@Radar70 wrote:
I've read conflicting responses for the purchasing of an extra seat. My husband has a large chest/ shoulders, I have a large bottom, we are flying to Vegas and thought it best to purchase an extra seat. I want to pre-board as it is difficult for me to walk the aisle, I don't want everyone staring and judging my size. I am confused about pre-boarding or if I have to purchase Early Bird check in. I sent Southwest an email weeks ago, I never received a reply - they said it could take up to 30 days for an answer, I am impatient & want to calm my anxiety. Thank you
All three responses so far are the answer to the post:
1) don’t buy early bird if you will ask for preboarding and/or COS.
2) the scenario for you both might be for you to ask for medical preboarding and him to book customer of size which includes preboarding, then you can both board and pick out a three-seat row and put the placard on the middle seat. (Or the window
note: the COS ticket is refunded, so you don’t actually “pay” for it in the end but you do have to buy it up front and get a refund later. There is no option to buy a second seat for yourself, it’s not compatible with the ticketing system. The COS method is the workaround in this regard.
3) There isn’t any reason for you both to be COS when all you need is one empty middle seat to share. You could both do it if you didn’t plan to sit together.
4) if you don’t end up preboarding or as COS, head to the middle of the place the window seats are a little wider there. The very front and back window seats are thinner seats due to the tapering of the fuselage.
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05-07-2022
06:04 PM
05-07-2022
06:04 PM
@flywithwine wrote:
Hi
I have a a VinGarde Valise wine suitcase.
https://www.flywithwine.com
I see people travel with these all the time and check them as luggage but in reviewing Southwests polices it appears they don't allow them.
Southwest states that all checked wine must be in a corrugated box.
https://www.southwest.com/help/baggage/special-baggage-sports-equipment
Is this really the case do you know?
Would a suitcase of wine be rejected by Southwest even though TSA allows this?
Please let me know if you have experience with this.
THx
I think the distinction here is between if the wine is inside of another checked item, or if it's being checked as a whole case of wine.
So you'd qualify for the wine being "inside of checked luggage" option.
Good luck!
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05-07-2022
06:02 PM
05-07-2022
06:02 PM
@dfwskier wrote:
Your chances of being allowed to get off approach 100%
1) Sit as close to the front of the planes as you can. - the first 9 rows ideally.
2)That allows you to get off the plane much earlier than the last person to de plane
3) Tell the flight attendant at the front of the plane that you are getting off and plan to return.
Chances are you'll be done with your bathroom break and be back at the gate before the last person de planes.
one more thing, leave something in your seat (not your purse) so that someone else won't take your seat.
Getting off is 100% - getting back on is the trick 🙂
You'll just have to promise (and deliver on the promise) to get back at least 10 minutes before departure time.
Sounds pretty smooth though if your family will be staying on the plane and hold your seat.
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05-07-2022
05:24 PM
05-07-2022
05:24 PM
@dfwskier wrote:
To be guaranteed TSA Pre on any flight, you have to pay for it - every five years.
Has your TSA Pre expired?
They still say it is not guaranteed although assuming the TSA PreCheck name matches the booking ticketed name, it seems to be 99+% for me.
Sometimes it has been as easy as not getting it on the at home boarding pass and asking for a new boarding pass at the ticket counter and it shows up again.
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05-07-2022
09:43 AM
05-07-2022
09:43 AM
@TheMiddleSeat wrote:
Board with them at B1 and B2. You can always board later than your assigned position, you just can't board earlier.
--TheMiddleSeat
If neither one is six years old or younger, that's the option.
Or board at "B0" family boarding if one of them is younger.
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I recommend "App in the Air" as a free tool you can use that will send you notifications to your phone about gate changes among many other features.
Once I was tracking my parents and saw the gate change, texted them, and they had no idea...they made it! (That flight was on the other guys, but still.)
But to the original point - they surely did make an announcement, the one you didn't hear would have been when all the other people on that flight got up and headed down the concourse.
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Make sure in your correspondence that you are clear whether you were flying to Dallas Love Field (DAL) or Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) if someone is trying to look up your flights and can't find them it won't help them to validate your claims.
@Amame wrote:
Fast forward to 4/11/22. Again, having no choice, I booked round trip flights. (Buf to Dallas w a stop at midway) I had a flawless flight and was impressed we even got in early to DFW despite a full sold out plane.
The way back (DFW to BUF w a transfer at midway) was the complete opposite. The
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04-24-2022
11:50 AM
04-24-2022
11:50 AM
@rich1954 wrote:
45% would be the best I have ever seen. If you can buy points for less than 1.5 cents a point it might be worthwhile.
Only if you need to use them right away and you wouldn't have any method of earning them through flights, other travel, shopping, etc.
That's about break-even on the valuations that you can find online for what you can redeem them for, so not horrible but there still might be other ways to earn the points for taking an activity that you were going to do anyway.
But if you need them right now to book something before you could earn them, go ahead.
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@vtayeh wrote:
Unfortunate realities… really. No offense, but @chgoflyer have you traveled with a toddler and attempted to keep them calm for not just a delay but during a flight? The actual reality is that SW is required by law to provide a notification of delay and that’s it. They don’t care about the ramifications that causes. And I’m just supposed to deal with their delayed and undelayed notification stupidity. SW is missing the whole point as to why you’d notify someone of a delay. If the point is to be at the airport at the original scheduled time, no matter what, then why send a delay notification? SW is going to do whatever they please, whenever they please. My time is not on their list of things that concern them.
I have, the littles have gone all over the country with Southwest. It's unfortunate that there seems to be some extra time and I get what you are saying for sure, but you really do have to get to the airport as if it was on time just in case. The best suggestion would be to get through security and then try to find some distraction once you are airside. Or if the posted delay is long enough ask to go on an earlier flight instead.
I'm sorry this happened, I hope everything worked out in the end. Unfortunately it is true that although they try to keep you posted the departure time can go both up and down.
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04-24-2022
11:40 AM
04-24-2022
11:40 AM
@parpitt1 wrote:
Southwest pretty much exclusively utilizes Terminal C at Atlanta for domestic flights, I can't say how far between gates you will have to walk but you won't have to get on the inter-terminal train, also as noted above they will only sell you a connecting flight if they believe you and your baggage can make the connection.
Safe Travels
Unless they have to drop off at the international terminal all domestic flights would be Concourse C.
I recommend that you check the equivalent connections today to get a feel for it - of course gates change due to conditions all the time - but for instance if the connection was today, or the next weekday with the same schedule, etc. - then what would be the gates and you should see that you probably have time to even use the restroom if you need to, hit the coffee shop or get a chicken sandwich or chili dog. (Both of these in the center of of the C concourse)
Otherwise plan to use the airplane lavatory about 25 minutes before landing at ATL and you'll be fresh and ready to sprint out of there.
If you are delayed from Nashville, ask the FA to do you a favor and see if they'll hold off the horde for you to get out first. They'll do this if your 30 minute layover has evaporated down to 15 minutes due to a late arrival in ATL.
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Dang, I was going to post this but couldn't find the citation. We should get a knowledgebase for this one.
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@jwhite20205 wrote:
Hello. I will be traveling soon and I was gifted a Pelican 1615TRVL Air rolling case. I would like to use this as my only checked in luggage. The exterior measurements on the Pelican website states are: 32.6 × 18.4 × 11.0"
I realize this is literally the maximum size of 62 total inches! I'm worried I'll have to pay an overage fee when checking in. Any advice?
https://www.pelican.com/us/en/product/cases/travel-case/air/1615trvl
Print this out and have the dimensions handy, or laminate and tape it right to the case.
I don't think you'll have any problem, they would only be checking weight very closely, anything else that is of a reasonable size will pass right through, I've never seen them actually measure anything that wasn't obviously way over.
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@TravelingMama wrote:
With the mask mandate lifted today I may have to cancel travel plans with my baby. I fully support peoples decision to wear a mask or not for their own reasons, but we don’t have a choice in my circumstance and sitting so close to other people not wearing masks is extremely dangerous for my baby. I would love to see Southwest implement a policy where people who chose to wear a mask can easily sit together in one area of the plane and not be forced to sit near someone who doesn’t want to wear a mask. I wonder how many families will be deciding not to travel on planes due to the mask mandate being lifted.
How many people are in your group? If it is just the two of you traveling and the baby is a lap child, you are pretty certain to be sitting next to someone if the flight is full.
This would be difficult with the baby but if you did absolutely have to fly, you can try to find late-night options that aren't full which might help but you still never know if some meeting or event happens that day and suddenly an often empty route gets full.
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04-19-2022
10:22 PM
04-19-2022
10:22 PM
@Ken64 wrote:
My wife and I have 1 confirmation number, and early bird boarding. If I check in on the app, will it display both early bird positions for each flight? I saw something about google pay wallet, but I do not use that. I can print them out on our outbound, but may be forced to use the mobile app on way back. I do not want any problems.
Thanks!
I'll add that you don't have to install the ticket to your wallet necessarily, you can use the app to call it up and board. You'll also be able to have barding passes printed at the airport for your return trip unless I'm missing something?
The app works great except in cases where the flight is delayed significantly it won't generate in the app after some time has elapsed past the scheduled boarding (3-4 hours?), so i recommend if you don't add the boarding passes to your wallet then at least take a screenshot of it if you don't end up getting printed copies.
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04-19-2022
03:56 PM
04-19-2022
03:56 PM
@dfwskier wrote:
@MarcelM wrote:
Disappointed in Southwest for jumping on the bandwagon.
For the first time in two years, I planned to fly on Southwest next week. That will be cancelled.
I guess you won't be travelling anywhere then because every major airline plus Amtrak has dropped the mandate. I'm not sure about Greyhound.
Me? Well I have something north of 70 flights since the pandemic began. The only time I felt at risk was the time that I had to ride a train packed with people at the Denver airport.
I do usually walk at ATL in the same scenario (that was before pandemic) but DEN unfortunately doesn’t have a pedestrian pathway. Probably good with the mile high thin air, people would be passing out thinking they can walk that far.
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@Gldsfm wrote:
if you lost a small Tiffany pouch on flight 2016 from West Palm on 4/17/22 please let me know and I will. Reunite you with your lost item.
The vast majority of people will report their lost items to Southwest using the lost article website or filing a claim at baggage services. They will only connect if you also turn in the item.
Only a fraction of each day’s passengers check in on this Forum to see your note. It’s not impossible but the best chance to reunite someone to their item is for you to submit it to the airline.
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04-19-2022
06:30 AM
04-19-2022
06:30 AM
@Will0329 wrote:
Like for example today the 3.50pm flight from burbank,California to Oakland left at 5.50pm instead of 3.50pm. The burbank to Oakland flight landed in Oakland at 6.50pm
The connecting flight in Oakland going to seattle took off at 6.20pm.
What would southwest do if you got to Oakland and missed the connection to seattle because your 1st flight was delayed??
Southwest will allow you to change your flight to an alternate route to SEA when the original flight is delayed when you get to the airport. So if the 3:50 pm flight was already delayed when you came to BUR at say 2 pm the agent at the ticket counter would have the ability to check you in to the alternate route including luggage.
If the flight is still on time when you check in then you’ll have to see how the day goes.
Once you are past security you can still change flights in the case of a long delay if seats are available, but TBD if any checked bags would also be switched. If you only have a carry on it would help in this scenario.
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04-15-2022
07:52 PM
04-15-2022
07:52 PM
@kDub2022 wrote:
I thought this was a Southwest forum to bring things to their attention?
It's not - it is intended as a customer-to-customer forum. So we the peanut gallery can answer questions, in some cases we may know the answers or have good advice, people can commiserate with people having issues, etc.
Monitoring of content here is mainly to keep the community healthy, not to bring back the occasional post to HQ. The management of the community does overlap with other communication type activity like the app or to identify bugs in app or website or other technical glitches.
Anyway - I'm sure the management is aware of preboarding issues, but it is tied to how the airline has chosen to perform boarding. Unless they chose to assign seats, it is going to continue.
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04-15-2022
07:38 PM
04-15-2022
07:38 PM
@GShivers wrote:
Found a set of airpods at MDW on today (4/15) around 5p local time. This flight was not connecting. They have a very distinct case. Hopefully the person that lost this will see this post so I can return them.
They can track the last known position of them, I would suggest to turn it in at the baggage office if you are also deplaning at MDW.
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04-11-2022
05:35 PM
04-11-2022
05:35 PM
@SWFlyer007 wrote:
I agree with the previous comments, Kansas City (MCI) isn't tricky at all, and if you get let off right in front of the check-in area, it's just in the door and go. If you're not checking bags, get let off right at the door with TSA. I've done this airport all the time at an hour before take-off and still had to sit and wait.
Agree, there is basically no walking due to the “pod” setup. If there is anything tricky at 6:15 a.m. I don’t know but it is a really fast airport to get through.
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@mikey1120 wrote:
This has been resolved.
I called again and got the right person on the line. Customer service does have the ability to make changes like this without involving the customer relations department or wait 2 weeks for an answer. The gentleman was very polite and prompt, and this was resolved in less than 10 minutes.
Glad to hear it, I have also had to ask twice but gotten a swap in my case from TPA to SRQ.
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04-11-2022
05:24 PM
04-11-2022
05:24 PM
I recommend to use “app in the air” or TripIt as backups who will text you with any known gate changes.
I’m sorry that OP missed a flight but the fact is they did make some announcement, the plane departed with most of its passengers, and they page you by name….airport PA systems do vary though and my own pet peeve is when two adjacent gates are boarding around the same time it’s hard to tell what announcement is which. One time I did get all the way in line and scan my ticket with a “WHOMP” sound I was in the wrong boarding line.
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04-10-2022
10:29 PM
04-10-2022
10:29 PM
@buzzchris wrote:
My neighbor has been doing this for years. She is not disabled,. She is an avid hiker. She has a cane that collapses, then pre-boards with her two adult sons. She laughs about it and even has posted it on FB. Then last week, her son who boards with her, grabs an emerg row seat after passengers start boarding and saves it for his brother. She says it is really simple. She says the FAs don't have a clue or don't care. Not too long ago, I saw five adult family members board with "grandma" in a wheelchair who preboarded. Five to assist? Why is that allowed? ...and this is not the first time I have witnessed this.
The FA will eject people who preboard from the exit rows, I've never seen this happen myself. Unless you are saying they preboarded and sat in front, then when general boarding started they got back up and grabbed the exit row?
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@solisls13 wrote:
Hi, just wondering if you were able to travel with you baby without a birth certificate?
Yes absolutely - we brought recent medical records which they may or may not ask for.
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03-30-2022
07:47 PM
03-30-2022
07:47 PM
@Blasiandale0 wrote:
Thank you so much oh on the return flight I pay for check bags again?
You aren't obligated to bring the same luggage with you each way so yes, you'd pay if necessary due to quantity of bags > 2, over 50 lbs, or oversized for each one-way separately.
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03-30-2022
07:36 PM
03-30-2022
07:36 PM
@SWFlyer007 wrote:
@shadiakhavan I don't know for sure but I don't think the FA are obligated to contact you, they are obligated to get it to the airport you landed at's security or lost and found. Now is everyone in that department honest?? I think it might depend on what you have in your purse. Just a reminder, Aiport lost and found and Security is often not associated with SWA.
Let me tell you about my experience, I left an IPAD (a very expensive one) on a flight in the seat. I didn't even know that I had, but as we were at baggage claim an announcement was made, "An IPAD was left in the seat on SWA FLT (whatever it was) from (wherever it was). To claim please see the attendant and the SWA lost baggage claim. I checked my bag and yep it was mine. I gave a description and the password to unlock it and she gave it to me.
So, I'm not sure why, (if it was found by a FA) that this didn't go the same route. I often hear in the airport, Passenger so and so go back to Gate (whatever it was you landed at) to retrieve a lost item)
This is all good - one point being it may have been found by a fellow passenger instead. I've chased people down in the terminal to return items when I've seen them leave hats, books, and kids items and they were sitting in a few rows in front of me. A few times I've returned items to the gate agent if I didn't seem them in the gate area. If I'm last off the plane and have no idea whose it was, give to the FA.
Anyway go through the Southwest system with the lost item report and also try to reach BWI in case someone dropped it off directly to an airport employee.
Getting in touch with the flight crew is probably not going to happen unless someone from the flight crew reached out directly.
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03-30-2022
07:26 PM
03-30-2022
07:26 PM
@SWFlyer007 wrote:
LOL, my first thought when I read the title, "REALLY," is your post. But you have the right to post it. Much like I've seen changes in the IPA they offered when I got used to a very good one, it happens, and SWA reserves the right to what they want to offer. But I've yet to post on a discussion forum, nor contact SWA. I'm going to say, I appreciate your palate choice, but in life there are changes even if we don't like them. My suggestion, go to a bar prior to boarding and drink all the BM's you desire, hopefully that helps.
Because they taste horrible and no one wants it? 😂 I know I'm not in the majority necessarily but for whatever reason they may not have been moving as fast and got taken off the menu. They could come back, who knows.
Tomato juice you can probably get in the terminal and bring with you? I'm not sure about BM mix though.
But agree with the first response to use "Contact Us" and find out - come back and let us know if you hear anything.
Agree with the later response - try it at the concourse bar and maybe you can keep a blog about which one is best.
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03-30-2022
07:09 PM
03-30-2022
07:09 PM
@TheMiddleSeat wrote:
You will not be able to stream any video service. They really don't allow downloading? Seems like they are missing a key feature and are behind the times.
--TheMiddleSeat
Check the "now playing" options that are included for free, maybe you can find 8 hours worth of films and shows that will be provided without the $8.
It's not impossible that your service will sneak through, but they have caught all of the usual streaming suspects for sure.
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03-30-2022
07:07 PM
03-30-2022
07:07 PM
@dfwskier wrote:
@Mattspiral8 wrote:
So the 64,000 points i earned this year, i could use those points for purchases and still have “64,000” on my companion pass points? So they dont erase at all?
That is correct
They only would erase on 1/1/2023 if you do not earn CP in 2022.
The qualifying points for all categories erase 1/1/2023 no matter if you earned that level or not. This doesn't affect your Rapid Rewards points balance that you can use any time.
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03-30-2022
07:01 PM
03-30-2022
07:01 PM
@strgth wrote:
@chgoflyer wrote:
@jksobonya wrote:
My only word of caution is be careful cancelling a flight right now just to pay a different way, because flight prices have generally gone up and you might end up paying more than your original flight price.
--Jessica
FYI: Anytime (and Business select) prices for the same day/flight fluctuate much less than Wanna Get Away -- if at all.
Hmmmm...the summer international flights have increased by at least $60 since February for BS, AT, and WGA.
They can be changed, but they don't fluctuate on a daily basis. I'm sure there has been a bump in the recent time period from the winter.
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