Southwest Airlines
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Southwest is being money hungry and…
Southwest is being money hungry and also dismissive to concerns on program and pricing changes. And they used a bait and switch method. I booked my flights some time ago and was offered the early bird check in option at an additional cost of $60 RT for my wife and I. I went back to book it and now the price is $100. When I called, I was told that the program changed at the end of August. Mind you the $60 is already a fee to get checked in early so you have a better boarding group time so you can rush on and pick your seats. The other airlines allow you to select a seat at booking so you do not have to get on the plane searching for your seat and beat out someone else like it is the last bottle of water before a hurricane. I would have saved money going with another carrier and not had to pay for the privilege of getting a better line up position to then still have to search for two seats together where we would like to sit. I talked to a few lower level staff that agreed with me that I should be able to get the original rate I was quoted at the time of booking. However, they could not help me. They did say they are getting similar feedback and it is not going over well. I called corporate at their direction and that got worse. The person at corporate was unapologetic and cold professional. She informed me that basically it is an ancillary rate and they have the right to change it at any time. She did understand my point about being offered a price on an already booked flight but was unwilling to do anything to assist. She then said they notified people by placing a disclaimer on their site for 8 days at the end of August. I had already purchased my ticket and have the app so had no reason to go back on the site. No email or reaching out to someone that already purchased. So they took what was already a junk fee for something no one else charges for and increased it to make more profit. She said well at the lower cost too many people were using it so it was not really an advantage to those buying it. And based on that feedback they felt raising the price to reduce the number of people purchasing it would make it more valuable for those buying it. I mean they could have just limited it to the first 50 people that purchase it or something like that. So buy early and get the advantage. That is how the best seat assignments work on other airlines. Instead they would thin the heard by raising the price and pricing people out in order to make it a better experience for those that can and are willing to pay. It is a greedy money grab. They sell themselves as different, and better and “we got rid of assigned seats and tickets to make fares lower.” But really it just is good marketing because they intend to get it from you on the backend. In all actuality I could have gone with another airline and saved and had seat assignments and not had to pay an extra fee. And this day and age no longer do they really have to print that many paper tickets with tickets on phone apps. At the end of the conversation I recapped that they offered a price on a confirmed booking and then changed it later without due diligence notification. I informed her that it was a bait and switch and also poor form for such a respected company. It was underhanded and not appreciated and was just raising what was already a junk fee. Informed them I would file complaints with the appropriate regulatory bodies as well. She gave me a call record number then had the audacity to ask if I wanted to go ahead and purchase the early bird check-in at the new higher price. That is what I was complaining about, really? I will just way up early the day before to check in. They will not get another dollar from me and I will use another airline in the future.