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Customer service
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

COLORADO -- I am so over Southwest airlines! My 3 daughters have flown Southwest airlines for 9 years as unaccompanied minors (all together). I booked 2 flights to come in to Denver International today, one unaccompanied 9 year old from Sacramento and my 13 year old (old enough to fly by herself per SWA policy) from San Antonio. My mother (70) arrived at Sacramento airport and arrived at my daughters terminal to wait for her plane to board. She was called to the counter and informed that they would not allow my daughter to board the plane due potential hazardous weather. If the plane was diverted to SLC my 9 year old wouldn't be able to secure a hotel room. Very true and I am thankful they think about her safety. My issue, this weather statement was released by SWA headquarters this morning (her flight was scheduled to leave at 345pm). Neither my mother nor myself were notified by phone or text (as SWA claims they do) until they arrived at my daughter gate and my mother was told. When my mother called from her cell phone and informed me I asked to speak with the person at the counter to get clarification of the situation. I was angry and agitated as I deliberately scheduled my daughters getting in close to the same time and day to keep from having to make multiple 4 hour round trip drives to Denver. As the agent wasn't helpful I asked to speak with a manager a women named Michelle came to the phone. Before she addressed me I could hear her say "why does she want to talk to me, I am not going to help her".... she never addressed me other than saying it was policy and nothing she could do. I did argue but never cussed nor yelled on the phone but more spoke in an athoritative manner as she continued to speak over me and tell me she didn't have my phone number to contact me regarding her not being able to fly. I told her that I gave my mother's # and my number plus two back up numbers as the ticket agent required when booking the flight. She then told me "I better watch it or she will make sure my daughter never flies Southwest again..." (not looking like we will anyway) So new flight got booked and guess what!?! I instantly got a text telling me my daughters flight had been changed to a new date and time! (Remember they didn't have or numbers!) I called SWA's 1-800 # to file a complaint. Was transferred to a reservations manager who told me there was nothing she could do, client relations was closed at 430 CST and would open until Monday then she hung up on me. So even more angry I looked up customer relations 1-800# to see( by the way not on SWA.com had to get or off of some unaffiliated website...that's convenient!?!) Guess what! They weren't closed! Talked to a guy who told me he could not investigate the incident until the flight took place, and then it would take a week at best to get ahold of me! Hmm ok... that's nice! I then asked for clarification on what hazardous weather as nothing is showing up on NOAA.gov, only Denver was under a air quality warning....the guy says "well ma'am I'm going to assume you are not a trained meteorologist are you?" (Smarty pants.... that's professional!) Before I lost my cool I gave him my contact information and hung up. Now remember my 13 year old is still flying in from San Antonio at 930pm tonight.... her flight was delayed an hour due to hazardous weather. My ex husband and I received texts saying her flight had been delayed, as most people do they left later for the airport..... when they arrived they found that the flight had been changed back to original time and her plane departed in 20 minutes.... we never received a text saying her flight had been changed back to the original departure. this means her luggage won't make it on the plane until the next flight which is tomorrow! So to say the least I am so unhappy with the quality of customer care SWA provides. Thinking about it my 9 year old can't fly because she can't secure a hotel room if her flight was diverted, but I guess SWA is under the impression a 13 year old can?!? SWA.... you need to invest some money into customer service training and communication with your customers and take a look at your policies. I am not a complainer in fact out of the 100's of flights my children have taken in the last 9 years I have complained one other time when an SWA agent boarding my daughter made her cry because she didn't know my mother's last name.... she was 6! She just knows her as "Grandma Diane" that agent yelled at her and said if you don't get it right your not leaving. (A 6 year old excited for her summer vacation and getting to see her grandmother and grandfather that she only sees once a year!) Some may ask why did we continue to use SWA, because I'm under the general philosophy that every industry has a few bad apples... but the majority of people are good. Now I am questioning if those who work for SWA are just over worked under paid badly trained staff members who work for a company who doesn't have a clue! End Rant here.

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Stranded no help, so upset with southwest
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

EL PASO TO DALLAS TO OKLAHOMA, TEXAS -- What happened to all those employees who help in time of need? There were kids on the ground exhausted, people in distress by the boat load. You guys are so quick to tell good stories and how your employees help. They all went home to bed, the few that were there I could tell were bothered by the chaos and had no answers for anyone. There was one employee walking down the long line of people. I thought finally someone to help give us an update. No she was just trying to figure out why so many hundreds of people were in line at such a late hour. I guess if I didn't start recruiting people at midnight to help find a taxi, UBER or Lyft to Oklahoma I would have slept on the floor and I think your staff would have left thinking that seems wild. It felt like we were treated just like that a wild animal who didn't belong in the airport.

Left @ 12:30pm from El Paso Texas
Flight delayed while on plane 655pm due to fuel gage??
730-8 ish still on tarmac flight delayed due to tower down can't read flight zones
900-930 still on tarmac flight delayed due to storm
return to gate
The ramp got stuck and there was an electrical problem. Still stuck on the plane. Pilot in disbelief and apologies
We wait back in the boarding area only to be told the flight is canceled about 10-1030
hundreds of people get in line
All the staff looked panicked with no words of comfort to a lot of sleepy, tired angry people
We wait for hours to be told no flights till Tuesday, no vouchers for hotel
no rental cars available too late to rent by midnight. 1am looking for a place to sleep.
Decide to start asking Uber and Lyft after 5 drivers refusing to drive that far. I tried to go back into airport and they wouldn't let me in. I'm tired, stuck with a floor or cement to sleep on.
I call Southwest Airlines 1800 number lady tells me she can't refund my money because I'm attached to my bags
I'm told by other customer after Storm was over many other flights took off. Yet we were canceled. Grrrrrrrr
I bribed one lyft car a $100 tip on top of the $200
$100 over the rate to drive us to Oklahoma city.
Arrived at 4 am in a squished car, exhausted and tired. I was afraid to go to sleep because the lady driving was quiet and I didn't want her to fall asleep.
Now its 6.24 I need to figure out how to get my bags and rental car.
what a nightmare
I'm so upset with Southwest Airlines right now, they left me stranded, and for some reason decided our plane was canceled while others continued to leave to their destination
Please call me, I have been very very loyal to Southwest airlines yet they treated me and hundreds of others like animals left to the wild
They make it so hard to talk to someone please call me if you represent Southwest 915-539-9644

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Nightmare Air Travel
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- I filed a formal complaint against Southwest Airlines, (hereinafter SWA), based upon the following facts: I booked a round trip with SWA, departing Phoenix, AZ, on Oct. 8, 2018, bound for LaGuardia Airport, NYC (hereinafter LGA), returning to Phoenix on Oct. 10, 2018. I never reached my destination of LGA, due to egregious failures and/or errors on the part of SWA personnel, who sent me back to Phoenix from St Louis on the morning of Oct. 9, 2018, after SWA personnel had stranded me in St Louis at midnight, thus making it impossible for me to attend my mother's funeral, which commenced at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 9. SWA personnel sent me to three different cities, Dallas, TX; Little Rock, AR; and finally St Louis, MO, where I was stranded overnight.

To add to this damage, SWA lost all my luggage, which included a suitcase filled entirely with my medications and supplements, thus leaving me without them. The flight itinerary predicted that I would be without these remedies for 7 hours, but I was without them for 52 hours, due to SWA nonfeasance. Moreover, one of my suitcases was returned damaged. By losing my luggage, SWA wrongfully denied necessary remedies to a disabled person, thus causing me to suffer unnecessarily for two days. These physical sufferings included dizziness, which caused me to fall and seriously injure my left shoulder.

As a direct result of the above mentioned traumatic stress, I suffered a mild heart attack on early morning of Oct. 9. It was extremely important to me to go to the family gravesite with my family and bury my mother. Being denied this caused me serious emotional distress, not to mention the physical suffering caused by SWA losing my luggage.

SWA wrongfully put me on a flight to Lambert International in St. Louis, when they knew that the flight could not continue on to LGA as promised. As SWA Lambert personnel pointed out, it is common knowledge among airline personnel that LGA and Lambert both have curfews. These facts were withheld from me, as well as from the three other passengers who were stranded with me in St Louis, also unable to get to LGA that night. SWA negligently prevented me from pursuing other travel options in Dallas on Oct. 8, while I still had time to get to mother's funeral, and stranded me in a strange city.

I checked into the hotel provided by SWA alone at 2:00 a.m. on Oct. 9, where I did not sleep a wink, and without any of my clothes, toiletries, medications, nor any of the special foods which I require due to my poor health, where I suffered physical injury, heart attack and nervous breakdown.

In summation, I hired SWA to transport me to LGA, and SWA breached that contract, and negligently caused me to suffer physical and emotional trauma. I am paying mounting medical bills, as not all of my treatments are paid for by insurance. SWA negligently prevented me from attending mother's funeral, thereby inflicting severe emotional distress. SWA put me on an airplane in Dallas that it's personnel falsely stated was bound for my destination, but which did not take me to my destination, thus causing me to miss the funeral, and lost my luggage.

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Extra charges and bait and switch raising fee without notification
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

STATESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA -- 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. Informed them I would file complaints with the appropriate regulatory bodies as well. She gave me a call record number then had the audacity to ask if I wanted to go ahead and purchase the early bird check-in at the new higher price. That is what I was complaining about, really? I will just way up early the day before to check in. They will not get another dollar from me and I will use another airline in the future.

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Terrible Experience
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

DENVER, COLORADO -- Hello,

My name is Jessica Perry. I recently took my best friend on a trip to Vegas as a surprise for her birthday/bachelorette party. I booked this trip back in January with Southwest Airlines and this is was the complaint that was sent in….
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 us unless we called, and no one can tell me where the bag is! We sat in a Vegas Hotel for half the trip and the person/reason for being here HAD NONE OF HER THINGS! Not only did she not have her things, her fiancé hid a surprise card with money in it. There was roughly $600 dollars of makeup alone, brand new clothing and other valuables in her bag. We didn't have basic necessities like underwear, toothbrushes, shoes... We don't have the money to just replace the belongings that we should have had upon arrival. Vegas is a very expensive city. I had been saving money for the last year to go on this trip and I had to spend way over my budget because of your negligence. You as a company promise safe travel for ME AND MY BAG which you did not provide. We are now back from our trip and they still can't find the bag.

Furthermore, after an exhausting trip, as 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. But you gave me a measly $50 "travel voucher" that I can't even use unless I SPEND MORE MONEY ON A FLIGHT?? My trip was ruined due to your employees. Why am I being overlooked and neglected? Why does that person who just needs to change flights take precedence over me?
I have not received an apology or any compensation for the money I spent on my ruined trip.

This was the complaint that was submitted to Southwest. They have not found the bag and I've been home for 24hours already. They are now saying “no reimbursement until the 5th day after the bag is lost.” They also told me it would have been my fault if the bag that was lost was more valuable than $3500 because that's the limit that they will refund for a lost bag or if I were to have medication in my bag that it's not their problem. This was the most disappointing trip I have ever taken with Southwest. Their customer service and communication is terrible. They don't even scan the bags when they load them on and off the planes. Three other bags were lost on this same flight.

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Never a Change Fee
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- I was needing to change my flight to an early flight. I went online and they advertised no change fee. I of course was thinking that is awesome, right? Wrong. I called to change it a day earlier to make it to a funeral on time. The lady, which I didn't write a name down, said that it would be $200.00.

I asked about that change fee and she said they couldn't do it. I am a veteran, so I asked about some sort of discount or to help me out in any little way. She again said no, only if I was current (which I understand and don't at the same time). Or if I was 65 or older. That's kind of messed up in my opinion. Whatever. I asked one more time, "Please is there anything else you can do?" And she said no.

I wasn't put on hold for her to find out or anything. I was trying to change it to a Tuesday, which is typically the cheapest day to fly anyway. I have American Airlines in the past help me out once. It wasn't for the same situation, even though I think this situation was worse.

You spend more for Southwest to get the same or worst service. I personally haven't had a bad experience with American, but this is the second time, (the first being coming) I've had with SW. Coming up I didn't even get snacks or a drink on one of my flights. It was only an hour flight but, by the time they got to us, the back 3 rows were told we couldn't get any because they had to get the trash from everyone else. The last row to get a drink were told to chug them so they could take the cup right back. Very unpleasant experience and I'll stick with American. I only fly roughly 5 times an year, but that's still over $2,000 a year.

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Luggage Left in Rain for 7 Hours
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- My daughter and I were traveling with my 2 grandchildren from Las Vegas to Chicago. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:50pm on Saturday, April 9, 2016. We checked in at the airport at approx. 10:30am and we're told there was a delay. From that point on the delays were approx. every hour until we finally took off at approx. 6:30pm. We were told that the delays were because of weather (excessive rain and flood warnings) and that we had to wait for our plane to be able to arrive from Arizona and that depended on the weather. We certainly understood being delayed because of the weather. However that is not my complaint.

My issue is the absolute disrespect that Southwest Airlines displayed for not only my personal property but for the personal property of everyone on our flight as well as others. When we got to our gate at approx. noon the uncovered carts with our luggage were already outside on the tarmac waiting to be loaded on our plane that was delayed and still sitting in Arizona because of rain and weather conditions. Please understand that it was just starting to lightly rain around that time.

Myself as well as others began to ask the Southwest desk employees about getting our luggage covered. We were told there was nothing they could do about it. As it began to rain harder and harder all we could do is watch our luggage and personal belongings get pounded by rain. People were complaining everywhere. At approx. 3:30pm, I called Southwest customer service to try to get help and was also told there was nothing they could do. They suggested I ask for a Supervisor.

I did and not only did it take nearly an hour for her to show up but people were lining up to get to her until finally she was trying to explain to us there was nothing she could do because they did not have tarps or room to move them inside or maybe the workers couldn't go outside because of possible lightning. Seriously? There was no lightning and with the exception of times when it was raining hard there were not only lots of workers outside, they passed our luggage carts over and over.

Finally after about 5 hours in the rain they slightly covered the top of the luggage which was still exposed for several more hours of rain. When we arrived in Chicago our luggage and belongings were absolutely soaked including 3 hard shell suitcases, 3 duffle bags and a car seat. It took my daughter nearly an hour to dry the car seat with a blow dryer before we could cover it with plastic for my 3-year-old grandson to make our 2-hour drive home to MI.

Everything in our luggage had to be washed, I had paperwork that was destroyed, a leather purse water stained and I'm still not sure if we have discovered all the damage. All of this could and should have been prevented. SW knew we were delayed because of impending heavy rain and flood warnings yet they deliberately placed our luggage and personal belongings outside uncovered and left them there for 7 hours. The lack of respect that SW displayed for their customers is appalling.

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Don't fly SOUTHWEST with an infant!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA -- After hearing great things about Southwest Airlines I booked a trip with higher expectations. The cost was reasonable and the fact that you could take two bags was awesome! It was my 4 month olds first time flying and I thought because the reviews were grand we would be just fine on this flight even though there was a connecting flight and layover on both round trip flights. I was very disappointed when we deplaned and were informed that our next flight would be delayed due to the air conditioning on the aircraft going out. What started out as a 30 minute delay became a 3 hour delay with a switch of aircraft. What's worse? The aircraft we were switched to turned out to be having maintenance issues also. They took an hour to figure that out... then when we were called to board, we were turned around again because the plane had “too much fuel”. What was supposed to be an hour and a half layover turned into 5 hours with a starving 4 month old. I had a rental reservation that had to be pushed back twice, I missed my 95 year old grandmothers birthday party, and I ended up having to rent a car instead of the mini suv that I reserved due to the fact that the could not hold the car for me. This was by far the most uncomfortable and frustrating experience and there were no apologies or attempts at consolation from any of the employees at the airport or on the air craft. So disappointed in Southwest. Don't fly with an infant you never know with this airline I guess.

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Great Business Plan
StarStarStarStarStarBy -
Rating: 5/51

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA -- If I can choose, I will always choose Southwest, the only airline I know of that does not charge a change fee. You can see a good deal, buy it, and if the price is lower later, or you change your mind, you can simply change or cancel the ticket and get a 100% refund, only valid for a year and for the person whose ticket it was. The same is true with tickets purchased with points/air miles. There are no change fees whatsoever for changing the points/air miles ticket or canceling it.

Even better, if you buy a ticket with your Southwest air miles for someone else, and then cancel it, the air miles go straight back to YOUR account. Be aware that the air mile points are worth about .015 cents each, maybe a little more depending on the flight. The price Southwest charges for buying air mile points is higher than that, better to earn them with a credit card or by flying. I wish all the airlines would do away with change fees. I also love that Southwest has no first class, and seating is by first come first serve, with the option to check in early for $12.

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Paid for Upgrades DID NOT GET THEM
StarStarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 2/51

USA -- Paid extra at time of purchase for early bird check in. DID NOT GET IT. Service desk at gate said I didn't purchase it. Told me to call customer service. Customer service said I had it on my ticket but gate still wouldn't honor it. Customer service tried to refund money but couldn't. Said it showed as used on the ticket I had in my hand. Gate still wouldn't honor it. I fly almost 100,000 miles a year with these people. I ALWAYS, ALWAYS buy early bird check in. I can't believe they can't fix something this small. Very disillusioned at how nonchalant they were.

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Southwest Airlines Rating:
Star Star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.8 out of 5, based on 50 ratings and
173 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Southwest Airlines
2702 Love Field Dr.
Dallas, TX 75235
800-435-9792 (ph)
www.southwest.com
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