Opened my inbox tonight and got a Southwest alert about today's flight — found out that over an hour earlier, two lowlifes had booked a Houston-to-Atlanta flight using the card info saved on Southwest.
Immediately called Southwest; the rep said they were already boarding and there was nothing they could do — just dispute it with the credit card. Unbelievable.
The most important thing to note is that this card is still linked to the account. Filing a dispute alone isn't enough—you need to change your account password right away, and also check whether any other bookings or frequent flyer information have been altered.
Will the Southwest contact you later to explain the outcome of this order, or can we only wait for the credit card side?
Southwest's account security issues are a real headache, but beyond the fraudulent charges themselves, the time cost is no picnic either. You call, you dispute, you wait for a new card to arrive—it can drag on for weeks. If you have travel plans during that window, swapping cards or changing payment methods last-minute is a hassle. And the fact that customer service says there's nothing they can do once you've boarded shows that once a ticket is tied to a passenger in their system, it's hard to intercept—that's even more frustrating than the money itself.