southwest airlines equals southworst airlines!

[myllam]

I can't believe what a horrible time we had with this airline. This is the first time we've travelled on this airline and probably our last. We got bumped from our non-stop flight out, and ended up with a stop and a layover so our 6 hour trip ended up taking 10 hours! Then our our flight back, the pilot came out to give a talk about how he wants everyone to behave so he wouldn't have to do extra paperwork. Of course, we were sitting right up front with our 2 year old and DS started having crying because he saw someone across the aisle with food and realiazed he was hungry. Since the pilot was standing there, we couldn't get to our bag. Then the pilot over the loudspeaker says "someone tell this child that there is no crying allowed on this plane", not once but 3 times!!! I was so embarrased and there was clapping behind us. When the pilot finally went into the cockpit, they immediately said no getting up, so I couldn't get to my bag and the stewardesses were too busy up front talking to each other instead of coming by to ask if we could use anything! When I finally caught the stewardesses eye, I asked if I could get up to get a snack out of our bag for our DS, she loudly says "of course lets give them lots of sugar to calm them down"! and started throwing bags of oreos, sugar fruit chews, and cookies at us. I'm still livid about the lack of sympathy these "professionals" expressed towards parents travelling with a youngster.

Anyways, our DS calmed down without the junk food they threw at us and was perfectly calm the rest of the 6 hour trip!

[josephsmom]

Whoa, that's awful! That's just the kind of thing I dread whenever we have to travel. Sorry you had such a bad experience.

Helene
mommy to Joseph 12/29/01

[lvp49]

We once had a terrible experience with them. I sent them a detailed letter with dates, times and names, (it was three pages) and they sent us two free tickets with no expiration date.

Look on their web site. I sent it to the CEO and the director of customer service.

[Momof3Labs]

That's so ridiculous! You have to write a letter - I don't see how any company could condone that behavior from their employees.

[Andrea S]

That is terrible. Write them a letter!!!=[

Andrea
mom to Andrew 8/14/02

[egoldber]

This is one of many reasons why my DH REFUSES to fly Southwest at any price.

[blnony]

You really should write a letter and and an email to Southwest. Hopefully, it might stop this from happening to someone else. How awful. It just amazes me how people can be to those of us with young children.
I don't blame you, I don't think I would ever use their airline again either.

[candybomiller]

Thanks for the information. I know we will never fly such a family UNfriendly airline.

That is just terrible. I would definitely write a letter.

Candy
Mommy to Matt
5/22/02

[zen_bliss]

if it's any comfort, there's some kiddie karma coming to that flight team (and those clapping behind you) -- a pox of colic on them!

write write write that letter. ideally it will mean better training for their in-air staff. and you definitely deserve a lot of compensation for that -- i hope you get two round trip tickets.

it wouldn't hurt to remind them that the online BB is a mighty consumer force and losing an entire marketshare of parents hurts in a competitive market!!!

[Rachels]

Write that letter! This is inexcusable. And shame on those people who were clapping. That's horrible. I suppose they think they never cried as babies?!

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[lisams]

That is completely unacceptable customer treatment. Please write a letter to the airline. I can't believe that people clapped at the pilot's comments. You could tell them that they have lost business from another mom and her child, and that you are spreading the word.

Thank you for sharing this experience, I will not fly with an airline that is not child-friendly.

I'm sorry you had to go through this.

Lisa

[mamahill]

That's HORRIBLE! I recently flew SW and had a wonderful time. The flight attendents were very accomodating and helpful. I am so sorry you had such a terrible flight. DEFINITELY write a letter. Those flight attendents should be reprimanded, and you should be compensated for having to feel embarassed. Shame on them!

[Marisa6826]

WOW!

You obviously are a better woman that I am, because I would have FLIPPED to put it mildly.

PLEASE tell me you took names and are going to write one hell of a nasty letter to the CEO!!

I'm sure we would all be willing to help write it with you! :)

FWIW, I hear that Jet Blue is AWESOME with kids...next time, huh?

-m

[Kate888]

This is HORRIBLE!!! Sorry you had such a bad experience traveling for the first time with your DS. Definetely write the letter. I will never fly such unfriendly airline!!!!

Thank you for sharing this with us.


Kate
Mama to Maya 2-17-02

[myllam]

Thanks everyone for your kind responses to my rant. I started thinking I was being over-sensitive especially since I got to work and told a few people and the response were mainly perhaps he was joking and maybe you can understand that crying babies aren't much fun for fellow passengers :-( I was just disappointed because this was our DS's 6th plane trip in a year and he had done wonderfully on every other flight. We've had stewardesses and fellow passengers compliment us on what a great traveler he is.

I'm definitely going to write a letter to SW since they promote themselves as such a customer oriented airlines.

Anyways, thanks again!

Monica

[brubeck]

I have flown Southwest with at least one baby 4 times. I was always treated with respect, allowed to board early (I don't know any other airline that lets parents do this anymore) and given special consideration because of the kid(s). They also have kids' snack packs, while most airlines do not have special kiddie food anymore. They came to give us drinks and snacks FIRST, no matter where we were sitting. Last time I flew them the pilot told us that we had to stay in our seats because of turbulence. Amy really wanted some milk and of course it was in the overhead bin. The stewardess actually went and got our bag for us because we couldn't get up ourselves. Once we were landing and Amy decided to vomit all over me. It was a huge mess right when everyone was trying to get off the plane (we were sitting in the front) but the stewardesses didn't blink an eye. They quickly ran and got some wet paper towels and helped me clean up.

I think you had a bad staff on that plane. Do not judge the entire airline by one bad experience because honestly I have found that Southwest is one of the friendliest airlines for kids. Definitely write a letter and take advantage of free tickets for another trip.

[millerpjm]

I agree with the other responses... That is awfuland I think you should write a letter. As a customer service rep, I have a piece of advice - when you write your letter, specify the flight numbers, dates, and times so they know exactly which crew was flying that day. Also, state what happened, but do not swear or be insulting. Be polite but firm, and hopefully you will see some action! I think that pilot should have had to sit their with your baby screaming in his ear for punishment after saying that to you.

Jen

Proud mama to Thomas (5 months old)

[Zansu]

Benjamin is already working on his 3rd free ticket on Southwest, so I would say we're very frequent fliers. I have NEVER had a problem with any Southwest employee, so your experience (IMHO) is unusual.

However, it should never have happened, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write to SW immediately. As millerpjm recommends, give as many details as possible, but don't assign blame and don't ask for any freebies (you may get some, but requesting them decreases the impact of your letter).

Here's the mailing address:
Southwest Airlines
Customer Relations
P.O. Box 36647 - 1CR
Dallas, Texas 75235-1647

The CS phone number is 214-792-4223. They do not have a CS email address.

Please let us know what response you receive.

Suzanne

[justlearning]

I'm so sorry to hear that you had such a horrible, embarrassing experience with SWA. I definitely agree with everyone else--write a letter detailing what happened and saying that you want compensation (i.e., free tickets) for what you experienced. Even if you don't ever want to fly them again, you can always sell your tickets on ebay.

I used to fly SWA all the time (before having a baby) and was always happy with their service. One way that their airlines is different from the others is that the flight attendants (and sometimes pilots) are enouraged to use humor when talking over the speaker as a way to make the trip more fun. (I know this based upon my personal experience and also because I had friends who were SWA attendants.) Oftentimes, their humor can be sarcastic. This may help explain--although in no way shape or form justify--your experience. Perhaps these attendants and pilots were used to responding to situations with sarcastic humor and reacted to your situation with what they thought was humor but was obviously instead extremely inappropriate, insensitive behavior. This may not be an accurate explanation at all but just my two cents.

[mama2be]

I know locally some of our smaller airlines took on a "new attitude"/trend of being funny...and wonder if they thought they were...I say that and know I'd be pissed if I were you adn I'd write a letter and you better be assured I'd expect to be refunded or a ticket to elsewhere...

BUT I do wonder if this is that new "trend" of being peppy, funny, wearing shorts and throwing chips at the folks...BUT they need to realize that this "trend" when dealing with a mommy and a baby is NOT funny...

[Melaniee]

OH! That deserves a scathing letter! Address it to the CEO and the Head of Customer Service, too! Don't forget to CC the Better Business Bureau b/c then it will get more attention.

[memedee]

Their behavior was inexcusable.
You can tell them in your letter that I would avoid flying with them because of your experience.A free ticket and an apology is in order here.

[Actormom]

I have six kids and have flown with children for years. i have never had such horrendous treatment! I would write the letter to end all letters! How ridiculous!

When Hubby and I flew with our 9 month old last year the stewardess announced that babies should scream on the decent if they need to as it helps clear their ears faster than anything. She said "I want no complaints or rude remarks about this beautiful baby"... LOL It was great!

That was United and they were the best! But we often fly Delta, Alaska and American.

Lesa

[pritchettzoo]

What jerks! The staff and your fellow travelers...

Have you tried Planet Feedback? On another board, several posters have gotten good results. I haven't used them, but I think the letters have the option of being published online, which gives the companies even more incentive to act. Here's their website just in case:
http://www.planetfeedback.com/

Let us know how they respond!

Anna
#1(DD) EDD 9/10/03