Southwest Airlines Community

I agree with Blake: it normally makes no sense to buy large numbers of points as the cost of the ponts would be more than the equivalent airfare .   It might make sense to buy a smallnumber of points to add to your own points in order thebuy  ticket. I tmakes more sense to do so when the airlines is offereing a discounted cost for points purchases. ... View more

@Chadly wrote: I am traveling in January from MKE to LAS for my birthday. Doing a plane switch in STL, is a 50 minute layover sufficient, or is there an increased risk of missing the connection? When Southwet sells you a ticket wth a 50 minute connection, Southwest is telling you that it thinks you will make the connection. If you don't Southwest will rebook you on another flight.   Of course if your flight out of MKE is sufficiently late, anything is possible.   By the time you disembark your flight from MKE and walk to the LAS flight, it is likely that LAS flight boarding will have already started, so you will probably get a less desireable seat regardless of your boarding position. ... View more

@shiftyricky42 wrote: I havent given up hope!!! its out there somewhere!!! I fly into Love Field and would love to find my trusty thumb drive!  Well, I hope you find it, but after aslmost 4 months I fear the trail is getting cold.   You might want to notify airport lost and found, as I guess it is possible that you lost it between the gate and Cool River ... View more

Yours is a common problem fo people trying to access Southwest from outside of the U.S.   Others have reported that they can access Southwest with the cell app using cell data and NOT wifi,  or via computer and a VPN.   Good luck     ... View more

@TheMiddleSeat wrote: Call Chase and ask if they can move your closing date into December, the earlier the better if you've already spent enough. Just paying early will not help.   --TheMiddleSeat     My experience with changing billing dates is the credit card companies are not willing to change the next billing date, but will change the one after that.   If that's the case, your best bet is a mileage run, or one of those rent car 4x points deals (2400 points), but there is risk the car company won't be prompt in additing points.       ... View more

@aulwilso wrote: I cannot access Southwest.com in Thailand. I've tried in 3 locations, on Chromebook and mobile phone wifi. What's up with this? I see other threads with people having issues, too.  Things that have worked for other people:   1) Use the Southwest phone app via cell data and NOT wifi   2) Access the website via a US baed VPN.     ... View more

Sorry to hear about your difficulty.   You could just write the CEO a letter . Just becasue the social care team considers the matter closed does not mean that you do.   I have no idea why they would refuse to accept EBCI money -- maybe it has something to do with allocting to different people in the group. I dunno. Makes no sense to me either.   Gary Kelley CEO Southwest Airliines P.O. Box 36647 Dallas, Texas 75235   ... View more

@sillyredn3k wrote: I hit $10K in spend on the Chase RR Visa two billing statements ago but no TQPs have been transferred over. I called Chase and got the typical less than stellar service, claiming that all points had been transferred. The person on the phone had no clue what the difference was.      ...   The only quirk I can think of is that we upgraded the card earlier this year so may not have hit $10K on the new card...but the benefit was the same on the old....you can understand my headache! 🙂   Happy Holidays!   -k Sorry to hear you are having trouble. Chase is going to have to be the one that fixes this for you. Southwest only adds points when Chase tells it to. It has no access to your account or spend history.   The two parts of your originl post  snipped seem to indicate that even you are unsure of whether you have hit $10k in spending on the new card. I suspect that Chase treats two different cards as just that different cards with two different spending thresholds.. I don't know that for a fact.   You could go to your chase account and look at past statements on the new card to verify whether or not you've spent $10k..   You can look at a 1 year history of points activity in your southwest account to determine when Chase adds points in comparison to statement dates. You get there by logging on to your Southwest account, clicking on my account, and under my rapid rewardss clicking on recent activity. ... View more

@thisoneguy wrote: I can relate to many on this page and have (frustratingly) lost travel funds due to not staying organized with my unused funds and conf. #'s. But here's what I've been doing to stay organized now.   - Use GMAIL to set-up email Labels (filters). Every booked itinerary gets a Southwest label assigned to it, so I can easily find/access those in the future. In addition, I created a sub-label called "Travel Funds". EVERY time I cancel a flight, I immediately find the cancellation email in Gmail and assigned this label to it. Then when I pull up that label it shows every travel fund I have.   -Recently I took it a step further. I fly so much that I've found creating a spreadsheet is helpful. I have a tab for all of my bookings, a tab for travel funds (including gift cards), and a third tab with miscellaneous information related to my travel.   Hope this helps some folks. As mentioned before, it would be rgeat if Southwest tracked all of this for us. But I'm willing to put up with the hassle if they keep allowing us to change/cancel with no fee.   The ONE reasonable service I would like is more information when we search confirmation numers on https://www.southwest.com/flight/travel-funds-search.html. There are times I plugged in a number that I swear I never used but it shows that there are no funds associated. I would love to see how and when those funds were used or expired. Thanks for your  explanation of how you keep trasck of your travel funds.   Agree with your desire for the reasonable service. I have also tried to use confirmation numbers I thought had value, and been told that they did not. It is frustrating.   At one time in ancient history you could do what you want. I keep all of my old reservations. I used to keep completed travel in a folder called completed travel. I stopped doing that in 2008. I went to that folder and I found that in 2007 I had a reservation that was paid with travel funds and the e-mail listed the confirmation number (trqavel funds)  that was used to pay for the reservation. So at least in 2007 you could search your e-mail your a confirmation number and find every time it was used (at inital purchase, and then later as travel funds).   It would be nice if Southwest brought back that funcationality. ... View more

@bec102896 wrote: @DPontheGo wrote: @bec102896 One hitch to your solution would be that if you don't put your RR account in when you purchase the ticket and you are currently A List then you don't earn the 25% more points on that flight purchase.  So that also becomes an issue.  I really wish they would just allow you to purchase EB regardless of your status.  If you know you won't need it, I don't think it is something that you would purchase by accident. I believe regardless on when you add your number (during booking, after booking- more than 36 hours before the flight, or after travel is complete) you would still get your bonus points for being A List. now sure you won't get your A List boarding (in the A group) if you dont add the number more than 36 hours before the flight if you add it at the airport you could get the between A and B group boarding.    I had a time where my number fell off my reservation and I caught it so I called and readded it back and got all my benefits when it came flight time (A boarding and the bonus points)  It appears that the OP is concerened about getting a good boarding position in 2019 after he drops off of A List. That's why he is trying to get EBCI added to the flights.   Since he won't be A List in 2019, he won't be eligible for the A List bonus points. ... View more

Well, middleseat, I follow several airline blogs. Here's what I've learned about this situation: 1) It appears that all aircraft were aquired used from other airlines 2) In reviewing the records Southwest found that some of the paperwork on the aquired aircraft was incomplete 3) Southwest grounded the planes one evening, and corrected the records overnight for almost all of them. The FAA did not order the planes grounded. 4) Almost all of the planes made their regularly scheduled flights the next morning 5) A grand total of 9 flights were cancelled becasue the paperwork issue had not yet been completed on a few planes   6) The planes were not unsafe. The prior owners apparantly just did not keep up with paperwork as they should have. Southwest did what the FAA requires it to do: ground the planes to either fix the planes or fix the paperwork.   7) All Southwest had to do was correct the paperwork. ... View more

Sorry to hear that you lost points.   Just be aware that when flying other airlines, you will find that their frequent flyer programs also have expiration dates:  Some as short as six months and others up to 1.5 years. Delta is the only airline without a points expiration provision.   Southwest's is two years.  ... View more

Hello.   By my experience, points are added to your account after the return portion of a RT has been completed. On a RT, I've never seen points allocated for the out bound and in bound seperately, just a total for the RT.   Thus I believe the points will be added in 2019 and all will count towards 2019 qualifying.   If anyone knows differently, please chime in. ... View more

Normally any promotions are targeted to specific people, and are not useable by others. So even if you find them, you cannot use them.   Southwest and others use them in hopes of earning more business. For example Best Western hotels offered to match my elite staus at Wyngham. So with one stay I was suddenly at Best Western's highest frequest renter status. Why would Best Western do that? Answer: because it hopes I will rent more hotel rooms than if I did not have the status.   Marriott offered me enhanced status due to my United FF level, too.   Southwest does the same thing: it offers A list to some group of travelers hoping that the A list perks will convince those people to fly more Southwest flights   It isn't that Southwest doesn't luv you. It's just trying to earn more revenue and profit. ... View more

Agree with David.   I have a suggestion, though.   Why not have hubby earn the passs in the first three or four months of 2020 so that it could be used for the balance of 2020 as well as all of 2021? ... View more

Hello.   Since this is customer to customer forum, you are not likely to get an answer to your question here.   I'd advise you to cut and paste your post into an e-mail to the company.   Details on how to send an e-mail are list at the top left of the airline's contact us webpage.   https://www.southwest.com/contact-us/contact-us.html?clk=GFOOTER-CUSTOMER-CONTACT-US       ... View more

@bec102896 wrote: If you bought the anytime or business select fare you can request a refund to the credit card and rebook at the current price for the new person that is going to travel but if you bought the wanna get away fare then as @dfwskier said the ticket is non refundable and name changes are not permitted but if you cancel the flight that passenger will have a credit for a future flight within a year from the original ticket purchase.   Hope this helps Blake   You are correct, Blake. I was assuming a wanna get away ticket, but if it was business select or anytime, it is completely refundable at any time. ... View more

Sorry, but no one will be able to guarantee when points will hit your account. It varies by property.   A $1000 busness select flight will earn you 12,000 points. You might want to contingency plan a year end points run in case you need it. You can always cancel a business slect flight and get your money back.   If you get to that point, you have to ask yourself a question: will I get more value in 2019 from the CP than the $1000 in am spending in 2018? ... View more

@southwestmember wrote: I'm not sure why this post hasn't been updated, but Southwest's website shows that ski equipment will NOT be subject to an oversize fee. This is as of November 2018. The oversize bag fee does not apply, but the overweight fee might. Any bag over 50 pounds is overweght. Put 2 or 3 pairs of skis plus other stuff in a bag, and the bag might be overweight. ... View more

Great story, and thanks for sharing it.   If you'd like to let Southwest know how you feel, you could contact customer service (ways listed on the top left of the contact us webpage) to provide recognition. There  can't be too many Curbside checkin employees named Sergei in Sacramento so Southwest should pretty easily know who he is.   https://www.southwest.com/contact-us/contact-us.html?clk=GFOOTER-CUSTOMER-CONTACT-US ... View more

As @CareforNOLA said, you have to pay atention to when points will actually hit your account. The most predictable is flight related points. $1000 in business select fares earns you 12,000 points, and they hit your account almost instantly.   Rent car points hit your account pretty promptly, but not always in the correct amount. Dining points are more variable. Hotel points are more hit and miss - especially those with big point totals. Never used the shopping function, so I can't speak to those. ... View more

Hello.   As I've said about this topic before, individual employees sometimes do stupid things.    Southwest did not "allow" the employee to do this. Southwest did not condone the behavior.   How do you know what disciplinary action was taken? You say none was. How do you know that -- you don't.   Look on the internet and you'll find every airline has examples of employees that do stupid things. remember the United employee that put the dog overhead (against policy) and the dog dies?   Do what you want. If that means not flying Southwest, then so be it.   However, I am not going to let you get away with bashing the airline for the actions of a single rouge employee. ... View more

Hello.   There is NOTHING more frustrating than having to deal with the same issue MULTIPLE time with MULTIPLE agents and MULTIPLE long wait times - only to have to expalin the issue MULTIPLE times. It get's real old.   Assuming the issue continues, perhaps you should contact your credit card company and just protest (cancel) the trransaction. If you don't get what you paid for, you should not have to pay for it.   Then go to your local food store or Lowes or probably any one of several retail stores that sell gift cards, and buy it there.   I now I really hate it when i end up in a never ending do loop. Sorry to hear that you did. ... View more

@generobinson196 wrote: How do I get kicking tail coupons to give to the flight crew? As mentioned in posts above yours, Southwest automatically sends them to it's most frequent travelers: A list.   If you are not among that goup, you can use the methods  also listed above your post to contact the company and provide recognition. ... View more