Southwest promotion backfires, charges customers

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (KGO) -- A discount backfired on Southwest Airlines. The airline had a half-price ticket sale on Friday for its Facebook friends, but instead those customers were billed multiple times.

The 50-percent-off promotion by Southwest was called "Wanna Get Away." What it ended up being was a huge give away of money by some of Southwest's most faithful customers.

The half-off promotion for Southwest flights during some fall travel times was offered to their customers by email. The offer was in celebration of Southwest's three millionth Facebook fan. The offer was only for Friday ending at midnight. Just after the offer expired and customers looked at their credit card or debit card charges on Saturday, some realized with horror that they were over charged. Some people instead of being charged once for their flight were charged up to 30 times. Southwest has been working feverishly to correct the problem according to spokesperson Ashley Dillon, who we reached by phone this afternoon.

"We have all hands on deck with our technology team making sure that we identify the problem and that we work toward a solution. If a customer was charged overdraft fees by their bank, we will refund that," said Dillon.

Southwest says that they had an overwhelming response to their special offer which apparently overtaxed their system and caused the multiple bookings. They say they are unaware of how many people have been affected. Southwest says that they have sufficient customer service representatives on hand to handle the issue.

Customers who may have been charged multiple times should call the airline or see their Facebook page for more information. Southwest says they'll try to rectify their charges as soon as they can.

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