Skip to main content

Southwest Airlines Community

Connecting flights

pinky81177
Explorer C

I don't fly much so I'm not sure how things work. I am flying CLE to ICT with a short layover in STL. What would happen in the event my flight out of CLE would get delayed and I missed the connecting flight in STL? Just trying to be prepared...

Thanks!

7 REPLIES 7

Re: Connecting flights

bec102896
Aviator A
Solution

@pinky81177

 

In the event of a flight delay which would cause you to miss your connection Southwest would rebook you on the next flight either out of CLE or STL depending on when its known you will miss your connection. 

 

Here are a few things i do when I have connections

 

I check the flight status in the morning before heading to the airport (and throughout the day if a late flight) if I notice a delay putting my connection in jeopardy I look up other flights to see which flights have seats. 

 

Then i call the airline to see if they can proactively change me. If they can't I show up to the airport a little earlier and see what could be done after seeing if I'm still in jeopardy of missing my connection. 

 

The agents at three airport will be able to help more as they can see more about your chance of making the connection and they can see if its better for you to catch a new flight in STL or stay in CLE for a different flight. That will all depend on seat availability. 

 

Hope this helps

Blake

Re: Connecting flights

pinky81177
Explorer C

Thank you! That does help!

Re: Connecting flights

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@pinky81177 wrote:

Thank you! That does help!


I love two free checked bags! However, if there is anything that you may miss due to yourself and luggage taking different routes to the destination be sure to carry that on. (Medicine, etc.)

 

Having only a carry-on makes it a lot easier to change "on the fly" (pun intended) if for whatever reason you are concerned about your connection.

 

If this is a point of stress for you, I'd suggest if there are two options available from CLE - one with a "short" layover and one with a longer one, take the longer one. That said, the airline wouldn't offer the short one if it didn't work most of the time.

 

 

 

 

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

Re: Connecting flights

Haipham2017
Adventurer B

I am planning to book a flight from PHL to SNA with the connection at PHX. My question is later I may decide to stay in PHX for few days to meet my friends if they can make it, can I just fly to PHX and not fly to SNA? The reason I may do it since later the price may going up.

Re: Connecting flights

dfwskier
Aviator A

 

 


@Haipham2017 wrote:

I am planning to book a flight from PHL to SNA with the connection at PHX. My question is later I may decide to stay in PHX for few days to meet my friends if they can make it, can I just fly to PHX and not fly to SNA? The reason I may do it since later the price may going up.



You sure can. It's called "hidden city" travel. It's where you buy a flight from A to C with  a stop

in city B, and you just never fly all the way to city C.  American, United, and Delta get touchy if you do it more than a few times. It's OK bySouthwest.

 

Just anFYI, you won't be able to use the old ticket to fly from B to C several days later, but you may have a small amount of travel funds to use on a later flight.

Re: Connecting flights

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@dfwskier wrote:

 

 


@Haipham2017 wrote:

I am planning to book a flight from PHL to SNA with the connection at PHX. My question is later I may decide to stay in PHX for few days to meet my friends if they can make it, can I just fly to PHX and not fly to SNA? The reason I may do it since later the price may going up.



You sure can. It's called "hidden city" travel. It's where you buy a flight from A to C with  a stop

in city B, and you just never fly all the way to city C.  American, United, and Delta get touchy if you do it more than a few times. It's OK bySouthwest.

 

Just anFYI, you won't be able to use the old ticket to fly from B to C several days later, but you may have a small amount of travel funds to use on a later flight.


Kind of - it's okay by Southwest in that you'd forfeit any Rapid Reward points for the itinerary, and if this was part of a round-trip ticket the remaining travel would also be forfeited as a no-show, so book your travel back to PHL as a separate one-way instead of part of a RT ticket.

 

As a courtesy it would be great for you to let the ops agent know at the gate that you weren't planning to go to SNA due to changes in your plans so that they aren't looking for you.

 

If you know that you want a multi-day layover, the best would be to book one-way tickets PHL-PHX and PHX-SNA. (I read this that you for sure wanted to go to SNA eventually.) Then if you wanted to move up the leg from PHX to SNA you could change just that portion, presumably at a smaller last-minute cost.

 

 

 

 

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

Re: Connecting flights

LindseyD
Retired Community Manager

@Pinky8177

 

Thanks for posting your question on the Southwest Community! I'm so glad @bec102896 answer was helpful - we look forward to seeing you onboard!