesn't mean they won't do it

 

[gericoronado]

I got a phone call (which I missed) and an e-mail that they changed me to a 9:15am flight. I now have the pleasure of a 4 hour layover in St Louis with two kids. And a husband who may not even be able to go because we now have to leave for the airport by 6am and he works until 7am that morning.

I'm in tears.

I'd just book a different flight with Delta but we can't afford to pay another thousand dollars for another flight. Southwest won't refund they'll only hold the money for a different booking. And we rarely fly...so that's about as helpful as a stick in the eye.

I hope this situation is cleared up and you'll be able to enjoy a vacation, husband included. Not knowing what kind of work your husband does, but maybe his employers would kindly allow him to clock out a earlier.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I'm in tears.

I'd just book a different flight with Delta but we can't afford to pay another thousand dollars for another flight. Southwest won't refund they'll only hold the money for a different booking. And we rarely fly...so that's about as helpful as a stick in the eye.

If Southwest changed the flight time substantially, SOMEBODY at Southwest will help you pick a different Southwest itinerary that works better for you. The change should cost you nothing, even if the new flights are more expensive.

Or SOMEBODY at Southwest will authorize a full refund under these circumstances. Then you can buy on Delta or another carrier.

The agents at the legacy carriers (United, AA, US Airways, Delta) do this routinely. At Southwest, schedule changes are such a rarity that some front-line agents may not know what to do.

Ask for a supervisor. Of course, remain calm and courteous. But be persistent and don't take no for an answer.

Keep reminding them that the schedule change was done by Southwest. It's not something you wanted or initiated.

 

[LisaS]

Call back and explain the situation with your DH's work schedule. I've had to call SW once or twice and have found their customer service reps to be very reasonable and helpful. Perhaps there is another flight that will work better for you.

 

[tjmw2727]

SWA has no change fees and since they canceled your flight you don't have to accept that change. You can be put on any flight that works for you at no additional cost. Go online and find a flight that works better for you can call back. Don't blame the agent - they don't control the flights but they can help you find a better flight.

IMHO SWA has the best customer service of any airline, hands down!

I got a phone call (which I missed) and an e-mail that they changed me to a 9:15am flight. I now have the pleasure of a 4 hour layover in St Louis with two kids. And a husband who may not even be able to go because we now have to leave for the airport by 6am and he works until 7am that morning.

I'm in tears.

I'd just book a different flight with Delta but we can't afford to pay another thousand dollars for another flight. Southwest won't refund they'll only hold the money for a different booking. And we rarely fly...so that's about as helpful as a stick in the eye.

 

[bumbershoot]

I got a phone call (which I missed) and an e-mail that they changed me to a 9:15am flight. I now have the pleasure of a 4 hour layover in St Louis with two kids. And a husband who may not even be able to go because we now have to leave for the airport by 6am and he works until 7am that morning.

I'm in tears.

I'd just book a different flight with Delta but we can't afford to pay another thousand dollars for another flight. Southwest won't refund they'll only hold the money for a different booking. And we rarely fly...so that's about as helpful as a stick in the eye.

You do not have to accept this flight. If you haven't called, please call.

 

[Kristie911]

DH is going to put in for an extra vacation day tomorrow so I'm going to cross my fingers that it gets approved (he's a police officer so if someone is off, he has to work, they only work with 3 man crews).

Our choices are a 6:05am flight, which means we leave the house, with a 3 and 10 year old, at 3am. Bonus is that we would land at noon at Orlando and be at the resort probably by 2pm for some nice relaxing pool time. But holy heck that's early and it has 2 stops...1 for a plane change and one is just a stop. I don't know how much of a pain that would be.

Second choice, 9:15 flight. Much more reasonable as far as time...but it has a layover in St Louis from 9:35am (different time zone?) and doesn't fly out to Orlando until 1:20. Long time to hang around an airport with kids.

Third choice is a 5:55pm flight and lands at 10:30...that would ruin our entire first day because everyone would be tired and cranky.

Ugh. Calling tomorrow and we will see what happens.

 

[jlsmith376]

This happened to my family last October. Southwest left a message on my voicemail a month or two before the trip that our flight to MCO was cancelled and they booked us on a later flight the same day without consulting me. We had tickets for MNSSHP that evening and the later flight wouldn't get us there in time and the earlier flights had long layovers that I wouldn't accept since I booked nonstop for a reason. I called southwest and explained the situation. At the time I wasn't sure what we were going to do - book with another airline or change the dates of the trip - so I insisted on a full refund and they gave it to me, including the EBCI fee.

 

[DebbieB]

DH is going to put in for an extra vacation day tomorrow so I'm going to cross my fingers that it gets approved (he's a police officer so if someone is off, he has to work, they only work with 3 man crews).

Our choices are a 6:05am flight, which means we leave the house, with a 3 and 10 year old, at 3am. Bonus is that we would land at noon at Orlando and be at the resort probably by 2pm for some nice relaxing pool time. But holy heck that's early and it has 2 stops...1 for a plane change and one is just a stop. I don't know how much of a pain that would be.

Second choice, 9:15 flight. Much more reasonable as far as time...but it has a layover in St Louis from 9:35am (different time zone?) and doesn't fly out to Orlando until 1:20. Long time to hang around an airport with kids.

Third choice is a 5:55pm flight and lands at 10:30...that would ruin our entire first day because everyone would be tired and cranky.

Ugh. Calling tomorrow and we will see what happens.

Did you have a non-stop before? None of those seem reasonable. I would look into other airlines to see if you have better options and ask for a refund if you can find one. What about your return flight?

 

[Kristie911]

Did you have a non-stop before? None of those seem reasonable. I would look into other airlines to see if you have better options and ask for a refund if you can find one. What about your return flight?

We had a layover with our other flight but it was only an hour and twenty minutes with a plane change...that's reasonable to me.

I've looked at other airlines and the prices are the same until you add baggage fees and then it will add between $100 and $200 depending on how good of packers we are.

Our return flight hasn't changed and I'm thankful for that.

Hubby and I discussed it at length last night and decided we will just try for the 6:05am flight. He will do something at work...maybe a trade with someone if he can't get vacation. It's very early but maybe the kids will sleep on the plane and we will get there early enough that we can have some pool time and an early bedtime to be ready for Epcot first thing the next day. It's preferable to a nearly 5 hour layover. Still not happy though...but we will make due.