12-16-2020
12:29 PM
12-16-2020
12:29 PM
@kbluebig wrote: My point exactly @aMomTo6 I do understand that you do potentially get a better position and yes my wife and I did get A27 and A28. That is not my issue. My issue is, if we still have to press check-in then that nullifies the advertising stating EBCI does AUTOMATIC checkin for you. If you purchase EBCI and there still needs to be a way for the customer to obtain their boarding pass online, then change the wording of it on your website and app, to say something like, "receive boarding pass" And also, the fact that you do not SEE the benefit until you press the checkin button within 24 hours of your flight but the advertisement says they reserve your position 36 hours before your flight. I want to SEE that added benefit right when it happens. I want to see my position 36 hours before my flight. Since that is how you are claiming this earlybird service works. This is sort of a weird thing to cherry-pick. Early Bird automatically assigns *your boarding position* 36 hours ahead of time, as opposed to standard check in when you check in at least 24 hours before and your position is assigned during that check in process. If you have checked in for any Southwest flight at all right at the 24 hour mark, if you are more than a minute late you can see the difference in boarding positions plain as day. The benefit of Early Bird is that it eliminates all the hassle and your boarding position is automatically assigned regardless of when you actually check in. It doesn't matter if you check in right at 24 hours or an hour before, your boarding position was already assigned ahead of time, and it's almost always good and it's certainly better than anything you could have manually assigned yourself if you checked in 24 hours to a couple of hours before your flight. Your evidence of this is in your A boarding positions. A common misconception is that Early Bird guarantees an A position; it does not, but let's be honest, more times than not, you will get an A. If you don't use Early Bird, you have to be lightning quick at the 24 hour mark to get an A position, and like I said, if you are a minute or more late you're going to get a B or a C position. You should think of it as "Early Bird Boarding Assignment", not "Check In" necessarily, since everyone has to "Check In" for their flight regardless of whether they use Early Bird or not. --Jessica
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12-14-2020
02:14 PM
12-14-2020
02:14 PM
Now that we have a vaccine with millions of doses set to be available by the end of the year (in other words: in a matter of weeks), I'd argue that the pandemic is pretty much under control now. Our vaccine is here. We've been told for months that we have to wait "until a vaccine" and here we are, way ahead of schedule. But this: However, last night was the worst experience I've had in many years. That can't be true, since regarding mask compliance on airplanes, we've only been wearing masks for half a year or so. --Jessica
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12-11-2020
01:31 PM
12-11-2020
01:31 PM
I am willing to bet my life savings there was small print somewhere in your offer that said you needed to spend a certain amount to get that $200 credit. Credit card companies aren't going to give you $200 on the spot just for signing up. --Jessica
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I converted all of my small-value travel funds! Thanks for the heads up! --Jessica
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12-10-2020
10:06 AM
12-10-2020
10:06 AM
Great ideas, particularly the AM/PM! Some people may like military time ... who are they? 🤣 I think using AM/PM would be helpful. --Jessica
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12-10-2020
10:03 AM
12-10-2020
10:03 AM
@chgoflyer wrote: Hospitals are already stressed. Imagine needing emergency care (because of a heart attack, or a car accident, or any number of medical needs) and not receiving it because of staff or facility issues due to covid. If people continue to disregard the very real problems this pandemic continues to cause that will absolutely happen. It's also astonishingly insulting to those who have lost friends and family members (and the frontline healthcare workers who put their lives on the line everyday battling this disease) to suggest that the virus isn't serious. Especially when upwards of 2,000+ people are dying, and continue to die, every day. Hospitals aren't stressed. They are at normal capacity or below normal capacity pretty much everywhere. "Hospitals are going to be overwhelmed everybody panic" is just another fear tactic that people buy into, but it just isn't true. It wasn't true in the spring, it wasn't true in the summer, it wasn't true in the fall, and it isn't true now. I never said the virus isn't serious, but our reaction to it has been. We never should have closed down businesses in the way that we have; I've said it before and I'll say it again, protect the vulnerable and let society function as normal. We have millions out of work and unemployed vs a 250K death toll thus far - the economic devastation is far worse than what the virus is doing. 1/2 of those deaths (if not more) are a direct result of the nursing home debacle where infected patients went to nursing homes where death occurred as a result. The average age of death from this virus is in the 80s and the vast majority have pre-existing conditions anyway - they aren't dying of COVID, they're dying with it. If you take out the nursing home deaths alone the real death count is probably 125K and I argue it's actually under 100K. And we're wrecking our economy over this? Here's another statistic: 17% of all restaurants in the United States have closed since March. Not temporarily, but permanently CLOSED. That's nearly 1 in 5 restaurants across the entire country. It's total madness that we are letting this go on and letting countless livelihoods be destroyed like this. Not to mention the mental health issues and things like drug / alcohol abuse and everything else that is resulting because of our extreme overreaction to this virus. I'd also argue that deaths due to COVID causation are just as high as the COVID deaths themselves. So, in conclusion, protect the vulnerable and let society function, that's all we need to do it's really that simple. --Jessica
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Hopefully you will get to use your travel funds as they are good from one year from the date you purchased the reservation. With a vaccine on the horizon to be distributed by the end of this year into next year, I am hopeful we can put this all behind us in the next couple of months. The virus remains mild for most and most recover, and 1 in 5 have no symptoms at all. In my opinion we've dragged this out longer than necessary already, and it's time we get back to normal business and way of life. --Jessica
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Travel funds were extended 2 entire years if cancelled prior to September 7, 2020 - the funds expire September 7 2022. As it stands now if you cancel a flight your funds are good for one year from the date of booking - standard policy, and very generous compared to other airlines. --Jessica
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It's really not. Southwest is doing what it can, no doubt, to make as much money as possible because flight capacity is still incredibly low. Speaking as one who just flew this weekend, my planes averaged 1/2 full - if that. The middle seat was empty anyway and for some flights of the trip (I had multiple stops) I had a whole row to myself. I for one can't wait to see planes back at full capacity again, but I will enjoy all the extra room while it lasts 😉 --Jessica
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This is always a touchy subject, as there are many people out there that love their pets as if they were children, and there are other people who have real mental health issues who truly need an emotional support animal to get by. The difficulty is trying to understand the difference between the two groups of people. Those who "love" their pets and insist they can control them and that they are loving and wouldn't hurt a fly (etc.) are the problem - they try to bring their animals on board an aircraft and the animals can't be controlled. They aren't real service animals and they should not be allowed to board in my view. We need better policies around what qualifies as an emotional support animal and when/how one can bring an animal on board, because apparently people are getting around current policy and bringing non-emotional support animals on board. --Jessica
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12-03-2020
10:47 AM
12-03-2020
10:47 AM
@Taz052362 I completely agree! We need more direct flights back, but that can only happen if more people fly and there is demand for it, so it's sort of a catch-22 situation. As it stands, I have flights this weekend that are 2 stops each way 😣 but I'm just thankful I am able to fly Southwest at this point, since they cancelled a lot of flights for December. --Jessica
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I don't think temperature checks do much in the battle against COVID, to be honest, and that's why airlines have not implemented such a procedure. Imagine the cost of trying to implement temperature checks in airports across the US. It's not worth the hassle. --Jessica
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I'm not sure who told you this but you don't need to take a COVID test to fly anywhere in the United States on Southwest Airlines. --Jessica
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Ugh, I am sorry to hear this, I hope you can get this cleared up and your points get posted back to your account. --Jessica
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12-01-2020
07:39 AM
12-01-2020
07:39 AM
Huh. I haven't seen this prompt yet. One of my flights booked with points actually decreased by a few hundred points yesterday, so I rebooked. --Jessica
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I believe your agent was misinformed; if you cancel a Southwest Vacation, your airfare is treated as a Travel Rewards credit and the rest of your vacation is a travel credit that can be used on a future Southwest Vacations booking. From the Terms & Conditions found here https://www.southwestvacations.com/general/package-terms-conditions/ : 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. --Jessica
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I love the snack mix! Much preferred over peanuts and pretzels any day! --Jessica
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I don't think Southwest is not being careful. Quite the contrary - if anyone is listening to the science, they are, and the science is saying that COVID transmission on an aircraft is practically non-existent, so you have very little to worry about. As far as relaxing the mask policy, I haven't heard that Southwest is relaxing it, but they are allowing planes to be booked to capacity (in other words, allowing middle seat occupancy). --Jessica
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If you fly Business Select, I don't think you get a free drink for each leg of your flight. What if you had 2 different stops? Would that mean you would get 3 free drinks? I don't think that's how it works - you get 1 drink for the entirety of your one-way trip. If all of your flights did not have drink service (pre-COVID), well, I would consider that unfortunate. Despite that, I do think it's a fair question where if you don't get to use it for whatever reason, what happens? It sounds like nothing happens, and the free drink is forfeited. It would maybe be nice if the free drink could still be valid for X amount of time. Maybe something for the higher ups to consider as a future enhancement/perk of a Business Select fare. --Jessica
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11-16-2020
01:18 PM
11-16-2020
01:18 PM
Unfortunately flights are being cut all over due to low demand in certain markets. I imagine Jamaica is one of them. It happened to me for Tulsa, and I had to jump through a few hoops to get new flights booked using alternate (read: many stops) routes. --Jessica
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11-16-2020
01:13 PM
11-16-2020
01:13 PM
@txusgrl wrote: I will also repeat, SWA is the only company that did not notify consumers that had purchased tickets of any policy changes. Sorry, but this is blatantly false information. Southwest had COVID-19 policies and updates for cancelled flights and travel funds right on the homepage of Southwest.com, in bold lettering, it was impossible to miss. In fact, it's still there. They had a very clear written policy on travel funds being extended until September 2022 if a flight was cancelled by September 7, 2020. Since we are now past that deadline, I will copy and paste the current information for you: https://www.southwest.com/Coronavirus/?clk=CORONAVIRUS_TA&cbid=5228061 Canceling your Southwest flight Updated October 26, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. CT. Beginning September 8, 2020, any travel funds created from a nonrefundable, Wanna Get Away® ticket can be used for up to one year from the original purchase date. Travel funds with an expiration date of September 7, 2022, can be converted into Rapid Rewards points at the same rate you would be able to purchase a ticket with points today. To qualify, your travel fund a) must expire on September 7, 2022, b) name must match the name on your Rapid Rewards account, and c) must have originated from a ticket purchased on Southwest.com®, booked by a Southwest Airlines Customer Representative, or approved by your employer. You must request to convert your travel fund by December 15, 2020. Conversion is non-reversible. When travel funds are converted to Rapid Rewards points, these points will not count toward earning tier status nor earning Companion Pass®. Rapid Rewards points cannot be used to pay taxes or fees. Since Rapid Rewards points never expire, you can use your new points whenever you want. Check if you have qualified travel funds soon — you can only convert your qualified travel funds through December 15, 2020. When reusing your travel funds with an extended expiration date of September 7, 2022 It’s important to note, while these unused travel funds will be available until September 7, 2022, once the funds are used to make a purchase, the expiration date of the travel funds will then follow our normal ticketing rules and will expire 12 months from the original purchase date. For example: Your original unused travel funds with confirmation number OLD111 expired on March 19, 2020. These unused travel funds were extended to an expiration date of September 7, 2022. You use some of those funds on August 1, 2020 to book new travel in September under confirmation number NEW111. If for some reason you need to cancel this new flight, your unused travel funds associated with confirmation number NEW111 will be valid for 12 months from the booking date which means they will expire August 1, 2021. Any remaining unused travel funds tied to OLD111 will be available through September 7, 2022. --Jessica
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@Shawnjae wrote: I think it would be excellent customer service, due to the pandemic, to refund people their money. Right now, no one wants credit. Disagree. If Southwest refunded absolutely everyone, they would go out of business. Plain and simple. I have used nearly all my credit on flights and have flown once in the summer and once in the fall, and plan to fly again in a few more months. --Jessica
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Southwest has been more than generous with their policies in response to the pandemic; for a number of months since the pandemic began they extended travel funds all the way to September 7, 2022 when flights were cancelled by either the airline or the customer. Besides that, cancelling a flight ordinarily still allows you to use your travel funds for a full year from the date of purchase, which is still incredibly generous. If Southwest cancels your flight, you may be able to ask for a refund by contacting them directly. --Jessica
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Woo hoo! Sounds like information that was greatly needed. Good job Chase! --Jessica
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I received an e-mail that Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping is offering a points bonus offer over the next week: Spend $100, earn 500 bonus points Spend $500, earn 1,000 bonus points Spend $1000, earn 3500 bonus points This is in addition to the points-per-dollar you normally get when shopping. Offer ends on 11/22 -- see details here: https://rapidrewardsshopping.southwest.com/p/extra-rewards.htm --Jessica
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11-16-2020
07:27 AM
11-16-2020
07:27 AM
It's not a scam, but what's likely is that you did not read the terms and conditions of your offer. So many people think that they will receive points immediately after doing X but the reality is you won't receive your points for a billing cycle or two - per the user above, it takes 2 billing cycles, but this may vary by offer. --Jessica
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I am in agreement - children under 5 should be exempt from wearing masks for long periods of time, especially if they are on an airplane in a row with their parents which is likely the case almost always. The likelihood of spreading any disease from either child to adult or adult to child in this scenario is incredibly incredibly minor. You're more likely to get a headache from a child screaming or just being loud than catching a disease from them! --Jessica
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In that same e-mail there should have been verbiage that said you could change your flight at no cost to you but you have to do it in 72 hours. Why don't you try that instead of calling and waiting on the phone for hours? Here is the verbiage from an e-mail I got last month when one of my flights changed: "In the event that this new itinerary does not work for you, we are offering the opportunity to change your flight date(s) and/or time(s) by up to 14 days from original travel date at no additional cost in accordance with our established recommendation practices. For expedited service, you can change your flight at southest.com/rebook3 within three days of the delivery of this email. Flights with no additional cost will display as "Available." I have always had an "available" flight to rebook, sometimes saving me hundreds of dollars (literally) by rebooking for free using this process! And also - your original flight path / times were likely cancelled completely and no longer exists as an option, which is why you were moved to a new flight. I've never heard of a customer booking a flight, then being moved to a new flight when the original flight still exists as an option. --Jessica
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11-16-2020
07:11 AM
11-16-2020
07:11 AM
I don't think you can book more than one seat for yourself (although you can book an extra seat if you are a Customer of Size), so good luck with booking that many seats 😉 Flight capacity is still down overall, so you shouldn't have too many problems with a completely full plane, and it's very likely that all rows will not be full for some time. --Jessica
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11-16-2020
07:08 AM
11-16-2020
07:08 AM
I love the idea of having a USB port / charging station at every seat! I hope Southwest implements something like that in the future. --Jessica
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