Southwest Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | I wanted to reach out regarding the unprofessional service I received from southwest employees. Travel was from St. Louis, MO - Dallas, TX AND Dallas, TX - Birmingham, AL. My flight was delayed last night, then cancelled. I called the customer service number to inquiry about other flights. The agent booked my 3rd option as the first two were taken. I asked for my seat position to be upgraded to “A” because of the inconvenience of staying another night in St. Louis. I also asked for a flight voucher for a complimentary flight which is normal practice on other airlines. The customer service agent declined both request, however informed me that at the airport the customer service department will accommodate in person with no problem. I spoke to the supervisor who was very rude to me. I was only asking to be accommodated for my inconvenience. Professionalism goes a long way and this did not happen today. I am currently in seat position “C”. My main request was to be upgraded to “A” or my previous position of “B”. The supervisor did express that i can pay for it. She said she will not upgrade me because she doesn’t want to not because she can’t.

❌ Not Verified | Baltimore to San Diego. Southwest would not add TSA Pre check to my ticket. I stood in a full service line to check my bags and add TSA Pre check with my global entry card. They told me that TSA Pre check would not print on my ticket because I already flew under the reservation. I find it ridiculous their system wouldn't allow it. It's not the fault of the person checking me in (although, another separate problem was they were under staffed). Whoever designed their check in system did not build this feature in.

❌ Not Verified | Houston Hobby to Midland. I just spent half an hour waiting at the desk because they said I could upgrade my boarding priority. They finally get to me and it’s oh never mind there aren’t any left. Love standing there for 30 minutes for no reason. I usually take United out intercontinental airport. Now I remember why. You get an assigned seat and you don’t stand there like an idiot waiting for nothing. Southwest is a very similar experience to Spirit airlines. Save yourself the grief. Take a real airline.

❌ Not Verified | I had booked this trip from Denver to Las Vegas five months ago. I had booked this as a surprise for my best friend as a bachelorette/Birthday party. This was a $700.00 surprise. We were on flight 799 from Denver to Vegas at 5:25AM. Landed in Vegas at about 6am Vegas time. We go to get our baggage and only one bag arrived. We submitted a report at 6:40am for the lost bag. Throughout the morning as we waited for a "15 minute " call back, no one called us, no one updated me, and no one can tell me where the bag is! We are now sitting in Vegas and the person/reason for being here has none of her things! Not only does she not have her things,her fiancé hid a surprise card with money in it. It is now 9:30am the next day and they still can't find my friends bag nor did they call me. I called them again to get no new information. This has been the absolute worst experience. When we were getting on the plane to come home they offered someone a $600 travel voucher for their next flight if they changed flights because they oversold it. We are now back from our trip and they still can’t find the bag. We are not even allowed to start the process of reimbursement until after 5 days.

✅ Trip Verified | Denver to Chicago. Arrived at check in and received a message on the ticketing machine that the flight was cancelled due to weather in Chicago, even though my party in Chicago said there were no weather issues there, especially when I was supposed to have been landing, and every other flight continued to Chicago within a short timeframe. (Later, I checked my messages, and they had sent notification of the flight cancellation while I was on the bus from park and ride to the airport just minutes before.) I had arrived for check in two hours before my flight, but Southwest couldn't find any flight with any connections in the entire country except one that got me there five hours later. I asked to be put on standby on an earlier flight and was told that I was #3, but when I showed up to the earlier flight, I was told that I had been bumped down to #7 because I wasn't an "A lister". When I objected and said they had lied to me by not telling me the whole truth, I was told that I better calm down or I wouldn't be allowed to fly at all. I was also listed as the very last person to get a seat on the later flight even though I had a much better boarding number on my original flight. Finally, because I complained, they removed me from the TSA pre check for my returning flight. If it was a weather issue, why didn't they just keep our plane on the ground, and let us all take off on hour or so later? When the flight was cancelled in the morning, I had asked to be put on another airline since they couldn't get me on anything earlier on Southwest, and they said that that wasn't required when it was a weather issue. I think it was a profit issue for the airline, not a weather issue. They gave me vouchers, but I don't want to fly Southwest ever again. I wanted to be at a special dinner with my son and daughter-in-law which I missed thanks to Southwest.

✅ Trip Verified | Salt Lake City to Denver. I just flew Southwest to go visit my family and I traveled on my own with my first baby who was 3 months old and Southwest was amazing to me about it. They were accommodating and when flying home my suitcase had ripped open and I lost a few items from the hole in my suitcase and working with the Southwest customer service I have never been so greatly treated. They were fast, cared, and took care of my needs.

✅ Trip Verified | This was my first time flying Southwest from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale. I found that, for the savvy flyer, Southwest really isn't any worse than economy on a legacy carrier, especially with their new basic economy classes. Just be sure to check-in quickly and arrive promptly for boarding and you're guaranteed an aisle or window seat. There was only one hiccup on my flight, during boarding. The sole gate agent was responsible for getting 2 wheelchair-bound passengers onto the plane, which took a significant amount of time. Overall, though, I would absolutely consider Southwest when it makes sense financially.

✅ Trip Verified | Las Vegas to Burlington. I finished up with a convention much earlier than anticipated and decided to head to the airport to try and get my ticket changed to an earlier flight. There are flights going from Las Vegas, NV to Burbank, CA about every hour. I find out there are open seats on every flight throughout the day and Southwest refused to help me. They only wanted to sell me another ticket. I declined that option, as I already purchased one. Of course, this is the case with all airlines now - no one wants to help you because of the corporate greed. Well, I’ll do my part by not flying with an airline that clearly doesn’t care about anything other than money.

✅ Trip Verified | Ft Lauderdale to Kansas City. We had a very troubling experience with my 6-year-old son flying as an unaccompanied minor on Southwest. He was bumped (although he had a confirmed seat) in favor of standby passengers. Southwest says it was because he didn't have a boarding pass, which apparently can happen even if you check in at the ticketing counter with an actual person who has you sign all the Unaccompanied Minor paperwork and gives both you and your child documentation to go through the security checkpoint. It wasn't a boarding pass! When I called Southwest to get my son onto a different flight, they put him as "standby" on a flight going out on Monday morning -- two days later -- and waived the $260 "change fee." I called back, asking if he could fly out from a different airport the next day (instead of two days) and they said he could, but I'd have to pay the "change fee." They said nobody with the authority to waive the "change fee" would be in the customer relations office until Monday morning (the day my son was scheduled to fly as a standby passenger.) Ultimately, I went on Facebook and made a public post. This got results. Southwest changed my son's ticket to a different city so he could depart the next day, with a confirmed seat, and without a "change fee." (Kind of proves that there was somebody in the office who had the authority to waive the "change fee" at the time they told me I'd have to wait until Monday to talk to someone with that authority.) Then, Southwest didn't answer a bunch of specific questions like, "What time was my son's confirmed ticket released so that a standby passenger could board?" and, "What protocol did the gate agent follow to contact my son's guardians when the gate agent realized that an unaccompanied minor who had checked in at the ticketing desk had not yet picked up his boarding pass?" In Facebook message, Southwest representatives sent me copies of their "Unaccompanied Minors" page of guidelines from their website. They were trying to prove that my son had forfeited his confirmed seat by failing to arrive on time. In fact, the "Unaccompanied Minors" page links to another Southwest website page called "suggested airport arrival times" which says only that passengers should arrive at the Ft. Lauderdale 60 minutes early for domestic flights. When I pointed out that my son had met these requirements (although NOT the more stringent time requirements being described after the fact by the customer service representative) the Southwest representative wrote, "I certainly regret if the information your family relied on was not the information provided on the specific Unaccompanied Minor page." No, ma'am, it was linked on the Unaccompanied Minor page, and there was no other information on the Unaccompanied Minor page. Basically, Southwest representatives bumped my son out of his confirmed seat. Then, they lied to me by saying nobody with the authority to waive the "change fee" was available to help me reschedule his flight until Monday. Then, they blamed my family for not following arrival guidelines that were not actually published, and told me that the guidelines we followed (from their public website!) were the wrong ones. Ultimately, the customer service representative told me she had no further information for me, and that she had assigned me a "file reference number" to use if I needed to contact their Executive Office. It felt like a brush-off, rather than a real effort to help.

✅ Trip Verified | Newark to Orlando. Flight attendant was late, every 20 min they said another 20 min, been standing in line for an hour and a half because they kept saying another 20 min, now they said 30 min longer. The crew could care less, worse airline i do not recomend it.