Southwest Airlines Review

Overall 4.23 of 5 view all 216 reviews

Amyvail
Vail, CO

If you have a choice, DON'T choose Southwest Airlines!!

budget conscious traveler, into romantic getaways, love to travel

Cons

Lack of Consideration, would like to keep my reserved seat, HORRIBLE customer servie!!, would like a reserved seat, cattle car seating, Miserable seating

OCT

2008

Southwest Airlines —

I'm not a big fan of flying anyway, but I couldn't believe the terrible customer service Southwest Airlines has! I just got back from a trip to New England from Denver with a connecting flight in St. Paul. On the way there, the first flight was such a mess I was shocked. I noticed that my boyfriend and I were not sitting next to eachother so I asked if a seat change was possible. The lady at the desk was pretty nice and told us she got us as close together as she could and perhaps somebody would trade us...well, once we boarded and took our seats, we realized that by our changing seats we separated a single mother and her 2 kids further apart (they were already not sitting together either!). My boyfriend and I changed our seating so she could sit with her kids, but then my boyfriend and I were separate. Then while we waited, I notice another single mother complaining because her 2 little girls and herself were so spread out across the plane, they couldn't even see eachother. The flight attendants were absolutely no help at all, in fact they were quite rude to this woman who was just trying to figure out how she could take care of her 5 year old when she's sitting at opposite ends of the plane.

Then coming home it was even worse. I went to the customer service desk again to see if I could change seating to be near my boyfriend. This time the lady was awful! At first she wouldn't even talk to us. We stood there waiting while she listened in on another conversation with a customer. When she did finally talk to us, it was only because I said excuse me? After she answered a phone that happened to be right in front of us. She rolled her eyes at me and didn't even try to help us. I mean, I'm sure we weren't the only people that approached her..but come on! What's customer service for?? Long story short, we sat even further apart and we could still hear plenty of parents complaining that they weren't near their children. How the heck does that happen?? How does every other airline manage to not be such a mess??

Oh! AND! If you do end up using Southwest Airlines be sure when you're boarding the plane and you see an open spot in the over head bin for your carry-on, take it! Even if it's nowhere near where you're sitting. The allow boarding to be more like a free for all than anything close to organized. The flight attendants will not help you out at all when the bins fill up...and they do, fast. They will just make you check your bag so you end up spending more money with them.

Worst airline EVER!! Avoid it as much as you can!

Southwest Airlines is not recommended by Amyvail

Review inappropriate? Copyright violation?

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Comments about Amyvail’s Review

While I don't like SWA for a variety of reasons, and never fly them, I still can't agree with your posted sentiments. SWA doesn't have reserved seating on their flights. You must have your airlines mixed up.

If you have a choice don't sit next to amyvail

In response to RoadTripGurl's comment from Dec 11, 2008 at 11:00AM:

Southwest Airlines WILL service Minneapolis/St. Paul, but this service will begin in May of 2009. Southwest Airlines has NEVER serviced MSP prior to May 2009.

Are you sure it was St. Paul or could you be talking about Northwest Airlines which has a hub in Minneapolis/St. Paul? I am 100% certain both Southwest and St. Paul cannot be accurate.

I didn't know Southwest Airlines had assigned seating. That sounds more like AA than Southwest. I checked and Southwest does service St. Paul (for you previous posters), but they neve had assigned seating. Usually, the earlier you get there the better. We got there almost and hour early and were one of the first 10 people to board the plane. that's te one thing I DO know about SWA.

In response to FrequentFlier's comment from Nov 26, 2008 at 6:16AM:

I don't see the problem. Whoever goes on first, just saves a seat for their partner and I have found that sometimes because you are traveling together they won't question your getting on together, just say he/she is with me.

In response to Amyvail's comment from Nov 26, 2008 at 9:31AM:

Which airline are you talking about?

In response to FrequentFlier's comment from Nov 26, 2008 at 9:47AM:

Hahaha I'm actually not that surprised! I bet a lot of companies do that...that's partly why I wanted to post my review, but then it's funny because I got responses from people basically saying I'm lying. Oh well, I suppose people will always believe and do what they want(?)

When I was reading your posted comments they rang true with my experience. If you read some of the rave reviews that have Best or Great(est) in the title those postings could be posted by Southwest employees. I was told by a former Southwest emplpyee that happens frequently.

In response to FrequentFlier's comment from Nov 26, 2008 at 6:16AM:

Wow. Yeah. That sounds exactly like our story!! So sorry you had such crappy experiences!

In response to Pamdiz's comment from Nov 25, 2008 at 6:20PM:

You do get assigned seating once you check in. So we weren't the only ones separated. There were a lot of people that even though they bought the tickets for their entire family at the same time, they were assigned seats at check in that were no where near eachother...my boyfriend and I helped out one lady by sitting furter apart just so she could sit somewhat closer to her 2 little kids. I guess I don't understand your confusion??

In response to cioabella's comment from Nov 26, 2008 at 3:23AM:

Uh, I don't know what you're talking about, but I didn't make this up. We DID fly to St. Paul and once we got our seating assignments the lady looked up where we were and saw which seats were empty...THAT's how she tried to get us to sit next to eachother...which didn't work out anyway. Perhaps YOU should check YOUR details??

I agree with Amyvail. I had a bad experience with Southwest customer service in September this year. Southwest does have preassigned numbers that you must line up at before boarding. I have been separated from my wife as much as 25 numbers even though I cinfirmed both of us at the same time online.
This happened when travelling from Albuquerque to Phoenix. I went to the desk to request that we board at the same time and was ignored. The woman turned and walked away. I asked for a supervisor and when the supervisor arrived I was informed they were changing shifts. Again, from Las Vegas to Providence RI, another bad experience with their Customer service people.
They are arrogant, rude and unpleasant. If my company treated customers as Southwest treats their customers, we would not have those customers very long. I for one will never fly Southwest again.

This doesn't look to me like a valid review. First of all, Southwest currently does not service St. Paul, so there's an error. Secondly, there are no preassigned seats, so there would not have been anyone you could ask prior to boarding about changing your seats. Please check your details.

I am confused, as Southwest doesn't have assigned seating, so I don't know how you and your boyfriend could have been separated?

Wow how terrible. Those kids were basically flying alone! How scary for the mom. It used to be fine when I flew before all the pricing and stuff went up. I think maybe they just don't care anymore.