I used to be a fan of Southwest Airlines, until recently. My husband and a group of people here in Chicago attended a seminar in Seattle. When it was time to return, I was able to check my husband in fine the day prior, and so did everyone else.
However, when everyone got to the airport the next day, and needed to print their boarding passes, that's when all the confusion started. Apparently, if you're one of the last 15 people who "checked-in" online, you will not receive a boarding pass, but rather a "Security Pass". What this means is that you've basically been bumped from your current flight and have to fly standby on the next outbound flight. My husband was the chaperon for an 18yr old the trip who, turned out, had one of these Security Passes. My husband didn't want to leave him, so he remained, and tried to get them both on the next flight - which he did successfully. However, for others it was a mix of getting out the next day - Tuesday, or the next day after that - Wednesday.
This is unacceptable! What if those people had plans in their city? They did the right thing by "checking in" online? This is a bunch of crap!
this is a new procedure that's used when Southwest overbooks, which is a consistent practice. So Flyers Beware!!
Southwest, you MUST do better!!
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