m907

I am continually running in to issues where Southwest employees don't know the company policies. As was discussed here, for months after the free same-day change benefit for A-List members was rolled out, call center employees hadn't heard of it and were refusing customers. I had one employee insist that she had been there a decade and reads all the announcements and had not heard of it.

More recently, I have had problems with gate agents denying my wife from boarding with me in the A-List group when we didn't get an A boarding number. A couple months ago, she politely showed the gate agent the policy and he apologized and was about to allow her to board when an irate supervisor barreled over and caused a scene.

Do other people have problems like this?

matt21

I recently ran into this, short version had to get an extra seat for a companion with a disability. Everyone was extremely nice on the phone, checked with a manager on the policy and got us the ticket. The first Southwest employee we ran into at the airport, who wasn't even assisting us, questioned it. Thankfully we didn't have to deal with him and the rest of our interactions were fine. However I've mentally prepared myself to be calm, polite and repeat "We're just following the procedure we were given from customer service who booked the ticket for us." I think it's luck of the draw, be prepared to get someone who doesn't know or is having a bad day every once in a while.

LegalTender

Calm and polite, yes. But I've found insisting on what some other agent told you - online or by phone - seldom effective.

No more than reciting the Fourth Amendment to the cop ripping through your back seat. Both count on exigent circumstance cover. And imperfect recall.

Your redemption will come in due time.

NoStressHere

So very true.

People often hear what they want from ANOTHER employee.
People often just make stuff up.
And even if another empliyee said you could ______ and it is wrong, the employee in front of you is what counts.

dmbolp

I'll bite, what policy are you referring to?

Cledaybuck

I think this is true of just about every airline (and probably many other businesses outside the airline industry). There is a reason HUCA is frequent advice on this site. To be fair to airline employees, must customers don't know the policies either or do and are trying to get away with something.

LegalTender

Two different things ➽ Employees ignorant of current policies and the ones misrepresenting or inventing them.

I wouldn't absorb much abuse either at their scale. Obviously, increased pay based on skill level, location and years of experience.

pirossalma

You have to have the same confirmation number to get sequential (or close to) boarding numbers.

"you and all Passengers included on your reservation will receive priority boarding which means Southwest will automatically reserve a boarding position 36 hours prior to the flight. "
"That's why we're spreading the love of one of our most-coveted A-List and A-List Preferred perks. Anyone on a reservation with an A-List or A-List Preferred Member can board when they do.* That means everyone on the same reservation gets to board together and pick their seat earlier."

FlightNurse

Bingo... Yet, the OP has no comment

m907

This is not correct. Companions of A-List members receive A boarding positions regardless of check-in time.

dmbolp

If flight is booked and companion added prior to T-36. Why didn’t you two get A boarding positions?

m907

It was a same-day change to an earlier flight.

dmbolp

So your non-AList companion was added to the flight after T-24 and therefore ended up with a B or C Boarding position; they aren't entitled to board with A-Listers after the A Boarding group who are allowed to board then with B or C Boarding positions.

m907

That seems to be a distinction without a difference. What meaningfully changes about whether it was <24 hours?

dmbolp

At exactly T-24 A-List boarding pre-assignments are done and everyone else who wasn't auto-assigned a boarding position can now check in and grab them, which is why your same-day flight change results in B/C Boarding scraps. But really, the requirement for a non-status Companion to get an A boarding position with their A-List CP holder is to be booked on the flight before T-36. And regardless of all that, you seem to be arguing that your non-status Companion should be entitled to board with a B or C boarding position after the A Boarding group with A-Listers who are entitled to that benefit, there is no such policy/benefit for non-status Companions; only for those with status. The only free early boarding benefit to a non-status Companion is to be booked on the flight with an A-Lister before T-36 to get the good pre-assigned A Boarding position. After that, they're stuck with their B/C boarding position, or pay for A1-15.