Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Why did agents at two airports give me completely different information?

I love Southwest Airlines. Despite having most of my miles on United and American, I’ll fly Southwest if the flight isn’t too long (or even if it is when there’s a non-stop). They’re on time more than other airlines, they’re courteous, and they’re even fun.

So this is a minor complaint, but a complaint nonetheless.

I’m a member of the Southwest A-List. If you fly frequently enough, Southwest puts you on the A-List (you don’t have to apply, just be a member of the Rapid Rewards program). This gets you a boarding pass in the A group without having to play the check-in-exactly-24-hours-in-advance game.

For a talk I gave at a conference, the conference organizer booked the flight through a travel agent who didn’t enter my Rapid Rewards number. When I checked in, I was far back in the B group. That’s fine; not Southwest’s fault. I went to a gate agent, gave her my A-list card, explained what had happened, then told her I’d like to make sure my number got into the record so I could get that high boarding number for my return flight the next day. She swiped my card and told me it was taken care of.

I got the airport in Phoenix today, printed my boarding pass, and found myself far back in the B group again. I spoke to an agent who told me that my number had to be in the system 36 hours before the flight to get that priority boarding position. When I explained that this was not what the Oakland agent told me yesterday, the agent just shrugged. Had I known this, I would have checked in 24 hours in advance—last night—but I didn’t because the Oakland agent told me it was all taken care of.

I’m constantly baffled how two different employees in the same organization can tell two different stories. I’m even more surprised when it happens with a quality organization like Southwest.

Posted by Shel in • Planes
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