Southwest Airlines Consumer Reviews - Page 3

My family and I travelled last spring from Akron to Tampa on Airtran/Southwest Airlines. When we arrived at the airport the flight was delayed due to mechanical failure for 2 hours. Original posted delay turned into multiple delays, promised another plane which didn't show when expected. 8 hours later we were still waiting. Our patience as well as the entire waiting crowd was gone. The Airtran/Southwest staff at the gate were authorized to reimburse passengers with certificate travel for the inconvenience. Ok great, (we thought).

I have tried to use our certificates in several different ways. Here they are: 1) We had already purchased tickets for a trip later in the summer (same airline), asked if we could cancel those and use the certificates, NO. 2) Asked if we could use the certificates for additional family members to travel with us, NO. 3) Tried to book a flight for another trip, sorry certificate seats sold out. 4) Tried to book again on a different date, NO because that put us past the travel dates on the certificate. 5) Last try today and told that the certificates are expired and no longer valid.

REALLY?? What does a person have to do to use certificate travel? Travel to destinations nobody wants to go on dates no one wants to travel? If certificate travel is given as a gesture of good will for inconveniences endured due to airline failure shouldn't the recipient be able to use at THEIR convenience not the airlines? We are a family of 7 who will no longer be traveling Airtran (acquired by Southwest) or what is now Southwest Airlines. They gave only to take it back. Shame on you!

When my wife booked our trip to Disney World, we decided to fly Southwest, since I had a rewards ticket and a gift card. I actually prefer to fly Southwest because I know that if a problem comes up, it's fairly simple to fix. Our flight from PHL to MCO was scheduled to depart shortly after 6 PM on Tuesday, June 28th. We boarded (and were lucky enough to sit in an exit row) and the plane moved towards the runway. While on the runway, there was an announcement that there was a delay and they would update us with more information. We found out that there must have been a change in the wind, so we had to change runways (along with every other plane).

It was about a 75-90 minute delay that we endured on the runway. Eventually we got up in the air. When they came around to take drink orders, my wife, and a few other people, ordered an adult beverage. I had a Southwest coupon for a free drink, but they said that since there was a delay, they wouldn't be charging anyone for drinks. I felt that this was a very nice gesture that the crew did, even though the issue was something that Southwest could not control. On our return flight, we were scheduled to leave from MCO to PHL on Monday, July 4th at 3 PM.

We got to the Southwest kiosk to check our bags just before 1 PM. The lady there said that our flight has been delayed by 3 hours (for a reason that she was unaware of). She notified us that each of us will be receiving a $100 Southwest Airlines voucher for our troubles. We were told that there was an earlier flight that she could put us on standby for, which would get us in 90 minutes sooner, but went through Providence, R.I., then changed planes. I decided to stick to the original flight. We went through security and relaxed for a while before our flight was ready to board.

I noticed that they announced several times that if someone didn't receive their $100 voucher, please do so. They also did it one more time once we got in the plane, just to make sure that everyone was aware of it and received them. They also notified us that the reason there was a delay was because of a mechanical issue on a plane, so we would be using a different plane that we were waiting to arrive from Houston. We did eventually board and backed away from the gate. We stopped. The weather was creating an issue for people traveling into the DC/PHL/NY area. About 45-60 minutes later, we eventually were given the clearance to head out.

While we were waiting, the crew played music and did what they could to make the situation a little bit better. Again, while in the air, they did not charge for drinks due to the delays. The delay, while an annoyance, gave everyone on the plane a great view of several different firework shows as we were approaching Philadelphia. The overall experience was pleasant on both plane rides. I don't know when my next trip will be, but most likely it will be with Southwest Airlines. I also plan, at some point, to write a review on a few of the places we went to on our trip.

FT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA -- My family and I flew from Austin, TX to Miami to go on a cruise. We booked 4 round-trip flights using the Rapid Rewards from the SWAir Visa card purchases. Unfortunately we had to fly back Sunday because there were no Saturday seats available. Upon arriving in Miami, we went to pick up our luggage and Lo and Behold only 4 of the 5 bags show up. We were certainly off to a bad start, but around 2:00 AM SWAir found our suitcase, still on the ground in Austin. So they ship it to us. Inconvenient, but not a huge deal. Decent but not outstanding service so far.

However, on our flight back, we were booked for a Sunday red eye flight even though the ship returned Saturday morning. My wife calls numerous times to try to book a Saturday flight since with Rapid Rewards you can rebook anytime. This would get us home a day earlier. She is finally told that there are 2 seats available to Austin, and 2 seats to San Antonio. Yuck...but hey, what can you do? We decide to split the family across these two flights so we can get home a day early even though it is extremely inconvenient. I would fly with my son to Austin, pick up the car, then drive 85 miles to San Antonio and pick up my wife and daughter.

We tell the ticket agent to make it happen. She cancels my son and I and books us to Austin. She then goes to cancel my wife and daughter and says "oops, the San Antonio flights are no longer available". We tell her to rebook us back to the Sunday flights then. She informs us that the Sunday seats are no longer available. I am getting pretty angry and upset by this time and ask her what she suggests we do about this. I was not going to leave my Wife and Daughter alone in Ft Lauderdale because SWAir can't get their act together.

She then tells us that she can book my wife and daughter on the same flight my son and I are on, but that they can't use the Rapid Rewards tickets because she did not have any Rapid Reward seats available!! Seats are available, but not for "our kind"? So we have to pay $670 to fly together because the ticket agent was too dumb to grab all 4 reservations when we told her to. I am thinking at this point that I am going to take this up with SWA afterwards, they are bound to see my point of view and make this good. When we complain, however, they only offer to refund us $300 in credit towards a future flight in the next 12 months.

SWAir treated us like they were giving us free flights. However, we earned those tickets by participating in a program they earn profit from. I fly SWAir a LOT (or at least I did until now), and I am going to raise a stink in every forum I can find. They can and apparently did rip me off of $670, but I will make sure my story gets told just in case anyone still thinks SWAir is an honest, reputable, service-oriented company.

Perhaps my story will cost them $600 in business. I hope it costs them many multiples. I am going to return my business to Discover and get my 3% back. SWAir has just offended another frequent flier. I was once a fan and stockholder (albeit very minor) of SWAir...but absolutely never again.

If all goes smooth, Southwest employees are friendly, happy and well. As soon as problems arise, the employees completely and miserably fail: I arrived at the airport 2 hours ahead, as requested, checked my luggage and was rewarded with an A Boarding Pass. I waited in the boarding area and got nervous because the counter wasn't occupied 30 min before takeoff. I wandered around, went to another SW counter, asked and was told that my flight had been cancelled and that I had to take a later flight - there never was an announcement!

I guess other travelers are used to cancelled flights and constantly ask at unrelated counters. The person at the new check-in did not care that I would be in a hurry and that I really should get my A status back - I was now a B and very nervous because I had to connect to a flight to Europe. She almost trashed my luggage claim when she reissued my boarding pass, I found out later that these claims are unnecessary and don't matter anyway when you fly with Southwest.

She also stated that she never heard that people have to check in 3 hours early for an international flight (which was now dwindling down to less than 1 hour). However, I now had time again and went to Customer Service: I explained the situation ... but they also did not care, they actually doubted my statements (no announcements about cancelled flight and the 3 hours advanced check-in) and said the flight would surely wait for me (HaHa) and if not, I could take the next one, HaHaHa.

When we finally boarded, an additional 25 min delayed, I couldn't get a seat near the front because of my B status. AT THIS POINT, I had been at the AIRPORT for ALMOST 4 HOURS. I was so nervous that I could hardly talk and my heart was beating rapidly. I told the flight attendant that I had to catch a flight to Europe and that I needed assistance to guide me through the airport rapidly, get my luggage, switch terminals and board the overseas flight. She responded very friendly and said that a supervisor would be there when I arrive. I was saved, I thought.

The supervisor was there on arrival (I guess they always are, I just never noticed before) and told me to go to the service counter to get help, I know now he also did not care and only wanted to get rid of me quickly. I raced out of the plane to the counter... where I received absolutely no help. Opposite, the slow person at the counter took up more of my time and also did not care. I sprinted to the luggage area, couldn't find my bag, started to run around, shaking, and suddenly discovered my bag, sitting unattended off to the side, close to the exit in an unguarded area.

I grabbed the bag, ran into the customer service office to quickly complain and maybe get them to make up my lost time, but they just smiled and said "OK", when I pointed out that anybody could have taken my bag, they also did not care. I was seriously late and still had to find out how to get to the international terminal... I caught my flight, but only because I am healthy and in good shape. Bottom-line: I recommend Southwest, if somebody is in no hurry and wants to fly cheap; however, if a person is not athletic and really needs to arrive at a certain time, I recommend traveling with a serious airline that employs educated people who care about future business.

First of all, the flight was delayed because of some type of mechanical failure on the plane, when we get the word that it's safe to fly because the defective part is not that serious (which is what the pilot tells us in his welcome aboard speech right before he takes off) we fly to Orlando for a transfer to Ft Lauderdale. Once in Ft Lauderdale we realize all the bags on the conveyor has been claimed so we go to baggage claim. They tell us our luggage did not make the transfer, but they know that we are in Florida because we are leaving for a cruise set to sail at 5 pm. They promise they will have the bags to us by 3 pm as soon as the next flight from Orlando comes in.

We are like "are you sure?" They say "We promise - the ship dock is right down the road from us less than 5 minutes, the bags will be there." We could see Carnivals red white and blue whale fin so we think they might be telling the truth. Well around three we start calling, first call Southwest says the plane just got here and the crew on board tells us your bags are on board they will be right there, second call 3:30 Southwest says the bags have left they should be on board.

Now it's 8 of us my wife and I, her sister & husband, my in-laws, & my sister-in-laws, so between the 8 of us we called them probably 2 or 3 more times and they continue telling us our bags are on the ship until the last call which we had to call from the ship's phone at customer service because we no longer had cell phone service this time. They say the bags are in Ft Lauderdale. They thought they had sent them to the ship. They tell us they will refund what money we spend on clothes, toothbrushes, & etc. OK we can get toothbrushes and things like that but we are going to be at sea for the first 3 days we want our clothes.

We already bought clothes for this trip, so after talking to every supervisor at the company they fly our bags to our first port of call Puerto Rico. We finally get our bags after three days, all of our jewelry, watches, evening gowns, dress shoes, cologne, used deodorant, camera, bathing suits, sneakers, even used underwear gone. Probably stolen in Puerto Rico or could even in the states but that doesn't matter - still mad, and they say they are not responsible. My advice - carry on anything you don't want lost or stolen.

I was trying to be easy to get along with, trying not to extend the naked body scans and searches they perform by checking everything. Sorry for typing so much but just needed to vent, cause Southwest doesn't care, some we talk to act like they find it to be funny. At least we made it back safely, I am thankful for that.

When I checked in July 09 to make sure my money/credits would still be available to me until Dec. 09. In July 09 I was assured by Southwest representative that it was... along with a voucher for 429.50. I called September 09 and guess what? I'm informed that my OWN money of 76.00 is gone. The "Supervisor" just kept telling me they were sorry about the representative error but that they could do NOTHING and stated the following:

"If you have $1 from an old reservation and add $300 to book a new ticket, the entire $301 expires on the old reservation date." They claimed that other airlines have the same policy which I verified was not true. They also claimed that this policy is clearly on the purchasing screen which is not true. They also claimed that the expiration date is on the top of the confirmation which is not on the fax copy I received. They have obviously changed their policy to get every dollar out of the Customer whether they have earned it or not. Be careful since there is a new Southwest Airlines and they have a #1 focus on revenue NOT customer service!

And all they would do is keep repeating how sorry they were. On top of this I had a 51.00 and 30.00 due for 81.00... 5.00 was deducted with my OK for 5.00 security fee on subsequent prepaid trip.. leaving the 76.00 I had planned to use with the voucher that expires Dec,09. Now that I'm told that 76.00 is gone.. I'm told if I had at least 50.00 in one transaction/one way (the other was 30 on return part of trip) that for a fee of 50.00 I could get MY money back. For example I had 51.00 (but since they took the 5.00 security fee from this one...how convenient) only would have 46.00 so not eligible.

But if I had 51.00 they'd deduct 50.00 for the "processing fee" and return 1.00 to me. I had to have them repeat this as I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My 76.00 paid on same credit card I've been paying on many flights with them over the years they couldn't/wouldn't return but would credit... then due to their error... they keep, tell me repeatedly they are so sorry but can do nothing.. yet if I had 50.00 or more they can with a 50.00 fee! So now, instead of recommending them to so many on principle, I will actively encourage others to use other airlines and will let many know of how unprofessionally I was treated and how greedy this airline is over 76.00.

I have no doubt that they will lose quite a bit of revenue when this is shared. So Southwest are you happy now?
P.S. I happen to be a cancer patient when needing to fly in/out national medical center am eligible for free angel fights but try to pay my own way on limited income while I can. They didn't care.

I realize that I flew standby and was taking a risk. However, It's not like I wasn't proactive. With the amount of employees that I spoke to on Thursday setting up the reservations and on Friday trying to find the best possible flights to take, there is no reason why I shouldn't have gotten to the East coast. Instead, I wound up flying in a BIG circle, -$180 (1/2 of the price that I gave to the person for the standby ticket + misc. travel expenses) and devastated. I have flown standby many times before and have NEVER had this happen. I guess the lesson here is some things are not OK to try to be cheap on.

I received the news that my Grandfather had passed away Early Thursday morning. I had a friend offer me a buddy pass so that I may get to the funeral on Saturday morning in Pittsburgh PA. Had I known the experience was going to be what it was, I would of purchased a ticket outright from a different airline. After checking and rechecking flights on Thursday I had a reservation to fly standby from Spokane to Oakland, Oakland to Chicago and Chicago to Pittsburgh. I checked with the desk the status of the flights in Spokane and got rerouted from Oakland to Burbank and Burbank to Pittsburgh.

At that time, the attendant told me that that flight was a much better option because it still had open seats on it. Fast forward 2 hours. Land in Burbank. Am told the flight was full, but I was the first person on the standby list, so it looked like I would get on OK. 2 more hours pass - The Flight is overbooked. There is nothing the attendants can do because It is now 2 pm on the west coast and there are NO MORE FLIGHTS going from the west coast to the east coast. Instead of checking to get me to Chicago or anywhere on the East coast, they sent me back to Seattle. Did I get to spend today with my family to grieve my Grandfathers death? No, I did not.

I have flown standby tons of times. As my grandfather retired from United. I have NEVER in my life had this bad of an experience. I don't wish this feeling on anyone. I would hope that there would be some sort of compensation on Southwest's part to try to make up for the mistakes that were made. I am sending a copy of this to my local news station. People need to be aware of this. I understand the risks of flying standby. However, I started flying at 7 am in the Morning. There is no reason why I shouldn't have been able to get on a flight from one of the airports that I was at yesterday to Chicago.. At least that way, I would've been able to get there.

It is the flight personnel's job to find the best way to make that happen which is why I kept checking and rechecking. Instead I was sent in a big circle and Nothing but heartbreak got accomplished. I understand that normally you don't refund or compensate for people flying standby. However, I do believe this is a HUGE error that needs some sort of compensation. I missed out on something VERY IMPORTANT to me, something I can't get back, due to Southwest Airlines.

ORLANDO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLORIDA -- My family and I recently travelled Southwest Airline to Orlando, Florida from our home State of Rhode Island. Our flight from Providence, RI on the morning of March 1, 2009 went off without a hitch and their staff was friendly and courteous. However, we experienced a very different and troubling reception at Orlando Airport for our return trip home on March 5, 2009. Allow me the opportunity to provide some relevant background information. I am 54 years old and my wife and I have been married for over thirty years. In addition to having three biological children, my wife and I had decided to become foster parents in 1989.

This opportunity subsequently led to the adoption of three children, two of whom have special needs. Our child with the most severe needs was a recent recipient of “A Wish Come True.” My daughter has a rather rare and unusual chromosome abnormality. As a result, her world is one of rituals, the need of constant assurance, repetition, scheduling and planning. I only know of three known cases in Rhode Island at the time of this writing. The manifestations of this affliction are presented as autistic-like behavior, Tourette's Syndrome, Obsessive-Compulsiveness disorder and a heightened state of anxiety.

The most serious medical complication associated with this hardship is that there are an unusual number of deaths that occur during sleep. (In the 21 month period between April 2006 and December 2007, there was a reporting of the sudden, unexpected, and as yet unexplained deaths of six seemingly healthy young people with chromosome 15q duplication syndrome. The six cases of sudden and unexpected death involved young people of both genders between the ages of 7 to 26. All died during the night while they were in bed, presumably asleep.) As a recipient of “A Wish Come True,” family members are presented with the final product.

Planning is done by the wish organization. We were presented with a package instructing us where to be and at what time to be there. For example, our itinerary simple stated: March 5, 2009 Departure Information from Orlando. Airline: Southwest; Flight Number: 1613; Departure time: 6:30; Arrival Time: 10:25. There was no mention of a layover or a stop. Honestly, when all was said and done I was surprised when I learned this was not a non-stop flight. The morning of March 5, 2009 was our last day of my daughter's “Wish” vacation aboard the Disney Cruise Line Wonder. We had to be off the ship by 9:00 that morning.

However, our flight home was not scheduled to leave until 6:30 that evening. We had no choice but go directly to the airport as we needed to follow our luggage for baggage check-in. (Apparently Disney has a partnership with some airlines that allow for direct ship-to-airline baggage transfer and check in. The owners of the luggage need not be there. We have since learned that Southwest does not have this type of arrangement with Disney.) After several hours at the terminal, it was apparent that daughter's behavior was going to become an issue.

My daughter's way of thinking would be akin to, “Why go to an airport terminal if you are not going to fly on an airplane?” I asked one of Southwest's service desk employees if it was possible to transfer to an earlier flight. We were told that accommodations could be made for my daughter and one adult; however, the remaining four passengers would not be afforded the same opportunity. If you knew my daughter, you would understand that this would not be a possibility; she travelled to Orlando with a group of six and she would need to travel back to Rhode Island with the same six people.

Our problem began when around 5:50 PM my daughter yelled a question from afar to your employee (wearing the name tag of **) at Gate 123. She asked when her plane would be there. I left my daughter and walked over to ** to apologize for her loudness, stating that my daughter has special needs. He was gracious and asked, “Where are you folks travelling to?” I said we were going to Providence. He asked for my flight number. I told him I did not know the number off-hand, but we were going to Providence, RI.

He checked his computer screen and said there had been a gate change, (he said there was an accompanying announcement as well stating such) and that we needed to be at Gate 125. He added that we should hurry because that plane was just about to begin boarding. I went over to my family and immediately retrieved the booklet that contained our tickets from my travel bag. Instead of going to Gate 125, I went back to see ** who was engage in small talk conversation with another Southwest employee at the time.

Nonetheless, I held out the ticket book for him to view, but instead he turned to me, and said, “Look man, I'm not pulling your leg. I just checked the screen. You need to be at Gate 125.” I collected my family and hurried to Gate 125 where we were allowed to board the plane. We were seated and buckled-in after having placed our carry-on bags in the overhead bins. Within minutes, the same Southwest employee who allowed us to board the plane raced down the aisle, yelling to that we needed to, “leave the plane immediately. You are on the wrong plane.”

My daughter began to have a panic attack. All she knew was she needed to be on a plane to go home and this man was telling us we had to leave. We were escorted to a Southwest service station where the representative at that desk asked, “Who told you to be at Gate 125?” I responded that it was the employee at Gate 123, whose name I did not know at the time. He immediately called over to ** and asked if it was he that gave us the information as to where to go. I was not privy to his side of the conversation but I imagine it did not go well because when we returned to Gate 123 **'s demeanor had drastically changed.

It was not his fault that we did not know where we were going. As my daughter panicked state is rising, my wife and I struggled to calm her down (“I want to get on the stupid plane!”) while at the same time trying to deal with a belligerent and extremely belittling **. Allow me to regress and say that as the 6:30 departure time was approaching, my daughter was well-versed and prepared to calmly board a plane and go home. The non-attention to detail by ** and his rudeness after the fact was the catalyst for an escalation of everyone's anxiety, especially for my daughter.

As I am trying to calmly explain to my daughter that we would indeed be going home and there was simply a mistake made, ** was shouting and reprimanding me. In summary, the facts are that we are a family who was provided with very limited information. My itinerary from “A Wish Come True” simply listed a flight confirmation number, flight number and a departure time. Additionally, it came to pass that we needed to be at an airport terminal much earlier than the airline departure time.

In my effort to keep my party together and on-track and my daughter with special needs calm, I saw one Southwest employee who told me that the most I can be afforded was a partial accommodation on a request for an earlier flight. There is a second employee (**) who insisted that we had been waiting at a wrong gate for many hours. There is still a third employee who allowed my party of six to board and be seated on a jet airline going to Providence, yet raced onto to plane moments later while yelling at us to get off.

And finally we have ** yet again who now is very willing and anxious to place the onus of blame and total responsibility squarely upon my shoulders because, “It's not my fault that you don't know where you're going.” To add insult to injury, **'s last comment to my wife was, “I did not tell you to be at the terminal all day!” I guess he just needed to add that remark.

(Upon reflection, I am very much surprised that the attendant at Gate 125 allowed us to board the wrong plane in the first place, especially in this day of Homeland Security. My best guess is that he collected our tickets, let us board, and then ran the boarding passes through the electronic equipment which alerted him of the error. He would then need to race onto the plane and remove our party from the incorrect flight.)

“A Wish Come True” strives to take the stress and worry of planning a child's wish off the shoulders of the family. As I stated before, the wish recipient's family is presented with a final package that simply instructs you where to be and at what time. In hindsight, I probably should have investigated the details of the flight plans and arrangements so as to have a greater understanding. I had not known that the jet we would ultimately be flying on was going to make a landing at Baltimore first. I only knew that we would be flying from Orlando, Florida to Providence, Rhode Island.

I would expect Southwest Airline to be professional in what they do and courteous in the treatment of their customers. Unfortunately, the attitude at Southwest was a far cry from the politeness and acceptance that we were afforded by the staff at Walt Disney Cruise Line. There was little sympathy or patience extended by Southwest Airlines to my family which included a child with involved special needs regardless that we had spent nine hours in your terminal.

**'s conduct was such that the members of my party were made to feel that we were a bother; another unwelcomed, perhaps non-educated Southwest customer and that, given the choice, he really would have preferred to have nothing to do with us. Rhode Island is a small state and I am an involved parent. I will be sure to share the details of our experience with the organization of “A Wish Come True.” Further, I will make a concerted effort to share my account with any and all agencies that provide care and services to our population of individuals with special needs.

I have sent this same letter to Southwest Airline's customer relations but I am not under any illusion that a reprimand or, more importantly, a needed change will come of it. Southwest Airlines has left a lasting impression with my family. It's not a very pleasant memory, but it is sure to be a long and lasting one.

Addendum: I have since received a response from a representative at “A Wish Come True.” In part, it reads, “I will be contacting the folks at Southwest Airlines to express my disappointment in the service or lack of service that you received. The flights were direct and our organization was billed for two direct flights. There were to be no stops or layovers. The time of departure, 6:30 pm, was so that you could have a direct flight.”

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND -- I was booked on Flight 236 Providence to Baltimore with a connection to Detroit on Flight 525. We boarded flight 236 at around 10:25 am, sat in our seats for about 10 minutes and then were told that we would have to get off as there was a delay of two hours due to the weather. We deplane and wait in the jetway for 15 minutes and then are told that the flight is now cancelled and we have to get back on the plane and get our carry on baggage. One by one we give our name to the agent at the gate and are told to wait in '€œthe line'€ to the gate agents at the desk. Now, there are two agents waiting on 100 plus passengers. I stood in that line for three and a half hours!

During this time every thirty minutes or so the supervisor ** would walk up and down shouting out different destinations and taking a count of how many people where going where. Eventually (THREE & A HALF HOURS really), the rudest person ** to have ever spoken to me, with an "€œI'€™ve been here since 5 AM" attitude. Tells me she can get me on flight 762 to Baltimore at 5 with a connecting flight 759 to Detroit getting in around 10:30 pm even though I explained that I could take the soon to be departing flight to Chicago at this gate and connect there to Detroit as one of my associates was doing from Manchester NH.

At 5 pm the announcement is made that the flight is delayed 2 hours, 10 minutes later good news - another plane is coming in and we should leave on time. After another 30 minutes of no plane or announcements I questioned the gate agent (who€™se attitude was even worse than **) at Gate #17 as to when we might expect to leave, explain that I have been here over 8 hours to travel one gate and that some communication would be nice. She informs that "€œI am not going to talk to you!" I ask for a Supervisor, "Go over to Gate 21"€ is my instruction. There was no way I was going to wait in yet another line.

I gave up and called **, Public Relations Manager for Providence (Whose information I got from the internet). I left her a message relaying my day of horror with Southwest and told her that I did not expect a reply as it was par for the course for my days dealing with Southwest. Needless, to say no return phone call. Then called '€œPublic Relations'€ in Dallas, CLOSED. Called Southwest 800 number to get a phone number for the person in charge of Southwest at Providence, as well as through Southwest Providence Baggage Office and T. F. Green Airport main number to try to make a contact, all to no avail.

Don'€™t you think that Public Relations should be staffed 24 hours a day or at least while your planes are flying? We the passengers are the ones paying those salaries and are travelling 24 hours a day. Since when did public relations become a 9-5 job? We board 762 at 6, pull back from the gate and lo and behold, the pilot comes on the intercom - "We have a bleeder problem and we are going back to the gate€." Now being into my 9th hour, second plane and I have travelled less than 100€™. After 15 minutes we finally get the OK to pull back and off we go.

I understand how weather is beyond everyone'€™s control, BUT customer service is not, and the backbone of your company. Surely, we passengers should have been informed of developments; some form of order should have been established for rebooking flights. This could not have been the first time weather has been a factor in delaying flights. However, the other airlines were coming and going out of Providence without the troubles of Southwest.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- On Aug 24, 2008 my husband and I were flying to LA from Ohio for me to have brain surgery the next morning. There were multiple problems that day some of which were not really Southwest's fault but lack of communication between employees resulted in us being flown to the wrong state and stranded! WE needed to be in LA on the 25th for my brain surgery and SW put us on a plane to Phoenix, AZ (without telling us it was not going to LAX) and when we got there, they had let the flight to LAX that they had said they were holding for us go, and it was the last flight out that night!

So after the employees--at first laughed because they thought we were joking about the surgery--tried to help us but couldn't, we ended up renting a car and driving 6 1/2 hours with no sleep all night from Phoenix to LA to make it within 20 minutes of the time I needed to be at the hospital! In Phoenix the supervisor said we would be fully reimbursed for what had happened to us (rental car, food, full cost of FLIGHTS)! However when I called the consumers relations that said it wasn't their problem or fault and only refunded a portion of our ticket price. My letter from SW was nothing but an excuse letter and we still didn't get a full refund!

They didn't care. So many people complain anymore and get special treatment, but here I am needing brain surgery and can send them any info they needed to show my 3 days in intensive care and my hospital stay, and I even flew home with a bandage on my head so they could see it was real! I cannot believe the lack of a caring response from management. The actual employees cared and made us promises that the upper management is not following through. I am so disappointed, so all I can do is share my story to as many people as I can because I can't believe how we were treated. One phone call ahead could have held that plane!

The passengers if asked would have agreed to wait 10 minutes for someone needing brain surgery if asked! They didn't even try to hold that plane and we were within 10 minutes twice that day, and they never called or held one flight - instead they just left us to drive ourselves... We didn't have a clue how to get there except we did meet the nicest young man ever and he rode with us to LA. So there are caring strangers out there! We will forever be grateful for Tyler who we met that night when SW didn't care!

We had to fly SW home and it used to be our airline of choice. However now every time I drive past the airport twice a day on my way to and from work, I can't help to think when I needed them most, no one went that extra mile, no one listened as I repeatedly told my concerns about needing to meet connecting flights because of my surgery...it is so disappointing. So much for great customer service!