Aliquot

Interlining is routine in IRROPS. I dont have status on any airline and have been interlined by AA, UA, and AS just this year. No one can provide assurance, but AA,AS,DL and UA all routinely interline when they can not get their custumers to their destinations without a major delay.

Status helps, in that airlines are usually willing to interline higher status passengers for less severe delays, and dedicated phone lines and lounge staff can improve wait times, but the legacies don't generally abandon their customers.

FYI AS interlined me on AC, UA interlined me on AA, and AA intelined me on LH and AS.

NoStressHere

Aliquot

yeah, there certainly is times when no airline can get you home without a major delay, but that is no reason to dismiss the benefit of being able interline when it will help.

As an example, the last time I was interlined by DL a problem on the runway delayed my flight by two hours meaning I would have missed the connection to the last flight of the night to my destination. DL automatically booked me on the first DL flight the next morning, but a 5 minute conversation with airport staff had me booked on a similarly delayed AA flight connecting to a later AA flight that night.
If I would have been on WN I wouldn't have made it home that night.

Of course I have been in similar situations where the delay on all airlines would have been to big to make any connection. But I wouldn't dismiss the benefits of interline agreements because they dont always help. Getting home on the right day even one more time every other year is a significant benefit to me.

Boraxo

What is the best way to complain about a cancellation (email, phone or twitter) and should we expect any compensation?

Earlier today we had the same experience as OP - my wife's OAK-SNA flight was cancelled and she had to call to rebook it. After waiting 30 minutes she was told that WN had already rebooked her for tomorrow morning (if so why no email or text??) which was unacceptable. She was then told there were no other options which also was not true as the CSR should have known that SFO/OAK/SJC and SNA/LGB/LAX/BUR/ONT are co-terminals and offered to checked other flights. Fortunately I have already checked the options and she was able to snag 2 seats on the last SFO-LAX flight tonight. Of course this caused great inconvenience as we now had longer drives at both origin and destination but at least she got there tonight. As luck would have it the SFO-LAX was delayed 1+ hour as well...

All of this really made me angry as I know from experience that United would automatically re-book me (even when flying partners!) and immediately notify me by email. Also it would not take me a half hour to get a CSR on the premier line. And could not rebook using link that was sent or through app. Really unacceptable for an airline with a less than complicated route structure. Nor was this a day when there was a major meltdown here. Of course our A-list friend had no trouble reaching a CSR and rebooking the last OAK-SNA nonstop...

Should we expect any comp?

aaronp84

Maybe a $100 voucher at best, call the customer relations line (not customer service). I also take issue with the fact you complain about how long it took to get a rep on the phone during IRROPs, noting you wouldn't have waited calling the united premier line, while further noting your friend with A-List got through immediately. Any traveler on an airline (without status) is likely to experience a long wait via phone, especially during IRROPs, don't make this a southwest-exlusive issue. Have your A-List friend call for you next time.

Beyond this, I admit SW is lacking in the tech department and could stand to improve.

Often1

Bottom line is that WN's IT is sub-par and has been that way for many years. Better it should put whatever excess money it has into flight safety before rebooking software.

Coterminals are irrelevant here, Never rely on WN to do anything other than rebook on the next flight with availability on the same routing. If you want something else, whether coterminal or not, you will have to do the legwork and ask for it, bearing in mind that WN does not have interline ticketing agreements with any other carrier and thus, unlike UA/AA/DL, it won't rebook on another carrier.

On the other hand, it is always worth looking at what a new ticket costs on a better carrier. If it is just about the same as you paid for your WN ticket, you are entitled to a refund from WN, do that and purchase the new ticket yourself. While last minute tickets are more often than not prohibitively expensive, that is not always the case and checking quickly can save a lot of angst.

steved5480

A "Better" carrier??!!

nmpls

WN gave me a $200 credit for cancelling an SMF-BUR flight for a mechanical and they ot me on the next flight 2ish hours later. A list got me the next flight, but everyone on the plane got $200. Note that we got on the plane and we later deboarded after the pilot (on his retirement flight no less) found a new dent in the plane. We were helped by airport staff. My experience is better with airport staff honestly than calling in.

I did get interlined one. I redeemed an award flight to MEX before they cancelled that service. 2 months before the flight, they changed the flight to earlier, so I wouldn't make my connection. WN proactively called me, booked me on a UA flight that left SMF (via SFO) at the same time and got in a lot earlier. (That flight got cancelled for a dent too, and UA handled that cancellation like ....)

edit: WN just booked me on concur with the southwest mastercard (they sent me the concur booking), which amused the .... out of me. That whole experience reminded me of my I like WN.

toomanybooks

Checking for a miles/points redemption on another carrier can be good also. I know for sure that BA often opens Avios availability in the last few days before the flight. On certain routes, BA can easily be the best deal.

I wonder if the airlines get FF miles when booking with CCs. If so, wonder how/if they use them.

Boraxo

As noted above, I don't rely on WN to do anything except to get me from place A to place B. But I still have a right to complain when that doesn't happen as planned and they fumble the ball. The best advice with any airline is to be proactive and know your options (or know how to find them quickly on a phone app) and to be elite! But it's really hard for the occasional travelers who have never visited FT and don't know the drill (or the options).

I appreciate the sentiment (and also advice regarding AA last minute awards) - that might help some people who absolutely positively have to get someone regardless of cost. In my case (and I expect many others) it is not acceptable to simply accept a refund on a $69 ticket (some were $29 last week) and buy a new ticket for $300 x 2 people because WN decides to cancel a flight and do nothing. Of course there are always options using points or cash but rarely at some secondary airports like OAK.

Often1

Two words: travel insurance.

WN is most definitely not the carrier for anyone in that position. Lack of interline agreements means that it can't simply rebook OA and the lack of that flexibility means that you are stuck with what's on offer. This is a much greater mess at stations where there is no nearby airport as there is here with SFO,. People wind up driving 7-8 hours to get somewhere so they can then catch a flight home a day later.

With decent travel insurance, one simply purchases the new ticket, submits it and receives the balance between its cost and the WN refund.

Boraxo

It is not so "simple" as suggested. My chase credit card has automatic travel insurance but I don't know if it covers (supposedly weather on other side of USA) and I find a lot of pushback from the outsourced insurance dept. when I have submitted even simple extended warranty claims. In my wife's case the delay was <6 hours due to some effort on my part so that would not be covered by the delay provision. And in the end the result would have been the same - a suboptimal flight from SFO-LAX, rather than OAK-SNA.

The better answer is for WN to prioritize IT and IRROPS as DL and UA do (at least comparatively) rather than accept mediocrity a la Spirit. Many of us are big WN fans but everyone experiences a problem at one time or another. I've had far too many cancellations on WN and the response (at airport, phone or app) is always pathetic. It does no good to empower your team to fix problems when you can't reach them. IMO it is the biggest fail on WN and something we've experienced 2x in the last year. Which is pretty bad considering we only fly WN a handful of times and rarely have weather here. Airlines underestimate reliability and recovery at their peril, particularly in the absence of catastrophic weather events.

aaronp84

Again, I fail to see how this is exclusively a southwest problem. As someone without status on other airlines, its taken me 2+ hours to get through for changes during IRROPs on United and American, and this is after their supposedly superior IT systems automatically rebooked me 2 days after my original flight. Even without IRROPs, and without status, it typically takes almost an hour to get someone on the phone. On any airline, and WITH status, it takes less than five minutes to get through at any time and you are prioritized for rebooking. As someone that's AL+ on SW, its been my experience that customer service nearly always picks up before the first ring through is even done.

If you think your cancellations are excessive and burdensome, fly someone else...its pretty simple.

lougord99

Southwest may or may not have the best irrops handling ( as A-list, I have had few issues ). What I will applaud them on, is their increased use of travel advisories allowing you free changes before the problems happen.

LegalTender

Depends whether 2% of all WN flights is "excessive and burdensome," the percentage Southwest cancelled last year. That's 8th place among 9 US carriers.

With the lowest overall complaint rate, flyers grade on the curve.