Southwest Airlines - pissing me off!

Now I love Southwest Airlines. I have flown Southwest exclusively since moving to Philly. I used to be able to get flights from PHI to PVD for $29 each way. I can still get them for $49 each way. I use their credit card and fly so often that I rack up free flights way faster than I can use them. You can even give the free flights to other people for free! Which I have done. All flights are done in one-way portions so I can fly Philly to Providence but then Manchester to Philly without paying extra for one-ways. They fly into PVD so I can visit my parents, MHT to see my family/go skiing, PIT to see alma mater and FLL to see my godson. They are courteous, fun and haven't lost one of my bags yet. And honestly we have had a hard time even paying for a drink on a plane because they keep giving them to us for free (if only they had another vodka since I am not a huge Finlandia fan). You can check 2 bags for FREE! I really really like them. I really do. But then . . .

My first issue with them (that I knew about) started last week when I ordered a gift card from them to give to my parents this weekend. I ordered it on Wednesday around noon. And everything was fine. I got the little confirmation screen telling me to print it out for my records etc etc. I didnt. I never do. My bad. But I always get confirmation emails with the same information! So by the end of the day I hadnt gotten either the confirmation email (supposed to be immediate) or the actual gift card email (can be delayed up to 12 hours) but I wasn't worried. I was worried Thursday evening when I hadn't gotten either the confirmation email or the actual gift card. Yes I checked my spam folder. No charge had gone through on my credit card so I wasn't panicking. But I was planning on giving it to my parents on Friday so I wanted to print it out at work before going to the airport (to fly with them no less). So I called them up and told them the problem. Just asking for general information since I didnt have the confirmation number (I know, my bad) but they were really nice about it. They canceled the previous order, put in a new order, gave me my confirmation number, told me the confirmation email would arrive shortly and the gift card email within 12 hours. Plenty of time before I had to leave. Well it is now Wednesday. It has been a week since my original order. I have gotten no confirmation emails. I have gotten no gift card emails. And my credit card has been charged. Luckily it wasn't super important that I actually give my parents the card, I could just tell them about it. But some sort of information would be nice here. Apparently, according to someone's post on Southwest's Facebook page, I am not the only one with an issue. Which is fine, I understand that there is some sort of problem, but send me an email or give me a phone call and tell me about it and apologize or something. I just don't expect this sort of lack of attention and consideration from this company. Or I didn't. Which brings me to my next problem with Southwest Airlines that was brought to my attention this week . . .

EarlyBird Check-in. So in case you have never flown with Southwest, let me explain how the boarding process works. And has worked. They do not have assigned seating. It is open seating. Which means you get on a plane and as long as you are over 15 you can pick any seat that is open. If you are 15 or under you can pick any seat other than the emergency exit rows. So in order to get that perfect seat it all depends on when you get on the plane. When I started flying Southwest in 2004 the way it worked was this. Starting at midnight the day that you are flying you can check in for your flight (one of the first online check-ins and so great not to have to go to the counter or even a kiosk if you arent checking bags). And depending on when you checked in you got an A, B or C boarding pass. You printed this out and went to the airport. When you got there you went to the gate and there were 3 lines (A, B, C) set up. You got in line and sat there and waited. So depending on when you checked in determined your line. And when you got to the airport determined your place in that line. This worked fine for me because 1) I dont mind checking in at midnight. 2) I dont mind sitting on the floor. 3) I dont mind getting to the airport early, in fact I prefer it. But I could see how it was annoying. And there were fights about saving places in line and if putting your bag in line counted, etc etc. And it meant you had to be at a computer at midnight the morning before flying. So it made sense when they changed it. First they changed the midnight thing. Instead of midnight the day you were flying, they changed it to 24 hours before your flight. Which was nice. No more sitting at the copmuter waiting to go to bed. But you still had to camp out in line. So next they changed it to the current system. Starting 24 hours before your flight you can check in online and get a boarding number. So you get A 1-60, B 1-60 or C 1-60 depending on when you check in. So as long as you have access to a computer (or mobile device) 24 hours before your flight you have a good chance of getting your A boarding pass and then you could show up to the airport whenever and sit in the chairs or the bar until your number group was called. Now this is all important because, especially now (even though it is free to check bags) NO ONE seems to check bags. And so if you are boarding as a late B or C, most likely 1) you are going to get a dreaded middle seat and 2) you might have to check your carry-on because the overhead bins will be full. But at least you know it will get on the plane since you are gate checking it. But it is annoying. So that was fine with me. It is crazy how many people check in at 24 hours before on the dot. If you are a minute late, you are getting a high A or a B even. But as long as you have an A, you will get a window seat if you want it. So that is all well and good. Cheap flights without all the extra fees and fair seating (assuming you have ready internet access; which is obviously not true for everyone). But it is what it is. Then they instituted the Business Select seating. So now you pay more (like $80 more) but you are guaranteed an A, no matter when you check in. So now you can pay for an A 1-16. Which seemed a little against Southwest's whole thing. You also get a free drink and more credits towards free flights. But there are only 16 Business Select seats per flight. So it isnt like everyone can buy an A etc. Then they instituted the A-list. If you fly 32 one-way flights in a 12 month period you automatically got an A boarding pass whenever you flew within a 12 month period after that. That is a whole lot of flights and that didnt bother me. There aren't that many A-listers. But then, this started within the last week or so, they instituted the EarlyBird Check-In. The way (I think) this works is this. You buy your ticket (not Business Select). And then between that time and 36 hours before your flight you can buy into the EarlyBird program for $10 each way on your flight. And then 36 hours before your flight, the Business Select passengers are automatically assigned their numbers. Then the A-listers are automatically assigned their numbers. And then the EarlyBird-ers are automatically assigned their numbers (I assume in order of purchase? but I am not sure). Between 36 hours and 25 hours prior to your flight you can also buy in. At 25 hours before the flight all of those people (who bought in between 36 and 25 hours prior) are automatically assigned their numbers. And then at 24 hours prior to the flight everyone else can manually check in. Which means that if most people on your flight use EarlyBird, then 1) they arent even guaranteed an A because now everyone is in the same pot and 2) you are stuck with whatever is left. So they are forcing you to pay an extra $10 just for the CHANCE to get an A. And (I think) it is all dependent on when you buy into the EarlyBird pot. So if I buy my ticket for Christmas now I can probably get an A. But if say I have to fly tomorrow or this weekend, for an emergency, I am screwed out of an A. Maybe. This seems antithetical to previous Southwest policy. If they need to make more money, raise the fares. If they want to streamline the way the seating works, then assign seats. But this just seems wrong to me. And the general tone of commenters on the Southwest blog (Nuts About Southwest) and on their Facebook page looks like I am not alone.

I am disappointed in Southwest right now. And I hope that it changes soon. Because in general as a company I really do like them. I think they make excellent use of Twitter, Facebook and the internet at large. They have the nicest, friendliest (and it seems happiest) airline employees I have dealt with. And I feel like I fly pretty often considering I am not rich and I dont fly for work. I have flown with them 18 times in the last 12 months. I hope they fix their gift card glitches soon and more importantly I hope they look again at who they are trying to serve and dont start becoming a big fee airline.