I'm sharing this experience to see if anyone else has gone through something similar with Southwest Airlines.
My family was traveling from Phoenix to Hanoi on an international itinerary booked through EVA Air, with connections in San Francisco and Taipei. This was not a vacation. We were traveling to attend my grandfather's funeral, so arriving on time was extremely important.
At Phoenix Sky Harbor on May 13, 2026, Southwest denied boarding to my 7-year-old son, who holds both U.S. and Vietnamese passports. Staff claimed he required a Vietnamese visa, despite us presenting both valid passports multiple times at the kiosk, ticket counter, and boarding gate. We received conflicting information throughout the process. At one point, we were told everything was fine, only to be stopped again at boarding.
Eventually, Southwest acknowledged there was a documentation or system issue and called a supervisor. We were later told that staff had not been properly trained to resolve the problem. By the time the issue was addressed, our flight had already departed, causing us to miss our original itinerary and delaying our trip by an entire day.
Southwest then attempted to rebook our journey, but the replacement arrangements created even more problems. The tickets for our onward international flights were not properly issued, resulting in our China Airlines reservation being automatically canceled without our knowledge. We only discovered this after arriving in San Francisco and attempting to check in for the next leg of our trip.
At that point, we found ourselves at a major international airport without a valid onward reservation.
After my husband contacted Southwest again, another itinerary was created through EVA Air. However, EVA later confirmed that the booking itself was impossible to complete, as it required us to arrive in Taipei after the connecting flight to Hanoi had already departed.
According to written findings and PNR records provided by both EVA Air and China Airlines, the breakdown stemmed from how Southwest handled the rebooking and ticketing process.
Ultimately, our family arrived a day late, incurred approximately $5,000 in unexpected expenses, and endured significant stress during an already emotional time. Although EVA Air refunded the original tickets, they declined responsibility for the additional costs.
The experience taught us that even confirmed itineraries can unravel when documentation issues and improper rebooking occur. We have flown with United, American, and Delta in the past without encountering anything similar. I hope no one else has to go through a situation like this.
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