Southwest Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | My flight was supposed to leave out of Gate 12 at 7:40 PM flying tonight from San Diego to Reno. At exactly 710 my flight had not boarded and I went to see what the matter was. Apparently they change the gate to a separate terminal without notifying me. I ran to gate eight and made it there by 7:30 PM on the dot plane was already boarded and they would not let me on the plane. Southwest reps did not display any compassion nor help me find a solution. I feel Southwest could’ve done a better job at resolving the matter. Especially since I arrived at The gate a full 10 minutes before it was even supposed to leave. not fair.

Not Verified | I have flown SW for over 10 years faithfully. This trip from Aruba on 9-5-21 was the worst flight attendants ever. None of them looked like they wanted to be at work yesterday. The plane wasn’t even full and they only offered drinks once on a four hour flight. I’m also amazed how many people get early boarding since most of the huge adults walked down the jet way without assistance. As someone who always pays extra to get a A seating assignment it’s not fair to us loyal customers. Do you even have documents from their MD with the reason they need to board before those who pay extra! They should have a MD excuse to get on early, these people were all in one group, knew everyone and traveled together. So can I use my BMI of 2 over normal as a reason to get on first in the front 5 rows? Or maybe my A1C level is slightly elevated or that I have to take Lipitor because my cholesterol is high. A passenger had to notify a flight attendant that someone sitting in an aisle seat wasn’t wearing his mask after she walked past him! Seriously? Something needs to done to those passengers who are lying about their need to board before those who pay extra for early bird seating. Medical need to board early should have to be presented at the gate before they board prior those loyal customers earned a companion pass prior to covid!

✅ Trip Verified | Forget every positive experience about the Old Southwest, and erase those high reviews. Those days are over, and it's the end of an era. They should change their name to Scrubwest airline, because there is a high percentage your flight this Fall is going to get scrubbed. It will either get canceled, or they will move it to a new time that is often impossible to meet. If you complain by email, they will offer you $150 on another flight. Southwest apparently thinks "buying out" customers will work, completely ignores the reality that many of us have only specific times to fly. Plus, that future flight will probably just be canceled too, so what's the point? The brand name has been destroyed. A web search with a timeline of August 2021 or September 2021 will confirm I'm not alone in this experience, and that it's now common to many Southwest fliers.

Not Verified | I will never be flying on Southwest again! They forgot to fuel the aircraft my first flight so that delayed me 2 hours which then made me miss my other flight, so instead of giving me the next closest flight. They give me the last flight out. Then when I got into that flight which they already messed all of my plans for the day because I was supposed to land @ 10 now I’m still at the airport all day, the flight I’m about to board has something wrong with the plane so I’m now delayed again, I have a hotel room booked which is pointless know because I won’t be there till 2 am. Overall worse experience flying in my life & I’ve been flying for years. Seats are terrible as well. Do not book this airline, front desk workers are terrible at their job as well!

✅ Trip Verified | My family and I had a flight booked for $949.90. The flight was scheduled to leave early Monday morning. We discovered it was cancelled around 3am Monday morning. We tried to schedule a different flight from Albany to Orlando but the next flight wasn’t until Wednesday, meaning we would miss 1/3rd of our prepaid Disney vacation. We called southwests customer service but there was a 2 hour wait. We ultimately booked a flight out of Hartford, CT to Orlando. This flight cost $2,844.90 nearly $2000 more than the initial flight. We had to have a family member drive us to Hartford to get the flight. While driving to Hartford we called the southwest customer service number back. I explained the situation and expected them to say they would quickly refund the $2,844.90. To my surprise the person told me I had two options. 1- she could only refund the $949.90 (the cost of the initial flight and I would have to pay the $2,844.90, meaning the vacation would cost me nearly $2000 more than I budgeted or 2- she could book the next flight from Albany to Orlando, two days later (causing my family to miss two days of our prepaid vacation). I asked if I could speak with a supervisor but she said she is a supervisor and she could not refund the $2,844.90. I told her I planned a vacation with my young family a long time ago and the plane having technical difficulties wasn’t my fault, and I had to have a family member take the day off work to drive me to Hartford. She said my only other option was to send a message to the customer service department which would be responded to within 10 days. I told her it was unacceptable, I have to spend time on my family vacation putting in the complaint and not knowing if I’m being charged an additional $2000! After about two weeks I got an email, after asking for a call, and was told I’m not getting refunded the additional charge. Vacation cost $2000 more than expected.

✅ Trip Verified | We booked a roundtrip flight From Colorado Springs to the Las Vegas. For the return flight, my wife and I were kicked off the flight and stranded in Vegas with no way to get home. The flight attendant (I wish I got her badge number) grabbed me by the arm and told me I was harassing the patrons which is 100% untrue. We got pulled aside as we were boarding because I was not wearing a mask, and the manger was called. After I spoke with a manger, I put the mask on and was one of the last ones to be able to board the flight. My wife asked the lady next to her if she would trade seats with me so we could sit next to each other. She told my wife, "no problem" even though I was in a middle seat, and as we were passing each other in the isle, I asked her again if she was sure she was ok with switching me seats, and that is when the flight attended grabbed me by the arm and said to get off the flight, and that I was being deboarded for "harassments". When I got out of the tunnel, I went to the manger and expressed my concern about my luggage that was under the plane, and at that point he said if I do not get away from him he would call the police and have me arrested. So there we were with no flight home.

Not Verified | Worst experience ever. My wife and I were supposed to fly to Denver then LA. We were rerouted to a Dallas then El Paso. No big deal. During flight our mask came down to the end of our nose, mine once, hers once and we were told to keep our mask up. When we landed in El Paso apparently the 2 stewardesses that asked us to keep our mask up went and got one of their superiors. This was the craziest experience of our life. The lady came on the plane and went crazy on us. Threatening us with “throwing us off the plane” making a huge scene, trying to get us to argue with her, which neither of us would do. This went on for about 3 minutes. Then she gets us another mask because I explained that my mask may have come down to the end of my nose because it was cloth. She went crazy again. Said put this mask on I replied ok. “Is this good”. She said don’t argue with me. “I’ll throw you off this plane”. Never seen anyone over 8 years old act like this. We were embarrassed for her. Never again Southwest.

✅ Trip Verified | We had a flight that was delayed 6 times. It started with a boarding time of 4:30 pm by the time we boarded it was after 9:30 pm. While our flight was being delayed 2 other airplanes were also delayed. One was canceled completely. While we sat and waited the 5 hours we sat by Southwest gate. The whole 5 hours there was one lady (Paulette). All I can say is Paulette was by far the best customer service agent I have ever seen in action for that length of the 5 hours. I heard every kind of excuse, lie, complaining and down right ugliness by a lot of the travelers. She never once lost her cool. She was friendly to the worst kind. She was so helpful to anyone she could help (she tried hard for everyone) regardless how rude they were to her. I am not going to say it was a great day it wasn’t. It was a long bad day. Saying all that, Paulette made me believe that no matter the situation we can be great under the worst situation! Thank YOU Paulette.

✅ Trip Verified | I will start by saying I rode comfortably for the 4 hour flight. The staff on the flight was very courteous as well. Although drinks and food were limited, this is what we have come to expect in a post COVID world. It was after the flight that there were problems. We had to wait an hour and a half for our checked bags to make it to the baggage claim. There was no explanation given other than sorry, the guys in the back getting luggage up here is put of my hands. When you are getting in at midnight and having to work in the morning an extra hour and a half is a big deal.

✅ Trip Verified | I initially left from Rochester on 8/12 and when checked in was told my bag might not be on the flight, and that I’ll have to possibly go back and get it. Well 8/23 the flight was supposed to depart at 9:45pm. It is now 10:37pm and the plane is just leaving. The delay is due to other passengers bags needing to get on the flight. I think this is sad holding over 60 passengers up, when I was told that I would possibly have to go back to get my luggage. So why were they not told the same. Apologies don’t help when you make plans accordingly and the plane is the reason for delay. Southwest needs to get it together. Several complaints all summer. Oh wait now it’s another 15 minute delay.