Southwest Airlines Community

The person at baggage check eventually issued the PRBD designation so it was finally over. ... View more

Points never expire I understand you might be mad with SW today but once you get stuck in DFW, PHL,IAH,ORD on those less fun and friendly airlines you could be back so just hold on to them or use them on family/friends  ... View more

Services at BWI-SWA have been horrendous for more than a few years, although on a positive note, in a recent post I shared the baggage claim turn around time had improved on my last several trips back into town for me to what I will call to normal in comparison to other domestic airports, not fast just normal. I think it's a people problem, and not a shortage of personnel, either. It's an attitude problem. When I interact with SWA employees generally they are passionate and proud of their positions and have a smile when they interact with customers. At BWI, the attitude is often that's not my job and quite honestly this is just a "J O B" and the customer(me) is just another hassle or obstacle to getting home. Some retraining and coaching is in order at BWI. My 2 cents. Safe travels ... View more

Wow what flight Number was it? Sitting 5 hours at 97 Degrees there should be video all over social media by now. Safe travels ... View more

Depending on the Fare type purchased,(BS or Anytime) you will also have the option for cash refund rather than credit. ... View more

@zoah666 wrote: We are returning from a cruise in a few weeks and we bought the wanna get away plus so we can get an earlier flight if seats available on standby. What is the best way to determine if enough standby seats are available? Our booked flight leaves at 8pm but currently has openings for flights leaving between 2 and 3 pm. Call SWA? I'd rather not have to check in early at airport only to learn we would need to take our booked flight. We are not planning on getting any wifi for cruise so I can't check availability till back in port the morning of the flight. I believe it will be available on the app after some recent updates, so as soon as you get back to cell service you can check and confirm your same day change (not standby) as another poster mentioned. It will either be available then or not, there isn't much to do before then other than you can see if the desired flight was already sold out before you depart which wouldn't be a deal-breaker necessarily but I'd work on backup plans for the day.     ... View more

@fsufan wrote: I am coming down to the home stretch for the magic 125K points and qualifying for companion pass.  I am sitting at just under 110K miles and it will be hard to get another 15K before year end.   My question is - I have a RR Chase business card (qualified and started using around mid-year).  Could I still get a 50K bonus sign up for getting a RR Plus Chase card?   I can easily spend $3,000 prior to year-end. I just wonder if I can "stack" the card bonuses. IT would be worth the $69 or $99 cost of the card if it will put me over the top. Totally doable in a number of different ways, and kudos to you for thinking about this in September instead of November when options will be a bit limited.   Credit card: I think so but read the terms that will save if a bonus is excluded for having other Chase cards or only Chase personal cards which you seem to be clear for? Use this link to find other ways - especially if you have any travel left the rest of the year upgrade to Business Select for 12x points, check if you have any promotions, and use Rocketmiles or other method to boost your hotel stay. If traveling for work see if you can book normally and reimburse it, then pay the extra on your own.  https://www.southwest.com/html/rapidrewards/eoy-tier-communication.html Think about how much you'll use companion pass before you spend too much though. There's a right amount of extra spend, and then sometimes you'll be close and it just won't be worth it.   We probably used ours 10x this year so far with more to come, if that's $300 per trip the benefit would be $3,000 so it's worth a $1,000 of business select upgrades to tip it over, but not worth buying $5,000 worth of whatever that you wouldn't already have been buying.   Good luck! ... View more

@ALISTLUV wrote:   More hoops! EVERY SW promotion for extra anything  that I have ever seen has required a person to register, then buy, and then fly within the specified time frame.   This one is no different than any of the others.   ... View more

Interesting as that is the one station that repeatedly gets called out for being slow.  Hopefully this is a permanent improvement.  Thanks for the report.   --TheMiddleSeat     ... View more

Points wise the difference is 12 points per dollar for Business Select versus 6 points per dollar for Wanna Get Away So Double points Safe Travels ... View more

When you travel, you have to be aware of the bag's weight.  The fact that you had an overweight bag means you pay the fee.  It does not mean that you get credit for the other bag's difference between the actual weight and the limit.   There is nothing absurd about the policy. ... View more

I preboard on every flight.  It is my right under ADA.   As far as the whole family, a preboard person can take with them one companion.  When the whole family with kids wants to preboard, the question is what do they do with the kids when they aren't on the plane?   If they are able to keep up with the kids, then they don't need to preboard.   Next time, request a wheelchair and you will be first on and off the plane.  I just watched a family abuse the preboard policy on the way from Los Cabos MX to Houston.  They probably were awake all night trying to rig the preboard rules so that they could all get the front rows.   Next time, I'm requesting a wheelchair to get on ahead of these people. ... View more

@TheMiddleSeat wrote: My two cents... you should never buy the day the schedule opens up as fares are often higher then and settle down a bit after the initial rush fades away.  However, I'm softening on that approach now that Southwest travel credits no longer expire so having a bunch of credits laying around isn't a problem for someone who may not fly a lot.  So if you don't mind possibly having some travel credits to use later go ahead and buy immediately, but plan on repricing it on a regular basis until you get close to departure date.   --TheMiddleSeat Especially since jumping on the initial release was the least amount of time you could possibly have to use a travel credit if plans changed.      ... View more

I too grabbed a lower fare to TPA in Dec for my mom. A few weeks ago the points were ~8,066, last week ~9515. Yesterday at the beginning of the sale they dropped to ~4866. This morning 6515. ... View more

Sorry to hear you had problems, but I can't imagine flying the same day as an important event with a hard deadline like a cruise ship departure. It would be kind of like flying to attend a wedding on the same day, I know if I cared about being there for the ceremony I would fly a day in advance. Personally, I have an important business meeting on Thursday this week, could I fly on Thursday morning and get there? Yes. Am I? No. Why? because the meeting is important so I am traveling Wednesday afternoon to insure I am on time. I do wish you safe travels in the future.    ... View more

@dminarich clearly not Southwest Airlines if there was a cancelation fee. Perhaps Southwest Vacations or some other company unrelated to Southwest Airlines.   --TheMiddleSeat ... View more

@TheMiddleSeat wrote: @Jariel02 wrote: You won’t find that there is a number of how many passes because there is not a limit on the number or passes they can issue. Anyone can request and can be issued a gate pass if they have a legitimate reason. One reason listed is to escort a young traveler. Which is as what we did as parents.  So nothing guarantees that you can receive multiple passes, and in fact, nothing guarantees you can get one at all. While you may not have liked the decision of the agent, they do get to decide whether you get the pass or not.   --TheMiddleSeat The only version of the policy that I've seen includes that the passes are not guaranteed, subject to conditions at the airport, etc.    Honestly I would have taken the one which was offered and had the other parent go to the restroom and try again at a different counter ten minutes later in case you could get a different response. But the policy that day may have been only to offer one.       ... View more

👍   --TheMiddleSeat ... View more

@bwallet NO, my statement is that 35% are on the WGA..   But that was just an estimate not trying to be exact.   ... View more

@TheMiddleSeat   As always, a wealth of information.  That makes sense.    ... View more

@Bryan456sk1 wrote: Yeah, I’m just over halfway completing 14 out of 25. I’m just gonna go with the safe bet of completing it before the year ends. Consider a “points run” if a sale comes on if you might need to make a trip for fun to put you over.  One year I needed one more flight so I did a RT to MSP and worked in the airport lounge for the day, had lunch, and came back. It’s worth it for A-list. Having the auto-check in, flexible same day changes, priority check in, preferred response from assistance requests…it’s worth a points run or two.    Companion pass you need to think about - will you use it enough to support spending X extra dollars if you wouldn’t have spent it anyway? The key is to spend it in a way that accomplishes something you would have done anyway.       ... View more

@DancingDavidE wrote: @TheMiddleSeat wrote: " I was able to verify that this benefit is still available in our Portland airport, but I do sincerely apologize that it was not available to you at the time of your travel."   Sounds like an answer to me. Whoever told you is isn't going to be available was wrong.   --TheMiddleSeat Maybe it's the other Portland. I heard one story of someone doing that on a flight…whoops!!   I could see it evolving where the priority lane at security won’t be needed when some critical mass of A-list and business select all have PreCheck or Clear.  All airlines, hotels, etc. have priority check in lines I don’t see that going anywhere.     ... View more

Sorry. 1 flight out of 10 WITH WiFi ... View more

@DancingDavidE wrote: Security screening lines - no idea!   I use CLEAR and PreCheck so I'm a bad person to ask in that regard.     Agree. I've had Clear for about 2.5 years and in my 70+ flights during that time have never spent more than about 2 minutes in line at any airport - DAL/DFW/DEN/ MDW/ORD*/STL . It really is a supercharged PRE.   I'm lucky in that UA comps the fee as I am still United 1K.   *except terminal 5 which has no Clear so PRE is as good as it gets. ... View more

Thanks, DDE!  Sorry.. yes, I was more concerned with the double cost (IE, if it was charged per segment) in my situation.   ... View more

@parpitt1 wrote: I did not know that Southwest even accepted Paypal? Oh they do, it's the main way I pay. I use PayPal for most things when I can and I have used it in this exact scenario to pay the taxes/fees for an otherwise free flight. I feel like it's an extra layer of protection vs entering your CC details directly on a site.    Anyway -- I would have checked my reservation immediately after booking (same day) and I would have started raising an alarm if I didn't see my reservation in my account.    --Jessica ... View more

May be I was too vague in my original post , my trip is for pleasure in January, the week after this new ticket window opened up, to the Caribbean, for a Saturday to Saturday vacation. For work purposes, I agree, the sweet spot is about 4 to 6 weeks out, but in this case I am going to bet the fares won't being dropping unless another "shutdown" happens. Why? The hotels on this island are mostly booked up at this point and the rates have escalated based on the availability/occupancy for that week in January. All those folks are flying there.   BTW, for this particular itinerary as of this morning the Wanna Get Away and Plus fares are now gone and there only 3 Business Select Fares left on the outbound flight. Oh, and the point total for the roundtrip is 71,629.  Your mileage may vary Safe travels ... View more

@parpitt1 wrote: Wow, I've learned something, thanks for sharing. As an A'-lister I've done the standby flight change multiple times over the years but was unaware I could make a no charge change. The standby thing only works for me when I do not check bags and about 75% of the time I have to check bags to accommodate PPE for work so a no charge same day change would be a win for me.  The same-day change is new this year with the WGA+ fare, it was only standby for earlier flights before this.   Agree with you the new method is great if they let you do it since I like to check bags when traveling with some of the gear.   But my habit under the prior rules was generally to book the latest non-red-eye flight available and then try to confirm a standby at the counter which often worked.            ... View more

@636895291 wrote: We had four segments, two outbound, two return.   We did upgrade to business select on the outbound AFTER we got the 15 boarding position difference (paid $80 more for that). On the return, we did not, still had Anytime tickets and had a 9 position difference. And you were also both on one confirmation number with a single purchase of both tickets simultaneously?   The tickets were purchased prior to the announcement of including EBCI with Anytime?   I'm curious if we can find anyone on the board that has purchased two Anytime tickets after the system was updated and if this happens, most likely it was a bug in the algorithm for the tickets that had to upgraded to match the policy and current bookings are working as expected.     ... View more