Southwest Airlines

Not Verified | Orlando to Philadelphia. I was trying to get my elderly mother on a Southwest flight to Philadelphia so she would be safe from Hurricane Dorian which was headed towards Central Florida. Regulations did not allow me to help my mother get onto the airplane and into her seat. The Gate attendant was extremely helpful to me as my mother was traveling with her little dog and I was very concerned that she would become confused as she has some dementia and would not be able to find a seat or get into her seat while dealing with her dog and her purse. The Gate attendant made sure that someone assisted my mother onto the airplane and helped her get her dog safely under the seat in front of her. Once all the passengers were on board, he made a point of coming over to me and assuring me that my mother was doing fine on the airplane and that the flight attendants would watch over her on her 2.5 hour flight into Philadelphia. I cannot begin to express my gratitude for his helpfulness that day. He was an angel in disguise and I really appreciate everything he did for my mother and her dog. Many thanks.

✅ Trip Verified | We had to fly from Phoenix to LAX where we had a connecting flight from LAX to London from there. Our Southwest plane was 40 min late and we were running short on being able to make our connection flight in LA. Southwest announced that they were offering early boarding and early exiting for the late flight for $30 per person. We talked to Southwest employee about waiving that fee for us since the plane was late and jeopardized our connection flight. The employee said she couldn’t do that for us because we should have allowed more time for the connection flight. We had 3 hours. It seems that when Southwest is late it uses that to sell their customers early boarding and early exits because they know people with connecting flights are now running late and are forced to purchase these $30 extra tickets. What a scam! I showed up on time and waited for your plane that’s late due to you not being organized enough to get your customers in wheelchairs off the plane in a timely manner. Now you want me to pay extra for you being late? Horrible customer service!

✅ Trip Verified | Las Vegas to Orlando via Nashville. On August 22 flight #2421 was over 20 minutes late arriving in Las Vegas. This caused the flight to leave Las Vegas over 50 minutes late this jeopardizing our connection flight #1296 in Nashville. The flight attendants then said they will hold the plane in Nashville until we arrive there. However, we paid for the early bird check-in because Southwest doesn't assign seats for their passengers. In order for you and your family members to sit together, you have to purchase the early bird check-in which assures you a place in line within the first 60 people. This does not work if your flight is delayed coming in and your connecting flight already boards everyone even the people who didn't pay for the early bird check-in. So you get screwed and lose your place in line which you paid for. So when they boarded us onto flight #1296 and we tell the flight attendant that we paid for the early bird check-in. The flight attendant says well we waited 20 minutes for your flight to get in. How is that the passenger's fault that the flight go in late? So they tell us to sit in the only available seats which are center seats not even in the same row. Also to make matters worse the seats are sandwiched in between 2 larger than normal-sized people. So I had to squeeze between 2 large people and my husband got to sit next to a 350lbs man who was partially in his seat so much so that he had to lay his tray table down to lean on it for the entire flight. Did the flight attendants care? Of course not because they herd people like cattle on these aeroplanes, they don't care if your flight is uncomfortable. The flight lasted 1 hour and 23 minutes to Orlando. When we got home. I called Southwest Customer Service and the only thing they said they can do from their end is to refund us the $12.50 each that we paid for the early bird check-in. They said to call their Customer Relations Department. On 8/30/19 I call Customer Relations and explain to the representative the situation and the terrible experience and she said she can only refund us $50 each in travel vouchers towards another Southwest flight. So this airline company takes your money, gives you a terrible flight experience and only gives you $50 each for your unsatisfactory experience due to their flights not keeping on schedule. I told the representative if Southwest assigned seats in the first place it would not have been a problem because no one would have sat in someone else's seat. We pay for the early bird boarding to get within the first 60 people on a plane so parties can sit together. Looking back in hindsight my husband and I should have walked off the plane and asked to be put on another plane where we would be able to board within the early bird boarding and not lose our place in line. I doubt if I will ever book another trip with Southwest.

Not Verified | Columbus to Denver. I had a lot of anxiety about my trip. It was my first time taking my service dog on a plane. Every single staff member I encountered was friendly, professional and compassionate. Both flights and all 3 airports went smoothly. Truly appreciate the experience and will absolutely choose Southwest in the future. Thank you for getting us home safe and sound!

Not Verified | Original flight to Houston for first leg was canceled with no notice or explanation. Total trip was supposed to take 6 hours is now 14 hours. Rerouted to Dallas where most of passengers from Houston were on flight. I believe they cancelled the original flight to Houston to fill low passenger flight to Dallas. In Dallas now and have been shuffled around to multiple gates.

Not Verified | Salt Lake City to Denver. I was checking in and the woman at the counter (Nancy) gave the absolute best customer service I’ve had with any airline! She helped me with my bags and was just overall, a really kind person. She should be the face of the airline!

✅ Trip Verified | On both flights from New York to Los Angeles and the return, Southwest cancelled one leg of the flight leaving me to spend the night in the airport on my own twice now in one month. Today I had to wait a full 28 hours to board the next flight. Never book with Southwest if you are not flying non-stop to your destination. Cancellations and delays are the rule and not the exception. The airline does not provide meal taxi nor hotel vouchers. Delays and cancellations are always magically due to weather even in perfect summer conditions according to the airline. The truth is that the airline does not have enough planes staff and pilots to cover slight delays.

✅ Trip Verified | On this day, our flight was delayed due to storms. I am a copd patient who travels with oxygen. After a long day of traveling, I was running low on battery charge. The flight attendants went over and beyond what I needed to make me feel comfortable. And charged my batteries. The outlets at the airport are far and few that even work. And the outlets are always far from were the wheelchairs are placed. After a 5 hour delay we made it home. Thank you for all your help and assistance. And to all who took time out of their day to help me, thank you.

✅ Trip Verified | I flew Puerto Vallarta to Houston, pilot tried to land twice and was a bad storm, he good decided to come to Austin and get some gas. I am always some stress about airplanes and I have been handling pretty good, when I saw we were over the airport in Houston and had to go up twice I starting very nervous, the Captain explained the situation but was very stressful not your fault. I asked the stewardess if she can give me an alcohol drink and she answer in a bad attitude we cannot do that, I was so stressed. I understand sometimes you can’t but was the mean way she said, she was not nice with anybody please urgent put her in a customer service training; on the back of the airplane the other stewardess were serving sodas and taking care about customers she was only sitting at the time I asked for a drink. You have an excellent employees who always take care about customers and do amazing job but her attitude is the worst I have seen.

✅ Trip Verified | Chicago to Norfolk via Orlando. Yesterday I got on board my flight to ultimately take me to Norfolk. The weather in Chicago was lightning and thundering so the pilot wisely put us back at the gate after finding out that we would not be taking off for sometime. They allowed us to get off of the plane so that we could use regular washrooms. It soon became evident that I was going to miss my connecting flight in Orlando which would ultimately take me to Norfolk. I expressed my concerns with the pilot who suggested that I cancel and re-schedule for today. I went to the desk and got a ticket and will be flying out today. In the meantime I had many questions come up regarding my rewards program and had to call customer service for two different issues. Every single person I got with was perfect at handling their job. I cannot give a high enough rating for this airline. I have never had a bad experience traveling on Southwest.