Southwest Airlines Community

Hello. You are not alone. Lots of people are nervous flyers. Some have ended up here and asked about the topic. Rather than try to recreate the discussions, it's easier to provide links to them. You'll do fine.  I'd suggest that you Just  follow some of the suggestions.   https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/In-the-Air/Nervous-First-Timer/m-p/79089#M908   https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/In-the-Air/Severe-flight-anxiety/m-p/79787#M945   https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/In-the-Air/Fearful-Flyer/td-p/76841   https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Southwest-Stories/Hope-For-Fearful-Fliers/ba-p/13095     ... View more

You do have a choice: either keep track of your Southwest travel funds and be able to use every dollar in them        .or.   Fly American, United, Delta et. all and they'll gladlykeep track of your funds for you AND CHARGE YOU $200 - $250 or more per itinerary  for the service.   And your choice is ???   There will be a cost to the airline to develop and implement a tracking system. So far the airline has ben unwilling to incur that cost. To me it's a pretty good trade off to keep track of my own travel funds so I don't have to waste money on change fees. ... View more

Hi Robert. Let me try to undersand what I think you said   1) Your outbound was supposed to be a flight from city A, connecting in city B, then on to city C?  Correct?? Instead you were routed from city A to city D, and never flew on to city C? How did you get to city C -- or did you?   2) When did you discover your return from city C back to city A had been cancelled?   3) Do you have travel funds from the cancelled flight available for your use?   I suspect that somehow you got classified as a no show for a flight - which would have resulted in the rest of your itinerary being cancelled. If the answer to #3 above is no, that would seem to confirm my suspicion. Itineraries cancelled as a result of a no show do not generate  cancellation e-mails.   FYI, I don't think there is such a thing as an auto cancel. ... View more

@RobertGary1 wrote: I hope that SWA doesn't miss the bigger issue here. Its not about rebooking this one person. Its the repeated problem that SWA's system doesn't email you immidately when this type of thing happens. When you book you get flooded with emails to rent cars, etc but if a flight or reservation is cancelled by SWA its total silence.   This is a computer bug and needs to be addressed as such.   -Robert Actully, Robert, Southwest does send an e-mail to the address tied to the reservtion the second a reservation is made, changed or cancelled. I have literally hundreds of examples in my e-mail folders. ... View more

@Allen913 wrote: Well I signed up and just was told I made my qualifying reservation 6 days before signing up for the promotion so no A-status for me. Thats life but will probably fly other airlines more often now as assigned seats are little less cumbersome during travel.than paying money to upgrade positions in line.   Well Allen, the rules are pretty clear, you must sign up for the deal AND THEN book any fly between two dates. If you are still between the dates, you could still book and fly -- as long as that is within the calendar period.   If not, sorry that you missed out on A-List. Maybe you'll be offered another deal in the future. Just be sure you understand the deal.   ... View more

You didn't say your Florida departure city or your New York arrival city. I checked Ft. Lauderdale to Newark, and the lowest flight on 2/24 I saw was $500. No wanna get away fares were available. That means the airline thinks it's a prime travel day and that it thinks it can sell the seats for $500.   When I run into this situation, I ask myself if I really must travel on that day. Perhaps you should too as traveling the next day lets you buy a ticket for as little as $228, or travel on Tuesday the 26th for as little as $103. You can find these fares by trying to book your original itinerary, and then clicking on "low fare calendar" to see what fares on other days would be.   As I said, in these situations I ask myself how flexible I want to be. I think you need to ask yourself that question.   Being flexible might also equate to flying into a different airport. In the example I cited, flights from Ft Lauderdale to Laguardia are about $100 cheaper for flights on the 24th.   Remember that Southwest allows you to change or cancel a flight and then use your credit within one year of the original purchase date for a second flight. So another option woulkd be to just buy your tickets and then watch. If Southwest isn't able to sell it's $500  tickets on the 24th, it'll likely drop prices on some flights - nothing guaranteed, but it has happened in the past. If the fare drops, you could change to the lower fare, and have a travel credit for future use. ... View more

@chgoflyer wrote: Unfortunately, as you suspect, baggage claims must be made at the airport within 4 hours of arrival. You can try to contact the airport (and/or Southwest) to see if there's a lost and found, but I suspect that might be a waste of time. Southwest doesn't open or inspect luggage -- that would be TSA, and unfortunately many TSA employees have been caught stealing from bags. (You can also file a report with TSA, for what it's worth.)   As a reminder, you should never put prescription drugs in checked baggage -- always keep those with you on your carry-on. I agree with chgoflyer, about always keeping things you can't afford to lose with you in a carry on., ie meds.   It's been a long time since I flew into BWI, so I don't remember whether the baggage claim area is dedicated to specific airlines or not. If not, contacting airport lost in found is worth a try. If dedicated, a call to Southwest baggage claim also couldn't hurt.   About the 4 hour window to file a claim, you said you left a voice mail with Southwest because no Southwest employee was present. If you did that within the 4 hours, you might be able to say that you tried, and there would be a date/time stamp tied to your voice mail.   I wish you luck. ... View more

@UpsetMommy wrote: My daughter who is a freshman in college is finally coming home for Christmas.  SHe was booked to come home tomorrow.  She went to check in for her flight using her confirmation number and it didn't work.  She called her Dad who handled the purchase of the ticket.  He called Southwest who informed him the reservation was canceled!   SERIOULSY!!!!!!!!!!! How does a fight mysteriously get canceled?  Now they tell us they have to investigate and we have to buy a new ticket and the only thing they have is a flight on SUNDAY.    SO I lose 4 days with my daughter because something on their end happened.  They say if they find out through the investigation that its their fault he will get his money back.  I don't care about the money how about giving me the 4 days back I am losing with my child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  No compassion at all its just like oh well too bad.  Guess they figured if they cancel a few people here and there they can resell that seat for a much higher price.  Nice Southwest really nice.   This is just one more reason I refuse to fly your airline.  I travel for work and fly every week and got tired of late flights lost luggage guess nothing has changed now you lose reservations Hello.   I agree with the other posters, you and your daughter are in a bad situation. I'm sorry that it is impacting your Christmas plans.   That being said, I'm sure this is some kind of mistake. Someone called to cancel a reservation and Southwest canceled the wrong one, or there was some type of computer glitch. No airline would intentionally cancel a reservation so it coud sell the seat to someone else for more money.   The reason Southwest could not get your daughter out before Sunday is probably because it is sold out til then. It can't give your daughter a seat that it does not have.   So where to from here? I have several suggestions   a) If your daughter is in an area that is close to other airports that Southwest serves, you could see whether there is availability  from the other airport.   b) Southwest might be willing to create a non-standard connection that allows your daughter to get home   c) People cancel reservations at the last minute all the time. You could ask that your daughter be placed on a standby list. I'm not sure the airline can do this at any place other than the airport, but you can ask. Alternatively, you could check online regularly to see if you find this happening.   d) If all else fails, your daughter could fly another airline (Amtrak?).   e) In future conversations with the airline you should be pretty insistent about receiving a fairly substantial travel vouture to compensate for the trouble and additional cost your are likely to incur.   I wish you luck. ... View more

Agree that it is a fine benefit. I've already used it a few times.   My rule of thumb is that if I can get a boarding pass that lets me board between A and B groups, I take the flight. If I don't, I cancel the standby request as being among the last on and getting a middle seat an limited overhead space is more painful to me than waiting for my orignal flight. ... View more

Depending on how it folds, you might be able tp bring it on as a carry on - as long as it's no bigger than 24x16x10. If you have to check it, be sure it's packaged in such a way that it does not sustain damage in the process ... View more

@michnos wrote: It appears that Southwest has failed it's customers again!  I have reseached and cannot find any non-stop- flights from Las Vegas, NV to Hartford, CT, Manchester, NH or even Boston, MA!  This really stinks.  Looks like the usual corporate greed and doing what ever makes them more money.  Southwest was the ONLY airline my husband and I could count on for non-stop flights to the east coast.  I see this was also a complaint posted here in August 2017 that was anawered by a Southwest employee stating how sorry they were and that maybe the new schedule would change in the future.  The only thing they changed was making it worse!  Thanks for nothing SOUTHWEST!   michnos Sorry to hear that you've lost your non stop flights. It is maddening when it happens.   You do realize that Southwest's owners, it's stockholders (people like me and maybe you), kind of ask (more like demand) that the airline operate in a manner that maximizes reveneue and profit, and thus stock price (stockholder value)? Thus the airline is constantly reviewing which routes to keep,  add, or axe. The airline must have thought it could make more money elsewhere -- and yes for EVERY corporation it is about the money. Southwest is not a not-for-profit corporation   Also, as an FYI, most people that post around here are just fellow travelers. Any person that is an employee self identifies as such. No person posting is this thread, including me, is a Southwest employee.  ... View more

@michnos wrote: It appears that Southwest has failed it's customers again!  I have reseached and cannot find any non-stop- flights from Las Vegas, NV to Hartford, CT, Manchester, NH or even Boston, MA!  This really stinks.  Looks like the usual corporate greed and doing what ever makes them more money.  Southwest was the ONLY airline my husband and I could count on for non-stop flights to the east coast.  I see this was also a complaint posted here in August 2017 that was anawered by a Southwest employee stating how sorry they were and that maybe the new schedule would change in the future.  The only thing they changed was making it worse!  Thanks for nothing SOUTHWEST!   michnos Sorry to hear that you've lost your non stop flights. It is maddening.   You do realize that Southwest's owners, it's stockholders (people like me and maybe you), kind of ask (more like demand) that the airline operate in a manner that maximizes reveneue and profit, and thus stock price (stockholder value)? Thus the airline is constantly reviewing which routes to keep,  add, or axe. The airline must have thought it could make more money elsewhere -- and yes for EVERY corporation it is about the money.   Also, as an FYI, most people that post around here are just fellow travelers. Any person that is an employee self identifies as such. No person posting is this thread, including me, is a Southwest employee.  ... View more

as themiddleseat said, there's no need for pretzels coupons as Southwest FA's always accomodate request for more pretzels, plane crackers, etc -- at least that's been my experience ... View more

remember that Southwest allocates EBCI boarding position by the date/time EBCI was purchased -- from oldest to newest.   So at some point it might make more sense to just try to check in exactly 24 hours before flight time, and if you get an undesireable boarding position, then, as chgoflyer suggested, try to upgrade into a1-a15 at the gate. ... View more

When you log on to the Southwest web site you should see an offer for a 60k points card. ... View more

@collegepartyboy wrote: At a minimum, they could announce it when landing. Remind the passenger when they stop to get their Pre-Board document. Sure there would be a few who will de-plane. But I think mostly they will stay seated. Especially if the wheelchairs are not at the bottom of the ramp.  You ever been on a late running flight with connecting passengers who were likey to miss connections unless they got off the plane first? The FA announces that there are connecting passengers that need to get off and asks everyone else to stay seated so that can happen.   Then what happens?   Why would this be any different? ... View more

@Cirenc wrote: tried to to call Customer Relations. They sent me a voucher “monopoly money “ what about my canceled event the money I had to spend on airport food my kids anxiety. We will make it up to you is the saying now. What how about what is going on right now! Well if it's "monopoly money," then you should throw it away since it's worthless.   Then again, if t reduces the cost of a future flight, then it's not really monopoly money, is it?   Sorry, you got delayed and inconvenienced. It happens on all airlines. The airline did try to mke amends by providing a voucher. ... View more

Since Southwest does not assign seats, I'm not sure it is possible to identify, at landing, who the pre boarders were.  ... View more

duplicate post   https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Boarding/Pre-boarding-Suggestion/m-p/83921#M2357 ... View more

@DancingDavidE wrote: @mostertag33 wrote: Is there a way to look at old/past southwest flight schedules/ticket availabilty? Ticket availability I don't think so - those are always shown as current status.    For flights in the past you might be able to access the data through Flight View or Flight Aware? But not what the sales percentage was for any particular flight.         I agree with David, there won't be a way to determine availability on any past flight.  Airliens don't publish load factors on individual flights. I'm also not aware of a way to see past flight schedules. IMO The best you can do is to use the link and plug in departure city and arrival city and a similiar date in the near future (ie tuesday for tuesday), and make an assumption that the past schedule will be similiar to the future schedule.   In the days of paper timetables getting what you want would have been easier.   https://www.southwest.com/air/flight-schedules/index.html ... View more

duplicate post   https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Check-In/Old-Flight-Schedules/m-p/83862#M2088 ... View more

Reminded me of the good old days at the old Love Field -- free donuts and coffee for early monring flights. ... View more

Looks like you had a fun time in either a new 737-800 or Max8.   Congrats. ... View more

Sorry you might not get enough points to achienve CP, but Southwest is very transparent in the process. It says points that post to your account in 2018 will count towards a CP you earn in 2018.   It is your responsibility to know when points post.  You've had all this year to know that Chase points post when your statement closes and not when you pay your bill.   Depending on how many points you need to earn CP this year, it might make sense to make one last trip before year end. A $600 business select ticket will earn you a bit more then 6000 points.   Only you can determine how much CP is worth versus how much you might have to spend to earn it.   Also, Chase does give you 12 months of earning capability with it's card -- for the 12 months that had statement closing from 1/2018 thru 12/2018 ... View more

@bec102896 wrote: @bettercallsaul   Just note it can take 4-6 weeks for points to post but yes they usually post to your Rapid Rewards account faster.    Blake  You might want to plan on what to do in case the "up to 4-6 weeks" turns out to be reality.   You could do an anytme out and back to SLC on 12/31 for about $560 that would earn you about 4900 points or a business select for about $600 that would earn about 6200 points. Double check my math. ... View more

@swilliams72707 wrote:   Come january I am opening a card in my husbands name for his own RR number to get the bonus points and start paying ALL bills on it. We should hit companion. My thought is to cancel my card in March once I get my anniversary points... Here's the deal. Do I have wait until NEXT march (2020) to sign up and get bonus points under MY name again? Or can I do it next January (2020) and then cancel his? I'm still new to this and learning about the 5/24 rule...  Here's what Chase says about your question. Whn you can sign up for a new card AND earn the bonus points tied to the new card is a function of how long it's been since you last earned sign up bonus points for signing up for the card you plan to cancel:   "Bonus Points The product (new credit card bonus points) is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.  ... View more

Hello.   Are you getting the error after logging in to your Southwest account and then trying to get a car?   You might want to log off your Southwest account and start the process of booking the car and when you are almost done, then log on to your Southwest account   Clearing cookies sometimes fixes this type of issue.     ... View more

@2019DGLD     this happens constantly Yes this happens constantly  --- on all airlines.  I keep my blood pressure in check by just realizing it is just an irritating part of modern air travel and not letting it bother me. ... View more

@stlflier wrote: The pretels provided on flights are dreadful.  Dry and unappetizing.  How about wheat thins, or "goldfish" cheesy crackers. Plane crackers are offered on some flights. They are pretty good. ... View more

@dedeats wrote: Hello,   I referred two friends who were approved for the Southwest Chase card 12/7. When should i expect to see these points post to my account? If these points dont post to my account until January, will these points count towards companion pass since i earned them in the Calendar year?   Thanks for any info! Hi.    I can't tell you when your points will postas Chase controls that.   They wil count towards companion pass in the year they hit your RR acount regardless of the referral year. ... View more