Auto-Cancellation Rules? What is the system looking for with Point to Point reservations?

[dfwskier]

Take responsibility for your actions.

You played a game. You got caught. End of story.

[Zac55]

I’m not playing a game. to get caught of something I would need to have intent. As I wasn’t aware of their double booking policy obviously but this whole situation. 

you keep doing you. Clearly you know 

[SoCalFlyer97]

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@Zac55 wrote:

I had another reservation for later in the day I intended to cancel upon learning my early flight was indeed taking off. 

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@Zec55

I assume you had a second reservation booked for later in the day according to this statement. Is this correct and was this for the same two city pairs in the same direction? If so, I think this would be a "double booking" that Southwest doesn't allow.

Don't forget that going forward, all Business Select Fares support Same Day Flight Change if the origin and destination pairs remain the same. Also, as A-List, you have access to Same Day Flight Change for any fare class including WGA. If there's room on a different flight on the day of travel, you should be able to rebook it on the day of travel without paying a difference of fare.

A-List/A-List Preferred members also have second priority for Same Day Standby List too (only behind those on Standby List due to flight disruptions and ahead of everybody else).

[kanepuntz]

I’ve reviewed their contract of carriage and I believe their system is wrong. If anything it should have cancelled the flight I hadn’t checked into, not the flight I had a ticket to. 

[dfwskier]

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@kanepuntz wrote:

I’ve reviewed their contract of carriage and I believe their system is wrong. If anything it should have cancelled the flight I hadn’t checked into, not the flight I had a ticket to. 

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?????

but you had TWO TICKETS -- and the CofC does not specify which of the two will be cancelled .

[nadnad1992]

Here to share a warning about a travel policy that can REALLY ruin your trip!

If you have 2 flights booked for the same day (let's say you're undecided about what time to fly out, but you want to lock in the ticket price, or, like me- you had a change of schedule and had to re-book a flight and forgot to cancel an old flight), the system will do a sweep and automatically cancel the more expensive flight of the 2. The only notification you will get of your flight being cancelled is a lousy email. That's IT!

In my case, I had 2 flights booked for the same date- going to and from different cities. One was a flight I forgot to cancel, and the other was for an important business trip I very much intended to go on.

The system chose FOR ME to cancel the important flight, and kept the flight that I forgot to cancel. Life's a joke.

I luckily checked my email a few days before the trip and noticed this discrepancy and called customer support to figure out where my important flight went! AHH! Anxiety attack incoming. The agent was able to re-book me on my original flight at the original price and canceled the unnecessary one.

This time, it was a simple easy fix and nothing bad happened. But imagine if the flight I needed to be on was full?! What then? Or what if I only noticed this issue once I was at the airport! I asked the agent and she said I would have likely needed to book my intended flight on the spot (at premium rate, of course). So I would have not only missed my business meeting, but I would have also had to pay a premium rate to scramble to get to my destination. All of this without my consent, and the only notice being an email (that can easily be missed!)

I feel that this policy sets people up for a huge issue because the notification of a cancelation is so poorly handled. I understand the airlines want a more accurate headcount and don't want placeholder tickets... but to put their customers in a situation of absolute chaos and financial exploitation with one email being the method of communication is absolutely unacceptable. Also, how dare they decide which is the unnecessary flight based on price. That's completely invalidating and has no consideration of the client.

I hope people are more aware of this policy and can enjoy seamless travel.

Hope this post brings awareness to a problem! ❤️

[dfwskier]

Every ariline's contract of carriage basically says the same thing: Passenger cannot book trips that  they cannot complete. Computer systems look for those and cancel one of them -- on all airlines.

I don't know the algorithm that deterines exaclty which flight to cancel  but I'd be surprised if the criterion is "most expensive "  If I were to guess, I'd guess the cancellation would be the most recent booking, but as I said, I don't know how the flights are picked.

Glad to hear you got your own situation straighted out at no additional cost.

[PDFelter]

You also select, when booking a trip, how you want to be notified of any changes (text, email, or call).   This is on the payment page, so verify this when checking out on future flight purchases.

[parpitt1]

Posted on Reddit as well, much kinder responses here, but in the end, you really need to look in the mirror to find the party who created the "problem" (Hint it was not SWA.)