Cancel and rebook to layover

[rgsooo111]

IMO Southwest has found a way, through Bad Faith practices, to make more money in a very dishonest way. I am sure the ‘answer’ from any SW rep here will be to blame it on the computer.  Here is the new trick- you book a direct flight months in advance.  The departure time changes by 10 minutes. Instead of updating you with the new time, SW cancels your direct flight and puts you on a layover flight. They raise the price on the direct flight and book others onto the flight.  How does this help Sw?  I have a companion pass, so I have one person traveling for free.  SW makes more money by booting my family off the direct and having full fare customers book the direct flight.  Sneaky, deceptive, and Bad Faith.  SW ‘luvs’ to provide the following explanation… “We didn’t do it, it was the computer.”  Guess I look like I just fell off the turnip truck if you think I am buying the ‘computer makes all decisions’ excuse.  

[dfwskier]

I have never experienced the phenomenon you described in my 44 years of flying the airline.

[CupCrusher40]

Sometimes  buying trip 2 weeks before departure is same price as 4 months ahead. 

[PDFelter]

Yes, they make changes and move people around because flight needs change for the airline as a whole.  

Even if the system did rebook you on a different flight, you are not charged for this.  And even if you didn't like the new flight you were put on, you can rebook with them and there isn't a cost for that either.  (at least this is all true in my past experiences).

[bwallet]

Perhaps it is just the route that I fly, but I have never seen the direct flight for OKC-HOU not be the cheapest option. It is, almost invariably considerably cheaper than an indirect route.

Is this different than what others have experienced?

[TheMiddleSeat]

What other conspiracy theories do you believe in?

--TheMiddleSeat

[bec102896]

If your talking about a trip in April it looks like they are redoing the schedule and a lot of people are having schedule changes the nice thing with southwest compared to other airlines if your flight changes by even 5min you get 1 free change to any flight you want with same city pairs within 2 weeks of your original flight so did you book a red eye because it was cheaper well you could switch to the mid afternoon $400 without a penny more owed so when you say you got rebooked and you have to pay well if they rebooked you then you can change for free or request a refund if the change is major.