Toll-free · Press 5, and 0 OR Press 2 then 1 · Baggage services and support - Do you have a claim number for luggage that has been delayed by 6 days or more? Say yes or no.
Toll-free · Calling this Southwest Airlines number should go right to a real human being · Rapid Rewards - Please say your date of birth associated with your Rapid Rewards number.
How do I get through the phone menu to a real live person?
GetHuman researchers routinely call this Southwest Airlines phone number to document the phone system.
Here is our latest tip for weaving through the phone menu to get to a real person the fastest:Say, "Something else" at the first menu and again at the second menu.
Here is how our research team describes the way the Southwest Airlines phone system greets you: Which best describes why you are calling? Please say "Rapid Rewards" or press 1. Make a new reservation or press 2. Change an existing reservation or press 3. Flight status or press 4. Or calling for another reason, press 5
Below are some clips we've found from Southwest Airlines's phone menus and tips that help give an idea of what you will encounter when you call. We've highlighted why they are important as well:
Heard when the phone system first answers
"Thank you for calling Southwest Airlines.
You'd like to speak with a customer service representative. Is that correct?
I didn't get that.
If you'd like to speak with a customer service representative, say yes.
Or press one. Otherwise, say no or press two.
I didn't get that."
Excerpt from a call with Southwest Airlines
Thursday, January 18, 2024 4:26 PM
They may ask your reason for calling (instead of a menu)
"Thank you for calling Southwest Air Air Lines.
Which best describes why you're calling? You can say Rapid Rewards, a new reservation, change an existing reservation, flight status, or say it's something else."
Excerpt from a call with Southwest Airlines
Wednesday, March 27, 2024 6:32 PM
They may ask you to say or enter information
"You can say Rapid Rewards, a new reservation, change an existing reservation, flight you're calling about an existing reservation?"
Excerpt from a call with Southwest Airlines
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 8:31 PM
The first phone menu
"Thank you for calling Southwest Airlines
Which best describes why you're calling?
You can say Rapid Rewards, a new reservation, change an existing reservation, flight status, or say it's something else.
I didn't catch that. Please say Rapid Rewards or press one, a new reservation or press two, Change an existing reservation or press three.
Flight status information or press four."
Excerpt from a call with Southwest Airlines
Monday, March 25, 2024 2:43 AM
What are the hours and when should I call?
Southwest Airlines operates the call center for this 800-435-9792 phone number 24 hours, 7 days.The short answer is that you should call on a Thursday.This observation and the following section are based on analysis of a sample set of 1,580 calls made in the last 90 days using our free, web-based phone (see above).
An important note: busy times vs hold times vs best time to call
When we refer to busy or less busy times, we are talking about the volume of calls. The busiest times are when the most people are calling this Southwest Airlines phone number (least busy times have fewer people calling). This high call volume does not necessarily mean that you will have a long hold time when you call. Companies like Southwest Airlines staff their call centers differently based on the time of day and day of the week, so you may experience a shorter wait on hold at the busiest of times. When we refer to the best time to call, we are referring to the optimal combination of lower call volume and shorter wait times.
The least busy time to call
The least busy day to call Southwest Airlines is Sunday.The most busy day to call is Thursday, which averages 60% more phone calls by comparison.Again, this is based on a sample of 1,580 calls made with our AI-powered, web-based phone in the last 90 days.
Sun
Quietest
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Busiest
Fri
Sat
The shortest wait on hold
We measured the shortest hold times to be on Thursday.The longest wait in the queue on average occurs on Sunday, which is 248% longer than the minimum.As you can see, there is more fluctuation in hold time over the course of the week than there is in call volume.
Sun
Longest
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Shortest
Fri
Sat
The best time to call
In summation, the best day to call Southwest Airlines is Thursday.It isn't the least busy day, but the fact that hold times are shortest combined with it being on the busy side tells us that Southwest Airlines staffs up on Thursday to handle the higher call volume, and that makes it the best time to call.
Why call this Southwest Airlines number?
Below is a sample of recent calls to Southwest Airlines, and their purpose. Are any of these similar to the reason you are trying to call?
Confusion about location: "This is Dallas. What Dallas?"
- From a call lasting 3m 22s , Apr 13, 2024 12:20 PM
Requesting refund for flight upgrade: "I originally paid five hundred dollars to upgrade my flight, but it got canceled, and I couldn't use it."
- From a call lasting 28m 49s , Apr 12, 2024 6:36 PM
Purpose unclear: ""
- From a call lasting 3m 27s , Apr 11, 2024 11:23 PM
Flight reservation assistance: "I've been trying to book these stairs for, like, two hours already."
- From a call lasting 23m 36s , Apr 10, 2024 8:31 PM
Assistance with Rapid Rewards: "How do I get them a rapid reward card?"
- From a call lasting 4m 55s , Apr 10, 2024 6:39 PM
Refund inquiry: "Where did it refund to? Did it refund as a credit?"
- From a call lasting 8m 3s , Apr 8, 2024 8:38 PM
Name correction and TSA PreCheck: "My name was wrong on the ticket, and my TSA PreCheck number was not able to be used because my name was wrong."
- From a call lasting 8m 38s , Apr 7, 2024 10:57 PM
Booking one-way flights: "I wanted to get the lowest rate for one-way flights from Dallas to Seattle and Dallas to Phoenix."
- From a call lasting 9m 6s , Apr 5, 2024 8:03 PM
Name change on flight: "Can you change the name on the flight from my ex husband's name to mine due to divorce?"
- From a call lasting 27m 13s , Apr 5, 2024 6:11 PM
Flight delay connection concern: "My concern is that a fifteen minute layover is not nearly enough to get off of a plane and then to get onto another plane."
- From a call lasting 11m 28s , Apr 5, 2024 6:08 PM
Calling this phone number appears to be hit or miss, as I ran into problems when calling Southwest Airlines. Initially, this was a good experience, as I had no problem either getting connected to Southwest or getting to the automated system. I found it very easy to find a selection from Southwest's vast menu of options, and I had no issue getting the system to send me to a representative when needed.
Among the choices available in the automated system are booking a flight, checking your Rapid Rewards account balance, changing an existing reservation and checking a gift card's balance. If you don't like the options that are presented, you can tell the system that it's something else and get new options.
However, I ran into problems when I asked to speak to a representative. Initially, this had no issues, as I was placed on hold and told that someone would be right with me. I was also told that I could book a flight by going through Southwest Airlines' website, where it would be faster. After two loops through the messages, I heard a dial tone play and thought I was going to be taken to a representative.
However, nobody was on the other end when I was supposedly connected. I waited for someone to actually answer, but I only heard silence on the other end. I waited another minute for someone to answer, but nobody ever responded before I hung up.
Upon checking, this is the main number for Southwest and it's supposed to be open 24 hours a day, so that shouldn't have been an issue. This call appears to have run into technical difficulties. Based on that, I'd still use the number because the automated system works well, but I'd prep for potential issues with a response.
Adam has been tirelessly trying to help customers find the best tips and tricks to get through phone trees and writing many guides for prickly customer service problems. He's been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inside Edition and Bloomberg.
More Ways to Contact Southwest Airlines Customer Service
There are of course other ways to contact Southwest Airlines customer service besides the phone. Below we list the best ones, by medium.
A general Twitter page for Southwest Airlines that has p-to-date news, as well as Reps who will direct you in getting questions answered
Southwest Airlines, like many companies, provides customer service on the X platform (formerly Twitter). While it rarely entails live dialogue with a customer service rep, this channel can yield rapid response times and can be a useful option if you have an X/Twitter account.
Some customer service teams, like that of Southwest Airlines, accept inquiries through Facebook Messenger. This is a good option if you have a Facebook account, and you may even be able to converse live with an agent this way.
As a last, sometimes only, resort- Southwest Airlines customer service can be accessed through their website. This can entail digging through help articles before finding a form and "being allowed" to submit a problem to their team, and rarely leads to a real-time conversation, which is why GetHuman does not recommend this unless it's the only way.
Conclusion and closing notes
This is Southwest Airlines's best phone number, the real-time current wait on hold and tools for skipping right through those phone lines to get right to a Southwest Airlines agent. This phone number is Southwest Airlines's best phone number because 162,408 customers like you used this contact information over the last 18 months and gave us feedback. Common problems addressed by the customer care unit that answers calls to 800-435-9792 include Change Booking, Question About A Booking, Flight Inquiry, Special Request, Refund a Charge and other customer service issues. The Southwest Airlines call center that you call into has employees from Texas and is open 24 hours, 7 days according to customers. In total, Southwest Airlines has 3 phone numbers. It's not always clear what is the best way to talk to Southwest Airlines representatives, so we started compiling this information built from suggestions from the customer community. Please keep sharing your experiences so we can continue to improve this free resource.
GetHuman does not provide call center services or customer support operations for Southwest Airlines. The two organizations are not related. GetHuman builds free tools and shares information to help customers of companies like Southwest Airlines. For large companies that includes tools such as our GetHuman Phone, which allows you to call a company but skip the part where you wait on the line to get a live human rep. We continue to work on these tools to help customers like you (and ourselves!) navigate the messy phone menus, hold times, and confusion with customer service. As long as you keep sharing it with your friends and loved ones, we'll keep doing it.
