Southwest Airlines – Page 20

I send a letter out in Sept. Certified via post office and I still have not heard back from Airtran... My original letter.

2nd Notice January 25, 2012
Original Date 1st letter was sent out September 28, 2011

AirTran Airways, Inc.
Complaint Resolution Officer
9955 Air Tran Boulevard
Orlando, Florida 32827

Re: To Whom It May Concern,

Because I know you will do a great deal to help me of my horrible airline experience, I feel I can turn to you with a matter that has caused me much personal frustration and even more wasted time. On July 26, 2011. I had a flight that was suppose to leave Las Vegas at 7am “Flight # 227” flying into Milwaukee. I did a online check and didn't have enough ink to print my boarding pass, which I figured I would print it at the airport. When I arrived at the airport I went to go print my boarding pass at the kiosk and discovered that there was no kiosk for me to print my pass. I was livid due to the fact that Vegas being one of the most popular tourist destination/airport and to not have a kiosk to print out my boarding pass was disturbing and not acceptable. I live in new york, which our airport size don't even compare to the size of Vegas Airport and the amount of people that travel through there, which we have a kiosk to print out a boarding pass. On top of that AirTran is not even up to date with technology out of all the airlines I traveled it's also disturbing that AirTran don't even offer paperless check-in. I should be able to use my PDA to check in with my boarding pass. My entire reason for doing online check-in is to avoid long lines and being able to go to my gate directly without dealing with an agent.

When I arrived at the airport there was a long line and two agents working at the time, which I had to stand on the line. When I finally got to the front which I still had 20 mins to make my flight. I was told that I will not be able to make my flight and would have to do a standby mind you I had no check in luggage. When I arrived at my gate I notice that passengers was still boarding the plane which made me more frustrated because I could have definitely board my flight.

I was place on a standby on the next available flight, which I did not make because it was full. I was then placed on another flight as a standby, which I finally made it on. “Flight #511” landed in Milwaukee where I had a 3hr delay, which I was not happy about. My whole day was wasted and was a complete disaster for me. I spent a total of 6 hrs extra in traveling on top of the 5 ½ hrs it takes to fly to NY. I lost a day of work and 6hrs of my time that I will never get back. As a business customer service is key and I felt like Airtran lacked that. Out of all the times I traveled throughout my life. I never had a bad experience or complained about my travels. I think that Airtran is unreliable and do not value there customers. From my experience and treatment I will never use your service again, as there are plenty of airlines that do value there customers. I rather take my business else where even if that means paying extra money to fly. I am requesting a full refund or complimentary round trip ticket. I look forward to your response, thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Shenese Brannon

I recently traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada from Boston, Massachusetts using Air Tran Airlines. I booked both the flight and hotel accommodations for a group of six people through Air Tran’s website. The package I booked included a round trip flight with a layover in Milwaukee, Wisconsin both ways and two hotel rooms at Planet Hollywood Casino in Las Vegas. The actual booking of the trip was very straightforward and easy. The website was user friendly and took very little time to complete the reservations. The website itself is very familiar to booking a trip on Expedia or other travel providers.
My complaint is from the events that occurred on the trip itself. When I went to check in for our flight the morning before we left the website showed six passengers with six seats next to each other. I went through the check in process and printed boarding passes. When we got to Boston Logan Airport our reservations were lost. The person at the main desk had no idea what went wrong or how to help us. We were left standing at the front desk for almost twenty minutes until the situation was rectified. We were lucky the plane wasn’t sold out because our seats were given to someone else. If the website allows a guest to check in for their flight and print boarding passes their seats should not be sold to other customers. I could not fathom the idea of how this happened but we were on our way to Las Vegas so in the scope of the trip it did not matter.
We landed in Las Vegas close to midnight. We got to the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino close to 1 am with hopes to check in and go to bed. This transaction did not go smoothly. The person working the front desk informed us that Planet Hollywood only received the reservation for 1 room from Air Tran and there were no other rooms available for the night. We were told there was nothing they could do about it until Air Trans Offices opened the following morning. Planet Hollywood ended up cleaning a room for us so we had a place to stay. The next morning we called Air Tran and were put on hold for close to 2 hours. Eventually we got the room situation fixed and we received our two conjoined rooms as planned. Air Tran did not offer any apologies for the trouble we went through. The only thing they were willing to do for us is to give us one $25 gift card towards future Air Tran travel.
This type of service is unacceptable. Although the convenience of booking a trip all at once is extremely appealing, the realization that there is no one around to help you when things do not go according to plan is disheartening. In this case, it was both a technology failure and a lack of personal interaction that made this service an absolute failure. I have booked a similar trip through Expedia and Orbitz in the past and it went extremely smooth. If the competition can get the service right why can’t Air Tran. The lack of cordiality pushed me over the edge. I had all of the paperwork saying I booked the trip appropriately so I did not appreciate the help desk people accusing me of lying. They should have apologized at a minimum and compensated me for my time lost waiting to check in, move rooms, and wait on hold for the next service representative. I will never fly Air Tran again due to this experience.

I would like AirTran to compensate me for my time lost and aggravation during my recent trip.

My wife and I had B-40 B-41 SOUTHWEST airlines boarding passes. We had an A boarding pass from LAX to Vegas When we boarded the plane in LAS VEGAS - Albany ny, we saw 2 seats an aisle and middle seat empty; however, a newspaper and glasses were on the aisle seat. These were the only two seats together. I asked the person sitting on the window seat if anyone was sitting there. He stated he didn't see anyone. The man [about 40 ish ] sitting in the opposite aisle seat stated yes the person was in the bathroom. This seemed stange to me and my wife and I continued to look for seats. Not finding seats close to each other futher back we started to go back up. It dawned on me that the person was saving a seat in the aisle for his friend. By that time the middle seat was taken and I confronted the person saving the aisle seat. Let him know he was saving the seat. Called the flight attendant and she stated I think he's in the bathroom that's what the person told her. Well, the person who sat in the seat had a B-60 BOARDING pass. I knew this because the person was in the B line and tried to get on first and was told he was the last on the B line B-60. my wife and I had to sit in middle seats away from each other and had to go to the back of the plane to eat the sandwich we brought on board to share, we ate standing up. I was angry and fuming. As soon as I arrived home I complained. This is the response I received:
We are sorry you are disappointed with your and your wife's recent travel experience after witnessing other people save seats.We never want our Customers to walk away with unpleasant memories, and we apologize for your frustration.
Since we have open-seating, the question of saving seats is a difficult one. On the one hand, to maintain the integrity of the boarding process and to allow choice of seats to those with early numbers it makes sense to limit the saving of seats. Of course, on the "flip side, " we don't want to separate family members as we realize it is important for some to be seated together (i.e. those traveling with young children). Nevertheless, we certainly apologize for your disappointment. Please know that we have tracked the main points of your e-mail via our monthly summary, which is distributed to our Senior Leadership.
Elise Southwest Airlines
No children involved . Children are let on early. Response was poppycock.. Instead of stating there are no saved seats, this is the nonsense I received. This ticted me off more. Called Southwest and was told to call [protected] on Monday which I will do.
THE SOLUTION;
Get a blue pass for early boarding . It's available to everyone and used by many often for pre-boarding. They cannot ask you on your medical condition. I always despised many phonies who use this ruse and feel sorry for the people in need.
Someone in Baltimore had a B boarding pass had his wife get a wheelchair, had an attendant wheel him on to the plane with his wife following. My wife and I were in the A group we saw this person walking briskly from the back of the plane to the front having the people going on to move and let him back. It was a miracle.
So what is the policy of Southwest ? It's open seating or saved seats? Or if you get a High B number get a blue card medical pass. If Southwest can't follow their rules, why should you. We have traveled all over on various airlines. We never encountered a problem including when we flew Southwest before. Southwest seems to be in decline . It appears they are confused with their own policy. Now I see a lawsuit with their drink coupons.

Airtran I won't be able to take my flight this week on the 4th. I wanted to go see my new grandbaby up there in Baltimore but I got the flu and its supposed to be bad weather up there and would make me even sicker. My husband aint getting around that good and wont use his walker so I guess we wont make it up to see that baby. We will have to wait for her to visit us. Just refund my credit card I used.

We flew Airtran last April from Orlando to Milwaukee. The next day we realized that my daughter left her Nintendo DS in the pocket of her seat. I was very disappointed at the run around I received from Airtran employees on trying to see if it was still on the plane. I was told the plane went on to Vegas and then cleaned. I am sure a contracted cleaning employee found it and kept it. When I called the next day another employee told me the plane was cleaned when it arrived in Atlanta. I had the tail # of the plane and someone could very easily have contacted the plane we were on checked our seat pocket to see if it was still there. Nobody could do that for me. Not sure if we will ever fly with AirTran again.

I am very disappointed with southwest! I cancelled 2 tickets on April 25th because of a weather issue at the destination. I was told that I could use the amount for any traveler, not just the ticketed ones. Supposedly on April 29th, they decided to enforce the policy said to have been in place for 10 months and no longer will allow it. My son has been out of the country for nearly 2 years. We were trying to book tickets for my daughter and her boyfriend to meet my son and his fiance in Dallas. My daughter and son have not seen one another since he left. They have not met the other's new relationship. We have planned an entire week of family/friends reunion based on the fact that we had these funds to purchase tickets. Now, they are refusing to let me use the funds.

It is too far for my daughter and her boyfriend to drive because of their commitments at school. If we don't get this worked out, it will be 6 more months before they see each other as he is moving to the east coast the week after the planned events.

This is very upsetting! If that was the policy on April 25th yet not being enforced, why was I told that it could be done?

Please do something to take care of this. I was promised a phone call, but all I got was an email. Makes me feel like a very valued customer.

Southwest airlines has a "new policy" that they never informed anyone about. If a person books a ticket for another passenger and the trip is cancelled, the buyer of the tickets will not get the other passengers flight miles back regardless of who paid for the tickets. This exact thing happened to me and it is my duty to inform other people. This must be a ripoff scam to compensate for money lost when their planes fuselage was ripping open in mid air. Please please please don't buy from southwest, they are knowingly ripping off good people.

Hello on Monday June 13, 2011 I was scheduled to fly from Atlanta, GA airport to New York Laguardia airport flight #360. Flight was scheduled to leave @ 7:30 which of course it did not leave on time. But that is not my issue right now, the issue was that they let this airplane fly out of Atlanta and get half way to New York to tell us that we have to turn around and go back to Atlanta after being in the air for over an hour. My problem is that usually when people take those early morning flights it is because they may have some place to be at certain time and the earlier they fly the better. I am very disappointed that an airline would turn the plane around fly back to the departing station and not accommodate the passengers for their inconvience.

I had driven from Canada to Minneapolis and then taken Airtran from Minneapolis to Florida and the flight was pretty much okay. On the way back, (From Florida to Minni) 2 weeks later, it was a different story. We arrived to the desk where we got our tickets (myself, my friend and her parents), and the lady stated that only 2 of us had assigned seats, (my friends dad and myself) and if we go through security, then to our gate, we would be assigned seats. We go through security, and go to the gate only to be told "Okay go sit down and we will call you up". That never happened. 5 minutes before they began boarding, my friends parents walked up to the desk and made it clear that we still didn't have the 2 assigned seats. The lady began talking very rudely saying things like, "No YOU'RE not listening to me.. listen to what I'm saying... stop talking". There was also a man who was separated from his family, because the airline overbooked. They said, "well 2 of you can get on and 2 of your can catch the flight 6 hours from now". This was a big issue because we had driven from Canada, and it would have been hard to arrange where the 2 that left would wait. We then said, "okay well that guy can go with his family and we'll wait for the 6 oclock flight". We were compensated with first class to Milwaukee (not from Milawakee to Minni), 2 paid for hotel rooms when we arrived in Minni (it would be 11 by the time we landed) and 4 free round trips to anywhere the airline flies. This seemed fantastic and we were obviously happy. We get to Minneapolis, call the hotel we were supposedly booked in, only to discover that they did not in fact book us any rooms. We had called the shuttle already and there was no time for anything. We literally were stranded at the airport with NO hotel room because they lied and never booked our hotel rooms. It seems so unprofessional to lie to your paying customers, when you're just screwing your company up in the end. We're now planning a trip to Aruba, but I'm not sure if i'm able to trust this airline.

I purchased two tickets in April or May of 2017 and before the flight I changed my plans and drove to my original destination. When seeking options before canceling my flight I was told I coud use the credit or transfer the credit to someome else use. I decided to cancel. I called in November 2017 to clarify my credit for another vacation I was taking and decided not to use Southwest. When checking with Southwest I was told again I could use my credit or transfer it. In February I was planning another vacation and decided to drive versus fly. I actually wrote my confirmation # down during this conversation so I wouldn't have to call again and bother to get the number. I called in April to confirm use of tranferring of credit to my father for a vacation he was planning. I received the same story of tranfering credit but my dad chose to fly from the local airport instead of Denver. I finally placed an ad to transfer the credit to someone who needed to fly before June 12th (1 year after original flight). I arranged the details with the intended receipient and called Southwest to ensure ease of transfer- GUESS WHAT- the tickets weren't transferable anymore. I want to thank Marsha as the original contact who obviously didn't care to discuss it so she had me call Customer Relations. Then helpful Richard got on the line and basically took the stance No we can't. I was very reasonable despite my absolute anger now. No one seemed as helpful as they do on the commercials. They did offer to extend my credit after the one year deadline. Of course it'll be $50 per ticket charge. I don't know how they can change the rules and I have to agree with them. I can tell you one thing- Once this transaction is complete I can guarantee you I won't fly Southwest. I'd rather deal with integrity and pay the bag fees. Their commercials are actually kind of funny!

I had traveled with my family of four for spring vacation from San Jose to San Diego by Southwest flight 3369 Tkt no [protected] Confirmation no X6IVRD on 2ndApril 2011. When I collected my baggage at San Diego, I found that one of my Stroller/Bag was cut down partially on one side. I contacted southwest personal that inspected the baggage, lodged the complaint Report Number [protected] and replaced it. I asked me how it happened and as I have just arrived and to check whether every thing is fine in the bag. He informed that it may happened during TSA screening as the bag was locked. On reaching Hotel, I checked the bag & found my leather jacket, beauty kit, Sony Camcorder &Chargers of laptop daughters e-reader missing . I have tried to reach different departments, but to no avail.. My missing property amounted is around $1500.00.
I have heard that Southwest Airline has the most customer-friendly policy when it comes to checked luggage. but 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.
The airline crews are so friendly and outgoing... that image diminishes when you deal with the baggage office. The two are incongruent.

Damage Report Receipt Number [protected]
Taken date 04/02/2011
PNR X6IVRD; BAGTAG: [protected]

Traveling from Tampa, FL to Providence, RI. When we got home we discovered two pairs of sunglasses we purchased hours before boarding the airplane were not in our suitcase. We packed them very carefully making sure they were in between clothing so they would not break. Some how they were taken out of our luggage from Tampa to our destination in RI. I have been reading about others missing their sunglasses on Southwest flights. Well, if you are traveling Southwest, carry your sunglasses with you. Someone who has access to the luggage has a fetish for sunglasses.

I have been flying Southwest to Oregon for business. Recently Southwest has offered an "early-bird" check-in for an additional fee. When I was doing my taxes recently I found on my credit card statement that Southwest had charged an additional $20 per flight for the early-bird service. I have no recollection of asking for this, and the charge did not appear on the credit card receipt I printed out the day I booked on-line. I think the issue is the same whether I had actually asked for the extra service or not. The issue has to do with Southwest not providing accurate receipts, so we (the consumer) have no way of proving whether we did, or did not, purchase an item or service. When I emailed and called Southwest to complain, they acknowledged that they don't provide credit card receipts for the early-bird fee. WHAT? In response to my complaint, they emailed me receipts for the two ticket prices INCLUDING the $20 per early bird charge, receipts that don't match the ones I originally printed out, and was emailed a few hours later by Southwest (the receipts emailed clearly state: "cost and payment summary" and makes reference to the last 4 digits of the credit card used). They told me that I should have printed out the page where I (supposedly) requested the early-bird charge, even if it is listed separately and is not listed in the total charge for the trip. They told me that the "confirmation page" (which I supposedly saw) showing the early bird check-in fee, serves as my credit card "receipt". NO! A confirmation page is not a receipt, especially if the cost of it is not figured into the total shown as "billed to my credit card". I DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH COMPANIES ON-LINE OR OFF LINE THAT DO NOT PROVIDE receipts. I provide my credit card information to a company in good faith that they have fair and accurate bookkeeping procedures. In this, Southwest has failed miserably. My loyalty to them has been sorely diminished. I don't think I should have to worry about double-checking my credit card statement after booking a flight with them, and even then, I can't prove anything was or was not requested. I will be looking at Alaska as an alternate carrier.

AirTran-Barclay Bank credit Card scam resulting in collection agency harassing me continually.Please spread this scam.. traveler beware at airports..

Airtran Airways/Barclays Bank Delaware are claiming I owe them $192.79 ($100+interest). I have tried numerous times in phone conversations with them and their collection agent, to explain that I never applied for a credit card with Barclays Bank, therefore, I have never charged anything to this fictional account. Researching internet I found history on this Scam.This fraudulent activity by Airtran Airways/Barclays Bank has been going on for several years as verified by numerous Scam sites.

Please pass the word to travelers to beware at Airports when a young person approaches you to take a benign survey in exchange for a FREE magazine subcription from AirTran...all is a lie and they will say you signed a Barchay Bank credit call and now own them $100 plus interest if you had not paid on time. You never receive a credit card or magazines...how do they get away with this fraud over and over again...thanks for any helping spread this warning to travelers.The collection agent has now written me that I own $192.00 and if I don't pay immediately they will send the debt to the credit rating companies that will tarnish my credit.

I had a Senior fare reservation on Southwest Airlines from Burbank to Manchester, NH last month. I called customer service for an upgrade to Business Select because on the flight out, I had to travel between terminals at Las Vegas and my aging hips couldn't make it walking from one terminal to another.

The agent sold me an upgrade, which was supposed to guarantee me priority seating for $200.

When it came time to board, the agents had just initiated boarding of the handicapped passengers, but they had not yet been seated. Because Burbank has no Jetways, they had to use a chairlift for one passenger at the forward galley door, so the first 5 "priority" passengers had to wait on the stairway for that passenger to be seated.

Meanwhile, Southwest uses an aft stairway as well as the forward one for boarding and the rest of the passengers, seeing us trapped on the forward stairs, rushed to the aft stairs and took all the priority seats.

At the connecting airport, we found that the through passengers on our connecting flight were already seated in the good seats, so we had no choice but to take the leftovers.

I suggested to SWA's customer service representative that at BUR, on originating flights, they should not use 2 stairways, which invalidates any semblance of priority boarding for "Business Select" passengers and that they should not start the normal boarding process until all handicapped passengers are seated. Those suggestions were ignored.

In summary, I paid a premium fare for a service that SWA could not provide. Any time your flight connects with another, which is almost always, the through passengers, not you, have priority seating because they stay on board.

SWA refused to refund the $200 "premium" fare, which I view as a ripoff scam.

Complete scam. I was on a Southwest airlines flight this weekend and tried to access their service and got nowhere. None of the flight attendants had been trained on how to solve issues, and they had no idea how to refund me. I brought it up with an agent on the ground, and all she could say was that I had to contact the company. I will NOT be flying Southwest in the future!

I checked in my baggage at4:00PM on September 22, 2010 a tSan Francisco Airport. There were two pieces of luggage check in. When I arrived home the next day I discovered that Jewlrey and several other items (cash, giftsand sunglasses)that were in one of the bags was missing. I have tried to reach different departments, but to no avail. My phone number is never accepted so henceforth I can not get thru to your claims dept. My missing property amounted is around $2500.00.

I flew from San Francisco to Orange County, Calif.

Janice Stanger
45 Joya Drive
Palm Desert, Ca. 9226

E=mail: [protected]@yahoo.com

Southwest was running a promotion called "Faster A-list" for their rapid rewards members for "A-list" seating (priority boarding) in half the number of flights (16 instead of 32). I signed up for this promotion, and it was shown when I logged into my rapid rewards account. I bought 5 flights under this promotion over the course of several weeks, and then suddenly the promotion disappeared off my account! Computer glitch, right? Call customer service and get it taken care of, right? Wrong.

So I call Southwest customer service at [protected] and speak to Sherrone, agent # 91963. She not only tells me "Tough luck" but is exceedingly rude on top of that! I basically get a big "screw you, buddy". I called back and spoke with another agent who had better phone mannerisms but basically gave me the same bottom line. Southwest would not help me, even though the promotion had been reflected on my account for over a month, and I had bought multiple flights under the illusion that this promotion applied to me. This is a classic bait and switch, and would have cost Southwest absolutely nothing to fix. Even when I said I was going to file complaints, they refused to budge. I mean, when someone says they are going to file complaints, and all they are asking for is an existing promotion that would cost the company NOTHING (priority seating? Really?) you would think it would make sense for the company to try to help out. Not in this case.

I asked to speak with the VP of customer relations, Jim Ruppel, and they told me he was not and would not be available at any point.

Just bad customer service.

I filed a claim for damaged luggage at the end of April '10, it is now July 7 and I still have not heard a response. Whenever I call, the reps are ignorant and just today when I called, no one could locate my claim. Completely disorganized and unprofessional. I would strongly advise letting them handle your carry on luggage, if you have a seat you should have a space for your carry on. There was no room for mine, so they took it from me and gave me a brown tag and just threw it under the plane. Needless to say, it was damaged. They seem to be very reluctant to provide me with any info on the claim let alone address the problem in a prompt and professional manner. Because of this experience, I will NEVER fly Southwest Airlines again. If you choose to, be very careful and DO NOT let them handle you carry on...IT WILL GET DAMAGED, then good luck trying to recover your losses. Just a fair warning...

I flew from Philadelphia to Atlanta. My bag contained a number of items that are VERY important to me. Someone on board the flight took my bag (I'm assuming, by mistake). I would imagine that when they returned home and realized they had the wrong bag, they would have returned it somewhere. AirTran won't do anything about this. They don't care about my claim... their staff has been rude, they won't follow up with the people sitting near me to see where the bag might have been dropped off at. They tell me that they will call me back, then never do. I hate AirTran and will never fly with them again.