Bagging a cut-price flight is just one of the ways that travellers attempt to keep their holiday costs down. However, for passengers who were keen to snap up a half-price flight promotion with Southwest Airlines, this money-saving measure ended up costing them a lot more than they had bargained for.
Southwest Airlines had attempted to reward its loyal following of Facebook friends with a half-price ticket sale, only for a technology glitch to put a dent in the US carrier’s image after customers were inadvertently billed multiple times for a single flight.
The problem was first brought to light when website slowdowns meant that customers were struggling to take advantage of the airline’s one-day “luv2like” promotion and began refreshing their pages several times in frustration.
The promotion was set to offer the airline’s three million Facebook fans a 50 per cent discount on selected fares last Friday. However, passengers soon fell out of “luv” with the deal when news emerged that their credit and debit cards were charged up to 20 times or more for a single flight.
Outraged customers turned to Twitter and various blogs to express their dismay and recount tales of overdrawn credit limits, cancelled bank cards, drained checking accounts and bounced cheques.
The airline’s Facebook fans also argued that they had had to endure lengthy waiting times just to speak to customer service representatives on Friday and Saturday.
Suzanne Worrrell, 37, of Virginia Beach argued that instead of the $69.60 figure she thought she had paid for a flight to see her dad, she ended up being charged a staggering 20 times more than that amount. As the Southwest’s website froze when she clicked “purchase the ticket”, she was unaware of whether her transaction had been completed. In addition, she also argues that she didn’t receive a verification email.
Worrell said she was only made aware of the blunder when she visited her credit card’s website and saw a series of repeated charges mounting up.
“They’ve charged over $1,400 now for a $69 ticket,” Worrell said. “Initially I was sympathetic. I get it. Stuff happens. Make it better.”
However, her initially upbeat response to the event was soon soured when a Southwest representative said she would have to wait between eight and 10 days before she got her money back.
