Southwest Airlines Community

@susanchutton wrote: So annoyed with this ....at least 3 different days it said i had played already when i had not 😞 and they make you enter your rapid rewards every time? Too many hoops to jump through and not one reward  Entering your info each time, me oh my, what a hassle. (They do this because you need to have a Rapid Rewards account in order to play, and there's no "automatic" way to enter your account number.)    I don't have any answers for being unable to play; I've been able to play each day.    --Jessica ... View more

I'm trying to decide if this is a real person or a bot, due to the weird tags in the first post - and the other blank post which I am thinking about reporting for removal.    --Jessica ... View more

It's hard to understand from your post exactly what your problem is.    Was your flight delayed? Canceled?    --Jessica ... View more

It's immediate.    --Jessica ... View more

@RyanT wrote:  Normally 5-week's lead time is standard for domestic travel for me.  We are not in normal times though. You can't expect everything to be as it was pre-COVID right now. It's going to take years for airlines to get back to "normal". Last I read, most airlines think it will take until 2023 to have "normal" traffic again.     --Jessica ... View more

@RyanT wrote: @TheMiddleSeat No one likes the middle seat.  And you're naive if you don't think that Southwest is trying to erase points built up over the COVID year to protect their bottom line. They lost a LOT of money in 2020 and early 2021.  If they continue to allow people to fly for free using all the points they accumulated, they lose a LOT more.  It's time to take off the Southwest Fan-Boy hat and put on the CEO hat. My father was a General Electric-trained (under Jack Welch) business man who was hired to become a CEO of a $250 million company by their board of directors, back in the mid 1980's. Focusing on the bottom line is what he was hired to do. Slashing jobs, cutting costs, and making a nice profit for the investors. That's how businesses survive in tough times. Plus, as some other guy said in response to my post, they did devalue points 6% in March.  So not only am I not off the mark, the bulls-eye is under my feet. The delusion is pretty strong with this one.    You're acting like Southwest is increasing the amount of points it takes to redeem flights on purpose so people are less likely to use their points. I don't see how that is a realistic view, aside from the 6% devaluation in points, which IMO isn't a big deal.   What's more realistic is Southwest increasing fares in general, which would in turn take more points to redeem flights. I'd believe that more than anything else at this point (ha) - but honestly, what airline isn't attempting this in some fashion? Every single airline is trying to recoup lost revenue, and Southwest continues to be miles ahead of the competition by offering 2 free checked bags, no change fees, AND no cancellation fees. Other airlines are already back to charging their fees, in addition to flight fares that are similar to Southwest.   Still, from everything that I've seen, flight prices overall are back to where they were pre-COVID. And let's not forget, Southwest is celebrating 50 years as an airline and are slashing fall fares by 50% at this very moment. You should take advantage.    Southwest continues to be ahead of the game.   --Jessica ... View more

It worked just fine for me!    --Jessica ... View more

@bec102896 wrote: So after the horrific outage in July 2016 all affected were given a 50% off a future flight code. Wonder if they will do the same this time or proactive vouchers.    I'm waiting on an official statement from Southwest. The social media doomsayers insist SWA was hacked. I don't buy into these rumors unless / until the airline specifically says something about it - if they do.   --Jessica ... View more

@TheMiddleSeat wrote: Yay, the Belize people can finally stop demanding flights.  Thanks for posting this.   --TheMiddleSeat Ha yes, they'll have to wait until November 7, but still, good news that these flights are resuming!   --Jessica ... View more

Well, I am not sure if you noticed, but flights are a bit more expensive these days (dollar wise and point wise) due to the ever-evolving COVID situation and increasing supply & demand. It's not unique to Southwest - the entire airline industry is experiencing it.   Good luck starting over with another airline that charges you baggage fees and fees just to sit in certain seats on the plane 😅   Also: purchasing flights with RR points doesn't count towards A-List or Companion Pass status, but since that doesn't interest you, feel free to burn through the points.    --Jessica ... View more

@emma_mckenzi wrote: LITERALLY WHY IS THE LUGGAGE SO FAR BEHIND???? i literally landed in san diego and MY LUGGAGE IS STILL IN BALTIMORE How would you know that? And why didn't your luggage get on the plane with you? So many questions.    --Jessica ... View more

Travel funds is normally tied to a reservation number, so if your $100 flight under confirmation code ABCDEF was cancelled, your $100 in travel credit is linked to confirmation code ABCDEF. When you go to book a new flight, when you go to pay you will see options to enter travel funds or a voucher or a gift card. Try entering the confirmation code into the travel funds section and see if it is accepted.    Now that you have a Rapid Rewards account, once you book your flight you will be able to see your flight info in your account and you will have the options to change it, cancel it, etc. and you will get Rapid Rewards points for all future flights going forward.    Let us know if you need further help on this.    --Jessica ... View more

@Gtraveler wrote: Thanks Jessica. I don't use twitter, but maybe I'll try Facebook. I appreciate the advice!   I know it's not just today though because they changed other flights of mine recently that were also not fixable via the online options and I was on hold for just over 2 hours that time. I've traveled regularly on SW for about 7 years and this is a very noticeable drop in service compared to the past.    There also used to be a 'call back' option, that I'm not getting now. You're welcome! I've had some wacky flight changes too that could not be resolved by my simply trying to change them (site would not let me) and Southwest was always pretty responsive on social media when I explained my situations. But I would say that today is an anomaly due to the system issues they are having, so don't judge them based on today.    --Jessica ... View more

@twmay17 wrote: Coming up on FOUR HOURS hold time for customer service. This is by far the worst experience I have had with any business.... period. I feel as though if I hang up I will lose my position in line and never be able to get to a representative. Anybody know of a way to change the last name on my Companion Pass? Newlywed problems...  Hang up the phone.   Why people insist on waiting hours and hours on the phone is honestly beyond me. Computers exist, social media exists (private message), e-mail exists. Use any one of these options and you will - nearly always - get a response and your issue resolved much faster than waiting on the phone. For the Companion Pass issue in particular, this is something Southwest can do easily for you once you get ahold of them via any of these methods.    Today may be an exception due to the grounding of flights and resuming of normal operations that is going on right now.    --Jessica ... View more

@Gtraveler wrote: Unfortunately, this is a special case because they changed my flights and the online options don't work. I've run into this before recently (they changed 4 out of 6 flights I have booked) and I had to talk to someone to get it resolved.  I've had this happen a few times, and I always had success contacting Southwest via direct message on Twitter and they were able to change my flights to what I needed. Aside from a very recent time, they got back to me in under 30 minutes. Hopefully this will continue to be the case, as I would hate to see their social media presence start to slide.    --Jessica ... View more

Yes - this would fall under "lost luggage" I would think. Southwest recommends letting an agent know within 4 hours of landing that you do not have your bag, and you can also file a lost item report.   More info here: https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/baggage/    Out of curiosity - how do you know that someone took your luggage? Did the other person realize they had the wrong bag when they got home and contacted you?    --Jessica ... View more

Feel free to contact Southwest using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page to share your experience. It sounds like your son eventually calmed down, so hopefully no harm done.    --Jessica ... View more

Southwest is having technical issues of its own today, so wait times are longer than they usually would be. If your flights changed Southwest should have sent you an e-mail notifying you of the change. You have 72 hours from the receipt of e-mail to change your flights free of charge on Southwest.com or in the Southwest app. If you are having problems doing this you can contact Southwest, but since the phones are busy I recommend contacting them through social media (Facebook, Twitter) for a faster response.    --Jessica ... View more

You'd have to inquire about this at your gate - if there are any positions available, you can pay to upgrade to an A1-A15 boarding position.   --Jessica ... View more

More from CNN - sounds like planes were grounded for awhile Monday night into today:   Southwest Airlines reporting more 'technical issues' https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/southwest-alaska-airlines-delta-outage/index.html   (CNN) — Southwest Airlines reported unspecified "technical issues" Tuesday, hours after a technical issue on Monday evening caused the airline to halt traffic. The airline tweeted on Tuesday afternoon it is "aware of system issues and are working quickly to resolve." CNN has asked Southwest for additional information.   The airline's third-party weather data provider experienced intermittent performance issues Monday evening, grounding planes and delaying travel across the United States.   The aviation tracking website FlightAware says nearly 30% of Southwest's schedule is canceled or delayed Tuesday. It said the airline has canceled 478 flights and delayed 528 flights.   Delta and Alaska Airlines also reported computer issues Monday that affected their ability to sell tickets.   Passengers across the country took to social media to express their frustration and demand answers after the issue left some people grounded, stranded and stuck on planes. As the world has returned to pre-pandemic era air travel, flights have seen an uptick in issues, with the Federal Aviation Administration saying there have been 3,000 unruly passengers reported this year.   Southwest said the technical issue Monday prevented the transmission of weather information that is required to safely operate their aircraft.   "While the vendor worked to restore connectivity, we implemented a ground stop to protect the safety of our crews and customers," the statement said. Southwest said it was working to get all passengers to their destinations as quickly as possible.   Passengers were delayed, stranded Chris Martin, who was traveling on Monday, told CNN he was delayed for over two hours on a Southwest Airlines flight from San Jose, California, to Austin, Texas.   After tweeting about the airlines outage issues and delays, he said he was able to board a flight but many others were not so lucky.   "Lining up to board now, apparently they are releasing the weather paperwork city by city. This was a 5:55pm departure, now 8:17pm out here," Martin told CNN. "Twenty-two flights showing on the board delayed or canceled."   Jason Goran, another passenger who was traveling from San Diego, California, to Houston, said he sat on the plane for two hours due to the weather system outage.   "@SouthwestAir captain said we can't take off because weather system for entire company is down?" Goran tweeted during the ordeal.   Goran said the flight was scheduled to take off at 5:50 p.m. PT. By the time he spoke with CNN, it was 8:17 p.m. PT.   "It feels like we are about to take off," he said at the time. "They called us back to the plane but we haven't pushed back yet."   Patrick Miller said after boarding his flight from Phoenix to Portland, Oregon, passengers had to deplane and then re-board.   "From boarding to deplaning, it (took) two hours," Miller told CNN. He also tweeted about his delay, saying "Lots of hate being thrown at @SouthwestAir right now, but my flight attendants have been giving out water and people are allowed to deplane."   People were losing their patience due to the delay, he said.   Other passengers, like Ryan Cesaitis, said they were able to take off and land, but ended up stuck on their planes as issues continued to plague the airline. Cesaitis, who also shared his experience on Twitter, told CNN that he waited on the tarmac for 90 minutes after landing at Dallas Love Field from Phoenix.   Other airlines also experienced issues Delta told CNN in a statement that its teams were working to quickly address a technical issue that made it difficult for customers to purchase flights on Delta.com, the Fly Delta app and through the company's Reservation Call Center.   The ability to check in for flights was not affected, according to the statement.   Alaska Airlines also experienced issues Monday. In a tweet to a customer, the airline said that its "booking page is down. Our team is working hard to get this resolved." A message on the Alaska Airlines booking page read, "We are currently experiencing issues that affect shopping at alaskaair.com, our mobile app and through our contact center. We are actively working with our partner that powers our shopping platform to resolve the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later."   CNN reached out to Alaska Airlines for comment but has not yet heard back.   ----------   --Jessica ... View more

Do you see the flight in your Upcoming Trips on Southwest.com or in the app? If your flight was booked successfully, you should see it in your account on the site / app.   --Jessica ... View more

@missestlewis wrote: Where do we even put the code?! There is a promo code field right on Southwest.com or in the app when you click "Book flight." Here is a screen cap from Southwest.com.      --Jessica ... View more

Can you not get your older W2s from the same site?   There are instructions here to follow, but this sounds like what you already may have done:   https://community.southwest.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/Former-Employee-W2-Form-Information/ta-p/87209#U87209    --Jessica ... View more

Story of my life! It's hard to get nonstop flights anywhere from Philly these days. I have hope for PHL > LAS though, as I am just starting to see flights that have one connection, but "no plane change", so you are on the same plane for the entire flight! Progress.   --Jessica ... View more

@missestlewis wrote: My current flights have dropped significantly in price and I'd like to cancel and rebook? I think that is what I need to do!? Anyways, I want to speak to SW - how do I do that? The phone rings once and hangs up... No need to call Southwest, you can make the change yourself on the Southwest web site or in the app by changing your flight and selecting the same flights that now have the lower price. You will receive the difference in fare as a travel credit to use for up to one year since the date you booked (not the date you fly).   --Jessica ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: @TheMiddleSeat wrote: Go online, use the change flight feature and "change" your flight to the exact same flight.  You'll get the lower price and have travel funds to use later.   --TheMiddleSeat     I think not.   If you "change" a flight, the fare does not change.   You have to cancel and rebook to get the lower fare.. I always "change" my flights whenever there is a lower fare, and I am able to get the lower price with the difference given as a travel credit to use later. No need to cancel the flight first.    --Jessica ... View more

About an hour ago Southwest mentioned on social media that they were aware of "system issues" and they were working to resolve them, and would share more information soon.    Haven't heard anything since then.   --Jessica ... View more