Southwest Airlines

Not Verified | Denver to Raleigh Durham. I am continuously unimpressed with this airline. The only reason to fly with Southwest is if you are on a budget. Their services are not up to par with other airlines, and if you are a frequent traveler they are consistently frustrating. For example, the past three flights I have been on, the WiFi didn’t work at all. Now that I am on a 737-700 that somehow has working WiFi, I can barely load Outlook let alone this page. I can’t count on this airline for on time departures or arrivals, or for getting any work done on the plane. Why as a business customer would I be interested in this airline for anything other than the price

✅ Trip Verified | One of the friendliest and nicest airline staff, cheerful and helpful. Since I am handicapped that is a great plus. Their assistance to me as a wheelchair assist customer was fabulous. The gates and the plane were very clean and well staffed. Even the Pilots greeted me with cheerful smiles and a good morning. The seats on the 737-700 are somewhat narrow and the seat belts were a little too short to be easy to use. Avoid the seats on the left side front row, extremely tight!

✅ Trip Verified | Houston to Santa Ana. Thanks to Southwest in Houston. I am travelling with a friend who was on a different flight landing at a different airport and the excellent Southwest personnel at gate 41 was able to accommodate us on the same flight. Thanks so much Southwest! Favorite US airline.

✅ Trip Verified | Denver to Phoenix. Delays and incompetent staff. Southwest could benefit from teaching all of their employees to take responsibility regardless of who’s job certain things actually are. For example. I entered the airport with an 18 month old. I asked the woman checking us in if I could check the car seat at that time she said no and to check it at the gate. At this time it would have been nice if she had mentioned the baby needed a boarding pass. Since he was a lap child I did not know that he needed a boarding pass until I got to the gate to board. I then had to get out of the line to get the babies boarding pass printed. Is it a huge deal no but the customer service industry needs to anticipate and serve the customer. This just leads me to believe they don’t care about customer service. While I was dealing with this issue the ladies printing the boarding pass pointed out out how that was someone else’s job. After I got the boarding pass I went to board the plane and gave my car seat. I was then told it needed a tag and I was asked why I didn’t get a tag as I was getting the baby’s boarding pass. As if it were my fault. The customer service is just poor. I have several other examples and they of course seem small.

✅ Trip Verified | Las Vegas to Burbank. Southwest is the worst airline I’ve experience, to put it bluntly. I cannot understand the complete disorganization with this airline. There are constant delays and never assigned seating which make the delays even worse. I have traveled Southwest a couple of times and never been satisfied but this has to be the most disappointment I’ve experienced, seems to be getting worse. I don’t typically post horrible reviews, but this last flight got me so frustrated I just feel it should be known.

✅ Trip Verified | Oklahoma City to Tucson. I have never had a bad experience with Southwest Airlines. Unfortunately, I made a bad choice and booked with another airline for my upcoming trip (UA & AA). After booking I realized there were a lot of hidden fees and a lot of restrictions that added an additional 100 to the trip and that is before the checked bag fee. Needless to say I am not happy with my choice.

Not Verified | Chicago to Newark. The policy on switching flights needs a lot of work. Possibly start by working on a "stand by" situation. My husband arrived at the airport 5 hours before his scheduled flight. So, he decided to ask for an earlier flight but was asked to pay an additional $300 to confirm the switch. Ridiculous. Called customer service, same answer. Sat at the terminal and watched everyone board. Asked the people again, same answer. There were extra seats on the flight. What is the problem? $300.00? Way to go Southwest, way to go. You have lost all my business.

✅ Trip Verified | I purchased early boarding when I purchased my ticket. Needed to be in Hartford and have my bags at 12:30 to secure my ride home. In realizing that we were supposed to land at 12 I purchased upgrading boarding for $50. Well lo and behold, the flight was delayed. Their reason was that another flight was late and they were waiting for a bag? Really? You inconvenience an entire flight for one bag? We did not land in time and I missed my ride thus having to pay again to get home. I asked for a refund of the $50 and was declined, because I was able to board the plane early. (I only boarded early from A37 to A7). Very poor customer service. Not my 1st bad experience with Southwest. Will be flying other airlines from now on.

Not Verified | Orlando to Las Vegas. Southwest is being money hungry and also dismissive to concerns on program and pricing changes. And they used a bait and switch method. I booked my flights some time ago and was offered the early bird check in option at an additional cost of $60 RT for my wife and I. I went back to book it and now the price is $100. When I called, I was told that the program changed at the end of August. Mind you the $60 is already a fee to get checked in early so you have a better boarding group time so you can rush on and pick your seats. The other airlines allow you to select a seat at booking so you do not have to get on the plane searching for your seat and beat out someone else like it is the last bottle of water before a hurricane. I would have saved money going with another carrier and not had to pay for the privilege of getting a better line up position to then still have to search for two seats together where we would like to sit. I talked to a few lower level staff that agreed with me that I should be able to get the original rate I was quoted at the time of booking. However, they could not help me. They did say they are getting similar feedback and it is not going over well. I called corporate at their direction and that got worse. The person at corporate was unapologetic and cold professional. She informed me that basically it is an ancillary rate and they have the right to change it at any time. She did understand my point about being offered a price on an already booked flight but was unwilling to do anything to assist. She then said they notified people by placing a disclaimer on their site for 8 days at the end of August. I had already purchased my ticket and have the app so had no reason to go back on the site. No email or reaching out to someone that already purchased. So they took what was already a junk fee for something no one else charges for and increased it to make more profit. She said well at the lower cost too many people were using it so it was not really an advantage to those buying it. And based on that feedback they felt raising the price to reduce the number of people purchasing it would make it more valuable for those buying it. I mean they could have just limited it to the first 50 people that purchase it or something like that. So buy early and get the advantage. That is how the best seat assignments work on other airlines. Instead they would thin the heard by raising the price and pricing people out in order to make it a better experience for those that can and are willing to pay. It is a greedy money grab. They sell themselves as different, and better and “we got rid of assigned seats and tickets to make fares lower.” But really it just is good marketing because they intend to get it from you on the backend. In all actuality I could have gone with another airline and saved and had seat assignments and not had to pay an extra fee. And this day and age no longer do they really have to print that many paper tickets with tickets on phone apps. At the end of the conversation I recapped that they offered a price on a confirmed booking and then changed it later without due diligence notification. I informed her that it was a bait and switch and also poor form for such a respected company. It was underhanded and not appreciated and was just raising what was already a junk fee. She then had the audacity to ask if I wanted to book the extra service I was complaining about, really?

Not Verified | Flying from San Diego to Las Vegas. Flight 2828 got pushed back until canceled. Wasn't told why the flight got canceled - rebooking agent said all i can do is reschedule for a flight in the morning. Missed my hotel check in that night and friends party. Got an email reply saying that due to weather was the flight canceled - not sure how that goes because it was clear in both cities that night. Asked Southwest Airlines to reimburse me for that one of hotel and they say they couldn't because it wasn't their fault. So last time we will fly with Southwest Airlines.