We tried SW this time to Cancun and were absolutely pleased with our flight going there, but we were not so happy on our way home. I hope that our story is a very isolated case, but with all the wedding parties, family reunions, etc that take place there, it could be more common than we'd like to tolerate. This is the email I sent to Southwest customer service just moments ago: At Gate A13 in Cancun Airport on October 19 a man perhaps 60-70 says he needs advance boarding since has difficulty walking. Obviously he didn't pay for advance boarding since his number was very, very high. They bring wheelchair and move him to front. of the boarding line. When time to board he stands and walks, saying "doesn't need it" and he and his spouse walk just fine onto plane. We are A36 and A37. By time we are onboard the closest seats available were row 11! The elderly ass and his spouse had thrown books, hats, purses, magazines and whatever else they could find all over the forward 12-18 seats to save for their friends and family who also hadn't paid for advance boarding! I stopped and called out "what's with all the seats with junk on them?!" I got no response from any attendants within 3 feet of me so I continued rather than plug up the flow any further. Here's the deal, we do Cancun twice a year. Previously we flew Frontier or United. We thoroughly enjoyed our first flight on SW to Cancun, but found that I was clenching my jaw the whole way home! If this kind of activity is acceptable, it may be a deal breaker. If is is not acceptable I want to know how to handle the situation the next time. I want you to know that I will distribute a copy of your reply to each of my travel friends so that we can all make a decision and also have documented proof as to a resolution. This letter will be posted online at CancunCare.com awaiting a followup response. Thank you, Joe and Lucinda Stuckenschneider
Wow sounds like the airline should have kicked those two off the plane until everyone else had boarded then made them sit in the worst possible seat. Jerks!
First of all, I complain with the best of them. I may be a professional complainer if there is such a thing. You are not going to get the response you want calling someone an elderly ass. Lol. Funny yes, but I can see the responder brushing you off as an overreacting demanding customer. Just giving u my 2 cents here. Obviously this is a pretty rare case. How many people break the rules and lie like this and then happen to have 18 people traveling with them? I would bet you could fly southwest 1000 more times and not encounter this again. If you really want something done then you should make a recommendation. There is no way swest can interrogate people claiming they need assistance to weed out the one bad apple. That would upset even more customers. The issue came with the onboard flight attendants allowing for the 18 seat saves. I would ask swest customer service to train their flight attendees that this is not acceptable behavior. And if they want you to fly with them in the future then they should provide you a voucher to cover a purchased pre-boarding pass to make up for the difficulties you encountered. I won't even get into whether it really was a difficulty as that is in the eye of the beholder. But I get it, you feel wronged and maybe I would too in the same situation so tell them what you want them to do to make it better and don't call the elderly asses (I kid ) and I bet you will get the response you want
Hence one of the reasons I do not like SW. To me the cattle call boarding process is a joke. You can pay for the advance boarding but you may not get it when you have people scamming the system. Here's another scenario and it has happened to me. I'm flying from Buffalo to let's say Denver. I've paid for the early boarding which includes my connecting flight in Baltimore. So my Buffalo leg gets delayed and I will have to take a later flight from Baltimore to Denver. Oh, but they have already sold out the early boarding so I'm stuck as one of the last ones to board. Now I'm in the middle seat between two people large enough to have their own zip codes. If I can avoid SW I will do so. It may cost me a few extra $$$$ but I'll stay with US Air or American and have the convenience of actually getting what I pay for.
I sure hope that's an isolated case of that passenger being a giant ass! I sympathize with you and would have lost my mind if that happened to me. I'm interested to see what the well formulated corporate response is.
We usually enjoy our SW flights and have never had anything like what you described happen on our flights. It's unfortunate that this couple behaved so badly and were allowed to do so. We usually have outstanding flight attendants with a sense of humor. I refuse to fly Frontier as I don't like to pay for luggage, a soda, make sure my bag fits into their premeasured little bag check and get a stamp on my ticket proving I have done so and then have to sit and listen to their credit card advertisement after take off. If I would have been in your situation and row 11 was not to my liking, I probably would have moved their magazines and sat my self down
Agent 99, it's the ole fake injury to get in line first trick. Complete with knee brace and crutch. Joking, I never done it. I agree that they shouldn't be able to reserve other seats and the flight crew should have stated it to them. I am flying SW air Thursday and hope the flight is uneventful.
I agree. I have probably flown swest 150 times and never had that issue. The issue still stinks and it is perfectly fine to be upset but it isn't a common occurrence. From my experience the swest employees are the nicest you will encounter in the airline industry so I expect a nice response.
