[chevre]

Booked thru SW with retrun on Air Tran. Plane late coming in from Atlanta to Houston, due to "weather" -though radar maps in terminal showed no rain in the entire state of GA. SW gate agents were in contact with AirTran in Atlanta. We were told that our chances of making the connection in Atlanta to Milwaukee were on the "cusp" but that we should make it. I pointed out that it was an illegal connection as the flight arriving in Atlanta was 10:33 p.m. and the flight to Milwaukee was leaving at 10:30 p.m.. Atlanta Gate agent released us. The connection was in another concourse in Atlanta and when we arrived they had shut the doors.

We asked for hotel and meal vouchers but were told by the Air Tran people that it was weather related so there was no compensation. Really? We should have been held in Houston and not released due to the illegal connection. Many of us could not find hotels at midnight in Atlanta and spent $70.00 on taxi to find a hotel on the the outskirts of Atlanta

I called SW first as they were the carrier I booked through. They listened but said that Air Tran is responsible even though they are merging. I have been on hold now for 45 minutes waiting for Air Tran to pick up.

Southwest has a great scam going on here. They bought AirTran but do not take responsibility for their actions. The employees at Air Tran in Atlanta should all be fired as they really could have cared less about their passengers. Also this using "weather" as an excuse to not compensate passengers is out of hand.

It is better to pay more for a ticket than having to deal with the incompetence of both Southwest and Air Tran