[mar31]

I now see shy they are so cheap:
their website crashes, their phone agents are TOTAL idiots and --after they
waste your time with the most moronic 'suggestions', then they plain tell
you they are NOT going to honor their advertised specials *AND* that's it
your own damn fault anyway that you missed their specials!!! (even though I
was still on time--if they could only get their website up and running -or-
honor the specials on the phone)

It is worth the money to go somewhere where else.

I was at the computer for 2 1/2 hours continuously trying to make
reservations for a special offer that would expired that night at midnight.
Their reservations site went down. After trying continuously to see if it
was up again, I called their reservations desk.

Calling experience 1:
1) Long hold,
2) tell agent their website is down and would she honor the special on the
phone,
3) more hold
4) reservation agent stupidity: she had wasted my time just so she could go
and confirm that the website is down. They treat their customers like they
are total idiots who have never heard of a computer or the internet. Their
website plainly tells you that their reservations desk is down--try again
later. I don't need patronizing agents 'confirming' this for me and sending
me on my way!

Another call:
1) Long hold

2) Agent tells me their website is *not* down, even though I am at the
computer trying and trying and getting the same "reservations site is down"
message.

3) More reservation agent stupidity. I try to tell her that I know that it
is down, I've had another rep. confirm that it is down, would she honor
special offer. She just argues with me and tried to tell me to shut down my
computer and start all over.
Where do they get these morons?! She's treating me like I don't know how to
work a computer?? or like I need their 'confirmation' to validate what I
already know --that their reservations site is down?! WHY DOES SOUTHWEST
INSIST ON INSULTING THE INTELLIGENCE OF THEIR CUSTOMERS?! ***AND*** you
have to wait on hold a long time to be treated like you're an idiot.

4) sends me to "help desk". I ask that person if she is going to tell me
that the website is not down. She INSISTS on backing up to social niceties
of introducing ourselves. By this time I've been waiting for more than two
hours trying the website and their phone agents. WHY waste *more* of my
time with social niceties. I needed intelligent responses, not BS social
niceties. She tells me that she is going to hang up on me if I don't give
her my name. I ask her if she is going to make a reservation for me. She
says no, that she will not start addressing my problem until I give her my
name. I ask her to address the internet problem or take my reservation.
She tells me she can not proceed without taking my name and hangs up on me
when I want to discuss the actual internet problem.

When companies care more about presenting an appealling social interface for
their customers rather than handling their business in a way that
works----RUN to another company.

Yet another call:
Repeat steps 1) long hold and 2) idiots think I want them to confirm or not
whether their website is down INSTEAD of addressing the issue of honoring
their advertised special on the phone.

but this version "step 3) AGENT STUPIDITY" is the worst. The *******
gives me a sermon and a browbeating that it is my own damn fault for waiting
til the last minute, what do I expect, blah, blah blah ---even though I
still had time, if ONLY they would honor their special on the phone since
they couldn't get their website up and running.

I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! Is your aggravation worth a slightly cheaper price.
Mine isn't. Fly anywhere else, BUT NOT Southwest!

[ChrisH]

If the website was down, that is a server problem, and nothing SWA can control. If there is a time limit on specials, it is your own fault of you do not purchase in that time limit.

[azgilbertboi]

Southwest really isnt the cheapest always. Southwest shows the price before taxes. Other websites show you the price after taxes. When you add the taxes and whatever else southwest charges, i've seen it come out more expensive. Not really by much, but I could use the $10.00 at the airport for a quick lunch.

[dogged]

Yes, I am a person of size. But never have I had any airlines but Southwest embarass me the way SWA did on a recent flight.
I felt the stewardess eyeing me as I sat in the aisle seat while my friend (who is large too) sat against the window. She finally walked over and asked loudly " Did they tell you to buy two seats?" Stunned, I just answered "NO." She stood there eyeing me and said "Well, you should be allright." Everyone around me heard this and were likewise in shock. Is this an insensitive boor? This lady was no kid; not the 25yr old snip you might expect.
And I paid for this abuse????????? Has anyone else experienced this?

[pattis]

Your letter explains it all.....first of all you say..you have to "waste " all your time on hold. I doubt anyone is forcing you to do so. However, most airlines have special internet pricing that is not available thru thier reservations dept. These agents do not have access to these fares on their computer system, nor can they "force" these fares into a reservation. So, since you are so computer savy you know damn well that sites do go down and of course all those idiot agents conspired together because they somehow knew ahead of time that you were calling and just decided it might be fun, to transfer you from agent to agent and give you the run around, and waste all your precious time. By the way, just from the way you explain everything such as "social niceties" would it be better if they answered the phone such as "Hello this is SWA, what the f do you want? Yeah, our site's down, deal with it and don't call back here". Sounds to me like you were very rude to the agents, just in the fact of all your name calling. So to sum it up, if you don't like the service you recieve, find a different mode of transportation. Oh, and one more thing. Interesting about how you have wasted so much time with SW on hold, on line, yet you waste even more by typing this long letter. Now who's the moron? Also , I think I have read some of your other letters before on here , only under a different name of course. Perhaps Mr. Troll.