Southwest Airlines

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.

I am a frequent flyer. I had to experience AirTran in 2002 when I took a flight from New York (LaGuardia) to Kansas City, MO. I was really disappointed, but a few months later decided to "give it another try" and as I had to make an emergency trip to Minnesota, took AirTran again. It was a nice experience till last week when I realized that the first impression was so true, and I COMPLETELY lost my faith in the airline. I booked a flight on-line (www.airtran.com) from Minneapolis, MN to Washington, DC (DCA) with a layover in Atlanta, GA for 45 minutes for my husband. We had an international flight from Washington, DC the next morning. The flight was delayed from Minneapolis for 2 hours. The reason indicated on the screens at St.Paul Airport claimed there was technical issue with the aircraft. It arrived late at Minneapolis. When I called the Airtran hotline, I was on hold for an hour being promised "someone will be with you shortly", then I was disconnected ( I spent 1 hr and 3 min on the phone), I called back, waited for another 38 minutes - talked to a representative. This is the information I received from her:The flight was delayed due to weather conditions in Atlanta. Though when he arrived in Atlanta, the weather was good and all the flights were leaving on time. The original flight he was supposed to take Atlanta - Washington (National Airport) departed just 20 minutes before he landed in Atlanta. When I talked to the representative over the phone, she said that they could not delay that flight! While I was browsing the flight information on Airtran web-site, I found another flight Atlanta - Washington DC (Dulles Airport) that was being delayed as well, and it WAS still at the gate when my husband came up to the Customer Service Stand. The representative on the phone hot-line said that there were seats remaining on the flight to Dulles airport and theer was another one to Baltimore, MD. Or he could stay in Atlanta's airport overnight and leave for DCA the next morning. These were the 2 optons given to us ! Noone even mentionedthe flight to Dulles airport! Only when I told the representative there was a delayed flight - right at the gate where the Customer Service stand (gate C15 in Atlanta's airport!) When he was talking to me, he seemed to be helpful. In fact (that is what my husband told me later) when he came up to gate C15, they refused to take him on board and issued the boarding pass for the next morning! And that is after I've spent so much time ans effort to explain the situation to everybody, but noone would listen? I Talked to that gentleman again, he finally walked my husband up tothe flight to Baltimore ( btw, it is a 50 mile drive one-way from washington DC where I live to Baltimore, and it was in the middle of the night!), AND he asked for tips from my husband (this is extremely inappropriate! and is absolutely unacceptable!) My questions are (and I really would like to hear the answers before I move forward) 1) why wasn't it possible to delay theflight Atlanta - Washington (DCA) for 20-25 minutes? you had the reservation and knew there was a connecting passenger, esp. if there were weather conditions? 2) the other delayed flight to Washington (IAD) . Why wasn't it possible to put the passenger on to that flight if there were seas available? 3) there was no reimbursement whatsoever! If the passenger has to stay at the airport for more than 10 hours? and it IS NOT his fault that there "were weather conditions". Do you have any official report from the weather services? It seemed like all the planes were departing on time from Atlanta but for these few flight that were delayed? Or is it the way of communication with customers - providing them with the INCORRECT information for the sake of the airline? Even when the airline did a favor - and put him onthe flight to BALTIMORE, how was he supposed to get from there to Washington DC at 2 AM? 4) which is just so frustrating and annoying, highly inappropriate, impolite and unacceptable inCustomer Service - why would you ask for a tip (non-verbally, just with a gesture, but still!) for tips! You are being paid for your job, and should be providingcustomer service . What the management team has to say about this? Does it go with the "Our mission statement sets the standard to "Be the Best" in everything we do every day: Innovative people dedicated to delivering the best flying experience to smart travelers. Every day." ? Any of these?

What the airline said?

As a gesture of good will, I have authorized a $50.00 travel discount that may be applied towards any future AirTran Airways flight reservation.

In response to your e-mail, the reason you are unable to find flights between the cities you are traveling is because our flight service to San Diego is typically operated between spring and fall; the service discontinued at the end of October 2009 and will return on May 27, 2010. The decision to operate this route seasonally was made in consideration of many variables.

Complimentary travel is non-transferable. It can only be used on AirTran and by the person indicated on the voucher!

Not even if it is my husband, and despite the fact that the codeshare airline (frontier) has the flights to the destination I need to be at!

What is $50 when I talk about almost $200 spent on a cab, sleepless night and if not then a missed international flight (over $1100 worth)?

I recently traveled with Southwest Airlines from Omaha to Phoenix on Flight #620 (Departed Omaha at 6:05 p.m. with arrival in Phoenix at 8:05 p.m.) on February 24, 2010. After arriving to my hotel room in Phoenix, I noticed that my luggage zipper was at the bottom versus the top of the bag – as I had packed and closed by luggage bag. Upon opening the bag I noticed that clothing was disheveled and that no TSA Notification Document was present in the bag. At that time, I noticed that my new Ray-Ban prescription sunglasses and case were missing. I double and triple checked my luggage and no sunglasses. I thought, gee - maybe I did leave them in the care - although I knew this was not the case. On my return from my trip, they were were not there and were obviously stolen by someone who had access to my luggage from time of checking in my baggage and picking it up in Phoenix. I travel a lot and this is the first time this has ever happened. I am very upset with the fact that my sunglasses were stolen and that I was unable to use these during my Arizona business trip and vacation. I immediately contacted Southwest Airlines on my return and they took a week to send me the paperwork. Then after waiting two weeks, I contacted them and they then denied receiving my complaint. so, I faxed it and then had to follow up a week later. southwest then denied the claim after two more contacts with no response because they want video proof!. I cannot believe that anyone can allow this to happen. The message is that no item is safe in a checked in bag with Southwest Airlines. Although bags fly free, you end up paying more to purchase items stolen by their employees! Shame on you Southwest!

In October 2009, I bought a round trip ticket on Southwest Airlines and was given confirmation # NHR26T. I was to fly from Chicago to New Orleans on 1/7/10 and return 1/10/10. On January 6, I paid $20 ($10 per flight) for early bird check in. According to SWA's website, early bird check in would automatically check me in 36 hours before the flight, "12 hours before general boarding positions become available".

This seemed like a good deal, because I would not be able to log into the Southwest Airlines website while in New Orleans. On 1/6, I received a boarding position of A43 for my flight on #2842 on 1/7. It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible. However, on 1/7, a large snowstorm hit the east coast, preventing the plane I was supposed to be on from arriving to Chicago.

I received a call from an SWA employee telling me of the problem, and she booked me on flight 2837 (confirmation # NS2P9U), giving me a boarding position of B2. I told her about how I paid for early bird check in, and she said it would not apply, but I would receive a refund within seven days. More than 50 days have passed, and they have not credited me my $10.

The return flight 1530 was even worse. When I arrived at the New Orleans' airport, I was given a boarding position of C19. I immediately complained to the ticketing agent, telling her I paid for early bird check in. She said she had no record of me having early bird check in, so I showed her my receipt. She said there was no record of me paying for it, so I was stuck with C19.

I didn't pursue the issue for two reasons. First, I didn't want a disgruntled airline employee calling an uptight security officer. Second, I thought the SWA representative I spoke with on 1/7 may have canceled my early bird check in for my return flight, as well as my departing flight. It turns out, she canceled neither.

I was on that return flight with four coworkers, none of whom had early bird check in. All of them had received better boarding positions than I did. I decided I would wait until I was home, and check my credit card history. On 1/12, I reviewed my credit card, and there were two $10 charges from Southwest Airlines, but no refunds.

That night, I called the customer service number, 1-800-I-FLY-SWA, to complain. The representative refused to reverse the charges and said I needed to call Customer Relations at [protected]. On 1/13, I called that number during business hours, and no one answered.

I immediately wrote a letter to their e-mail address, complaining of the situation. On 1/17, I received an e-mail from Southwest saying I would receive a response within 45 days. The 45 days have passed, and I have not received my refunds.

This was the first time I used Southwest Airlines, and I learned their marketing slogan of "Our #1 Mission is Customer Service" is just that, a marketing slogan. Further evidence: On January 15, I received a letter from SWA. The stamp on the envelope was dated January 12. It was an itinerary with the message "Bring a copy of this itinerary with you to the airport". Thanks for getting that to me five days after my trip ended.