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Not honoring reservation made with points

613321251
Explorer C

I made a reservation on July 6th, 2022 for July 28th and July 31st.  I carefully chose these flights to be able to redeem my points and not go over.  The charge was only $11.20 for taxes.  I chose to pay with Paypal for those taxes.  Reservation submitted.  Paypal still has a pending status that shows Southwest received the reservation at 11:13 p.m. on July 6th.

So yesterday I go to check on the time of flights and realize my points are still on my account.  Called customer service and even though it said a two minute wait time, it was 25 minutes.  I was calm and waited.  The customer service agent said they don't have any record of my reservation and sometimes that happens with paypal and applepay.  Guess what, the points increased by 40,000 to get those same two flights.  Or I can now pay over $700 to cash purchase the tickets.  I am thoroughly discouraged by this.  I have both the Southwest App and Allegiant App on my phone.  I chose to just fly through Allegiant again.  It also offered direct flights and the cost was under $500.

5 REPLIES 5

Re: Not honoring reservation made with points

dfwskier
Aviator A

@613321251 wrote:

I made a reservation on July 6th, 2022 for July 28th and July 31st.  I carefully chose these flights to be able to redeem my points and not go over.  The charge was only $11.20 for taxes.  I chose to pay with Paypal for those taxes.  Reservation submitted.  Paypal still has a pending status that shows Southwest received the reservation at 11:13 p.m. on July 6th.

 

When you actually book a ticket, charges hit  your ban/credit card the SECOND you hit the buy button. When that didn't happen, you should have had a clue something went wrong. Why on earth didn't you check your Southwest account to view your reservation?  You could have done that immediately on the 6th or 7th and fixed the problem (probably at no cost) weeks ago.

 

All merchants send a "pending" charge to your bank/credit card to verify that the transaction will be accepted. Banks/credit cards then wait for a second message indicating that the charge is real - thus changing the item from a pending charge to a "real" charge. That second message from Southwest was never sent because Southwest did not, for whatever reason,  think you had completed the purchase process. 

 

   I am thoroughly discouraged by this.  I have both the Southwest App and Allegiant App on my phone.  I chose to just fly through Allegiant again.  It also offered direct flights and the cost was under $500.

 

Careful. Did that under $500 cost include the

 

1) Carry on bag fee

2) The checked bag fee

3) The fee to select your seat

4)  The food/beverage fee ( NONE of that is free)

5) The fee to print your boarding pass at the airport (if you choose to do that)

6) The fee to change or cancel your flight

7) There are other fees - the ones listed above are the biggies

 

Add it all up and you will likely spend lots more than "under $500

Re: Not honoring reservation made with points

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Not getting a confirmation email right after booking didn't raise an alarm for you?

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Not honoring reservation made with points

parpitt1
Frequent Flyer A

I did not know that Southwest even accepted Paypal?

Re: Not honoring reservation made with points

SWFlyer007
Aviator C

Sorry, I'm still old school and pay with SW Visa Credit Card to get the points and I've never had any issue with any service of the payment and/or reservation happening.

Re: Not honoring reservation made with points

jksobonya
Aviator A

@parpitt1 wrote:

I did not know that Southwest even accepted Paypal?


Oh they do, it's the main way I pay. I use PayPal for most things when I can and I have used it in this exact scenario to pay the taxes/fees for an otherwise free flight. I feel like it's an extra layer of protection vs entering your CC details directly on a site. 

 

Anyway -- I would have checked my reservation immediately after booking (same day) and I would have started raising an alarm if I didn't see my reservation in my account. 

 

--Jessica