Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Southwest Airlines Suck!!

I always fly Southwest when I can. I am usually very pleased with their service and prices, but not today my friends!!

I am currently trying to book my flight to BlogHer in Chicago and am not happy with Southwest. Over the last 3 weeks, the flight I need has gone up over $100 in price!!! So, I started pricing into other airports and looking for ways to make this all work. I checked flying into Indianapolis, which would actually be cheaper, but the best part of this is, that the flight to Indianapolis actually has a layover in Chicago. It is the exact flights that I would take in and out of Midway, but actually has connections to and from Indianapolis.

So, to recap, it is cheaper to get off the plane and board another plane to a different destination than it is to just get off the plane altogether!!!! I call Southwest Airlines to see if they have any explanation and I get the run around of:

-maybe they are running a special for that city right now
-maybe the plane is almost full heading to Chicago, but the one to Indianapolis is not (by the way, I had them check this and there is plenty availability for the flight to Chicago)
-you could always check back and see if they are running a special later

There is my rant for today. American Airlines has a direct flight into O'hare for $130 cheaper!! Guess we know who I will be flying with from now on.

Renee

1 comments:

Paula Berg - Southwest Airlines said...

Dear Renee - I'm so sorry you weren't able to secure the low fare you originally found three weeks ago.

We have been running amazing fare sales. In fact, in some cases, fares have been at 1970's levels. Of course, those low fares are always the first to go, and they sell out fast.

If we could offer all of our seats at $49 and remain profitable, we would. But this challenging economy coupled with unpredictable energy costs, simply prevents us from doing so. And, we have to keep our Company financially viable for our 33,000 Employees and the traveling Customers who rely on our service every day.

I hope you won’t let this one experience tarnish your view of our Company. Although you were able to find a lower fare on another carrier in this instance, Southwest is still the nation’s leading low fare airline with some of the highest Customer Service ratings in the industry.


Thank you for your consideration,

Paula Berg
Southwest Airlines