ByrdluvsAWACO

LMAO!

This proves that CP isn't an elite status as many proclaim by putting it in their programs profile.

Boraxo

Sounds like WN took pretty good care of him by re-booking him on an itinerary that theoretically would have delivered him to his destination within 1/2 hour of his original itin. Very slim chance of that happening on any other airline, given the schedule reductions and the turnaround times for connecting flights. (By way of example, we recently missed a 45 min. checkin cutoff at LAX, and were forced to wait 2 hours for the next AA flight to SFO).

In addition, WN let you buy someone else's space - never seen that happen on another airline, and highly unlikely given the change penalties the "volunteer" might incur. Not to mention the potential delay (to everyone) caused by implementing the switch.

To top it off, WN sent you $150 as comp even though you made it to your original destination at almost the same time as scheduled. Good luck getting that kind of comp. from any of the legacy carriers.

Any serious business traveler knows that he should fly the night before if he absolutely positively has to attend a business meeting the next morning. There are just too many unforseen variables that could cause delays. So the blame here lies 100% with the traveler, not WN.

RBCal

IMHO, America West is about the worst airline for customer service. They are the ONLY airline where I personally saw the gate agent call the airport police on customers. They also are more often late than WN.

curbcrusher

I don't understand AZTraveler's outrage.

He had a morning meeting. Instead of planning well and getting to OAK the night before he took a chance and booked the 6:30A NS the morning of. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but sometimes things go wrong and the flight was cancelled.

He was protected on the 8AM NS, presumably because the 6:15A one-stop was overbooked for the BUR-OAK leg, yet he took a chance and flew standby on the one-stop because the 8AM NS would have gotten him into OAK too late for his meeting.

When he got to BUR he had to deplane, again because the BUR-OAK leg was oversold. That seems right to me. Why should pax who actually booked that flight be bumped because he was able to fly standby on the prior leg?

After the GA had secured enough bump volunteers (with $100 out of his own pocket to one), he was able to reboard for the second leg, again as standby.

He then dispatched an angry letter to all and sundry at WN, probably laced with the same smart-... remarks he hurled at the BUR GA, and received $150 in vouchers in return showing they did appreciate his business and took his complaint seriously.

I'm left wishing Herb was still in the business of answering angry customer letters.

Byrd is right for once . CP benefits do not include having WN mistreat other pax to accomodate a CP holder's poor planning and chance taking that doesn't pan out.

AZTraveler, have fun on AS and HP/US.

gregorygrady

While I fully agree with you that he was treated exactly as expected by SWA (by the rules exactly), the fact remains that had he been top level elite with most other airlines they would have gone above and beyond for him to get to his destination on time. In general, top level elites in other airline programs get TREATED MUCH BETTER than top level elites (if you can call CP holders that?) at SWA, possibly even putting him on a flight on another airline to get to his destination on time. However, I do also agree that if the meeting was that important than he probably should have gone the night before.

I should also add that AWA might not be a much better option. They are notorious for cancelled flights and delayed flights.

757-300

Sorry, but this made me chuckle as it reminds me of that immortal line from "The Incredibles": Everybody is special...which is another way of saying that no one is.

I don't mind being a nobody on WN considering the wonderful fares we get. I was Elite on ATA, and when I pointed that out once in a bad situation where they were definitely the ones at fault, it made them even LESS likely to help. They seemed to think I was pondscum for believing that being one of their best customers should make a whit of difference in fixing their mistake. Of course, this was around the first time they were preparing to pull out of Chicago, so there was a general attitude of disgruntlement among the workers at MDW. At least on SW I'm on equal footing with the other hoi polli.

nsx

I fimly believe that the passenger who exhibits a patient, mature, and calm attitude when things go wrong will get the best treatment, elite status or no.

757-300

Obviously you've never flown ATA! But seriously, I pride myself on calm, polite assertiveness and even teach it to others (I'm a cognitive psychologist). They had ongoing issues with their web check-in and seat assignments; I got to know several of their web-help people, who admitted to me that the problem was with their system. It was a weekly issue for us, since we commute between MDW and MCO. Rather than get rude or nasty with the gate agents, I programmed the web help and customer service phone numbers into my cell phone. Instead of escalating an argument, I would simply call them when the gate agents would refuse to fix the error. That would get it resolved, since CS and the web people would back me up. Unfortunately, on the night in question I couldn't get through to either department. I only mentioned our Elite status as a last resort.

Happily, the MCO gate agents got to know us so they'd take care of the problem right away, but at MDW the gate agents are a revolving door. I miss ATA (loved their aircraft), but I am happier with WN's seating. If I check in online and get there early, I have an equal chance at at seating. With ATA, the consistently goofed-up assignments were worse than having none at all.

vennamn

I am a platinum medallion on Delta, but also fly fairly often on swa (maybe 10-15 RTs per year). If it were possible to switch to any other airline for trips between LAX-TUS, LAX-PHX, and LAX-OAK and get refundable fares under $300 RT on a real airline (like UA, DL, AA), I probably would. The lines to get seats together are a joke, the crew's "humor" can be annoying, and the atmosphere is like that of a bus.

All of that said, it is extremely easy to fly, very reliable, has lots of flights, and is cheap. As a short-haul business traveler, I find this flexibility very important (on vacations and long-haul business trips, I would never consider SWA, even if it served the route cheaply) I dont know how the DL shuttle flights are on the east coast, but on the West Coast, we really dont have a good non-stop alternative (except to phoenix on america west) I've tried switching to United, but they dont have enough flights per day to offer flexibility - its nice to go home early if finished early or stay late in needed.

uastarflyer

AWA = ick. So happy they joined US so I can top off my HP account flying UA metal and not having to fly HP.

The critical question is whether it was made clear that the Burbank stopover was on standby basis...and that's the only question.

gregorygrady

From the fact that he acknowledged he was "protected" on the next (8AM) PHX-OAK flight, I would have to say that he definitely knew he was taking his chances that he might get bumped in BUR.

I too was surprised that he was able to "pay off" another passenger with his own $100, for that he should probably be grateful. He can probably charge that right back to his company............and maybe get some sort of compensation voucher from SWA if they are in a good mood.....

4thplz

I am glad that worked out for him. I have been in the middle of a situation where someone did pay someone off, however the person making the deal was not the next person on the list of standby passengers.
One just can't pay off a seat to whom ever they want and get that seat.

And that is exactly why I said the pilot overstepped his bounds. The pilot really has no clue what exactly is going on. They need to stay in the cockpit All of us are trained for a specific job and responsiblity.

LondonToLA

SWA = Whisky Tango

KevAZ

I gave up flying WN back in 2000 due to a couple of "Groundhog Day" experiences with morbidly obese pax. Haven't bashed WN here (check using search) but have to agree with the OP, I don't see how anyone doing business could possibly use WN these days. Back in '98-'99 I flew them two legs every single day, all year long. I had 4-5 2 hr long line problems around the holidays, but it wasn't too bad. But over the past few years I can't but help notice the extremely long lines at WN curbside, tix counters, security.

My brother used to fly WN exclusively for personal trips (8-10/yr) but he gave up on them due to the long lines. He missed several flights out of SoCal going to DTW because WN wasn't pulling people out of the security line to expedite them for flights. He gets to the airport at least 2 hrs early, so it wasn't because he is a late runner.

He visited us in AZ at Christmas and he related several of these problem flights to me. I couldn't help but wonder how any business person could live with the huge lines that I see at WN wherever I go. Do you folks have an extra 4 hrs/day to burn? I sure couldn't blow my time standing in line behind a bunch of vacationers!

MIKEM

And here we are again comparing an elite status on another airline vs. no status on WN for a business traveler. There is no doubt about which is best. The mechanics about this situation are not the point for the OP. Rather, it was the last straw that broke the camels back. One thing is fore sure, after tasting the good life he/she will not fly WN at the same volumes ever again.