Last week, I flew to Southern California. Because of reasons I don't understand, I can't get a direct flight from SLC to California. Not really a big deal. However, on this initial leg of my trip, both flights were delayed. Now, remember what everyone has been telling me? Well, that didn't hold true. Not really a huge deal, but a little frustrating and I got to spend a good chunk of time in the Phoenix airport. With an over 2 hour layover, you'd think they would manage to get my baggage onto my next flight. Well, some how my "bags fly free" piece of checked luggage didn't make it to the Orange County airport on my flight. And, I wasn't the only person with this problem.
After deplaning, I headed to baggage claim to get my luggage. After about 15 minutes, you begin to realize that its all the same luggage you see ridding around the baggage carousel and as much as you keep believing your luggage will magically appear, it just doesn't! So, me and about a dozen of my fellow passengers head over to the Southwest baggage office. You'd think that with that number of people involved in a "lost luggage" situation, they could at least offer an apology. Not even close! All I was told was that my luggage was still in Phoenix and they hoped it would show up on the next flight and I could come pick it up then. Well, on this particular trip, I wasn't getting a rental car so no, I couldn't come pick up my luggage in a few hours. The lady agreed to have it delivered to my hotel. She also promised a phone call when the next flight arrived, around 8:20, to let me know if my luggage had indeed made the trip and would soon be delivered to my hotel. Well, finally around 10pm when I hadn't heard from Southwest, I called the baggage office. I was informed that yes, my luggage had arrived and would "be on the 10pm delivery." When I inquired what that meant, the woman rudely informed me it meant my luggage would be delivered to me. Obviously, I knew it would be delivered but I didn't understand the "10pm delivery." As far I was concerned, that meant at 10pm my luggage would be arriving at the hotel. Again, not even close! The woman on the phone treated me as if I were an idiot and rudely explained to me what the "10pm delivery" actually meant. Apparently, Southwest luggage delivery is akin to the cable company--my luggage would arrive at my hotel sometime between 10pm and 2am.
Now, I will take some responsibility for my errors when packing. However, I've never had my luggage lost before (and I've traveled a fair amount). I made the mistake of packing my medications in my checked bag and now, at 10pm I was experiencing great anxiety. It was imperative that I have my luggage in the morning so I could take my medication. I realized at about 11pm there was nothing I could do but go to sleep and hope my luggage was at the hotel in the morning. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep very well (remember that anxiety) and at 3am woke up, called the front desk and headed down to retrieve my luggage.
The next couple of days spent in California were great. I enjoyed working with some of my co-workers, dinner on the beach and a general a nice, uneventful business trip. I figured my return trip would not be anything like my journey to California and certainly, I would experience some of this greatness that is flying Southwest Airlines. The reality of my trip could not have been further from this thought.
My return trip was out of the Ontario airport. And again, my flight was delayed. I'm beginning to believe that an on time Southwest flights is like a unicorn--I've heard rumors of their existence, but it's just a bunch of lies. Well, we did finally leave the Ontario airport headed to Las Vegas and this is where the trip becomes increasingly interesting; and by interesting I mean the most frustrating flying experience I've ever had!
Upon arriving in Las Vegas, I notice that my flight is delayed by 30 minutes. Not a big deal at this point, it's just par for the course. However, at about 30 minute intervals, the flight is continually delayed by 30 minutes. So, my fight that was scheduled for a 6:55pm departure keeps getting later and later. And, come to find out, it's not just my flight--EVERY Southwest flight departing out of Las Vegas is delayed (no other airline is experiencing this problem). Around 8pm, our gate agent gets on the intercom and informs us that our flight is still delayed and it has something to do with Air Traffic Control and the number of flights and some nonsense. Well, I'm not a genius, but I'm pretty sure that ATC deals with the issues of getting flights into and out of airports everyday. And, I'm also pretty certain that the number of flights on any given day is pretty consistent. So, this whole story is not making any sense. And, why is Southwest the only airline that is dealing with ATC issues?
Needless to say, the passengers waiting around the terminal are getting more and more frustrated with the passing time. We're getting no answers and only a delayed flight time. We finally learn that our plane is coming from San Francisco and it hasn't left the airport yet. Once it leaves, it will arrive in Las Vegas in about an hour at which point in time we can board and head to Salt Lake. In the meantime, there is an 8:40 flight to Salt Lake (which of course is also delayed). Well, not only does that flight leave before ours, it actually lands in Salt Lake City before our plane even takes-off. Yes, there were some very upset passengers in the terminal waiting for my flight.
When we finally did board our plane at around 10:45pm (almost 4 hours late), the entire crew on that plane was just unpleasant. I get that they were tired; however, so were all the passengers boarding that flight. And, we weren't paid to be there. We were inconvenienced by the inability of Southwest Airlines to manage their flight schedule. We did finally arrive in Salt Lake at close to 1am. And, the silver lining, at least when I arrived at baggage claim, my luggage was there and not stranded in Las Vegas or some other random part of the country.
As I said, I'm mostly disappointed in Southwest Airlines (it does me no good to be mad at them). Here's why I'm disappointed and what I think they could have done to better meet the needs of their clients:
- All of my experiences speaking with employees of Southwest Airlines were awful. I was treated like an idiot because I didn't understand the Southwest lingo or way of doing things. First and foremost, I'm your client! Apologize for my inconvenience and then explain to me what you're going to do--and explain it as if I'm unfamiliar with your procedures (because I am)
- Southwest is on Twitter. If you're going to have a Twitter account as a business, you should actually use it. During the entire ordeal, I was tweeting about how awful things were, my disappointment with Southwest and the need for an explanation (and I wasn't the only one). I did not once receive a response from Southwest via Twitter. I pulled their account, they do reply to some people on there, but it seems they only reply to the people who are happy with their service. Well, note to the powers that be--you should really be replying to the people who are frustrated with your service. People will tell 15 people about a bad experience and only 1 person about a good experience.
- When a flight is delayed for 4 hours, do something for the passengers that are stranded! A sincere apology always goes a long way. But even a small gesture would have been nice--several passengers just wanted something from Southwest. Offer a free drink coupon for this or a future flight, meet us at the gate in Salt Lake with a tram so all the weary travelers don't have to walk a mile to baggage claim, have your flight crew at least acknowledge us as we exit the plane (yes, they were standing at the exit, but even when addressed they didn't respond to a single passenger that I saw!)
1 comment:
I hope you've had better. And I can't believe there's no direct flights. Bleh.
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