[Ron]

I was booked on Southwest flight 1772 from San Jose, CA to Ontario, CA at 8:35pm (confirmation number XXXXXX). The flight was delayed until 10:00pm and I asked the representative at the gate (A3), Ms. Mary Lo-Wang, if I could standby for an earlier flight to either Las Vegas, NV (I was to be picked up from Ontario on the way to Las Vegas) or any other airport in the Los Angeles area, without additional cost. Ms. Lo-Wang told me that because the flight was delayed for more than an hour, I would be able to stand by for either option without additional cost, as a customer courtesy.

I opted to stand by for the Las Vegas flight at gate A7 and told the rep, Mr. Sunil Bajaj, that Ms. Lo-Wang told me I can be booked for a Las Vegas flight instead of the delayed Ontario flight without a price difference. Mr. Bajaj told me that he could re-book me for another Los Angeles airport, but added in a patronizing tone that "Las Vegas isn't in the LA area". In addition, Mr. Bajaj asked me "what [I] wanted [him] to do" and "what [I was] trying to do", which to me implied that he thought I was trying to take unfair advantage of him. I took great exception to his rude attitude and accusatory tone.

I assured Mr. Bajaj that I was simply passing on to him what Ms. Lo-Wang told me, and he told me that I would have to "take it up with her". I insisted that he call Ms. Lo-Wang instead of arguing with me, but he tried several times to send me back to her. I even offered an apology to him for seeming rude, and told him that I understood it was a busy time at the airport and that I didn't mean to give him a hard time, but I was simply repeating Ms. Lo-Wang's directions, but I was met with the same negative attitude from Mr. Bajaj.

When Mr. Bajaj finally called Ms. Lo-Wang, I noticed that he was quite rude to her as well, saying things such as "what do you think you're doing?", "who told you to do that?" and "didn't you get that memo?". Mr. Bajaj offered to put me on a 9:20pm flight to LAX instead, but I politely refused him and decided to stay with my original flight.

Southwest is my favorite airline and I have flown with you for many years. One of the reasons that I have always enjoyed flying with Southwest was that everyone I had dealt with has been very helpful and polite, and Ms. Lo-Wang was an excellent example of this. However, I found my recent experience with Mr. Bajaj quite unpleasant.

What bothered me the most was that Mr. Bajaj was not only rude to me, but to Ms. Lo-Wang over the phone as well. Ms. Lo-Wang was simply trying to help, and she explained to me that she was trying to provide a courtesy to the customer, which in my mind represented what made Southwest such a great airline.

This has been my first negative customer experience with Southwest Airlines, and I would like to believe that you will continue to provide great support to both your customers and your employees. Thank you very much for your attention, and I will be eagerly awaiting your response.

Respectfully,

Ron

[Gromit801]

Ron, FWIW I can't stand the Flying Cattle Car of the Sky Airline, but in fairness I would like to call your attention to your first paragraph.

"I asked the representative at the gate (A3), Ms. Mary Lo-Wang, if I could standby for an earlier flight"

and

"Ms. Lo-Wang told me that because the flight was delayed for more than an hour, I would be able to stand by for either option without additional cost, as a customer courtesy."

Then in the next paragraph:

"told the rep, Mr. Sunil Bajaj, that Ms. Lo-Wang told me I can be booked for a Las Vegas flight"

Stand-by, and booked, are two different things. Perhaps you didn't mean to change the wording, but if it's accurate, and one said stand-by, and you told the other booked, I can see where a problem might arise.

[jimworcs]

Gromit,
I think you may have missed the point of this post. It is not really about whether Ms. Lo-wang was correct to do what she did, nor whether Ron got it wrong when he explained to Mr. Bajaj the situation. It is about the attitude and hostility displayed by Mr Bajaj who is paid to deal with customers and expected to deal with them in a professional manner. This complaint is not about Ron not getting a flight to Vegas.. it is a complaint about Bajaj's attitude!

[Gromit801]

Perhaps. But I must wonder if a mistake was made in describing this, then during the actual event, could it have gone from asking about stand by, to demanding to be booked, which will usually set off the attitude of most people, including those paid to be nice.

The trouble with only getting one side of things.