unacceptable flight problems and rude customer service
On Sunday, May 27, 2007 I boarded a flight in Akron/Canton to Atlanta then to Jacksonville, FL. My flight was to depart at 10:12am and arrive in Atlanta at 11:53am. AirTran delayed the flight and passengers had to board a new plane. This flight left Akron/Canton at 11:00am and we arrived in Atlanta at 12:23pm. This delay caused me to miss my connecting flight to Jacksonville resulting in a 6 1/2 hr layover in Atlanta. I approached customer service and have never been treated so rudely. I am a frequent traveler and found AirTran's customer service and its passenger treatment to be unacceptable. In my 25 years of flying (at least once per month), I've never experienced such horrible service. In Akron/Canton we were told that Atlanta was well aware of our delay and would make accommodations for us. The man at the flight door in Akron/Canton also said they would hold the flight for us. Additionally, two flight attendees said they would hold the flight in Atlanta. We arrived only to find that the flight to Jacksonville had departed. Not only did I miss an entire day of important activities planned at my final destination, I was lied to by three of AirTran's staff. This was my first experience with AirTran and I can't help but think it may have been the last for me, my staff, family and colleagues.
I received an email response from AirTran's customer service representative. Basically we're sorry you were unhappy, we met our obligation, but I can give you $50 towards another AirTran flight within one year.
rude airline personnel
Here is the letter I am sending to Southwest Airlines first thing tomorrow morning. I am still as mad as ever!
RE: Customer Service Commitment and Our Mission Statement
The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit.
Dear Sirs,
I was a passenger on two Southwest Airlines flights this week. The first on May 30, 2007 to San Francisco #199 out of John Wayne Airport and the second today, June 2, 2007 returning home to Orange County, California.
After a wonderful vacation to visit my son in San Francisco, I boarded flight #2089 and settled in for the trip home. While descending into John Wayne Airport one of your flight attendants picking up customer’s garbage, passed by without looking at me or asking me for my empty cup. I said “Excuse me” but was ignored. I then tapped her on her waist at which time, she turned around and very rudely and loudly stated that “It is NOT OK to touch me, that is not good” etc. I was rather shocked to be spoken to that way by anyone, much less airline personnel. I wasn’t a drunken male passenger grabbing at a young woman to harass her. I am a professional middle-aged, married, mother of two. I apologized and was embarrassed.
After sitting for a few minutes, two female passengers seated across from me said how disgusted they were with this flight attendant’s manner in which she spoke to me. We heard her over the radio thanking everyone for flying Southwest and then added “To be kind to one another”. Several passengers on the plane broke out in laughter hearing how this young lady treated me and then saying something as hypocritical as that! As I left the airplane, she thanked me for flying Southwest, not personally but a blanket statement that all your airline personnel say to passengers leaving a flight. I asked for her name as I intended to write to Southwest immediately.
While waiting for my luggage in Baggage Claim, another man approached me and asked me if I was alright. He also wanted to know if I got this woman’s name because he was going to write to you as well. This gentleman said she was “completely ridiculous and rude” as I gave him her name. Two other women passengers also stated that they were going to report her also.
I have to say that I booked this flight because of the great fare I received. I now know that if your personnel are allowed to behave this way, it’s not worth the extra savings.
I, along with other passengers who I hope will write to you, believe this airline attendant should be reprimanded for her inexcusable and inappropriate customer interaction. HER NAME IS KENDRA AND WAS ON FLIGHT 2089, JUNE 2ND 2007, FROM OAKLAND TO ORANGE COUNTY.
I would appreciate a written response to this complaint and an apology letter at the very least. A partial refund for that leg of the flight would be nice. In any case, I would also appreciate your immediate attention to this matter.
Regards,
Lorraine Kakazu
While boarding a recent flight from Las Vegas to Burbank (3/27/08, Flight #2702) I recognized an old friend and sat down next to him in seat 3D near the front of the aircraft. During the pre-flight routine before takeoff we chatted quietly as the one of the female crew staff (Jan) was giving the required safety presentation. Halfway through her delivery she came up to me and asked me to not talk because it was disturbing her. I was totally surprised by this action for several reasons: (1) my conversation with my friend was in a low and moderate tone, and (2) three other men directly across the aisle from me were also talking to each other, as were a number of other passengers in the immediate area of the cabin. As far as I'm concerned this crew member's actions were totally out of line and uncalled for. Why she fixated on me is a total mystery, but I can assure you her actions did not go unnoticed by other passengers who looked at her and shock their heads in disbelief. Maybe "Jan" was having a bad day, may be she's just wired tight; either way if customer service is a priority with SWA I would highly recommend that they consider bringing this young lady in for some remedial training on how to handle passengers who are doing nothing more than having a conversation in their seats.
Do you like being poked by a stranger? How about if you are at work? You said you are a professional middle aged woman. Shouldn't you know better than to poke someone to get their attention? That is the behavior of a child. Did it ever occur to you to simply try to get her attention verbally? Poking someone is rude, plain and simple. She called you on it and now you're embarrassed. Instead of just taking responsibility for your own actions, you are placing the blame on an innocent person who was just doing her job when you decided to assault her with your finger. I have to say that I'm not surprised that you are from Orange County, CA. The kind of behaviour that you have displayed is unfortunately quite common in that area of the country.
Did you ever consider the fact that maybe you were being rude by talking through the safety demonstration? You may not care about it, but there are people who do. First time flyers, children, and even some elderly passengers might want to hear the safety briefing instead of your conversation.
I hope you were answered by Southwest. I see you didn't post the response.
baggage lost
We traveled from Chicago to Baltimore at 3:00 p.m. flight 202 on Friday, December 22nd to spend time with family over the holidays. We were the last people off of the plane, and stopped to use the restroom, and by the time we reached the baggage claim it was unclear from the signage which carosel our baggage would be on. We asked the baggage personnel and they were unhelpful. We finally recognized some people from the flight and migrated towards an unmarked baggage claim. Our flight finally came up and we waited about 45 minutes for all of the bags to come around. We realized that none of our bags showed up, and about 20 other people from the same flight had a similar situation. Next, we all went to the Southwest baggage office and waited another 30 minutes only to be told that our situation wasn't unique, all baggage from Chicago was delayed since 10 a.m. the same day, and to fill out a claim form to get our baggage. (At this point, I wondered, if you knew that major baggage issues were a factor, why wasn't that information communicated to the baggage receiving personnel in Chicago? If we were told, "We are having a baggage problem, and if you can carry your luggage on, do so" , then we could've been armed with the necessary information to make a decision.)
We filed the claim, and waited. We called at about 11:00 p.m. to find out what was going on only to be forwarded to an unmanned voice message system with no options to speak with a real person. We finally got thru to a person around mid-night who informed us that one bag was in, but they were still waiting for the other one to arrive. When asked the ETA of the second bag, they had no answer. We asked them to bring the bag that they had, since it had gifts in it, and we were exchanging gifts with family in a couple of hours. They refused. They said they would give us $75 to come and pick up the bag. At 12:30 a.m. that did not sound very appealing. So we waited. We were told that we would receive a call with an update by 1:00 or 1:30 a.m. at the latest. We never received a call.
At 7:30 a.m. we phoned again. Once again, we were routed to the unmanned phone system. (Very frustrating, it's as if they are saying, "we screwed up, we lost your bags, but we're much to busy and important to actually take your phone call." It's like a bad one sided relationship that we are paying to be a part of.) We continued calling and finally got thru to someone who let us know that both bags were in and would be delivered sometime between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. We envisioned yet another day of waiting and asked if their were any other options. We were told no. We were offered $50 to come a get the bags. (Apparently, our discomfort and inconvenience was going down in value in the eyes of the BWI Southwest Baggage Office.) Next, we were told by J'Vette -a baggage clerk- that our situation was not unique, our needs were not important, and that we would have to wait our turn in the line up of people who were waiting for bags. (Just what we needed after a night of not sleeping-waiting for a call from SWA baggage). We opted to pick up the bags, not wanting to trust our holiday plans to the Southwest Logistics Dept and clerks like J'Vette.
Thanks a lot SWA for helping our holiday get off to a great start. We are disappointed and feel as though Southwest Airlines baggage teams should collaborate more effectively and communicate with their customers. Mistakes happen, but Southwest should do a better job of handling customer concerns. Additionally, SWA should invest in customer service training for baggage people. The airline crews are so friendly and outgoing... that image diminishes when you deal with the baggage office. The two are incongruent.
my parents fly southwest from PHL to Oakland, CA in May, on the way there, they lost their luggage. My familes fly from PHL to Oakland two days later, they lost our luggage. they were able to find it and delivery to us the next day, which is fine. But then on the way home. They lost my dad's luggage, the next morning they found it and call me telling me that the bag was damage, and the stuff inside was soaking wet, so they offer me a new bag and $75 voucher, since they don't have the same size bag as the one that damage, they will offer me a bigger one, so i accept the offer and let me know that my husband will stop by the airport in the afternoon to pick up my dad's bag and the new bag and the voucher. By the time my husband got to the airport, the staff are telling me the different story, they told him they don't have any bag the same size, so they are just going to offer us $100 voucher. My husband call me while he is at airport and tell me, and I spoke to the SWA staff and told me that's not acceptable. The SWA staff was so rude to me, he said he can't give me the bag, i only have 2 options, either take my torn bag and the $75 voucher to go, and go fix my bag, and submit the receipt to them or take the $100 voucher. And I told him, by the way, his name is Noel, and I told him either option is not acceptable, that's not what they told me on the phone. I told me that they are wasting my time to go to the airport and pickup the stuff. And Noel told me that's why they are giving me the voucher. after i told Noel that both options that he offer are not acceptable, and I ask to speak to his supervise, and he put me on hold and then come back to me telling me that he can give me a bag with southwest print on it. I told him no, I do not like to advertising for SWA. And he was asking me what else i want. and I told him that I don't want anything but speak to his supervisor, after he put me on hold for 5 min., he finally transfer me to his supervisor. and his supervisor Lennox is an idiot too, i am pretty sure that while Noel put me on hold for 5 min, he has already describe the situation to his supervisor. But Lennox act like he didn't know what happen, so I explain it to him again, and his response is that he can't really hear me, coz i am on the cellphone and i am driving. So i repeat it again, after Lennox listen to it again, he put me on hold for 5 min, and then hang up on me.
** Southwest has no service at all, even the flight attendent are very rude.
** They lost your luggage and damage your luggage, and have the gut to be mean to you.
**** Never ride Southwest again******
I AGREE DO NOT FLY THIS AIRLINE IF ENOUGH PEOPLE FEEL THIS WAY THEY WILL EITHER HAVE TO CHANGE THEIR PRACTICES OR SHUT DOWN MY NAME IS REGINALD BOLTON AN I HAD AN ISSUE WITH THIS AIRLINE AN VOW TO NEVER FLY WITH THEM AGAIN PASS THE WORD AN MAKE A CHANGE
I have flown with Southwest 3 times in the past 4 years. EVERY TIME my bags have been lost. I have tried to make phone calls to complain about the lack of competence but every phone number they list is either always busy or goes directly to voice mail (with no return phone call).
If you have a simular experience please go to this web-site to complain Aviation Consumer Protection Division airconsumer.ost.dot.gov
The info you give them will be shared with Southwest as well as the MEDIA.
I am Sick of Southwest getting so may accolades with they cant even complete the simplest of tasks, answering the phone!
We picked up my brotherinlaw from a flight from Chicago to Orlando March 22/08 to have the same sort of problem, no bags on arrival. We waited for 30 min. with no announcements from southwest. My wife saw a pile of bags near the baggage office and called us over. My brotherinlaws bags where there as well as a female employee of S/W. Bro-in-law said out loud to us, "Why didn't anyone say anything to us", the baggage person looked right at us and said "I'm so sick of you idiots complaining about your bags", we all tried to reason with her to no avail, we then went to file a complaint against her in the baggage office where this female told us to "F***off" as well as many other nasty things. Another S/W employee escorted her to the back office and the nasty person exited from another door to return to us to continue her abusive behavior. We complained to a superviser about this and got a phone call from customer service later with no results being issued. Bottom prices = rock bottom baggage service!
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES LOST MY LUGGAGE AND TOLD ME THAT BECAUSE NORTH WEST HAD LOST MY LUGGAGE THE YEAR BEFORE. THEY COULD NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. IF YOU HAVE A SIMILAR PROBLEM WITH SOUTH WEST AND ARE INTERESTED IN A LAW SUIT AGAINST THEM CALL [protected] OR [protected].
WE NEED TO GET THE BALL ROLLING ON THIS LAW SUIT AND THERE IS A BIT OF RACISM INVOLVED IN BAGGAGE CUSTOMER SERVICE.
PAT
Your luggage was not lost. It was stolen by drunks and addicts that pass for Southwest Airlines baggage handlers.
holding my refund for two weeks!
I recently made a reservation on SWA for a round trip ticket and since it was booked online required the payment from my credit card right away before they would issue a ticket.
Here is where the problems occur. I had to cancel my flight and the entire ticket was fully refundable. I cancel the flight and start looking for my credit to appear on my charge card listing. I wait a week and no refund. I call SWA and I am told, SWA takes your refund and puts it into a holding account in which you can use for future travel. This was all completed without my approval! Then I now after ten days request the money be credited to my charge card. I was informed before I hung up that the credit to my card can take up to 14 days. It already took almost two weeks to find out they were holding the refund WITH NO INTEREST being paid.
We have to put a stop to these large companies continuing to find ways to hurt the average American who is trying to make a living. DO NOT FLY SWA IF THERE IS ANY CHANCE YOU MAY NEED TO CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR TRIP.
I recently made a reservation on SWA for a round trip ticket and since it was booked online required the payment from my credit card right away before they would issue a ticket.
*****What a concept...paying for something before you actually "get it"...LOL
Here is where the problems occur. I had to cancel my flight and the entire ticket was fully refundable. I cancel the flight and start looking for my credit to appear on my charge card listing. I wait a week and no refund. I call SWA and I am told, SWA takes your refund and puts it into a holding account in which you can use for future travel. This was all completed without my approval!
*****Yes, unless you ask for the refund, it is held for future travel...so?
Then I now after ten days request the money be credited to my charge card. I was informed before I hung up that the credit to my card can take up to 14 days. It already took almost two weeks to find out they were holding the refund WITH NO INTEREST being paid.
*****Interest? They aren't a bank. You don't fly very often, or you would realize they didn't charge YOU $50 for cancelling your reservation. *I LOVE ROOKIES>>
We have to put a stop to these large companies continuing to find ways to hurt the average American who is trying to make a living. DO NOT FLY SWA IF THERE IS ANY CHANCE YOU MAY NEED TO CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR TRIP.
*****By all means, fly another airline and pay a cancellation fee. Which by the way, they will get whether you cancel or not, because they will charge you to check your bags...It's $50 to fly or cancel...LOL
pilfering from luggage!
This e-mail is being sent to tell people to check their luggage carefully after flying with Southwest Airlines. I took a flight with them last week. My luggage did not have an inspection notice in it, it was not damaged or opened in any way, and it was a direct flight to my destination. When I reached my destination I discovered that two pieces of my under clothing were missing. I was sure I'd packed them, but decided to wait to call them until I got home to make sure I'd not left them at my home. I had not...
I called Southwest and was told that I need to call their long distance claims dept.number. I was then told by their claims dept. that the claim would be denied by them because:
1.) More than 4 hours had passed since I received my luggage,
and
2.) there was no visible damage to my luggage.
So, my assumption is that because their employees know this policy, they are taking small items that won't be missed immediately. Now I'm wondering about those earrings that have been "lost" on a prior trip.
So, my advice is to either not fly Southwest Airlines or to make a complete inventory of what you packed so that you can check to make sure nothing is missing. Include it with a big note inside your luggage to discourage anyone that might be thinking of pilfering through your belongings.
--
Lori in Arizona
Flight wn1278 was delayed for awaiting passengers coming from Seattle 9:35( actual departure of 11:05. Passengers were accounted for at 10:40- waited for two bags- unbelievable! After my bags missing connecting flights on numerous occasions, this delay was totally unacceptable.
Southwest airlines has turned into the worst airline. I'm a priority member and there seems to be always a catch to upgrading to extra leg room seats. I call and they explain the rules and then when I try to use by benefits, I get burned! I think I will be switching back to American airlines.
not sure if we will using southwest in the future missed our dinner with family (after all the poor service and delays we made it to albany with our laggage after 8:00 pm very disappointing flight with southwest my name is John Pietrefesa Sr. we are in our 80's thank GOD we made back safely
Attached photos of damaged Bag\Luggage.
I just flew in from El Paso on flight 1511 to San Antonio. Our flight attendant was incredibly rude. I’ve not experienced this before on a SWA flight. I’d say dog walking might be a good alternative career, but I hate to do that to the dogs….Redish long dreadlocks and a bad attitude
Just was lied to and spent 4 hours trying to
Resolve a ticket concern and was told it was taken care of and I would receive email . This was told to me twice by customer relations team and I never got email.
Bag destroyed in handling
also my wife and i had a total of three bags and was told
one bag was 2 pounds over and had topay 75 dollars i asked could we average the bags
as i am 100 % disabled v eteran in a wheel chair is clear i could not repack bags
had flight cancelled second plane broke down third plane fine
Gait attendent was extremely rude upon customer walking to desk. After a long exhausting trip with small children at Disney. I did not appreciate being treated so poorly with just trying to ask a simple question.
On Sunday may 28 we flew from Orlando to New York in flight number 1533 were our baggage got delayed.
So to claim the money for the baggage delayed from our insurance company they require the claim form.I kindly request you to look into this matter and reply as soon as possible
Thanks and Regards
(NARESH P KARPE)
They Just canceled my flight and didn't even bother to tell me! I tried changing it for a earlier flight and the kooks attendant wanted to charge me $180! Moved my flight to depart 2hrs later! Now I'm late for my daughter's first birthday. Disappointed and upset.
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As for the folks who missed their flight in Vegas. Well DUH! 140 people showed up and made the flight on time. You didn't. Hmmmmmmmm 140 vs. 2. Who could possibly be in the wrong? Certainly couldn't be the dip ### who didn't even ask about the flight until an HOUR after their departure time.
And for the [censored]hs who claim that "they gave everybody diffent seats". They don't GIVE everybody different seats. They give seats left to give. Check in early if you have a group, or check in ON LINE. Like the rest of America, you wont' take responsibility for your own INACTION.
Are you people kidding? Nobody promises flight holds. What airline is gonna hold a flight (when it has to get it's destination and immediately turn to the next flight) for 4-5 people?
Grow up or fly Greyhound.
Garden variety complaint here. Made an online booking. AirTran's system sent me a confirmation email with an error in the itnerary. I checked my email in a separate window immediately following the booking, so I returned to the confirmation screen in the window that I used to book. The confirmation email indeed differed from what I was shown in the booking confirmation page.
So I called customer service. They straightened it out, but charged me a ten dollar booking fee. I expalained that since the error was caused by them, that I should not have to pay the direct booking fee. They agreed that it was their error, but "There is nothing we can do about it."
There is something that I can do about it. I will avoid AirTran. And I will encourage others to avoid AirTran.
In fact, the real name of the airline is AirTrash.
We also had problems with air tran we flew out of seattle and had a connecting flight to Orlando, when we arrived at the gate for our flight to Orlando they informed us that they gave our seats away, they didn't think we would make it. We informed them that we were on time and we wanted our seats we were travelling with thee children. They finally removed the people from our seats and we left. I wish that was it but its not. We flew back to Atlanta for our sons wedding and on the return flight for home they gave all our family different seats our three year old was going to have to sit with strangers for 5 and a half hours. When I approached the gate they said to talk to the stewardess so I did they told me to talk to the passengers and see if they would change seats they would not help. Finally one man did trade and I got to sit with our three year old but our other two children sat with strangers and my husband was up in the front. They also told us our luggage was oversized on our return home, funny thing is everyother airport said it was fine. They charged us 87.oo dollars more. Would I take airtran again, not in a minute. They were rude and not in the least bit helpful.
My boyfriend and I had a flight leaving from Las Vegas, NV on November 2, 2007 at 2pm. We arrived at the airport at 10am to return our rental car and to await our flight. At approximately 12:30pm we left our flight gate (D24) to get something to eat just up the corridor, we returned at exactly 1:30pm to gate D24. At this time we watched an AirTran plan back way from the terminal and taxi away. We continued to sit at the window next to the D24 terminal awaiting our flight. At approximately 3pm we approached the AirTran service desk to inquire about our flight. After showing our ticket to the guy behind the desk, Jason Carter, we were told, in a very indignant and perturbed manner, that the flight had already left and we’d missed it. We then asked what could be done to correct the situation since we’d been sitting by the terminal since 1:30pm and the flight was not scheduled to leave until 2pm. He replied sharply that someone would help us and then he walked away. The young female that was at the desk, Rashaunda Green, put us on stand-by for the next flight but stated that she could not confirm it. At this point, Mr. Carter returned and we began to question how was that we’d missed a flight that we had been waiting for in the same corridor and at the terminal for hours. Mr. Carter began to state in a rude and accusatory tone that if we were at the terminal then we would not have missed the flight. Ms. Green grabbed her belongs and began to walk off stating repeatedly “I don’t care” when we asked her for her name. Mr. Carter questioned in a very condescending tone “you didn’t see 140 people lined up at the terminal?” After expressing our frustration at how we were being treated to Mr. Carter and the inconvenience of the stand-by for the next flight, he retorted “I am trying to get you on the God-damn flight!” At this point my boyfriend demanded to see Mr. Carter’s supervisor and he responded “I am the supervisor” and stated that the other supervisor had gone for the day. After getting the name and number of the other supervisor Zeke we walked to the AirTran desk in the main airport terminal. We called Zeke who was in fact on duty and still at the airport. Zeke and a young lady by the name of Vivian was very helpful and sympathetic to our situation and were just as out-raged by the way we were treated by Mr. Carter. Zeke gave us the number to customer service to file a complaint that my boyfriend called and spoke to a guy named David (ID#: 6435) who was just as rude and disrespectful as Mr. Carter. He hung up the phone and called back and spoke with a guy name Zavario who was very helpful and took all the information for my complaint down.
We have never been so disrespected by any airline and we use AirTran frequently. I am seeking the termination of Mr. Carter, strict reprimand for David (ID#: 6435), and some sort reward for Zeke, Vivian, and Zavario for outstanding customer service. I would ask to be compensated in some fashion for the way we were treated but I don’t think I have to. I want to be notified immediately of the action taken against Mr. Carter for cursing at long-time AirTran customers and David (ID#: 6435).