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Planning travel and purchasing points only to be moved back to flights that would have cost me less

cpolson
Explorer C

I planned a Xmas trip across the country for just a few days for our family of 6, it is a gift/surprise for our kids. We used points for the first time and I'm regretting ever setting up the Southwest Credit Card.  I had ALOT of points but to complete our travel and make the most of our time I chose the shortest flights and I spent an additional $800 on points. 

 

A few days later SW automatically changed my itinerary (twice now) and I'm traveling over 9 hours each day and that has cut our trip to just 2 days instead 3.  And it's cost me over $800 out of pocket for points I never even needed had I just chosen these super long flights in the first place.

 

I've now been on hold over an hour to speak with an agent and online there are no trips available anywhere near the times I had or need.  So what do I do? Cancel our trip? So sad and I'm so disappointed a happy fun trip can not just stay as scheduled when purchased. I know COVID is always the blame when there is no explanation but don't offer flights you don't intend to keep. It feels like a bait and switch right now

3 REPLIES 3

Re: Planning travel and purchasing points only to be moved back to flights that would have cost me l

dfwskier
Aviator A

@cpolson wrote:

I know COVID is always the blame when there is no explanation but don't offer flights you don't intend to keep. It feels like a bait and switch right now


Sorry you are running tinto problems. Lots of people are due to SOuthwest making significant changes in it's flight schedule.

 

No airline offers flights that it does not intend to fly -- when the flights are scheduled the airline fully expects to fly them..  Conditions change and airlines cancel flights and rebook people. Airlines don't like doing so because, like you, the process irritates the hell out of passengers. Airlines don't intentionally irritate their customers.

 

Suggestions

 

1) See if travel on other days would work.

 

2) See if travel to a different place (airport) would be better.

 

3) Cancel - save the points for future use, and book on another airline.

Re: Planning travel and purchasing points only to be moved back to flights that would have cost me l

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@dfwskier wrote:

@cpolson wrote:

I know COVID is always the blame when there is no explanation but don't offer flights you don't intend to keep. It feels like a bait and switch right now


Sorry you are running tinto problems. Lots of people are due to SOuthwest making significant changes in it's flight schedule.

 

No airline offers flights that it does not intend to fly -- when the flights are scheduled the airline fully expects to fly them..  Conditions change and airlines cancel flights and rebook people. Airlines don't like doing so because, like you, the process irritates the hell out of passengers. Airlines don't intentionally irritate their customers.

 

Suggestions

 

1) See if travel on other days would work.

 

2) See if travel to a different place (airport) would be better.

 

3) Cancel - save the points for future use, and book on another airline.


If the flights are still cheaper, cancel and save your points and re-book on the suggested flights (or equivalent) for less points.

 

Next time split up the flights into one-way tickets so that you can use up points, and then pay cash for the remainder of the tickets instead of buying points.

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Planning travel and purchasing points only to be moved back to flights that would have cost me l

dfwskier
Aviator A

David's advice is correct. It almost never makes sense to buy a large number of points as points are pretty expensive.