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“Genuinely The Worst Customer Service I Have Ever Experienced”
Review of Southwest Airlines


Reviewed 26 April 2020

I am absolutely appalled at the customer service me and my girlfriend received at the Philadelphia airport. She had purchased a ticket for a flight on April 24th about a month or so in advance and it got canceled within a week of said flight. Okay, not the end of the world. The very next day she rescheduled for a flight on April 25th. This flight was then also cancelled. But then, it wasn’t. It was available for scheduling again on the website, so my girlfriend just rescheduled for the same flight again. It was odd, but the flight was available again, so we just went with business as usual.

So we drove to the airport, an hour and a half drive, and when we get there she types in her confirmation number and it says the flight has been canceled. Now, the previous two cancellations came with a notification saying the flight had been canceled. My girlfriend checked for one the whole drive there and did not receive one. Needless to say after the drive, this was a frustrating revelation. We spoke with an attendant at the nearby counter and explained the situation, and she told us that the only thing she could do was book us a flight for the following morning at 7:00 AM. We’d need to be there at 6:00 AM which meant we’d have to leave at 4:00 AM. This was not convenient for us, and it meant we’d have to make another 3 hour round trip drive.

So we found ourselves speaking with a different attendant regarding what happened and asked if we could be transferred to a flight with a different airline, something many other airlines do in these situations (my dad, a million mile flyer, can attest to this) only to be told this was impossible, despite there being an American Airlines flight in a few hours with lots of available seats. I explained my lack of confidence that the flight the next day would actually go out, and the attendant expressed that she also was not confident.

As the conversation went on, things got heated, with a supervisor stepping in as the original attendant began yelling and accusing us of lying and saying that we known it’d been canceled before driving an hour and a half out to the airport, which makes no sense. The supervisor told me he refused to speak to me because I wasn’t the passenger, despite this nonsense affecting me too since I have to drive and house my girlfriend for the remainder of her time here. We were told that our options were to keep the flight for the following day (the one the attendant originally had no confidence in, but now in the presence of her supervisor couldn’t accurately say how likely it was that it’d go out) or to get a refund in the form of a voucher for another southwest flight. Neither was a satisfactory solution given that, as far as we could tell, this was an error on their end.

I’m struggling to convey the rudeness, hostility, and apathy we were met with in this situation, but I can promise you it was genuinely upsetting, with my girlfriend choking back tears during the exchange before breaking down in the car afterwards as we drove home. I’m left expecting a similar experience for the following flight, and the whole experience has left us feeling as though we will never travel with Southwest again. This behavior was absolutely unacceptable, hurtful, unprofessional, and unaccommodating.

Date of travel: April 2020
4  Thank PeterD1172350
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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2,866 - 2,870 of 46,126 reviews

Reviewed 26 April 2020

Me and 20 other people in my group just got our flights cancelled again after you cancelled our flights in June and we had to reschedule our trip reservations and the flights for more than 30 days later in July. Now again without notice you cancel our flights for a second time!!! What the hell are we suppose to do now? We will lose money changing all of our reservations again in Punta Cana. We need an explanation!!! I am sick and tired of this poor behavior and lack of communication from such a big company who we have been so loyal to. This makes me sick!!! The Flight has been Cancelled so now we are stuck taking a lost. The first flight was for June 14th 2020 and the second flight was for July 19th 2020

Date of travel: May 2019
2  Thank D4968OUjamies
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 25 April 2020

Nothing special, but okay Older plane was used. I would use southwest again If I needed to fly to this location

Date of travel: December 2019
1  Thank Digger12749
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 24 April 2020

Southwest is taking advantage of passengers by creating different fares before cancelling flights in order to get around their obligation as outlined in the *Contract of Carriage”. By doing this they claim that the lower fare credit cannot be “refunded” because it is not the price of the current ticket. This is done to avoid giving their customers a full refund. There is no other reason. Look, I know times are difficult for all airlines. However, for Southwest to stoop this low is despicable. They cancelled my flight, booking #s and flights were not changed between advertising a lower fare and cancelling. Below are the details of these transaction.
Why should Southwest keep my $122.00? Shame on southwest for acting in this manor!!!
Date of Transaction Booking # Cost Credit (not Refund) Charge/Refund to my credit card Reason
01/04/2020 VIOR6G $719.92 $719.92 charged to my CC Original Purchase
04/07/2020 VIOR6G (-$244.00) credited but will not refund Fare was reduced
04/23/2020 VIOR6G Refunded $475.92 back onto my CC. Southwest Cancelled this Flight





*Southwest Airlines Co.
Contract of Carriage-Passenger
Revision: 26th Revised Effective Date: 01/29/2020

Date of travel: January 2020
3  Thank B8698VQmikeg
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 24 April 2020

Travelled to Antigua, and Barbados in September of 2019. Loved both Islands. Antigua is small and not a lot to do but Barbados was bustlying. Entertainment every night at Oisten.

Date of travel: September 2019
2  Thank bernadette h
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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