Would you do this for the Companion Pass?

[melynn44]

I have some upcoming Southwest flights booked, but the Companion Pass promo came out, and now I am thinking of what I want to do. 

I currently have an October flight. With this flight, I paid $61 one way and appx 3,500 points for the return flight. If I cancelled my flights and rebooked, I would be paying $120 and 8,100 points....or $120 for the return flight. I could change my flight time and the prices would be a little bit cheaper. So, I'd be spending appx $130 extra on my current flight.

But, herein lies the tradeoff. We have a flight booked for January to California. So, it would be during the Companion Pass usage period. Right now, it's $300 round trip, so we could save $300. So, I'd still come out ahead.

The only issue I have is...we wouldn't be able to book the Companion Pass's flight until it's activated, and I think I would worry, what if the flights sell out? I know it's not likely to happen, but....I would still worry. 

But, then I thought maybe I could just find a cheap flight somewhere. Fly in and fly out.

Thoughts?

[emifhigg]

I would re-book to take advantage of the deal! 

I'm not sure where you are located so obviously the availability of flights to CA varies with that, but as long as you can be a little flexible with time or day that you fly, there will be tickets available. 

My boyfriend became eligible for the companion pass in August - the flying period ends at the end of September. We just booked our flights last week to Hawaii and had no trouble finding tickets! We saved over $600 🙂 

[melynn44]

Just to clarify, I wouldn't have to re-book my January flight, correct? I would just cancel the one flight, and then I could add it to the already existing flight booked?

[dfwskier]

That is correct

[melynn44]

Well I ended up cancelling and rebooking as was suggested. 

The good news is my outgoing flight actually came down since last night, to $75, so it was really only $15 more. 

I did end up booking a later return flight, as it cost less. But I intend to keep an eye on my original flight. I'm okay either way. My original flight was at 5:30 am, and I wasn't really too eager to get up for that early a flight. But, it did get me home earlier; the flight I ended up selecting is about 6 hours later, so that's a bit of a bummer. But....I'll keep an eye on it. 

The only major bummer, which I completely forgot about, is I had booked Early Bird for this flight. So, essentially, I lost out on that. Now, I got it reimbursed via my card, so it's not like it came out of pocket. And still worth it for the savings in January. But....still hate to miss out on Early Bird.

[bballflyer]

Why not book the IWG plus for the cheaper fare then change to the better time the day of?

[melynn44]

I'm sorry I don't know what IWG plus is??

[DancingDavidE]

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@melynn44 wrote:

I'm sorry I don't know what IWG plus is??

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I think the poster is referring to the "Wanna Get Away Plus" - WGA+ I would call it, they may be thinking "I Wanna Get Away"

[Cancelled_Vacay]

You might consider booking the January flight for your future companion with points or refundable fare to hedge your bets. If the flight is sold out before you can add your companion, you will not be able to add them on. If everything works out and there is space available, simply cancel the booking far your +1 and the add them as companion.

[DancingDavidE]

Great suggestion @Cancelled_Vacay