Southwest Airlines Community

Great reminder.  In short, it's a way to convert your own tickets to tickets for other people.    If you're paying with the RR credit card and can afford it, it allows you to unload your travel funds into points which won't expire, and revert your personal ticket purchases back to the card to gain more miles and CQP.   I'm not sure if I'll ever use my points on me.  As ALP, I double my points, but as you said, only if I buy the ticket.      ... View more

These days, it seems the notifications are at best delayed... or never come.   Slightly strange considering how well they notify you of a ten minute delay.    I've begun to keep my original email notifications in an archive so I had a listing of record locators.  ... View more

If you have A-list already, it won't ... because you're already extended until next year.   And rarely do these things help with A list anyways.  TQP is almost exclusively flying, except for the rare bonus.  CQP is more likely .  ... View more

The answers are correct .  Nothing you do short of putting new money in the system will get you to your companion pass.   If you have the money right now, you could buy $8,000 from Southwest on your RR card and get 16,000 points.  That means either buying some expensive flights and then canceling them for travel funds, or just buying the points directly from the sale.  At the current 45% sale, it's probably about a wash.   I think of it as a way to infuse some cash into SWA to help them weather the storm by prebuying future travel. ... View more

Yes, on the app there's a list of recent activit .  ... View more

Carissa,    Tough times for everyone, indeed.  To be realistic, SWA would be pretty bad off if they refunded everyone's money .  So would every airline .  They would be laying off MORE people .  It's unfortunate you lost your job, to be sure .  But SWA is trying to balance everyone's needs.    They do offer a consolation that all your paid travel funds can be converted over to rewards points.  This way, they won't expire , and can be used for any traveler.  Maybe not as good as cash in your pocket, but closer.   Hope that help .  Good luck.  ... View more

One option would be to convert it to RR points by buying and cancelling a ticket, then converting the travel funds to points (via their new program).   Then the points could be used indefinitely, for anyone, and with no new expiration date when you cancel. I haven't used a luv voucher, but I suspect RR points are easier to use.   Just a thought ... View more

Austin,   I hear what you are saying.  I agree their fairly automated and (usually) painless system has some bugs, and some kinks that you have experienced.   For one, yes...the ability for them to instantly notify you that a flight is moved by 10 minutes, but fail to let you know of a cancellation, is a bit absurd.  Plus, once it's cancelled, it'll still show up on the app for a while, buttttt....once you click on it and find it's cancelled, you can't get the record locator.  Very frustrating.  (I love to throw rocks at software programmers...they have it easy in my opinion. Grrr.)   But I think your rerouting issue is an artifact of their attempt to be flexible.  Airports are located in geographical groups...including the three in DC (Dulles/BWI/DCA).  So the good news is (these days) we can reroute our itineraries to any airport that works in the area.  The bad news is...their computer will try to do it for you.    So, worst case, you have to call and manually cancel or perform other gymnastics with an overworked phone operator.  I've had to do this a few times in the last weeks, and somehow I got straight through to a pleasant CSR and solved my problem quickly.  I can't imagine any other airline being as painless.   Now, we get all these extra consolations for being RR that will extend through 2021 and beyond.  Not only does it reward us for being loyal, but it helps them keep cash in their pocket to weather this storm...without so much "help" (ahem) from the government.   Maybe your other experiences were under different circumstances, but I think you just got an odd delay on hold.  Not sure how I didn't...I chocked it up to being Preferred and going to the head of the line.     I sympathize with the hassles going on now, and yeah, I check my account way too often.  I have rolled travel funds forward to keep contingency flights on the books.  I have to now add two flights to get to Hawaii out of OAK since SJC was cancelled...but only one way.  Annoying?  A bit.  But I think of it is more of a puzzle...one that both saves me money and keeps it with SWA. Good luck! ... View more

Sorry, but I'm not following you at all.    They pulled the Max from service when directed, and reorganized their itinerary.   BOEING caused this problem, not SWA.   They are trying to maintain an essential service in the face of 95% fewer passengers. COVID caused this problem, not SWA.   I'm not sure why you're placing blame on them, especially in light of challenges that are completely unprecedented in the history of the industry, if not modern civilization.    On the contrary, I find their flexibility in shuffling travel times and travel funds, and STILL allowing me to get the lowest possible fare on a moment's notice to be invaluable and totally unparalleled.  ... View more

Yes, yes, yes , and yes .   Most flights everyone gets their own row, with empty rows between.  ... View more

Oops, spoke too soon. More Hawaii trips cancelled into June. ... View more

The expiration dates haven't been extended.  They said they would soon, as soon as the software is updated. ... View more

Unfortunately, you have to call them.  They don't seem to offer the same automatic notification as they do with rescheduled flights.   I had to do this with one of my Hawaii flights and they were very polite.   Curiously, another one I planned in June only had the outbound leg cancelled, so I had to look even closer to see the issue.  I haven't called them yet, but we'll try to reschedule to a flight that's remaining from another airport.  The return flight... Yep, still to the same airport.  Crazy.   But these are crazy times.  Best thing I can do right now is use my travel funds to shore up contingency flights.  That's the best part about SWA.... They let me make my plans as flexible as possible since neither they nor I can really predict what's gonna happen. ... View more

Considering everything going on, I'm not sure whether this is a refreshing change of pace or much ado about nothing.  Methinks you have too much time on your hands.  I'd say you may even be GLAD at all the decrease in carbon output these days? ... View more

The difference is Companion Pass arguably costs SWA more than any elite status on other airline.  I don't believe any of them give free seats to companion travellers.   The best thing you can do to help them help you is :   1. Leave your existing travel funds in place instead of demanding a refund. 2.  Try to fly as soon as practical and help get their business back to normal.   The more cash they have to work with, the less likely they'll have to squeeze more of it out of their preferred passengers. ... View more

Yes, in my experience , a flight that shows as sold out is in the progress of being canceled .  I had this happen between yesterday and today.   And the remaining flights won't be full.  ... View more

This isn't an issue or question of refund vs. travel credit.  I'm happy to get either, because I know I'll fly again soon.    It's just a bit surprising that it wasn't automatic. Everything else on their system is so well automated .  But I suppose it speaks to the fact that I fly them quite a bit and have never had a full cancellation (beyond minor itinerary adjustments)   Given that these are extraordinary time , I guess it's no shocker that things have to be done a bit more manually .  ... View more

Okay, thanks.  I'm kinda surprised since I've gotten notified of every other canceled or adjusted flight I've had on Southwest.  To have neither notification nor refund automatically is a bit unexpected .  ... View more

I think you're picking the wrong forum to post these sorts of rants.  I'd say most of the people here are fairly supportive of Southwest in this situation.    Oh, and reposting the same rant twice... Yea , that really doesn't help your cause.  ... View more

You lost me at "Southwest profiting from Cov-19.". That statement reflects such an utterly incorrect understanding of the situation that I just ignored the rest of your ramblings. ... View more

I flew yesterday and had FIVE people on my plane.  Monday it was less than 30.   I don't think you have anything to worry about.  ... View more

As expected, Southwest relaxed their expiration deadlines.  As usual, they exceed every other airline's customer service. ... View more

Please go fly another airline.  I prefer to be surrounded by understanding people on my airplane, not ranting hyperbolic complainers. Oh, by the way, the spelling is "losing", not "loosing".  Proper grammar, fewer capitals, and less cross-posting the same rants is a much better way to get people to listen to you.  ... View more