What has happened to Southwest's formerly good customer service

[ibob52]

DD888 . . I took it for granted *you called* ~ SWA Customer Relations ~ 1-855-234-4654

Not the . . SWA Reservations & Information ~ 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792)

 

[Donald Duck888]

DD888 . . I took it for granted *you called* ~ SWA Customer Relations ~ 1-855-234-4654

Not the . . SWA Reservations & Information ~ 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792)

I did not know of that other number. Would I get further if I called that one?mor should I just wait till tomorrow morning as it is so close to our 7 am flight? Thanks for the info.

 

[ibob52]

Would I get further if I called that one?

yes . . .

the folks at SWA Customer Relations 1-855-234-4654 . . are the ones who *can* work some magic.

But they are only available Monday - Friday

To email .. SWA Customer Service (Relations)

[search] the SWA webpage . . input keywords [Customer Service] . . . contact us

The agents at 1-800-435-9792 are Reservation & Information

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

I had this happen in September. Southwest changed our flight time home from Orlando and I called to make sure they updated my EBCI and was told it was taken care of... We had just got off DCL, so we attempted to print our boarding passes at the airport only to find out we were the high C's. They never updated our EBCI. Went to baggage check and was told nothing they could do there, I needed to call customer service. I said "I'm standing here talking to you, I'm not going to call anyone" and demanded a supervisor. The supervisor put a special stamp on our boarding passes and we were able to board after the A's but before family boarding.

 

[Disneylover99]

I had this happen in September. Southwest changed our flight time home from Orlando and I called to make sure they updated my EBCI and was told it was taken care of... We had just got off DCL, so we attempted to print our boarding passes at the airport only to find out we were the high C's. They never updated our EBCI. Went to baggage check and was told nothing they could do there, I needed to call customer service. I said "I'm standing here talking to you, I'm not going to call anyone" and demanded a supervisor. The supervisor put a special stamp on our boarding passes and we were able to board after the A's but before family boarding.

Phew! Anything before family boarding would have been acceptable to me as well.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

One word


AirTran

Sadly instead of SW fixing then they infected SW

 

[keishashadow]

I received better customer service from AirTran, certainly wasn't happy when SWA absorbed them: less competition in our market, less flights and no longer was there the chance to (often) book a cheap connecting flight then switch to one of our choice when they changed the departure time.

SWA is my new 'preferred carrier but after my 1st flight on Allegiant, will price them out too for future trips to MCO.

OP hope it worked out for you

 

[emilymad]

Thank you OP for posting this. Back in August my flights for January changed time and number. I just checked my flight and it does not include the EarlyBird even though I have the receipt for originally purchasing it. I am going to call SWA now to get it corrected. It was correct on my husbands flight but that was because I had rebooked his flight cheaper over the phone and the agent asked if I wanted to purchase EB. I told the agent we had already purchased EB which he was able to see and correct at that time. I just assumed the agent had messed up the rebooking.

 

[nkereina]

I agree that the gate agent should be able to help you, if they're willing. They have the authority to board people how they need to so if you have a special circumstance like this, it would be within their means to get boarded at the same time.

Hopefully it doesn't come to this, but the last several times I've flown SW, there have been business select boarding positions still available when I got to the gate. If that's the case, they will generally allow you to upgrade to one of those boarding positions for $30. I wouldn't want to pay anything either after their screw up, but it's better than the $200 they quoted to do it in advance.

 

[Donald Duck888]

Hi all,

Thank you all for your great replies. We just got back from a great Disney vacation today and I wanted to update how things worked out. When we got to the airport we were lucky enough to have a really understanding gate agent that basically allowed my daughter to board with me. So thanks to him all worked out well. I still think SW should have been able to do something over the phone in advance ( like have upgraded her to 1-15) since it was their error but as I say thanks to a great gate agent all worked out.

 

[Shanti]

Ok I will start off by admitting this post is a bit of a venting for me but hey my vacation has not even started and it is not off to a good start thanks to Southwest.

We are due to leave for Disney tomorrow on Southwest with tickets i bought 6 months ago and both tickets both ways had early bird check in bought and paid for on them. I should have known there might be a problem when about 2 months back Southwest changed the flight time on out outbound flight and it changed for my ticket but not for my 8 year old daughter's. So i spent an hour on the phone fixing that(so i thought). At that point i thought all was good as everything including early bird showed up for her after the phone conversation.

So today i print out the boarding passes and I get A19 so I am really happy as my daughter is not so happy with flying so the sooner we get situated on the plane the better. But, then I print hers out and it is all the way at the end of the B's and not listed as early bird. So I figure (correctly) that something got messed up when Southwest changed the ticket time so I call. After about an hour on the phone again the woman tells me that evidently they neglected to put the early bird that i paid for back on my daughters ticket when they made the changes and there is nothing they can do unless I want to pay $200 to upgrade my 8 yr old daughter to business class and then she can board 1-15.

So i say to the woman "so basically you are telling me that someone on your end messed up and I am now going to have to pay the price for that?" She say yes there is nothing they can do. I say well why cant you put my daughter in the business select and I will then just have her board with me at A19 to which she says " oh we cant do that as we cant comp you something you never paid for in the first place". Really? well how about just giving me the spot she would have had if not for your company's error?

Just really frustrated as the whole reason I book early and pay for early bird is so as to avoid dealing having to board late, risk not being seated together etc. If she was older I wild just go on and then have her join me with her group but she is only 8. All I want is what I paid for and all they would have to do to make it happen is possibly(they might not even sell the upgrade) give up the upgrade money and let her board where I paid for her to be boarding in the first place.

I realize it is not the end of the world but it is not the way I wanted to start out vacation either.

Ok rant over

Happy to know it all worked out in the end.

 

[LisaS]

When we got to the airport we were lucky enough to have a really understanding gate agent that basically allowed my daughter to board with me. So thanks to him all worked out well.

That's exactly what I expected they would do -- allow your daughter to board with you, in what should have been her assigned boarding position. The gate agent did the right thing and in my experience, Southwest generally does the right thing.

The CSR you spoke with on the phone could have and should have done a better job. All she needed to do was to make a note on your daughter's reservation about what happened and tell you to go to the gate and talk to the gate agent and your daughter would be allowed to board with you. It sounds like you got someone very inexperienced who caused you unnecessary anxiety.

I still think SW should have been able to do something over the phone in advance ( like have upgraded her to 1-15) since it was their error but as I say thanks to a great gate agent all worked out.

As far as I'm aware they can only do the $40 boarding position upgrade at the podium, once they know how many Business Select passengers there are and how many boarding positions are open. So you would have had to go to the podium anyway.

I'm glad things worked out in the end!