Southwest Airlines Community

The current boarding policy allows A) Customers to avoid having to be present at the airport early in order to gain a good position, and (most importantly) B) Southwest to monetize the boarding process. 😉 ... 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

thanks for the other number. i'll certainly try it on monday. the recipient email address is just a google email address and i have received gift cards previously on the same address.   hope they can send it to a different address. ... View more

Unless you pay for it TSA Pre seems pretty random to me.  I can get it a few times in a row and then go a while without getting it.  I doubt it has anything to do with early bird.  If you really want a good position pay the extra $40 at the gate and board with the business select.   ... View more

Found a fix. Go to book a flight. Click the “From” box and when that opens click “current location”. When I did that it automatically fixed the problem.  ... View more

That's awesome! And lucky you were spotted by the pilot. I feel like that's happened to me a couple times where Southwest has made decisions like that compared to other airlines and that's a reason why I fly it so much too ... View more

My opinion is that the recent EBCI fee increase will only cause groups that are traveling together to purchase a single EBCI. This single EBCI will then board and save the appropriate number of seats since SW allows for such a practice. Even if a couple is traveling together by purchasing a single EBCI would save a fair amount. I don't like the practice of saving seats but on my last flight I was inconvenienced by SW "no policy on seat saving" so I will take advantage of it on future flights and save at least $50.00. ... View more

You can also use sealed, frozen ice packs, the kind you would take camping. Just be mindful of the overall cooler weight, gotta be under 50lbs. I've packed meat and ice packs in a suitcase and had no problems, albeit on a fairly short flight with cooler weather.   --TheMiddleSeat ... View more

If you turn it in to the airport, we'll be able to file a lost and found form and attempt to find the owner. Hope this works out and that you're able to reunite the iPad with its owner!   ... View more

Well, you raise several different points so let's handle them one by one.   First of all, sorry to hear that you ran into travel touble. You were not alone. It happened to tens of thosuands of others due to the snow.   1) 'Within moments of the flight being cancelled, it was removed from the system like it never existed.  I call the customer service number to get rebooked and they say, how can you be rebooked when you weren't even on a flight!:"   Southwest automatically rebooks people whose flights are cancelled. The computer system does it automatically . I'd guess that you called before the computer got to you.   2)"After a round of discussion it was discovered that yes indeed I had a valid ticket.   Then they say, well we can't get you on another flights for 2 days.  First off, I don't even think that is legal - airlines have to allow you an opportunity to get back home even if it involves another airline."   Well that isn't exacty true. Airlines that have interline agreements with other airlines may rebook on other carriers. American just announced it would not do so for any travelers who booked "cheap fares". Southwest does not have any interline agrements. There is no law that says airlines have to rebook passengers on other carriers, and Southwest does not have the capability to do so.   3)"I had already done some homework and offered, what if I can get to St. Louis and fly out of there.  That was rejected at first, but finally agreed to.   So I bought train tickets to St. Louis.  Then, I find out that SWA indeed added another flight the next morning after all to make up for all of the cancellations.  I call to get on it instead of St. Louis and was told "no, we already 'accommodated you' by allowing St. Louis, we cannot offer rebooking out of Kansas City."   In the event of a cancellation, Southwest tries to automatically rebook you. You said the next flight would be 2 days out. My guess is that is where the company put you. The company allows you ONE FREE CHANGE from what the company tries to give you. CHANGS AFTER HE FIRST FREE ONE incur the normal charges for changing a reservation. You change to a St. Lous departure was your one free change. Your attempt to change it back to Kansas City was a second change.   In short the company did what it says it will do.   I guess if I had been you, I would have asked to discuss witha supervisor. You may want to discuss with customer service to see whether or not some type of adjustment can be made.   You may reach them via one of the methods listed on the top left of the contact us webpage.   https://www.southwest.com/contact-us/contact-us.html?clk=GFOOTER-CUSTOMER-CONTACT-US ... View more

Mind if I hop in? The social media teams (Twitter and Facebook) can help too.   Hope this helps!   Zev ... View more

Hello.   Since this is a customer to customer forum, you will not get n answer to your question here.   Your best bet is to ask customer service the question. You can reach them via one of the methods listed on the top left of the airline's contact us webpage.   https://www.southwest.com/contact-us/contact-us.html?clk=GFOOTER-CUSTOMER-CONTACT-US   My guess is that they will not be able to answer your question. They don't make the schedules, and my guess is that since schedules can change up til the time they are publshed, I don't think they'll be able to comment on an unpublished future schedule.   Go ahead and ask though. I could be wrong. ... View more

@JimmySpurgeon wrote: We are so excited that Southwest will soon be flying to Hawaii. We have been following updates as we are wanting to book flights. We were hoping that we would be able to book flights for summer travel by Christmas as we wanted to give these as Christmas gifts. Is there any chance this may happen? Thank you so much although we don't know what they will charge for these routes, maybe a Southwest gift card would work for Christmas this year even though the schedule may not be announced by then.   A rough guide might be roughly how much other airlines charge for this service now, probably a little less than that.     ... View more

That is a little strange! I'm not super familiar with EWR, I haven't seen Southwest ever offer more than a general statement about these sorts of changes.   The number of people and/or price of flights are relative, it isn't to say that people don't want to go from EWR to Corpus Christie, but that they needed those planes/crew/gates/flight allowances for something that was more popular.   I guess depending on the value of that extra $400 in transport to LGA, maybe you can build your own connection although this would be a pain if you were checking luggage.   It looks like this route comes back on weekdays later next year... https://www.southwest.com/air/flight-schedules/results.html?departureDate=2019-02-04&destinationAirportCode=CRP&originationAirportCode=EWR&scheduleViewType=weekly&timeOfDay=ALL_DAY       ... View more

Glad to ear that you've been able to get your son to buy your tickets.   The fact that the Southwest website is unavilable at many locations outside of the US is a well documented issue. Suggestions that have seemingly had some success are   1) Trying to use a US based VPN 2) Try using the Southwest cell app and utilizing cell data (as opposed to wifi)   Apparently there is some cost involved in having the website available outside of the US, and the company is evaluating whether or not it makes economic sense (tickets purchased vs cost of the having the website available) to do so. ... View more

@angarza_9805 wrote: I have a registed ESA (emotional support animal) that I was going to fly with due to panic attacks when I fly. She was sleeping by the window the whole 2 hours while we were waiting to board the plane and once it was time to board we got up and waited near the early boarding sign. Now my dog is very friendly when it comes to people and barks when she wants to play and is being held back and this was going to be her first time flying (she's 7 months old). So while we were waiting to board some people were walking by and she let out a bark because she wanted to go greet them and say hi but I wasn't letting her since we would be boarding soon. I noticed the supervisor was watching us and I offered to put her muzzle on so it can stop her from barking, but all the supervisor said was that it wasn't going to change his mind. Then he walked up to us and the way he did was not settling well with my puppy because she growled at him feeling threatened. After that he denied her access to fly to the point and I had to call someone to come get her. This in turn made me miss my flight. He had written a note to keep on file saying that he had given me mutliple warnings with her, but I did not recieve one warning from him. I ended up flying on another flight by myself feeling absolutly terrified and I'll have to fly back feeling the exact same way with fear.    Sorry to hear about your e problems traveling with your pup. Hope the flights weren't too terrifying.   The airline has to worry about the safety of passengers on board the aircraft. That's why it has a staated policy about animals that travel on the plane"   ". An animal must be trained to behave properly in a public setting and under the control of the handler at all times. An animal that engages in disruptive behavior may be denied boarding. Examples of disruptive behavior include (but are not limited to): Scratching, excessive whining or barking Growling, biting, lunging Urinating or defecating in the cabin or gate area" https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/unique-travel-needs/customers-with-disabilities-pol.html?CLK=SITESEARCH   So when your pup barked, and when you had to hold her back when she wanted to greet the other passengers, she got the attention of the employee. Then when she growled at the employee, that was probably the straw the broke the proverbial camel's back. He had no way of knowing whether or not she'd keep doing it on the plane.   As far as the employee stating he's given several warning, when you say he did not. I don't know what to make of it.  If you want to do so, you could discuss the matter further with Southwest's customer service department. Details on how to reach them are on the top left of the company's contact us webpage.   https://www.southwest.com/contact-us/contact-us.html?clk=GFOOTER-CUSTOMER-CONTACT-US   I hope your future travel is better for you than the last trip apparently was. ... View more

@eddiesports wrote: Why do we bother paying extra for early bird check-in if we still get B's!!!! So you don't get Cs   So you don't have to worry about checking in exactly 24 hours before flight time so that you won't get Cs ... View more

Hello.   There's no way to know in advance whether or not the airline will add a flight to it's shedule. I guess that translates into "you can't plan on it."   Sorry   The good news is that if it happens, Southwest will let you use all of what you've already paid to pay for the flight change -- no fees involved.     ... View more

    @Dabs999 wrote: Please keep me informed if flights do go from PVD to SRQ. I would love it! @Milbill wrote: Why won't Southwest start service into Sarasota Bradenton? Many people who live in the spend time in the area would like to see the service that Airtran had before Southwest bought them. Fort Meyers and Tampa are an hour and half away. Am I the only one thats upset that they don't servicre SRQ? @Milbill wrote: Why won't Southwest start service into Sarasota Bradenton? Many people who live in the spend time in the area would like to see the service that Airtran had before Southwest bought them. Fort Meyers and Tampa are an hour and half away. Am I the only one thats upset that they don't servicre S Hello.   This is a customer to customer forum, and no one here will be able to notify you of future schedule changes. Further, I don't beleive that the airline has a way of notifying individual travellers about them either. Sorry. ... View more

@sydney760 wrote: I'm a college student traveling home to Houston Hobby from LAX.  The only luggage I have is a large blue Ikea zip up duffle (called a Frakta).  Is this ok to check?  I read a horror story reguarding Delta and the Charles de Gaulle airport and wanted to make sure that Southwest would allow me to check it.   Thanks. Hello.   I am unfamiliar with the Frakta, however, members of the military use duffles as luggage all the time. If your bag is simiarly sturdy, you should be fine. If it isn't, probably not. ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: Hello. I'm not sure what happened, and I never will. That doesn't sound like typical Southwest employee behavior.       Besides the poor customer service, why not try to get the extra $40 - that money is straight to the bottom line!     ... View more

I need to check that out @dfwskier I need to find a couple of $50 routes to make a points run.     ... View more

Hi.   I think the middleseat got it right.   Question for you --- How did you book your flight on Southwest? It seems that many people outside of the US are unable to do so du to web access issues. Thanks in advance for all those that are having trouble. ... View more

TSA has really reduced the number of people that "randomly" get selected for Pre-Check and there is no automatic inclusion in Pre-Check after a certain age so if you want it, you'll need to apply for it.  As @dfwskier points out, there are different screening processes available to people 75+, these are sometimes referred to as "Pre-Check lite", but actual Pre-Check is almost always a much better experience.   Here's the link to get more info about applying for Pre-Check: https://www.tsa.gov/precheck   --TheMiddleSeat ... View more

Thank you I will try that emailing the CEO. ... View more