Southwest Airlines
reviews and complaints

On August 13, 2017, I boarded Southwest Flight 1506 departing from San Francisco International Airport to Los Angeles International. I was involved in a minor incident of something in my possession being spilled on another passenger's belongings. The passenger and I quickly resolved the issue without any problem but one of the flight attendants responded beyond poorly to the situation by yelling at me, causing a scene, and subsequently asking me to get off the plane. Because of this attendant's abuse of her power and inability to maintain professional in the midst of a run of the mill incident I was escorted off the plane and missed my flight. I never once yelled, cursed, or did anything offensive to this flight attendant other than state that her yelling was not helping the situation.
I sent a letter to southwest about this situation and received no response at all. I certainly hope that Southwest revisits its principles and values of "Friendly Customer Service" with all of its employees and staff.

My mother-in-law came to visit during the holidays. She had a round trip ticket from SD to El Paso thru Phoenix. I called in for her return check in. The SW page showed "Flight closed or cancelled. Sorry, your itinerary is ineligible for check in online". I called and spoke to a live agent who said something about her having failed to note that she was a senior. Puzzled me but he put me on hold and came back saying he got the check in and gave me her boarding group for the trip to Phoenix and then from Phoenix to El Paso. She is elderly and not very comfortable with flying and using the airport but the agent said no problem just go to the counter with ID and the boarding assignments. We got up at 4 a.m. and took her to the SW counters. We left her there in line. She would have been home at noon TX time. We just got her call. She just got home at 5:30 pm, 5 hours late. Her flight really was cancelled. The agent didn't inform me when I called in for check in but he did check her in on a cancelled flight. She returned home after 5 hours of delay and in very bad emotional shape. My wife is talking to her on the phone trying to get her calmed down. I just called SW and the agent said sorry, the flight was cancelled. I asked him if he could see her check in assignments and he could. So what the heck did the first agent do? This is a piss poor performance from an airline I would expect much more from. I have the complaint phone number for SWA on Tuesday. If this happened to me, no problem. This is a very frail elderly lady who recently lost her husband. This was a disastrous trip that could have been avoided with some professionalism and attention.

My luggage was checked in Michigan on Christmas Eve. At the plane switch in Chicago, BOTH bags mysteriously disappeares. They never arrived at my destination in Birmingham, AL.

Southwest Airlines ruined my Christmas. I had gifts in the bags and all of my toiletries as well as specific items that I purchased for the festivities. I had to buy more than $800 worth of lesser quality items in order to salvage some of my vacation and attend a few family events.

Southwest owes me for a wasted trip, a ruined holiday, and all of the extra items that I had to purchase to salvage what was left of it all.

Today is December 17, 2017 I was on flight number 3267 from Oakland to Vegas flight time 8:50 AM I was on the flight today with my disabled daughter that has autism the flight attendant passed out Rado my daughter spilled her water so I asked for a Nother water and she gave me napkins less than 10 minutes later she tells me that my daughter needs to give her the cup now because She is collecting all trash my daughter was still drinking her water and she just received her cup I was forced to take the cup of water from my daughter as she was still drinking. I asked the flight attendant if she can drink a little more she says no I have to clean up . I feel that she was rude and on sensitive to the situation.I believe her name was callen Blonde wavy shoulderlength hair older lady.

Southwest Airlines lost not 1 but 2 of our checked bags out of 4 (my bag and my mother- in- law's bag) with 4 paid passengers with a checked bag for each passenger. I recently flew to CA in Oct to attend my brother's wedding. I checked in at the Oakland Airport 4-5 hours prior to my flight departure time. Upon arriving back to Dallas on Oct 26 late evening, two of my checked bags never came. I went in to Southwest baggage claim office to ask and I was told to wait for my bags to show up. I told the lady at the baggage claim counter that I had valuable items in my checked bags including designer bags and clothing worth thousands as it was for a wedding trip. However, the lady wrote down sanitary bags in my missing bags as the contents. I could see that Southwest is trying to minimize the value of the contents in the lost bags.

Then, I asked the lady if Southwest would reimburse the cost of items I needed to purchase to sleep the night in Dallas while I was waiting for my bags to arrive, she said Southwest does not reimburse the cost unless I have to wait more than 24 hours. So, I had to request to talk to the supervisor to get the reimbursement to purchase pajamas and other sanitary stuffs I needed for the night. Then, the supervisor assures me that I will be reimbursed for $50 for each paid passenger for that night I had to stay in Dallas. Then, the next morning, my bags never showed up and I had to drive back to Oklahoma where I live.

After arriving in Oklahoma, I kept calling Southwest everyday to ask them if they find out anything about my bags. And all they answered was they're still checking on them and trying to locate them. The WORST thing about Southwest is that unlike other airlines, they do not have tracking system for the checked bags until the bags arrive at the carousel at the airport and nobody claims the bags. After waited for 5 days with no cosmetics to go on with my daily routine, I talked to the same supervisor at the Dallas Love Field airport, the supervisor told me to go ahead and purchase the cosmetics I needed to go on with my days. But a reimbursement or payment was never offered to purchase new items that they lost. I asked the same supervisor to see if he could check the surveillance near the carousel of the night I arrived to know whether somebody might have stolen my bags, he just simply shushed me off by saying those cameras are actually not monitoring.

Then, on the 6th day after waiting and hoping for my bags to show up, I finally was ready to report the lost bag filing on Southwest website. When I checked the site, it is shown that my incident was recorded on the next day after I flew on the site and I was unable to file a claim because of that. So, basically, Southwest added one extra day until I can fill out a detail form with missing items to file a claim to get the lost items to be reimbursed.

Then, when Southwest site finally allows me to upload my claims, I was having another trouble with the site. Without showing what the file size allowance should be, I was unable to upload the forms that I filled out for more than 20 times. I contacted Southwest multiple times during my trying attempts and no successful answers were received. Finally, I figured out that I had to upload no more than 4 pages per upload when I had to include some copies of the receipts as well.

Some of the items in the lost bags include Louis Vuitton bag, Gucci bag, Michael Kors Bag, Yves Saint Laurent bag, many pairs of designer shoes, an expensive wool long coat that I purchased from a trip to Europe which Southwest would not give me a round trip ticket to go to Europe to repurchase and replace, many cosmetics items that add up to thousands of dollars as well. We never know how much the cosmetics cost as we keep buying one by one until we lose them all and the costs add up to thousands.

After uploading the item detail list and a week and gone by and finally, somebody on Southwest replied on my upload files on Southwest baggage claim site saying I will need to refill the form of the item detail pages that reflect all the dates of the items purchases to be shown. Who remembers the date of every single item they purchase? So, basically, Southwest is dragging the time and trying to make your life miserable so that you would give up on claiming the reimbursement back for the bags that they lost.

So, I had to refill the itemized detail forms of the missing items in the bag with the dates of purchase and resubmitted the forms. It has been 3 days after I resubmitted the forms and there was no response whatsoever from Southwest.

I hope my experience would help other customers who are considering of taking advantage of Southwest Airlines free checked bags to see if it is worth losing your bag and go through the HORRIBLE service Southwest provides after they lose your bags.

Today, after waited for one month and 14 days with multiple phone calls, emails, vice messages left on the direct machine of the baggage claim personal work no return call received, I received a letter attachment from Southwest on their baggage claim site saying that my claim for my 2 lost bags were denied because of the unreasonable amount.

Did I ask to lose my bags when I traveled? Of course not. But when it is their fault for losing the bags, they should at least offer some type of compensation. So, I filed a complaint work DOT and hoping to get it resolved. After I filed a DOT claim, I informed southwest and southwest stated that it will take another 30 days for me to get any response. And Southwest claimed that because I filed a claim with DOT, they will be providing the documents to DOT on my behalf even though my claim was already closed. They were shamelessly telling me as if they were doing me a favor when it was their fault for losing my bags in the first place.

Date of incident 11/21/217
Flight 5862 departure 12:20 pm from Dallas/Love Field to Albuquerque, arrive time 1:10 pm
Confirmation #N7KI3E/Carolyn M. Stewart/Assistance Requested (on ticket)

My connecting flight from Memphis (788) was somewhat late, I did get wheel chair assistance to get to my gate which was far away. They were already boarding when I arrived at gate, rushing, wheeled to door. I chose first available open seat in front due to disability. The first, second seat, mother and special needs child. I asked if anyone sitting at the window seat on that row, the mom said no, I sat down, getting situated. The mom stated to me"she does kick and move around sometimes", in return stated" I had no problem with this, I worked in public health, accustomed to special needs patients". Meantime, I needed assistance with my belt;my right side arm/ leg is a little weaker than left side. I saw the child's mom go and speak to the female/white/dark hair, flight attendant, I could see her waving her hands around as she spoke, as if there was something wrong. The flight attendant immediately(didn't get her name, too shocked) asked me if I could move to another seat, no reason given, I just assumed that the mom didn't want anyone next to the child, if they didn't have to, so other passenger would be comfortable. The flight attendant didn't really offer at first to find me a seat, lucky there was one across the isle, front row, but I had to step across another person with a foot boot, that needed assistance. I sat next to the window seat on the right side of the plane, first row, and could not fasten my belt. My right side is weaker, could not hold and snap at same time. My first flight from Memphis, no problem because I sat on the left side of the plane, used my left arm to snap belt, no problem. Mind you, asked for assistance from the flight attendant, on this flight 5862, asking if she could snap in place while I held the belt part with my left hand. She immediately went and got the seat extender, I did not ask for that, just for her to snap safety belt in place. This embarrassed me. Mind you this was a full flight, passengers looking, why is she being moved to another seat, then the attendant gets this belt like I was too big to fit in a seat. I had no problem on the first flight, needed no extender! The real problem and question I have is...why? I had the feeling that she knew I was offended in one way or another, and true I am. My disability is just as important to me, just want to be comfortable like everyone else without the embarrassment. I should have asked then if the parent or her ( the attendant) had a problem with me in any way; this was a full flight, not to cause problems, I left it alone not to cause a scene. I was not given a reason, just can you move, I have a disability too. The child's mother seemed to be the overbearing, hyped -up type. She was speaking to passengers as they were boarding, bringing attention to herself and child that could not speak; she appeared to have MS/Torretts syndrome, because she had uncontrollable movements, but not to the point whereas, no other passenger could sit next to her. The
mother actually started making conversation with a parent that had 2 small children. The children were staring, they were just kids. This lady made the statement to the parent and children that "we don't bite" and in a sarcastic, and smart mouth manner said "boo!" to the children. The parent did not like this at all and said something to her. I knew this lady was off her rocker to do something like this to little kids waiting to board. Upon arrival, when the plane landed, passengers getting things from the overheard, there was a white, female passenger sitting in the same seat I was asked to get out of, and the mom was just as comfortable with this because she was laughing and talking, excessively, where she could be heard. She and this lady were talking, conversating, etc. So what was the real problem here? Unprofessianlism from your staff, the flight attendant. First a passenger is asked to move, no reason given. Secondly, this young lady jumped to conclustion that I needed an extender for my belt, I am a plus size woman, not a Sumo wrestler. Never, ever encountered stupid stuff like this embarrassed. Put yourself in my place, plus size Black woman asked to move out of her seat ( with a disability) to another not reason given and when asked for assistance to just snap the belt in place while I held it, she just turned, went and got and extender as if it was needed, I didn't ask for it due to the mere fact, I did need it on last plane, didn't need it on this one. Overall, I was angry and embarrassed once I realize what had really happened here. The mother of the special needs child did not want me sitting next to her child for one or both of the reasons, Black and/or plus size person. Now I want answers. I don't want to get ugly, this is how I was felt. Never had a problem with Southwest, but this was out of the ordinary, and nothing else can sugar coat the situation. I kept my cool deboarding, but I did make sure this attendant saw the look on my face, positive she got the vibes that this was not good. She was very unprofessional by the mere fact that she granted this hyper lady whatever she want, right away, using her special needs kid to get what she wanted. There was no regard to my thoughts, never even asked a question, this was a full flight so the parent was aware, as I was, so this was a chance she took, don't single me out for this obviously racist, prejudice lady, your employee went right along with it. I was supposed to be so stupid not to have smarts enough to know when I have been unfairly treated, in a gentle, but ignorant way. I didn't act foolish as some passengers probably would have, I decided, after speaking to my family to do just I am doing now...Let Southwest Airlines Customer Service aware the experience, and let them rectify the situation. I am pissed, and want answers. Requesting a desirable resolution of my complaint. Email address, [protected]@gmail.com, phone 901.921.0417, address 5515 Shakespeare Dr Apt 101, Memphis, TN. 38125

A male flight attendant addressed every woman on board as "honey". He dismissed my objections as "you're the only one". I submitted a complaint. Southwest responded with an apology for 'upsetting' me, cited its 'fun luvin' culture, and hoped for my return business. Until Southwest understands the nature of sexist and offensive language that diminishes women - and I find it incredulous that the airline still doesn't appreciate why "honey' is an offensive term and that it is not just me who is upset - and then instructs flight attendants to repress the 'fun luvin' and stop calling grown women by a sexist term - then I will fly any other airline but this one.

Prior to arriving at the airport, I was alerted my flight had been delayed. After waiting at the airport, I was given no updates or apologies. After boarding the delayed flight, I had the privilege of sitting for another 40 minutes on a plane with no updates. Not only was this a horrible approach to the situation but it was extremely inconvient for myself and many other individuals. I have flow southwest extremely often and I am appalled and disappointed for the first time. I will greatly reconsider flying southwest the next time I decide to fly.

Booked the 3 hrs and 50 minutes flight from Kansas City (MCI) to Portland (PDX) on Tue. October 17th at the "Anytime" rate of $1200 dollars in an effort to make sure I got a "Good seat" in either an exit row or first row. Keep in mind I have the highest status SWA gives with a companion who flies free (never use it and she wasn't on this flight with me either) so I typically board in group A16 - A30. I boarded this flight as an A1 thinking I would be guaranteed a "good seat" well not so fast my friends. Don't waiste your money on the higher priced tickets as SWA allows anyone who claims they have a disability to board before you to sit in the first row and in this case sit in an exit row. There were some "threw customers" who were also sitting there. So when I emailed (while on that flight) they responded back with a $100 LUV voucher. Keep in mind I paid an extra $600 at the time for a "Good Seat". DON'T WAIST YOUR MONEY.

We left Vegas at 8:05 and landed for a medical emergency in New Mexico, they knew in Baltimore that a bunch of us had a flight at 5:05 in Baltimore to catch, they kept telling us over and over including the pilot thatwould make it they would hold it for a second, after we hit the ground and after I contacted everyone that's waiting for my arrival I immediately left the plane and headed to gate A-9 tat we were supposed to, I got to the gate at 5:00 not even the original departure time and it was GONE, dont tell all of us for an hour that it's ok and they are waiting etc, the communication between your company's employees is unacceptable in most company's

To whom it may concern:

My partner & I we're set to board the 2:50p southwest flight from Newark Int'l to Ft. Lauderdale.

We arrived at the gate at 2:41p and were denied access on the plane. We were told an announcement was made to begin boarding and that our names were called however neither of us heard any announcement made, the muffled sound system doesn't help, but we heard no such announcement despite being about 20 feet from the boarding area.

Our checked luggage was onboard and will be arriving in Ft Lauderdale with no one to claim it.

Not only did we hear no such announcement, but the plane sat at the gate for an additional 15-20 minutes - all which could have been utilized to board the plane.

I understand the airline regulations and appreciate the procedures in place to ensure the safety of everyone onboard. It was the service in which we received that was truly appalling. When we asked for our original boarding passes back they were, according to the woman at Southwest Terminal A15 (at roughly 250/3p), suddenly MIA. She said they may have been thrown out. She would not look her garbage bin so I offered to do so myself. I was told no. I have the recording of that request.

The woman behind the counter would not disclose her name, however, we asked for her supervisor whose name is Amirah L Onque.

I'll need the contact information of whomever manages the baggage claims at Ft Lauderdale so we can retrieve our belongings when we ge there.

Thank you for your time in reading this complaint, please call me with updates as soon as they're available.

Kristin Seigeldorf
[protected]

To whom this may concern i am active duty Army, and i was departing fort bliss from El paso Airport to return home with my family, first off the flight was 30 minutes late 2nd upon attempting to board early as stated through southwest airlines regulations for active duty personal; i was denied boarding even after the lady saw my military ID, i went to address this to attendant and she stated that the regulation only applied to military in uniform, i flew a few days before from Dallas love field and did not have that issue. What is the policy really and your attendants need to know the correct information before they make a rude smurk and tell an Active Duty Soldier that he doesnt know the policy to early boarding. Please respond at your earliest convinience as she was very disrespectful.

V/R
SSG Enriquez Jesus Jr
ACO 3/144 IN ARNG
[protected]
Jesus.enriquez3.[protected]@mail.mil
Flight 957 from ElPaso to Dallas Lovefield departure time 430- boarding 455- departure 5pm

Our returning flight #141 was cancelled last minute to Oakland, CA. We were first told that it was due to fog, but after questioning why an earlier flight to Oakland took off and flights to San Jose were taken off as scheduled. We were then told our flight was cancelled due to maintenance. We arrived after debarking a cruise ship and which our toddler daughter was ill and had a fever. This was supposed to be an hour and a half flight. Which would get us home in enough time to take our daughter to see her doctor. However, our flight was cancelled and we were given two options to get on a flight to Phoenix and then catch another plane to Oakland, this was over a 4 hour flight or wait until 8pm for another non stop flight to Oakland. After explaining our situation with a sick toddler neither of these options would work, it was suggest we take an earlier flight to San Jose a city near Oakland. With no real good options we choose to fly to San Jose. We were guaranteed on a 3:55pm flight which was a 6 hour wait again with a toddler with a fever. However, we were told that we would be placed on an earlier flight as stand by, which after waiting for two earlier flights hoping to get on as a stand by, eventually found out that we actually were not on a stand by list cause we had guaranteed seats on a later flight. So we were lied too, probably to get us to be quiet about the inconvenience and our ill child. So after waiting 6 hours we got on a flight to San Jose, had to be Uber to Oakland ($65) where are car was parked, fighting 2.5 hours of traffic and another hour ride home. Getting home after 9pm. This was a horrible experience for us, plus they sent our baggage on the 12:15pm flight to San Jose so worrying that all our luggage would be there once we arrived. I want Southwest to return our returning flight charges and our Uber cost to Oakland. That is the least that can be done for the inconvenience and the stressfulness of this experience. Plus the lack of concern for our ill and feverish toddler. This was unacceptable service!

Bought a flight for my sister to come visit to help me with taking care of my kids while my husband was out of town for work. Her flight was at 1pm on Tuesday, and Monday night at 11pm she gets a text saying "your flight is cancelled." No explanation, no phone call to tell her so that she could reschedule, nothing. She had to call southwest herself, and they would not give her an explanation, nor would they get her on a replacement flight the same day. She does now have a flight to come out a day later, but we are devastated that she won't be coming out a day earlier as planned and I am without assistance until she can get here. For a company that supposedly loves their customers, they certainly didn't treat this situation professionally.

On a flight# wn 6185 from baltimore to albequerque on 10/15/17 2:00 pm all was going well until i went to the front toilet . This is where sheila the stewardess was, i stopped prior to going into the space where you enter the toilet . The toilet was occupied. She turns to me and says " you need to get back" so i stepped back a couple of feet . She said "you need to move way back" how is this any way to talk to a customer! i know what it says in your magazine about not having a line form and not to be in/near the cockpit. I was no where near this area . No smile, just rudeness! i made no comment to her because i know what happens if you confront a flight attendant/ stewardess, etc . Maybe she is burned out or needs a refresher course on how to treat customers/ passengers. An unhappy southwest customer!

My daughter was flying back to her home in norcal with an 11 month old and and 3 year old toddler, I always help her to the gate because they are handfuls. Well at 10:35 am october 23, 2017 at john wayne airport the attendant not only told me that the airport was too busy for me to go to the gate to help my daughter, but was the absolute rudest southwest employee I have ever encountered. As I was walking back by her after watching my daughter struggle through tsa she gave me the most ungodly smirk I have ever witnessed. I want her taken off check in counter, put her in luggage behind the scenes, or fire her butt. We fly southwest many times a year all because normally we have the best service ever! Now my blood is boiling over!

I was trying to put my carry on in a compartment when this very rude flight attendant told me I couldn't put it in that compartment so I began taking it down to put it in the other which I couldn't do in a split second because I weight 100 pounds and my bag weighs about 40. I was in the process of moving the bag carefully to not injure anyone else on the flight when she said "I don't know why she can't just listen to me why is she not moving down. She is incapable of doing a simple process what is wrong with her." When I was doing what she said, I just being careful. She is being extremely rude to the other passengers and has a nasty expression on her face 24/7. She hates her job and needs to be removed. Extremely unhappy with this service when I was nothing but polite to her.

Boarded a flight from San Diego to Chicago . Amazed at this day in age how being of a different race color youre pretty much ignored unless your white. The flight attendant scooby purposely skipped our row for drinks and snacks. He stated that my parents were asked about if they wanted anything. He said they said no. He lied. My parents are diabetic so we appreciate the snacks on board. I also had a toddler on board who was looking forward to the snacks. When we asked he ignored us. Basically had to ask for the lead flight attendant. Tiana was nice and made our flight better with awesome customers service skills. Scooby the male flight attendant hates his Job and it shows. Lack of respect for people who are paying his salary to fly southwest. If only management knew how he portrays the company.. he should really look for another job that caters to ignoring people and not listening. My parents are diabetic so to have their sugar drop would be an emergency that I was trying to avoid being that I’m a nurse and flight attendant. However when you have scooby as a flight attendant that doesn’t listen to the customers than maybe he can figure out what to do next time when he decides to represent flight attendants that work for southwest and portrays them as rude. But thanks to Tiana the flight attendant for taking care of us. You represent the company well. I hope management sees that. Note to southwest please hire flight attendant that love their job because there are plenty of unemployed people out there that would love them have scoobys job. This is the first time we’ve had a rude lying flight attendant that needs training in customer service and being professional. He should work at DICKs last resort in San Diego . Where scooby can be an butt to customers and represent himself well.

Again ... 2 nd week in a row
Congrats on being late or giving false info again
If I lived closer to IAH
I would switch Airlines
I am thinking about good old driving again
Why do they lie or give false info so often?
Very frustrating 😡😡
Equipment issues? Really🙄
Last week I raced to the airport only to find that the flight was fully booked, even though I called the 800 number assuring me there were plenty of seats
Then had to wait 2-1/2 hours after running to the stupid gate
PLEASE JUST BE HONEST WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS WHO FLY WITH YOU ALL THE TIME
SERIOUSLY PEOPLE 😠

My wife and I were leaving Chicago to go to our home in Norfolk and were checking 3 bags (October 7, 2017—9:20 direct flight). We get to the counter, and we were told to print out our passes (by "Rose"). I thought she meant boarding passes but she meant the stickers for the suitcases. This is no big deal, except she was rude when telling us this. Then, we didn't know how to put the stickers on, and they were really, really rude (seriously rude)--assuming we "should know" how to do this. Meanwhile, 15 feet away is the "full service section" with no passengers waiting. They could have told us to go there--if they didn't want to help us, but instead, continued just to be rude to us about our inability to put the stickers on. "Read the instructions" they kept stating to us--treating us like children (I have a doctorate, by the way). I quipped back something like—“they’re going to replace you as they’re making everything automated.” I don’t believe my tone was rude. My wife asked for the name of the attendee and was told “Rose” and that they don’t give out last names.

We ended up going to the “full-service section” because we never placed a large poster board on the “luggage” check-in with our other three pieces of luggage (because we had become so frazzled from the rudeness). They were extremely nice and helpful (there was a “Rose” there also). We told them about our difficulty with the “self-help” people and they retrieved a manager. He responded to us in a perfunctory manner. He mentioned we could submit a complaint online. Thus, I am doing this.
Bottom line, really really rude and condescending at the "self-help" check-in. This self-help section was new to us, and it would have been nice if we had received kind help instead of condescending, rude attitudes.