Southwest Airlines Community

Looking at the Southwest route map here (https://www.southwest.com/flight/routemap_dyn.html) in Arkansas the only airport I see that Southwest is servicing is Little Rock. My guess is that's the biggest airport around, and there are no other airports in the northern part of the state that would make sense for Southwest to go to. If you know of an airport, definitely feel free to suggest it!   --Jessica ... View more

I wish I had a crystal ball and could predict this for you - there are many nonstop routes that were eliminated over time that I hope to see return soon.   --Jessica  ... View more

I find it just a little hard to believe that you had this much trouble finding seats together on your flight, considering many flights are still under capacity - not full. Even if your flight was full and you boarded before the person you wanted to sit with, many people do try to "save" seats or they simply ask the person who is attempting to sit there that you are waiting for your spouse/sibling/child/etc. Many times people are understanding and move to another seat. But not always. I am sorry that was not the case with you.   This is what you get with an airline that doesn't have assigned seating. If assigned seating is that important to you, I'd recommend flying with a (much more expensive) airline, because assigned seating is part of what you are paying for with them - among many other things that Southwest does for free.    --Jessica ... View more

I think you might have misunderstood. Per your own words: "but they did say the Southwest Airlines portion of the package would have to be a credit."   You are not getting money refunded - you are getting travel credit for the flight portion - as well as  the land/feature portion of your vacation, I believe. This is standard policy for Southwest Vacations. If you had Travel Protection, you might be eligible for a credit card refund for the land/feature portion of your vacation but this has to be requested within 60 days of the cancellation (or you will also get a credit).    Did you check your Southwest Vacations balance and see that a credit was applied?    You can read more of the policy here:   https://www.southwestvacations.com/package-terms-conditions/    3. Modification, Cancellation, Refund and No Show Policies If your plans change, your right to a refund is limited and subject to penalties and fees as noted herein. You must immediately notify your travel agent or Southwest Vacations to cancel or make changes to your vacation package.   If you decline Travel Protection and cancel your booking, any refund due for the land/ feature portion of your booking (after applicable penalties) will be in the form of a travel credit from Southwest Vacations. If booked with Wanna Get Away fare and you cancelled your flight at least 10 minutes prior to travel, the air portion of your booking will be refunded in a Southwest Airlines air credit, which may be used on a future Southwest Vacation. Anytime and Business Select fares are refundable back to the original form of payment or choose to convert the air credit.  Contracted group bookings will be refunded in the original form of payment. If you purchased Travel Protection and are eligible for a partial or full refund in original form of payment, the land portion of the refund due will automatically become a travel credit if not requested at 60 days from the date of cancellation. Travel credits are valid for 12 months from date of issue and must be used for travel prior to expiration date, are nontransferable and nonrefundable, have no cash value, and are issued in the name of the passengers on the original reservation. Standard change and cancellation policies apply to bookings made with travel credits. Travel credits will be held on the original booking.   Southwest Vacations does not charge any modification or cancellation fees for the air portion of your vacation package. In case of a modification, Southwest Vacations will apply the value of the reusable air to the new air on the modified reservation. If the reusable air value cannot be applied to the reservation, it can be redeemed by the same passenger for future air travel which must be completed by the expiration date. Redemption information will be provided at time of modification/cancellation.  Once booked, any modifications or cancellations to the hotel, rental car, or features/excursions on an existing reservation are subject to supplier penalties up to the full component price. You may avoid supplier penalties by purchasing the Southwest Vacations’ Travel Protection option. Certain excursion operators only allow a refund if canceled upon notice to them. Contact the excursion company for the applicable notice provision and to arrange a refund. Many hotel reservations are nonrefundable and nontransferable, and you may be charged 100% cancellation/change penalties.   All modifications and cancellations must be communicated to Southwest Vacations no later than ten (10) minutes prior to scheduled departure to allow time to process the modification and avoid “No Show” forfeiture of your funds. Modifications made within 24 hours of departure must be communicated through your travel agent or by calling Southwest Vacations’ 24-hour traveler assistance line at 1-800-775-7105. If you booked on Southwest Vacations website or through the Southwest Vacations contact center, contact Southwest Vacations directly at 1-800-243-8372.   All changes and cancellations are subject to availability, limitations, restrictions and fees imposed by Southwest Vacations and hotel and feature/excursion suppliers. Once travel has begun, there will be no refunds for any unused or partially used non air travel component for any reason. There will be no refunds for any unused or partially used Wanna Get Away fare for any reason. Anytime and Business Select fares are refundable back to the original form of payment or choose to convert the airfare into Travel Funds   All refunds must be requested within 60 days of the date of cancellation. If you booked through a travel agent, your travel agent must submit the electronic refund request. If you booked on the Southwest Vacations website or through the Southwest Vacations contact center, please email your request to refund@southwestvacations.com. Acceptance of a refund constitutes a waiver by passenger of all rights and remedies under applicable law.   Customers who fail to cancel reservations for a Wanna Get Away® fare segment at least 10 minutes prior to travel and who do not board the flight will be considered a “no show”, and all remaining unused Wanna Get Away® funds will be forfeited. All remaining unused Business Select® and Anytime® funds will be converted to reusable travel funds for the originally ticketed Passenger only.   -----------   --Jessica ... View more

A refund for what exactly? Southwest Vacations has its own terms & conditions, listed here:   https://www.southwestvacations.com/package-terms-conditions/   Reading through the terms I see very few instances of customers getting an actual credit card refund for flights that you cancel yourself, unless you have an Anytime or Business Select fare, or if you had a group booking, or if you purchased Travel Protection. Do you fall into any of these categories? If Southwest canceled your flight(s), then that's a whole other issue.    3. Modification, Cancellation, Refund and No Show Policies If your plans change, your right to a refund is limited and subject to penalties and fees as noted herein. You must immediately notify your travel agent or Southwest Vacations to cancel or make changes to your vacation package.   If you decline Travel Protection and cancel your booking, any refund due for the land/ feature portion of your booking (after applicable penalties) will be in the form of a travel credit from Southwest Vacations. If booked with Wanna Get Away fare and you cancelled your flight at least 10 minutes prior to travel, the air portion of your booking will be refunded in a Southwest Airlines air credit, which may be used on a future Southwest Vacation. Anytime and Business Select fares are refundable back to the original form of payment or choose to convert the air credit.  Contracted group bookings will be refunded in the original form of payment. If you purchased Travel Protection and are eligible for a partial or full refund in original form of payment, the land portion of the refund due will automatically become a travel credit if not requested at 60 days from the date of cancellation. Travel credits are valid for 12 months from date of issue and must be used for travel prior to expiration date, are nontransferable and nonrefundable, have no cash value, and are issued in the name of the passengers on the original reservation. Standard change and cancellation policies apply to bookings made with travel credits. Travel credits will be held on the original booking.   Southwest Vacations does not charge any modification or cancellation fees for the air portion of your vacation package. In case of a modification, Southwest Vacations will apply the value of the reusable air to the new air on the modified reservation. If the reusable air value cannot be applied to the reservation, it can be redeemed by the same passenger for future air travel which must be completed by the expiration date. Redemption information will be provided at time of modification/cancellation.  Once booked, any modifications or cancellations to the hotel, rental car, or features/excursions on an existing reservation are subject to supplier penalties up to the full component price. You may avoid supplier penalties by purchasing the Southwest Vacations’ Travel Protection option. Certain excursion operators only allow a refund if canceled upon notice to them. Contact the excursion company for the applicable notice provision and to arrange a refund. Many hotel reservations are nonrefundable and nontransferable, and you may be charged 100% cancellation/change penalties.   All modifications and cancellations must be communicated to Southwest Vacations no later than ten (10) minutes prior to scheduled departure to allow time to process the modification and avoid “No Show” forfeiture of your funds. Modifications made within 24 hours of departure must be communicated through your travel agent or by calling Southwest Vacations’ 24-hour traveler assistance line at 1-800-775-7105. If you booked on Southwest Vacations website or through the Southwest Vacations contact center, contact Southwest Vacations directly at 1-800-243-8372.   All changes and cancellations are subject to availability, limitations, restrictions and fees imposed by Southwest Vacations and hotel and feature/excursion suppliers. Once travel has begun, there will be no refunds for any unused or partially used non air travel component for any reason. There will be no refunds for any unused or partially used Wanna Get Away fare for any reason. Anytime and Business Select fares are refundable back to the original form of payment or choose to convert the airfare into Travel Funds   All refunds must be requested within 60 days of the date of cancellation. If you booked through a travel agent, your travel agent must submit the electronic refund request. If you booked on the Southwest Vacations website or through the Southwest Vacations contact center, please email your request to refund@southwestvacations.com. Acceptance of a refund constitutes a waiver by passenger of all rights and remedies under applicable law.   Customers who fail to cancel reservations for a Wanna Get Away® fare segment at least 10 minutes prior to travel and who do not board the flight will be considered a “no show”, and all remaining unused Wanna Get Away® funds will be forfeited. All remaining unused Business Select® and Anytime® funds will be converted to reusable travel funds for the originally ticketed Passenger only.   -------------------   --Jessica ... View more

Sounds like a good idea! Hopefully Southwest will implement it in the future.   --Jessica ... View more

As the weeks and months go by and more people become vaccinated or build immunity after catching the virus, it will be time to start relaxing restrictions. I for one hope that masks will soon be a thing of the past.  —Jessica  ... View more

@SWFlyer007 wrote: i got a change, but it was only 5 min from the original take-off time.   Sometimes the stars align and the change is basically the same or an improvement over what you had booked yourself! 😁   —Jessica ... View more

Hi @Emma224,   I have an iPhone XR and don't have any problems with the app. Does this error occur when you click Log In? Have you tried logging into your account from a computer? What happens? If you get the same error there, you may have a problem with your account information. Have you tried resetting your account password and trying to log in after that?    Let us know what happens!   Thanks,   Jessica ... View more

@pvsmith77777 wrote: Please don't cater the the minority of persons in our country who are terrified of COVID--please welcome us who don't have that fear. We would still like to fly.  Agreed. But unfortunately, it's too late for that. I've been saying for almost an entire year now that we can't give into the fears of what a mild virus can do, but it's too late. The fear has taken over most people and it's not going away.  Remember a year ago when we thought that we'd certainly be back to normal by now? Well here we are and who calls "mandating" a vaccine getting back to "normal"? I don't. This isn't what "normal" is or was. Well, we also thought it would take two weeks to slow the spread, then just wait until the summer, then the fall, then cancel Thanksgiving and Christmas, then cancel 2021 spring break, then postpone concerts and events well into 2022, then still wear masks even though you get vaccinated ... three masks ... honestly, enough.    And my whole issue with the vaccine isn't whether or not it works or is safe, it's that because I'm healthy and in my 30s, I am in the last "group" to get it in my state. I won't be eligible for months, maybe not even until the end of this year, and I don't believe May 1 is going to suddenly change that. Why should I be vilified over something I literally have no control over? I'm not going to stop traveling because I haven't taken this vaccine. I traveled on Southwest three times since March of last year and I have plans to travel more, and I haven't gotten COVID yet. But my biggest fear now is that a vaccine is going to become the ultimate divider - people are not going to want to be around you now if you aren't vaccinated. To me, that's so terrifying. Honestly, I fear not only for this country, or the future of airlines and hospitality, but for all of humanity, if this is the path we're choosing to go down.    --Jessica ... View more

This is never, ever going to be a thing - not for US domestic travel, in any event. International travel is a whole other ballgame and I'm not willing to speculate on that, but for domestic US travel? Not going to happen.    No one can force you to take a vaccine in order to fly. The very idea is lunacy and it isn't going to be implemented.    --Jessica ... View more

I am not aware of any all purpose cleaners that would qualify for the 3-1-1 rule (learn more here: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/liquids-rule) - are any made that are that small? While there are certain exceptions, they do not allow normal-size liquids on board even if it is a cleaning liquid. You would have to put it in a smaller bottle, or check it.   --Jessica ... View more

Greetings,   As of this very moment, masks are required for children 2 and older and they aren't making exceptions to this rule. However, mask mandates are slowly being relaxed in certain states as the vaccine rolls out, and November is 8 months away. I would hope and pray that by then we aren't wearing masks any longer, but, we will have a clearer answer as the months progress. Southwest will provide us with any official updates in the interim.   And - for what it's worth - I've always personally believed that small children should not be wearing masks. I personally would make the mask rule for children 5 and older - or maybe even older than that, but I don't make any of the rules, I just follow them 😉    --Jessica ... View more

Don't call! Southwest is very active on their social media channels, particularly through private message on Facebook and Twitter. Please try that and they will get back to you, normally in minutes, even in these times.   --Jessica ... View more

This is the story of my life! In the glory days (a decade ago let's say) I could fly roundtrip to Vegas for $300. A few years back Southwest dropped nonstop flights out of my airport (PHL) and that's when everything started going awry. Flight prices gradually climbed and as of 2019 flights averaged $400 or *more* roundtrip.    In these strange pandemic times however ... flights have been literally $100 roundtrip. $50 or so each way. It's crazy. I have a trip booked for April (next month) where my flights cost $58 and $62 each way and I booked it a month ago. But if you look at the next few months ... gradually they increase more and more. Once we hit July, flights are right back to $400 - more like $450 - roundtrip. Ugh.    I am afraid that in the summer/fall of this year Southwest is going to try to bump up flight prices a bit to try to get back some lost revenue - and honestly, I wouldn't blame them one bit if they tried. They need the money, but if they increases prices too drastically, people aren't going to want to pay them.      --Jessica ... View more

IMO, I'd keep your credit, since it doesn't expire until September 2022, you have plenty of time to use it!   --Jessica ... View more

Oh right @TheMiddleSeat , I was conflating the two in my head 😂 With that said, here's the FAQ on travel funds:   https://www.southwest.com/faq/travel-funds-general-info    For the question "How long are travel funds valid?" the answer is simply: "All travel must be complete by the expiration date." Seems like that answer could be expanded to include a little more detail about how the expiration date is derived...   --Jessica ... View more

Were all the plane tickets booked through Southwest Vacations, or was it just yours and your daughters, and the other two were purchased on Southwest.com? Technically, Southwest Vacations and Southwest are two different things, so if the tickets were booked through both Southwest Vacations and Southwest that will only complicate things further. However, considering the situation I don't see what harm it would do to reach out to Southwest Vacations and/or Southwest to see if there is anything they can do about this, but generally once a ticket is issued in a passenger's name, it can't be modified after the fact.    Southwest: https://www.southwest.com/contact-us/contact-us.html?clk=GFOOTER-CUSTOMER-CONTACT-US   Southwest Vacations: https://www.southwestvacations.com/general/customer-care-and-travel-information   In addition to the above, I'd recommend contacting Southwest via social media if possible (do not call) as they tend to respond quickly to direct messages in my experience.     --Jessica ... View more

@bec102896 wrote: @ChucklesTX wrote: I read the reply for not honoring drink coupons from 2015 and it makes sense. We have 4 that expired last year in December. It would seem to me that those should be replaced as flying during a pandemic when one is 70 did not make sense to my wife and I. Free drinks served with a round of Covid just isn't worth the risk Thanks It's my understanding that March 2020 and beyond drink coupons have been extended until the end of this year so be sure to hold on to the expired ones so you can try to use them if you feel comfortable doing so once drink service resumes.  I didn't realize that! I have a few that have expired so I'll hold onto them and see if I can use them in the future.   --Jessica ... View more

I think it would be great if Southwest expanded into Canada. Maybe someday!   --Jessica ... View more

Why would you expect to be given a credit card refund if you booked your reservation with Rapid Rewards points? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If you book a flight with RR points and Southwest cancels your flight, assuming they can't put you on another flight, your points will be refunded back to you.    Fares Booked with Points "When you cancel a fare booked with points, the remaining point balance will be refunded to the account from which they were booked. Any taxes and fees will be eligible for a refund."   https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/purchasing-and-refunds/refund-info-pol.html   Also: Southwest is the most flexible with cancellations out of practically everyone in the airline industry. In addition to not charging cancel fees, your Rapid Rewards points / travel credit is valid for an entire year from the date you booked your flight.   --Jessica ... View more

Get ready, flights are starting to go back to pre-pandemic prices. I've been comparing last fall vs. this spring vs. this summer and summer looks to almost be "normal" pricing (and maybe a little more) for various flights. As demand increases, prices will go back to where they were before all this disruption started happening. And that's a good thing!   --Jessica ... View more

@Gorgeous wrote: Since I can’t post a direct photo. This flight to hawaii from Houston has no tv screens. Just brackets for holding a mobile device. I was not aware of this and didn’t bring an adapter for a headphone on my iphone X. Story of my life ... Apple made everything needlessly difficult when they got rid of the headphone jack on their devices.   --Jessica ... View more

Good luck and safe travels!   --Jessica ... View more

I'm 99.9% sure this is just an authorization - not a final change. Since no tickets were purchased, the authorization will drop after a couple of days, at most.   --Jessica ... View more

This is a pretty wild story - how could Southwest - or any airline, for that matter -  remove someone from a flight for having 2 glasses of wine? I can understand someone being completely drunk and badgering people (making them feel uncomfortable in the process) but it doesn't sound like you did this. Strange.   --Jessica ... View more

Exciting news!!   --Jessica ... View more

I think you are mistaken - no airline is requiring a negative COVID test in order to fly domestically. The exception is if you are traveling internationally into the United States. Then a negative test is required.    This policy has been in place since January 12.   https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/testing-international-air-travelers.html    —Jessica ... View more

What was the price of your flight originally, and what was it when you rebooked the cheaper fare?   Let’s say your flight was $130 originally. If you rebooked and the flight was $120, you have $10 left over in travel funds: 130 - 120 = 10.  Any travel funds are linked to your account and can be used with one year from when you first booked the flight.  —Jessica  ... View more