My brother was flying into the DC area the weekend of the winter storms when his flight was canceled and rebooked. Then the next day it was canceled and he was asked to reschedule again. Given the storm it was understandable but he was moving for work and needed to find an alternative. He asked to fly into nearby airports instead, and found a flight to Southern Virginia that would require a four hour drive to his new home. Better than nothing, he asked to be put on that flight, thinking Southwest's legendary Customer Service folks would help him get on his way. Instead, he was charged an additional $200 for the tickets. Not only did this detour require him to book a one-way rental car ($200) and a night at a hotel, but Southwest charged him more money to get to his destination. If he took Southwest's offer to reschedule, he would fly in 4 days behind schedule, on the eve of the second storm to hit the DC area (which created more delays and cancellations) meaning he might've been a full week late! That is not an alternative. And I'll add that his flight was not fully booked.

These feel good stories of Southwest are in the past:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...0/b4024001.htm

Now they're just the same as all the other airlines. And before we blame a rep who may have been overwhelmed at the time, it was a manager who charged the extra fees.

My mother-in-law came up on Southwest Airlines from Tampa to Manchester, NH. Last April we booked her flight and she got her boarding pass with no problem. This past December she came and was unable to get her boarding pass. She called and was told she couldn't get it until she went to the airport. Of course by then A & B's were already taken. No one told her that the reason was because she had to be "age verified". They saw her ID but no one said that was the reason she couldn't get her boarding pass online the day before. I didn't realize this until we tried to get her boarding pass on her return flight. Exactly 24 hours before I went online to get her boarding pass but could not do so. It took almost an hour to find out that she could not do it online because she was not "age verified" and her tickets was for a senior rate. If I known she would have had so much trouble I would have not gotten the senior rate. I signed her up for Rapid Rewards where it asks for birth date and thought that was it, but then still couldn't get it and called and was told she would have to go to the airport. I said she is 82 years old and I wanted to be sure that she didn't have to wait. She may not be in a wheelchair and is able to get around okay but SHE IS 82 YEARS OLD AND TRAVELING ALONE!! The man on the phone said she could go to the airport and be age verified and tell them she could not get the boarding pass because of it and that the fact that she was over 65 she would be able to pre-board. When she got to the airport she was not allowed to pre-board because physically she was able to walk. Her husband died and since then traveling on her own has been a challenge. I really don't think Southwest is very adaptive to seniors traveling. When I first made the reservation I should have been told that she would not be able to get a boarding pass until she was age verified. That is so ridiculous - she would have to travel into the airport just to do that. Why couldn't she get the boarding pass and if she didn't pass age verification then she paid for a different ticket. You didn't make her verify her age to get the ticket - just couldn't let her get a boarding pass to get on the plane sooner. Also why would I be told on the phone that she could preboard but then she was told that could not???? The reason we booked her on Southwest was that it is easier to pick her up in Manchester, NH but from now on we'll be booking her on Jet Blue to Boston.