Southwest Airlines Very Poor services Ripoff Dallas Texas

That's great because there will be more seats when I fly. I can't beleive that anyone gripes about Southwest. I fly nothing else unless I have to. Southwest doesn't charge for luggage. Southwest allows you to change flights without charging you $100. Southwest answers the phone if you want to make a reservation by phone or have a proble,. Southwest's customer service is not in India. Southwest provides decent leg room. Southwest's flight attendents actually care if you fly with them and don't sit in the galley playing handheld games. Southwest actually serves a snack on 3 hour flights. Southwest usually flies on time. The boarding process leaves something to be desired but I can live with it. Be my guest - fly on somebody else. I could care less what Southwest charges compared to somebody else. The stupid fees that the major airlines charge make up the difference. No, I don't work for Southwest. Wish I did.

Yes, ALL airlines overbook flights. Suck it up.

Tammy, it doesn't MATTER if the lady near you bought her ticket that day and you had yours for five months. What matters is what time you check in and get to the gate.

You could have bought your ticket a year ago, but if you get to the gate too late, they're going to give your seat away to someone else. Its printed right on your boarding pass what time you need to be at the gate.

So if this woman walked up an hour before the plane boarded and bought a ticket and stayed right there - YEAH she would have gotten on before your lackadaisical self.

Bet you won't do it next time, will ya!

Well Tammy, at least you have learned that you get what you pay for. As you stated, you paid $10.00 more & got better service. Unfortunately most people just look at the lowest fare only. They then think they should get everything else for free. And YES I used to work for a MAJOR AIRLINE. I saw all thins first hand. A few things you and others should know;

1. ALL airlines overbook flights. They do this because they have learned over time some people will NO SHOW for whatever reason. Most of the time it works out OK because they have this practice down to a a artform. When it doesnt, then you will learn a few other things.

2. Most airlines will BUMP (I.E. INVOLUNTARILY DENY BOARDING) to those passengers who booked thru PRICELINE, HOTWIRE, CHEAPSEATS etc. Notice these are all the FLASHY Commericals that offer you the LOWEST FARE. Well what you need to know is you are BUYING a contract with them, not the airline. They are RESELLING you a seat/CONTRACT they have puchased on a airline. Keyword here being CONTRACT. Their contract with the airline which you are bound to by your purchase thru them allows the airline to BUMP you first & offer whatever compensation the airline wishes. Including NOTHING !!!! And there is NOTHING you can do about it.

3. Airlines are under NO OBLIGATION to compensate you for anything when your delay is due to WEATHER or ATC (Air Traffic Control) delays. This is because these are considered out of the airlines control.

4. Most airlines will do the best they can for you, but they are under NO OBLIGATION to get you somewhere by a certain time or anything. Thay are only under contract to get you from POINT A to POINT B as quickly as possible. This can include BUSING YOU. Yes they can CHARTER a BUS and transport you & they have met their obligation. And yes they have done this without any REFUNDS or anything. They do this when WEATHER prohibits or other circumstances prohibit them from flying somewhere.

5. They are under NO OBLIGATION to transport you on another carrier just because you believe they will get you there. Airlines will use other carriers when they have MECHANICAL problems or such. But if there are WEATHER problems or other general type things, ALL AIRLINES will be under the same problems.

So the best advice I would suggest to all is the following;

1. Book Direst with the Airlines. Now you are the AIRLINES customer & not Pricelines or someone elses.

2. Join their FREQUENT FLYER club and travel as much as possible on 1 airline only. This way you will show the airline how good of a customer you are. And YES, this will get you special treatment. A TOP-TIER frequent flyer will go to the TOP of any list to go first than someone who bought a CHEAP SEAT.

Also be prepared for some MAJOR CHANGES. With the high costs & low fares the airlines are experiencing, there are changes coming. Some you may or may not like.

1. Paying more PREMIEUM SEATS. (I.E. Bulkhead, Exit row) These seats have MORE LEG ROOM. Oh wait, that is already happening.

2. NO FREE FOOD or AMENITIES. (I.E. Soft Drinks, Pretezels, Blankets, Pillows etc) Oh wait, that is already happening.

3. Paying for every service.(I.E. Curbside checkin of luggage, Ticket changes, etc) Oh wait, that is already happening.

4. Actually getting the seat you paid for. This one hasnt happened yet. But I am sure a lot of you think you are already getting this or would like to get this. Here is why you will think this is a good idea. 1) No more being BUMPED. 2)Know where you will actually be sitting. 3) Can show up at the last minute and not worry about getting on.(Subject to being at the gate by FINAL BOARDING TIME) OK, so here is why YOU will start whining about it not being fair & wont like it. 1) You are late for whatever reason (Other than something that is the airlines fault. And being DELAYED by SECURITY is not the airlines fault) "Well, you seat flew without your BUTT in it" This will be the same thing as when you buy a ticket to a Baseball or Football game. They dont delay the game because you got caught up in the traffic jam on the freeway or offer you another game ticket. 2) Now you have to buy a HIGH-DOLLAR Last-Minute ticket cause you were late and it isnt the airlines fault.

Think about these things. Also remember airlines are businesses, they are not part of the Government or a NON-PROFIT charity. They have to make a PROFIT or they will go out of business.

Now if we could just get the OIL COMPANIES to start a PRICE WAR like the airlines have, maybe gasoline would come down & Exxon wouldnt be reporting BILLION DOLLAR Profits like the Airlines are showing BILLION Dollar Loses !!!!

Ok so you do not work for SW, but ya should, you sure spout the party line well enough.

As I said I have NEVER EVER seen such a thing as the way SW treats PAYING customers. It is like they are hearding cattle. I flew another airline for just 10.00 more had real service and a real seat (same destination). Oh and I got my ticket 2 weeks prior to depature, as you may know Vegas is a popular destination and yet no one got bumped, no one was treated like crap.
All our buisness is now with that other airline. Yeah, it may not hurt SW, but at least I know my( and my families) hard earned money is not going to a company that the customer comes last.

What the Op decribed does happen all the frickin time on every airline.

So you won't fly Southwest again? They will survive. After all, they are practically the only airline that can turn a profit.

I am not a SW employee by the way (I don't work for any airline).

My sympathy for what happened to you. I know airline traveling can be the most annoying thing in the world. But you cannot single SW out for doing what every airline does.

What the Op decribed does happen all the frickin time on every airline.

So you won't fly Southwest again? They will survive. After all, they are practically the only airline that can turn a profit.

I am not a SW employee by the way (I don't work for any airline).

My sympathy for what happened to you. I know airline traveling can be the most annoying thing in the world. But you cannot single SW out for doing what every airline does.

What the Op decribed does happen all the frickin time on every airline.

So you won't fly Southwest again? They will survive. After all, they are practically the only airline that can turn a profit.

I am not a SW employee by the way (I don't work for any airline).

My sympathy for what happened to you. I know airline traveling can be the most annoying thing in the world. But you cannot single SW out for doing what every airline does.

I see that you must work for Southwest, I have flown other airlines and I have never EVER seen such a thing. 5 months we had our tickets and this airline bumped one of us then there is a lady who purchased her ticket that day.

That was not the only thing that happened, since I posted the 1st time I found out that our Aunt who was also on this flight had booked a second seat for herself (cause Southwest has a policy blah blah blah) she did not need the second seat (in other words she was smaller than she thought), on her trip down it was to late to change things so she had the other seat.

On our trip back she cancelled the second seat and was given all this info on how to get her $$ back. She called the ## her name and conf # and the airline had no record of her flying, better yet they had no record of the whole family flying, geee but they had no problem charging our credit cards 5 months before. It took 4 weeks of Aunty doing all the leg work (CC statements so on) before she got any feedback from Southwest.

Long story short we will still never fly Southwest. I got such better customer service from another airline that I just flew, and actually had a seat, for about the same price :)

Every airline overbooks their flights, not just southwest. This is the only way for airlines to make money. on average, we anticipate 4 to 5 passengers to either not show up, or miss the flight they were booked for...thus, allowing us to accomodate all customers and possibly stand-by passengers. I understand how frustrating it must be to realize that the reservation you've held for 5 mos is all of the sudden not available, but you must realize that in a situation like this, we do try to accomodate every passenger on the earliest flight we are able to get them on. not to mention, they are usually compensated quite well also. As far as you not flying us again...(boy, if i had a dollar for everytime i heard that one!!) you might as well hang it up on every other airline. because at any given moment the same thing could happen on them...Oh wait! that's right, maybe not, they all have plenty of seats now that they're all going out of business!!!