Southwest Airlines
reviews and complaints

Southwest Airlines they are a VERY selfish and greedy company! They DO NOT care about people at all! I want to share my disappointment with the airline. We booked our family fight 12 of us all paid seats. We came home on a full flight that Southwest had moved to flight 507 from Orland Florid from a 10AM flight to a 7:05 AM flight so that cut into our vacation we did not complain. Now the flight is full and they have there Southwest people that wanted to board the flight to Chicago. Its not 1 or 2 its a mother her daughter and 2 other people. We are sitting in our seats that we paid for and my son is a larger guy but can put his seatbelt on with out any problems he has an aisle seat and his wife has the window seat. So there is a seat in the middle of them. This lady comes on the plain with this red Southwest shirt on and just humiliates him. Hey did you buy 2 seat he said no. Well you need to buy 2 seat. He said someone can seat in the middle if they want too. She then said what is your name. He gave it to her and she continues to just make him feel as if he is going to have to give his seat up and not be able to fly home because he cant buy another seat the plain is full. She then stated to say his name out load so everyone can hear. I had so many people come to me after the flight and just say how wrong they were. I want to let you know that there were to larger ladies that were on the plain also that let me know they did not buy and additional seats. They said I wonder why she did not say anything to us. We also had a seat in the middle. I said its because my son was a black male, and she was white and did not want to seat in the middle. She want his seat. I want to go to the news with this because you really was foul about the way they handled this. I had to move my younger son from sitting next to me to sit by my older son to make sure he did not have to get off the plain. They then even moved a service dog and pushed it under the seat for the mother to get on the plain in an aisle seat. The was a blind man that had to have help getting on the plain. They did not want to sit in the middle seats so they got what they wanted even though we paid for our seats. They did not care who feelings were hurt or how they delivered there message.

Hi, i am writing you today because of one of your employees on a flight I took today 4/15/21 - your crew member almost had me arrested Bc of her false claim of me not following her instructions of my dog who I paid to be on the flight. Her claims from the marshals included I didn't follow her instructions to put the dog away. She instructed me before take off that my dog was to be put in his bag and under the seat throughout the flight. I followed this instruction. With 30 mins left in my flight.. my dog was breathing extremely heavy and needed water. So I took him out to give him water and at that moment the crew member then approached me again and barked orders that I need to keep my dog in his bag. I immediately followed this command. Once we landed and made it to the gate I removed my dog and put him on the leash to exit the aircraft. I was then immediately apprehended by marshals and told that I had not been following orders based on the crew members statements against me. Which they also said she called them while we were in the air. I explained my side of the story and they weren't taking it until the passenger who was in my row the entire time stopped and heard what was going on. He just so happened to be a crew member of southwest and was catching a ride home. He told the authorities what I was saying was true and that I followed every command. After speaking with this crew member the authorities decided to let me go. This entire incident was completely uncalled for and I feel like I was extremely discriminated against by this crew member. She repeatedly seeked me out and then made false accusations against me that luckily did not come out to be a federal offense. The emotional experience I had to endure due to this crew member and her discrimination towards me is unfathomable. Someone like this should not be allowed to make false accusations against anyone and I would hope she would be reprimanded so that this would not happen to another person such as myself.

Flight #452

Was traveling from Columbus Ohio to Orlando FL on April 11th. While in the air to Atlanta, SW cancels our flight to Orlando and blames it on weather. Can't get us out until the following day. Funny how all the other airlines just delayed flights due to the weather but SW canceled. I say BS to SW. they cancelled the partially filled flights to fill up the others. Said it was weather related so they don't have to provide any compensation to their customers. Cost us over $400 for an additional hotel, the night we had to pay for in Orlando that we couldn't cancel, and the additional cost on the rental car. This airline is going to crap.

On flight 2893 march 13, 2021. The senior attendant in my opinion was short and somewhat rude. Had definitely out lived her coffee, tea, or me shelf life. Not a good representative for the company. The flight was full. When later groups boarded there were empty seats close to the front but people already seated explained that the seat was saved which was not true. People that had to go completely to the rear of the plane only to return to the front to be seated in one of the saved seats. This must be stopped.

I will not be flying Southwest Airlines anymore. They make me show an ID, and therefore must be racist, and don't make it easy to fly. I do not respect the way they want to subvert our great republic by not supporting the integrity of free elections by using voter ID in states like Texas. You are total hypocrites - and apparently racist, because you don't let people just fly without having to show ID's. How totally ignorant and having a double standard can you be?

Southwest Airlines has chosen to delve away from airline issues *only* and has decided to involve themselves in politics. As we did with the NFL, we will no longer be flying Southwest and will join the boycott of your airlines until you publicly let us all know that you have taken a second thought and decided to stick with your specialty of flying!

i recently booked 6 flights for myself and traveling party.The price went down and i was issued travel credits. The problem lies that they must be used not a year from my travel date but travel must be complete a year from booking date. We fly every year in may therefor rendering my money useless. We are flying late due to pandemic and in fact had to put off last years trip. I think due to the circumstances southwest could give me a 90 day extension on the travel credit. I am not asking for much just a chance at using my money next year to book a southwest flight. I would really hate to use another carrier as we have flown southwest for at least 15 years

On March 26th, my wife and I were on Flight # WN 371 which departed Baltimore Int'l. Airport for Buffalo . Int'l. Airport at approx. 11:25 AM; scheduled to land in Buffalo at 12:35 PM. The weather conditions at Buffalo were terrible with wind gusting at 45 MPH and Humidity 93% and raining, conditions that they should never have attempted to land at Buffalo Int'l. After a terribly rough approach we diverted back to Baltimore. The conditions evidently had been know before we took off from Baltimore. We had stayed overnight in Sarasota Thursday night to take our 7:15 AM departure for Buffalo, arriving at the airport at 5:15 AM. I'm 79 years old with some medical problems and was set for a relatively short day at the airports and flight times. Our needless take off from Baltimore ended up with rescheduling our return flight with a takeoff time of 7:30 PM, delaying our final arrival time in Buffalo until 9:00 PM. Our total trip day changed to be slightly over 16 hours total. I feel there was no regard for passenger health or safety involved in the decision to take off from Baltimore at 11:25 AM and attempting to land in Buffalo when the weather conditions were terrible.
We have flown on Southwest for business and leisure for many years and this was undoubtedly the worst experience we have ever had. I believe we should be compensated for the undue danger due to the thoughtless decision made to try to land in Buffalo under the weather conditions that existed. Fredric and Constance Warnick, Confirmation number WOJOJN. Email: [protected]@roadrunner.com

Flight 3987 from Dallas Love to Phoenix. 3/22/2021
Airport attendant has major attitude toward passengers over loudspeaker talking about mask wearing. "Wear them correctly and don't test me" "come at me and see what happens". Absolutely unprofessional and aggressive. Once on the plane more attendants took over nitpicking about how to wear the mask. Even with me wearing correctly, I was told twice to pull out up over nose, when it was. Karen (Black Female attendant). We were all cooperating and still twice the captain called over speaker threatening compliance. This flight felt like we were in China. I didn't drink my soda due to worrying about being aggressively targeted and kicked off the plane. You have completely missed your business opportunity to make clients feel welcome. You have been given a little power to protect the public and instead took the opportunity to bash clientele. If safety is so important, stop serving drinks and food. We are canceling our credit card and no longer be interested in supporting your communist operation. Very sad day to have my 10 year old daughter looking at me in disbelief.

Cory Amling
[protected]@yahoo.com

On 3/15/21 My wife and I were scheduled to fly from Orlando to Sacramento, connecting flight to Denver. We were informed of snow and staff shortage at Denver so we were asked if we would transfer to a connecting flight in Dallas, so we said ok. Well I paid extra for early boarding, which we didn't get on the Dallas or trip to Sacramento from there. So I'm out of the $50 paid for that.
Then our Luggage was left in Dallas which cause a 2 days loss of work for me and added expense of $300 in room fees plus food while we waited for our luggage to arrive. There was medication in my wife suitcase that she needed, so we also had to work that out. We live almost 200 miles from the airport, so it wasn't like we could just go home and come back later, and as I stated, there were meds my wife needed in the luggage.

The guys who worked on 3/8/21 are arrogant pos. I've never seen such terrible customer service as I experienced that night. They talk to you like your garbage when they have to do any work. I wish my company would stop sending me there because I'm only gonna take so much. Without customers these clowns wouldn't have a job. That's what kind of service you get when dealing with union punks.

On Thursday, February 25, 2021, I was on board Flight #3514 ready to depart at 8:45 a.m. for my flight to Oakland, CA from Indianapolis, IN. I was traveling to visit my son, daughter-in-law and my grandson. I was masked-covered, sitting in my aisle seat and reading an opened newspaper in front of my face when a black, male steward came up to me and told me to cover my nose with my mask. I was actually unaware that my mask had fallen as I could still feel it on my nose but apparently it was just touching my nose instead of covering it. It was, however, covering my mouth.
I do not remember saying anything to the individual other than a possible "OK" as I adjusted the mask up over my nose and continued to read my open newspaper. No other expression was indicated, etc. as I am aware of the rules and genuinely felt that the fact that my mask had slipped, albeit still over my mouth and touching my nose, was indicative of the fact that I was essentially in compliance, especially after I immediately did raise the mask up as requested. However, approximately a minute or so later a white female approached me and told me that I had to "rebook my flight". (This lady apparently came from the terminal as she was not an attendant and handled the flight change thereafter.) I naturally inquired as to the reasons why and was told essentially that this was the captain's orders based on the wearing of my mask. Further discussion led me to understand it was because my mask was not over my nose, although it was after I had been informed to raise it a bit just the one time. The mask was being properly worn at the time the lady approached me. Despite my incredulousness over this alleged incident, I did leave the aircraft without any overt or negative issues although I did complain that my mask was up, that I had only been asked the one time to raise it and that this was certainly no grounds for me to have to be rebooked. Obviously, there was no reversal and I had to rebook my flight which meant a six-hour wait till the next flight and my arrival in San Francisco instead of Oakland. (My son was definitely inconvenienced in conjunction with the fact that I wasted six hours in the airport and was six hours overdue with him and his family.)
In hindsight, I remembered the flight attendant staring at me from his position standing at the front of the seating prior to confronting me with his only request but since I was not aware of anything improper and was reading my opened newspaper, I didn't think any more about his facial appearance or his oversight. It wasn't until he came to my aisle seat that I was aware of what I had been allegedly doing improperly. I feel that this instance was WAY overblown, that this may have been a personal issue, now boarding on reverse discrimination by this black attendant for some unknown reason. Perhaps it was an age thing: I am 69, he may have been in his early thirties. I cannot think of any other reason why I was treated in this manner as my mask wearing was NOT egregious in itself and was corrected immediately upon request, without any comment other than a possible "OK".
By the way, I noticed several passengers on the subsequent flight from Phoenix, AZ to San Francisco, and the two flights on my return trip March 1 where other passengers were not wearing their masks correctly, some with the mask even below their upper lips. There were no warnings or resultant corrective actions taken with these folks, a non-action somewhat expected from a common sense point of view, at least as far as being rebooked. The individuals wearing their respective masks improperly continued off and on throughout the flights absent any intervention by Southwest Airlines personnel.
I realize that on an aircraft the captain's word is absolute so I do not believe he was aware of anything other than what was told to him by the attendant re: my mask. Thus, his response was to have me removed from his aircraft, not wanting any "trouble" but certainly not knowing the facts or the truth behind the alleged issue. As an aside, my profession has been within the legal industry since 1975 and I have been self-employed in such since 1992 so I am well aware of laws, truthfulness and other people's ulterior motives. Thus, my conclusion that this simple issue was race-related although I have no idea why other than perhaps some pre-existing issue with this attendant. I certainly didn't have any issues with him or anyone else, regardless of color, gender, etc.

To Whom it may or may not concern,

We pay an additional 50.00 round trip on every flight we book, I always buy my tickets well in advance, and pay for my tickets at the same time. My complaint is now I'm getting in the mid fifties for a number for A boarding pass. It almost appears to be just addition to my ticket price, because you are selling more of them and there is no cut off for the A boarding section. Also I notice at the terminal gates they are constantly trying to sell for a price how to board earlier. I understand that you need to make money, but this is one of those negative customer loyalty things for me. (It's not what it is, is what it appears)

I am a big supporter of both Kelly, and your management team. I am a loyal customer an have made many positive suggestions to the management team in the past, I know my sale is not viewed as important because our business is not on the important list, but as you say I have many choices on who I spend my money with for air transportation, and this early bird program is leaving a very bad feeling with me.

CC:

Respectfully,
Dan Squeglia
d.[protected]@comcast.net

My son (who's ticket I purchased) cannot go to Tucson to see his Grandmother for the holidays as he works retail and she is elderly and not in good health. I am told that HE alone would have to use the funds for travel by 11/9/21 or I lose the money. Why can't I use it if he can't, especially since I paid for it? Quite disappointing.

And the THIEVES did it again! Southwest sent me a email saying NO to extend a LUV voucher I had that expired [protected]. All I asked for was a 6 month extension. AND THEY CAN"T DO THAT? What a caring company. Covid is the reason I do don't or could fly or go anywhere, but instead of being understanding and extend this voucher, Southwest just said NO! So they must want people to get sick. What is the big deal to anyone to extend this voucher for 6 months? But it is just easier for Southwest to say NO and steal $350.00. Southwest, you are NOT a class act!

I had a luv voucher that was 6 months old. I had to cancel the first flight because of covid. Southwest gave me this luv voucher that expired 12-1-20 I called southwest to see if they would extend this for 6 months because of this covid still going on. They said no! So now I have a $343.00 worthless piece of paper. Than you for your understanding southwest!

I was prevented to connect to my flight to Las Vegas from Denver flight 318 confirmation no: SGMNIR, for presumably not wearing my mask, which she said the flight attendant asked me over 5 times which wasn't true. And she was very rude and angry and she didn't want to hear what my side of the truth was, she said quote: I believe my employee's over you; end quote, and continued to cancel my connecting flight without hearing anything I had to say. So I want to be compensated for the 75$ I had to buy on Spirit Airlines and a serious apology!

Probably further consider that anyone that are or has been military afflicted would be valued to this country. What is important is that decisions and opinions when interpreted in writing are obvious statements that has an impact on individual lives. It cannot be denied that some airlines will use their authority in self-serving ways. Prior to the covid 19 epidemic I had booked tickets on southwest airlines. For years I had been traveling with them and thought I had finally found a trustworthy and respectful airline as a veteran. The reservations were canceled due to the covid high peak outbreak. Southwest sent an email stating that I had a grace period until fiscal year 2021 to utilize the canceled tickets due to the covid issue. Relying strictly upon the email I decided to rebook other reservations for the prior paid airline tickets. Well the fabricators and manipulators that has a vested interest in misleading the general public l-i-e-d! Well when you want to confuse and distract through deception what better way to do it during the covid 19 epidemic I called the airline and was told that the tickets were no good and I would have to pay $100 dollars additional to make new reservations although, I lost $88 dollars. Now they want to push their bailout strategy and use their platform of perceived creditability while constantly using deceptive tactics for financial gain.

I had to cancel my trip in April 2020 due to COVID-19 -I sent an email to Southwest requesting a refund and they have refused to reimburse my money because it was a nonrefundable wanna get away ticket.

I understand their policy and in "normal circumstances" I would just wait and reschedule. But this is not "normal times" and my husband and I will not be able to travel anytime soon due to the global pandemic and his medical condition.

The amount of money may seem insignificant to Southwest but during this very difficult time we have had to change the way we live our lives and will not be able to travel at this time and would just appreciate getting our money back.

Today I watched a video of a passenger on one of your flights, it showed that your employees targeted this African American man because he was wearing a Trump hat and mask. He was not violating any of your "rules". He had pulled down his mask to eat, as physically required. Unless you are planning feeding tubes for each passenger, I'm not sure how you justify this. I will be now actively trying to get family members and friends to avoid using your airlines. This needs to be resolved with an admission of guilt and apology.