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  1. 5.0

    July 19, 2016
    Today I scheduled a flight for my husband, via Southwest Airlines. I have scheduled flights for myself and family members. What was different today was that I decided to try booking a room through them as well. Bad mistake! I am not very familiar with the area and neither is my husband, who I made the reservation for. Since the hotel I made the reservation at and the medical facility he needed to be seen at were in the same zip code, I presumed they were not far apart. As my husband will not have a car, it’s important that he be in a hotel that is close to the facility. After making the online reservation I was able to call the hotel to ask exactly where they were in relation to the facility. They are not close to it so I told them I had just made a reservation, which I now needed to cancel as my husband would not be able to get to the facility easily. The hotel understood the situation completely and said they would cancel the reservation. The gentleman also gave me the name of a hotel that was much closer to where he needed to be. I asked the hotel representative what the hotel’s cancellation policy was. They said if a person cancels at least 24 hours before they are due to show, there is no charge. I was cancelling more than 2 weeks in advance.

    After I got off the phone, it occurred to me that perhaps I should also contact Southwest Airlines because I made the reservation through them and also to make sure nothing went wrong with the cancellation. I first spoke with a Southwest U.S. representative who said she needed to transfer me to the appropriate department, which ended up being in the Philippines. In the past, this (being connected to someone outside the U.S.) has ALWAYS been a bad sign. What is it with U.S. companies that don’t really get the fact that just because a person may be able to speak/read English doesn’t mean they understand and can effectively communicate in the English language.

    To make a very long and tedious story a bit shorter, the Filipino advised me that although I made the reservation less than an hour before, the reservation is “non-refundable”. To which I replied, “Are you insane? This is over $400.00”. She insisted that it is “clearly stated in the confirmation.” Holly crap! Really! I asked her how long this hotel would be a partner with Southwest once they learn what Southwest is doing to their business? I’m guessing not very long. I then told her that I had already contacted the hotel and asked them to cancel the reservation. I also informed her of their policy. There is no charge for this cancellation. Her response was, “Who at Southwest authorized this?” Like I said earlier, English may be spoken, but clearly not understood. Again, I repeated that the hotel itself advised me that there is no charge for the cancellation because it met with their policy, being 24 hours before you’re scheduled to be there. I asked her to explain why Southwest thinks they are entitled to my money if the hotel (owners of the property) does not? I then asked to speak to her supervisor, manager, or a US representative because something was seriously wrong here. She put me on hold and I called the hotel again, on another line, to verify that what their representative told me earlier was correct. It is. I then asked the hotel’s rep for the name of the Hotel’s general manager as well as the name of the corporation that owns that hotel. I was able to get both and I intend to inform them of this experience.

    Miraculously, when she returned and repeated that the reservation is non-refundable, I told her that this was unfair not only to me but to everyone else Southwest may be doing this to or have done this to and I would not let them get away with it. I told her that although the paragraph addressing cancellations does state within it “This reservation is non-refundable”. It also states, “Southwest Airlines does not charge cancellation or change fees for any hotel booked on southwest.com. However, we are required to pass on the following fees that are imposed by the property.” Now, since the hotel’s policy is not to charge for a cancellation in this type of situation, why is Southwest insisting on it? By this time I am now extremely agitated and letting her have it both barrels.

    She eventually agrees to cancel the reservation for a full refund. The experience has taught me NOT to make ANY hotel/car/package deals through Southwest. What an ordeal! This type of stress I don’t need.

    I’m afraid too many people may have been robbed by Southwest representative, using this tactic. I know that most people don’t have the ability to stand up for themselves and there are too many people looking to relieve them of money that has not been earned. For this reason, I am filing this complaint in hopes that someone will be able to look into this rather shady practice.

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