Chamor

The other day my wife had a WN flight cancelled. We called WN but there is nothing they could do -- there were no flights available to her destination for a couple of days from her departure airport. And of course, WN does not have interline agreements, so it could not put her on another carrier. So we had to refund her WN ticket and then buy a (more expensive) last minute ticket on another airline. I knew that WN did not have interline agreements but had not really focused in the past on what a disadvantage this can be in IRROPS.

I don't fly WN too often, at least for business travel, mostly because I don't like the absence of assigned seats, the boarding process, the absence of an F or J cabin, and the lack of airport clubs. And I generally do not find it less expensive than its competitors, though it sometimes is and certainly was years ago. But the lack of interline agreements is another reason that I had not really focused on in the past.

jjbiv

Do you find that other airlines are willing to put you on another carrier in practice? It's nice that they have the agreements but they seem to be very seldom used. Perhaps in a controllable delay or cancelation where another carrier had seats available but your carrier did not, they would consider it if you pressed the issue or if you had status with the airline. This seems like a pretty rare combination of circumstances.

NoStressHere

Years ago, they would send you to another carrier easily. Not so much anymore, especially if on a cheap ticket.

We fly WN 95% of the time and 20-30 flights a year and it works great. But, I understand some do not like them,.

What city pairs were your cancelled flight?

Jaimito Cartero

In the last 20 years I’ve often been put on other carriers, when not flying WN. American, Continental, Delta, United. Domestic and international.

It’s pretty sad that WN leaves you out to dry if they cancel flights, but I guess that can happen with all airlines to some extent. I find that they usually do a pretty good job.

nsx

For a cancellation, you can expect an email with a travel voucher. If you don't get one within 2 weeks, ask for one.

stevendorechester

I think it's a shame airlines are not required to rebook and would rather see passengers stranded.

If Soutwest does not have the technology to rebook on other air can they not simply issue some kind of voucher like when airlines issued food vouchers? Or let the passenger do it rebook themselves and submit the bill electronically.

Air travel is a very complete operation and flights will get cancelled. It's about service recovery.

In Canada airlobes by law must rebook on other cariers when a flight is cancelled. The waiting period depends on the reason for the delay. Front line agents have gotten used to the extra work; instead of seeing a family stranded for a days they simply issue a FIM manifest and get them on their way home. The passengers are happy, the airline benefits by filling a seat on a competitor that might not have been therefore allowing the next available seats for sale on their planes open for sale.

NoStressHere

This is NOT a techlogy issue. It is a business issue.

To assume SWA or any airline wants you to be stranded is a very bad assumption. Of course they do not want to see you stranded.

djp98374

nowadays this is universal with all airlines. They don’t book you on non partner airlines because of cancelations or delays.

when booking a trip you need to ask, what happens if this get cancelled based on frequency of service and routing.

i had this happen during new yrs day time about a decade ago when Chicago, Minneapolis had the super cold weather thst shut down the airports.

i had a flight to return home inn southwest. It opened up fir folks to rebook based on availability. I had to move it to a couple days later. Wasn’t a big deal, I was at my parents house. Thrn when I was scheduled to fly out, it hpgot cancelled again. I had to buy a ticket on delta. That return on them was an additional adventure.

i was scheduled on BUF-DTW-SEA. BUF flight was delayed because of crew rest. They canvpcelled the flight, but still ran the flight by the crew after they were cleared to fly. Missed my connection in Detroit. Then I was put through SLC on certain flight then standby fir later flight with a certain seat the next am. They were able to put me on one of the last flights of the day out of SLC.

Chamor

Yes, I do find that other airlines are willing to put me on other carriers, if they cannot accommodate me on their own flights -- especially if I know a specific flight that has availability, so that they don't have to do the research. It does not happen all that often, but a few weeks ago AA cancelled a flight (purportedly for weather reasons), and when they could not accommodate me on any other AA flight, they agreed to put me on a UA flight.

djp98374

that’s rare. I had a flight issue on AA where incoming plane/ crew had a delayed start due to crew rest. I was going to miss connection in Charlotte. Thry had no later flight to rebook me on anywhere because this work travel was tied to a convention. I had to go thry my corporate TA to rebook me on a UA flight.

airlines very rarely rebook PAX on competing airlines.

nmpls

Southwest has the ability to rebook people on other airlines, and they have for me. They do it the same way any other non-airline does it, they go on concur and book it with the corporate mastercard.
They do it almost never though (because it costs a lot of money), and that's pretty annoying when you're left holding the bill.

bgasser

Its part of Southwest's discount airline roots. No lounges, no J or F cabins, and no interlining agreement. When Southwest is on time, it works great. When there is a problem, things fall apart quickly. For instance, my flight Sunday from MCO to ISP was oversold and the next available flight they could offer was Wednesday. This isn't even during a holiday/summer period.

Cledaybuck

Sunday was definitely a peak spring break travel day.

Chamor

The issue, for me, is that WN is no longer a "discount airline" -- its fares seem to be just as often higher than the legacy carriers as lower. So it has the disadvantages of an LCC but not the fares of an LCC.

LegalTender

As long as WN "remains lean" in perception, the fare creep isn't glaring. People still think they're saving with pared down perks.

Technological offerings on the slightly dated side are livable in a general air of everyone being in it together. Further convincing is redundant.