I was actually more nervous about not being able to visit the Bahamas at all, thanks to Hurricane Ian.  When you live in Dallas, Texas….well, you aren’t used to hurricanes.  And when you find a deal to the Caribbean months out towards the end of hurricane season?  Well, you of course unknowingly book it.  Spoiler alert:  We made it to the Bahamas, and back, safe and sound – but our flight was delayed on the way home due to non-weather issues.

On our return flight home from our fall break vacation to The Bahamas, we were stuck in Fort Lauderdale Airport for about 7 hours!  We were connecting home to Dallas from there, and we landed in Florida only to find flight cancellations/delays, and a long, angry mob of individuals standing at the customer service desk.  I stood in line for one hour, just to confirm that we indeed would make it home that evening – though much later than we anticipated.

In Southwest’s Customer Service Commitment – the airline outlines how it will handle and address flight delays, cancellations, and/or interruptions.  Now I personally wouldn’t ask for any form of compensation if my flight’s delayed by just an hour or so – but close to 7 hours, with 3 kids in tow?  Um, yes please – you better believe I wasn’t going to let that go!  Now for starters, this wasn’t due to any weather-related issues – pilot and crew kept timing out at different times, so it took them time to gather a full crew to fly these flights to Dallas that had been delayed.  Regardless of the issue, it’s important to stay calm, cool, and collected – and be nice!  Remember, the Southwest representative on the other side is also, just trying to do his/her job.

The line was too long on the day we were returning, but I called in this week and explained the situation to the representative on the line.  During our long delay, we had to buy food for lunch and dinner for our family, and we all know how airport food is – blah.  There was no Priority Pass lounge we could access at Fort Lauderdale Airport, thanks to our Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.  Keeping three kids fed and busy was exhausting, and we couldn’t even leave the airport, let’s say, because the flight situation was volatile initially.  We needed to stay on-site to stay in the know for ongoing updates.  Plus, without a car, it would just be a hassle, not to mention going in and out of security lines with the family.

Initially, the representative offered me $100 LUV vouchers for four tickets, excluding the baby who’s currently a lap child.  I said no, as while she’s a lap child, I still had to pay taxes/fees for her to fly to The Bahamas with us.  And this wasn’t the standard $11.20/person tax, it was over $100/person!  He put me on hold and came back with the offer of a $200 LUV voucher/person, including our toddler.  I said perfect, and accepted the offer!  He also stated that it could take up to 30 days for the voucher to come in my email; 5 LUV vouchers showed up by the next day.

(Note the “5” – meaning, we did indeed receive (5) $200 LUV vouchers.)

I’ll admit I’m not a fan of making customer service calls – there are other ways this could have been handled.  But I wanted it addressed sooner than later, and I knew this would be the fastest way.

Moral of the story: know your rights as an airline flier and traveler.  Be nice, and patiently explain your situation of why, and how you feel you should be compensated.  I know my story isn’t the only success story of being compensated for a delay, but I hope it’ll serve as a reminder to always ask, even if it’s after the fact.  Now it’s time to apply those LUV vouchers towards travel for next year 😉