Southwest Airlines

Went on vacation July 9-18. Flight out to Denver was ok - nothing special. Seats were very cramped. Flight 2068 back from Denver to Boston was horrible! To start flight was delayed twice. We were a party of 4 sitting all the way in the back. From the time we got in the air until about three quarters of the way through the flight the two female flight attendants and one male flight attendant were just horrible. When one of the females came around asking for beverage requests I asked for a coffee. Everyone in my party received their drink except me no coffee. But it got worse! After drinks were served these three attendants proceeded to stand in the back by the bathroom and galley and talk and laugh extremely loudly with no regard whatsoever for all of us in the back of the plane including two toddlers who were trying to sleep. They kept up their loud talking and shrieking laughter for over an hour. It was absolutely horrible and disrespectful. I will never fly Southwest again.

Burbank-Phoenix SWA286. Phoenix-Buffalo SWA197. July 17th. My first time flying Southwest and I was very impressed. Customer Service was the best I have seen and I have been on United Delta American etc. I was flying from Burbank to Buffalo via Phoenix and the first flight was 15 minutes early and the 2nd flight was right on time! I read a lot of people on here do not like the seating policy I honestly love it it is very simple and you choose which seat you want and Southwest is known for being the quickest airline for planing and deplaning. Flight attendants were very nice I liked the humor they used for their announcements. You have complimentary non- alcoholic drinks and they give you a bag of peanuts and pretzels. All in all I would recommend Southwest.

When and if Southwest changes its seating policy I will consider flying it again. Unfortunately is pretty much the only airline that flies to ISP but I hate the seating policy so much that for my upcoming trip I will fly into JFK and take a shuttle. SW likes to say that its seating policy is freedom of choice choose any seat you want but that is not true. There is a hierarchy for seating which they charge extra for and then after paying all these extra fees you could still wind up with a lousy seat. We paid extra and were able to snag bulkhead but not exit row for the first leg of our trip because those were taken by mostly short people who don't need the leg room but who had boarded first. Then we had to change planes. Unfortunately the connecting flight originated from somewhere else and the plane was already half full so not only could we not get any leg room but we couldn't even sit together. Paying extra for better boarding is like playing roulette you take your chances and the odds are against you. I'd rather pay extra to choose my seat and know that it is guaranteed. The whole boarding process is so stressful because some people are pushing to get ahead of other people and everyone is rushing to grab the seat they want not knowing if they are going to be out of luck or not. Then after you get your seat the flight attendants are trying to get people to volunteer to give it up so a family can sit together. The whole thing is absurd. On top of all of this their prices are often not the lowest. I can fly into JFK pay extra for premium seating and afford a shuttle for what a Southwest flight to ISP costs.

Our flight from Orlando to Denver was full. I checked in about 23 hours before departure and got group C boarding passes. They want you to buy the automatic check in so they can get extra money out of you. My wife and I had to sit about 6 rows apart. The return flight was delayed 1.5 hours and when we tried to switch to an earlier flight they wanted $347 to change so we waited. This flight we checked in for when we arrived at the airport and got group C again. Flight was full but we at least got seats across the aisle from each other. I'm done flying Southwest I would rather have assigned seating even if I have to pay a bit more. I don't know why the flight was delayed in Denver never got an explanation. Too many pre-boarders families etc. that your boarding pass doesn't really mean anything anyway.

SJC to PDX. I have never experienced such poor Customer Service in the 13 years I have been traveling with this airline. I have been getting the feeling that the service had lost its world renowned status for the last few years. I stayed with this airline for their frequency and on time performance. Despite having a huge incentive voucher from Alaska Airlines I will say that after this experience I have completely given up on Southwest Airlines as a competitor. I was greeted by a Customer Service Representative with a mouthful of French Fry! After being told that my flight was delayed four hours due to an earlier mechanical problem. I asked why I was not notified prior to my on time arrival at the airport? The representative said that due to operational irregularities there was no way of notifying passengers of the delay. After waiting four hours with no communication form Southwest employees an announcement was made. My flight was going to be canceled and we could all receive vouchers. The chaos that ensued was unreal. Before I knew what was happening there was a line of 100 plus passengers waiting to get vouchers. I opted to leave the airport and fly Alaska Airlines the next day.

My daughters were competing in Orlando Florida. My wife scheduled an 8.30 am flight 3 months ago to make sure to be there. Right after the passengers boarded the flight the pilot announced to passengers that there was a problem with the plane. The passengers deplaned and were told that SW was working on getting another plane a direct flight. There was no direct flight offered and after being told they would be leaving at 5 different times SW finally decided to bump the 3pm flight for the 8.30 am passengers. For all my wife's troubles she was given a measly $200 voucher. She could have driven from Dallas to Orlando faster than SW got her there.

Southwest's Boarding Process has gotten completely out of control. I haven't flown on Southwest in about a year but my experience on a recent round-trip from Phoenix to Boston with connections proved repeatedly how flyers are abusing Southwest's boarding process. On the first leg I was assigned B38 since I did not pay for EarlyBird seating although I did check in exactly 24 hours before the flight. By the time they got to B31-60 practically the entire flight had boarded. At least 20 people were in the pre-board category about 5 A-list flyers who hadn't gotten an A number boarded after all the A's were called and then another 26 people boarded during "families and children". There were less than 30 people remaining to board the plane (which was entirely full) by the time they got to the B31-60 category - when technically there should have been 75-90 people left to board. This experience was repeated on all four flights and was worse when leaving BWI when a group of "C" pass holders snuck into the B segment and were not stopped by the gate agent. The final straw was the flight from Chicago to Phoenix. I watched a family walking through the airport to check-in at which point the parents asked for a wheelchair for their young daughter - who had been walking with them up to that point. A wheelchair was commandeered and they were expedited through the TSA check-point. Lo and behold when I arrived at my gate weren't they there - and with a pre-board pass. So clearly another way to bypass Southwest's procedures is just to commandeer a wheelchair and then you get to pre-board. It really is time for Southwest to just start assigning seats; the flying public it has been demonstrated will otherwise continue to outmanoeuvre and get around the "rules."

We planned a trip from Pittsburgh Airport to Memphis Airport (supposed to be a 4hr 45min trip). We were traveling with a 3 yr old. We arrived at Pittsburgh Airport with our flight scheduled to leave at 6.30pm when checking in they said that our flight was delayed due to bad weather and offered to move us to a flight leaving at 4.45pm we agreed and actually made it in time to board. Once it was our turn to board we were told our boarding passes were not valid and had to get out of line to go back to the lady at the boarding counter to receive new boarding tickets. We finally boarded the plane and eventually made it to our first lay-over at Chicago Airport. Ended up waiting at this airport for almost 5 hrs for our plane to arrive. Yet again when trying to board we handed the lady our boarding passes and she scanned them and was told they were invalid. Again we had to get out of line and wait until we were cleared by whomever she called about the matter. After finally getting on the plane we waited an additional 20 minutes for a passenger who for some reason or another was late. Finally we landed at Memphis Airport at 11.15pm an hour behind schedule and thank goodness our rental car place was kind enough to wait 20+ minutes after they closed at 11pm so we could get our rental we had reserved. I was hoping our flight home would be less eventful not so lucky! We arrived at Memphis Airport and things went smoothly (I had high hopes after this) we arrived at Orlando FL airport. Once we arrived at Orlando airport things went downhill. We almost immediately found out that our 4.15 flight to Pittsburgh was delayed due to "weather" and wouldn't be leaving until 6.45 pm. After trying to figure out a plan we called customer service at Southwest and was told that she didn't know why we were told that our flight was delayed due to weather in fact it had to make an emergency landing in Baltimore due to mechanical issues. 6 long hours later we finally took off around 7pm and arrived at Pittsburgh Airport 5 hrs behind schedule at 11.40pm. I can insure after this experience I will be flying with another airline!

Today when I showed at the airport I was informed that my flight would be late and that I had to be re-routed. This change puts me at my destination airport approximately 3 hours later than my original ticket. My wife and children now have to pick me up well past their normal bed time (our children are young). Additionally my boarding number is well past what I had checked in with for my original flight (instead of early B I'm now late C). I now have to wait at my departure airport 4.5 hours instead of my planned 1.5 hours. This type of customer handling is unacceptable. Southwest Airlines is supposed to be one of the top tier airlines in regards to customer satisfaction however my treatment today was truly unexpected. I should have been upgraded to business class seating (A1-A15) at least at a discounted price. Instead I was offered nothing for my inconveniences as well as my family's. I truly understand that things happen outside of Southwest's control but I think some concession should have been offered. This would have made me feel better. Instead I feel like Southwest's attitude towards it's passengers/customers is "deal with it" with a smile and a nod and a "next customer please" attitude.

Got delayed due to a maintenance issue with the plane. This happens of course but a few major issues. First they do not make announcements and let people know what is going on. It was past the scheduled departure time before they made any sort of announcement. All the announcement said was "If you have connecting flights we are looking into possible changes. There is a problem with the plane we have no idea what it is." Something along those lines. So all you know is that there is a problem with the plane? We all already know that or we would be in the air right now or at least on the plane. Next If you do have delays or cancellations in your flight Southwest does not pull seats from other airlines to book the affected passengers. Other airlines have done this for me in the past. This is obviously a huge issue. You may be waiting all day or even until the next day for another Southwest flight that isn't booked and is flying where you are going. And you can't even really fly to a nearby airport because Southwest doesn't service many cities. Other airlines care about keeping you informed and they will get your flight quickly changed if there is a cancellation or large delay. Southwest cannot and will not do the same.