2 flights booked same day

[kims0313]

Hi - I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't find my exact situation.  I need to reserve a flight on the same day to the same destination but at different times from different cities.  I'm not sure which city I'll need to depart from until closer to departure.  I know same city same day same destinations get cancelled by SW, but what about different city, different times, same destination?  Any thoughts or recommendations?  TIA

[dfwskier]

The question that needs to be answered is "is it possible to get from the first city to the second city in order to make the second flight?"  

If the answer is yes, then you should be fine.

For example, If you book  Midway - St Louis on the first flight of the day and O'Hare - St Louis last flight of the day, you would be fine because it would be possible to get to O'Hare in time to catch your flight. Where is the line between fine and not fine in terms of "acceptable" amount of time between the two flights? I dunno.

[DancingDavidE]

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@kims0313 wrote:

Hi - I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't find my exact situation.  I need to reserve a flight on the same day to the same destination but at different times from different cities.  I'm not sure which city I'll need to depart from until closer to departure.  I know same city same day same destinations get cancelled by SW, but what about different city, different times, same destination?  Any thoughts or recommendations?  TIA

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Can you give a little more info?

• how far apart time-wise? 
• what fare are you buying?
• is this for work or personal?
• how late in the game do you need to hold both tickets?

There is a chance it will be fine - it’s obvious here you are looking at two completely different flights and the system may not flag you as a possible overbook. (Or maybe it will - I think the different cities is a good distinction though) 

Will either of the fares be refundable? Personally if I were the algorithm I’d allow someone to have two mutually exclusive refundable tickets. That would show you are serious about flying at a certain time, even if the price is more.

Is this a work travel where you can take your best guess and then pay the extra later if fares go up and you chose incorrectly? 

I don’t know the risk and reward here for tying up the funds vs potentially spending more for a last minute ticket, or no seats being available, etc.

Last idea and I’ll accept comments from the peanut gallery on this one - what if you didn’t put your RR# on your most likely ticket and waited, does the cancellation algorithm know it’s you if one ticket has RR and one doesn’t? This would get hairy of course if you wouldn’t know which flight less than a day out when you’d want RR and KTN to be entered at least 36 hours prior.

Otherwise unfortunately if none of these ideas work to your risk level then you might need to book a refundable ticket from another carrier. I would hate to do that but if you absolutely have to do it this way with both tickets right up to the last minute then it may be the only sure option to keep one from being automatically canceled.

[bec102896]

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@DancingDavidE wrote:

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@kims0313 wrote:

Hi - I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't find my exact situation.  I need to reserve a flight on the same day to the same destination but at different times from different cities.  I'm not sure which city I'll need to depart from until closer to departure.  I know same city same day same destinations get cancelled by SW, but what about different city, different times, same destination?  Any thoughts or recommendations?  TIA

---

Can you give a little more info?

• how far apart time-wise? 
• what fare are you buying?
• is this for work or personal?
• how late in the game do you need to hold both tickets?

There is a chance it will be fine - it’s obvious here you are looking at two completely different flights and the system may not flag you as a possible overbook. (Or maybe it will - I think the different cities is a good distinction though) 

Will either of the fares be refundable? Personally if I were the algorithm I’d allow someone to have two mutually exclusive refundable tickets. That would show you are serious about flying at a certain time, even if the price is more.

Is this a work travel where you can take your best guess and then pay the extra later if fares go up and you chose incorrectly? 

I don’t know the risk and reward here for tying up the funds vs potentially spending more for a last minute ticket, or no seats being available, etc.

Last idea and I’ll accept comments from the peanut gallery on this one - what if you didn’t put your RR# on your most likely ticket and waited, does the cancellation algorithm know it’s you if one ticket has RR and one doesn’t? This would get hairy of course if you wouldn’t know which flight less than a day out when you’d want RR and KTN to be entered at least 36 hours prior.

Otherwise unfortunately if none of these ideas work to your risk level then you might need to book a refundable ticket from another carrier. I would hate to do that but if you absolutely have to do it this way with both tickets right up to the last minute then it may be the only sure option to keep one from being automatically canceled.

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I think you should be able to book without a RR number on one ticket because otherwise just think of all the issues that would this would cause for common names like John Doe or my dad, brother, and grandpa all have the same first/last name 

[kims0313]

Hi-thanks for helping me work towards a solution, here’s some more info for you. 

I currently am booked on 4/22 - DAL to ECP at 1:55pm

I would like to also book on 4/22 - HRL to ECP at 6:40 am

I am booking on points as I am an A-Lister so RR number is required. I should be able to make a decision on which city I will be flying out of by Sat 4/15. I’m wanting to book now in order to take advantage of the lower point scenarios. 

[TheMiddleSeat]

I think you can book both with points and leave your RR number off one of the reservations. Then if you decide to keep the one without the RR number, add it to the reservation after you cancel the other booking. 

As you can make a points booking for anyone, your RR number does not need to be on it. 

--TheMiddleSeat

[CupCrusher40]

would say not worth it