Southwest Airlines Flight 1699 – Follow-up

It’s Monday morning and I’m still seething from my disastrous weekend flight-that-failed trip.  Thankfully some of my friends kept in touch with me through text messages and phone calls, whether I was either trapped in Hartford or trapped in Baltimore.  See, this is what good friends do.

On the way back from Hartford, while driving up the Massachusetts Turnpike, I called Southwest’s customer information line (1-800-I-FLY-SWA) and spoke to someone named Johnny.  Johnny listened to my story, and then told me that I should call this number for Southwest – 1-214-932-0333, and to call them at 9am Eastern time, when the line is open.

Monday morning.  9am.  I  dialed 1-214-932-0333.

And I got a busy signal.

I tried Southwest’s website, looking for another phone number.  I found a customer relations number of 1-214-792-4847.   I dialed it.

The recorded message told me to call 214-792-4223.

I dialed 214-792-4223.

I received a recorded message that the number had changed to 214-932-0333.

I dialed 214-932-0333.

And I got another busy signal.

Customer service, my rear end.

So I went back to Southwest’s website and filled in a customer complaint form.  I listed my name, address, e-mail and a  contact phone number.  I also listed the date and time of the flight, the flight number and my reservation number.

My flight was delayed from 320pm to nearly 10:30 pm due to everything from a thunderstorm in Baltimore to a change in pilots to conflicting reports of connecting and non-connecting flights.  The fact is, I was supposed to go to Dallas by riding flight 1699 from Hartford to Baltimore to St Louis to Dallas.  I was told that I would be able to get my connecting flight to St Louis in Baltimore; I was later told when I landed in Baltimore that the plane left without me, that I was told of this information before the plane left Hartford.  I was never told this; in fact, the pilot told me he had received the communication to take those passengers whose connecting flights were canceled off the plane, and he instead chose to fly us all to Baltimore due to the minimal open window to fly there due to the storms.  Needless to say, my business trip was completely ruined.  Had Southwest told me that there was a problem getting me to my connecting flights, I might have had a chance to re-route my trip and avoid the storm.  I was not given this opportunity, and in fact, the pilot chose to fly to Baltimore with me (and my canceled connections) rather than risk having everybody not get into Baltimore that night overall.  I have chronicled the entire disastrous trip on my blog, the link is here.   I would greatly appreciate a call back as soon as possible from one of your representatives; understandably, this experience goes beyond any reasonable amount of weather-related delays or expectations.  Thank you.

A few minutes later, I received a computer-generated e-mail response, telling me that someone would call me within five business days to address my concerns regarding the flight.

While I was waiting, I dialed 214-932-0333.

And I got another busy signal.

I decided to work on other projects while I waited for some sort of Southwest-based resolution.  At around 10:30 am, I called 214-932-0333.

And I got – a recorded message.  “Due to an unusually high call volume, your wait time may be longer than 12 minutes.”

Ah.  Must mean the call has to go from Hartford to Baltimore.  Hee.

20 minutes later, the call picked up.  I spoke with Katie, the Southwest call representative.  I told her about everything that happened.  Katie told me she would see what she could do.

She came back.  “I know this won’t make up for everything you went through this weekend,” she said, “but we’re going to refund the cost of your entire ticket back to your credit card.  Again, we apologize.  Would this help you consider this case to be closed?”

Well, I wasn’t going to close it just yet.  I still wanted to have an e-mail response from Southwest, as I had contacted them by e-mail as well.  So let’s see what else this airline can do for me to make up for this complete kerfuffle.

But at least it’s a start.  And starts are better than stops.