Urgent, Help! Stuck in Reno -- They said we never boarded our flight here and canceled our return flight. What do we do?
My wife and daughter spent this last weekend at a volleyball tournament in Reno. They flew on Southwest Airlines from Burbank but had to connect through Las Vegas (ridiculous but it allowed us to use points).
Today when they tried to check in, it said they never boarded their connecting flight from Las Vegas and that their return trip home was canceled. They were most certainly on the flight!!! They don't remember if they scanned their tickets--they were asked to check their carry-ons in the boarding area and that may have distracted them before they walked down the jet bridge. But she doesn't remember. She has spoken to three agents at Southwest (and supervisors), all of whom are saying this could never have happened and are accusing her of lying (staying in Vegas and driving up to Reno etc).
She has text messages to me on the day they left saying they are about to board the plane, that they had just landed, etc. She also has the stub from the bag they checked at the gate. We don't know if this is enough evidence for the ticket agents, but she will try when she is able to get to the airport to deal with this at the counter. For now no one on the phone will help.
I can't believe that Southwest did not do a proper head count and notice that something was off before leaving. This has to be a violation, correct? Also there must be video evidence of them boarding the flight that can prove they were onboard. We just have no way to get hold of it and can't figure out another way to prove this, and Southwest seems completely unwilling to help us out.
We don't know what to do. They will have to buy very expensive last minute tickets home that we are not budgeted for or rent a car, also very pricey and very time-consuming. But we will want to be reimbursed. Does anyone have any ideas? Is this something we should report to the FAA or can threaten doing to make sure they actually investigate our claim and we are reimbursed. We are just livid right now. Thanks for any help, Reddit, I don't usually use this site but didn't know where else to turn.