06-26-2018
02:51 PM
@Porter570 wrote: I am fascinated by folks that are willing to create a work around for a simple/logical change. again, I know HOW to save a seat, but I don’t control how people respond to IF I save a seat. So the “doesn’t have to lead to confrontation” is out of my control. If saving a seat IS allowed and CAN lead to confrontation, why not just let people board together? If saving a seat IS allowed, and COULD lead to a child in a dangerous situation, why not let them board together? can someone explain why we should NOT be allowed to board together? All good on seat saving tactics 😉 So far it hasn't, or hasn't very often led to confrontation. When it does, then I would expect clarification or new policy to come from Southwest.
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@funlovin68 wrote: Southwest needs a policy on saving seats. One person will pay the 15.00 fee and they will then go and save 1-6 seats. I have experienced this on my last 3 flights. I asked the flight m attendent and they said there is no offical policy on this issue. I am going to start sitting in their seats as I am tired of people playing the system. Thank goodness I will be at A list priority next week I don't personally stress for one person taking up to three seats in a row (1 aisle, 1 window, and the middle). If you can't save it by simultaneously putting a hand on it, then you are being greedy.
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Southwest does require the age verification for a lap child - in your case there is also a requirement that they can't fly babies less than 14 days old without a medical release, so you'll be pushing up against that requirement too. I'm not completely clear if you buy a ticket for the infant normally you wouldn't have to provide ID - only for lap children or child fare - but if you are on the edge of the 14 day limitation you still might need it or the doctor's note. Here's the whole section for your reference: https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/family/baby-on-board-pol.html
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I had missed a connection or weather cancellation in Nashville before - I forget the exact circumstances - they had coupons for a discount since it would have been on my nickel. I'm surprised they didn't offer at least that.
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@bturkish wrote: Does SW offer this? I am flying next week. Not specifically that I'm aware of, or they do have a few specific days that they offer free drinks for different purposes. But a pleasant demeanor and a smile go a long way. Honestly they give out so many drinks due to special days, being a little late, special occasions, turbulence, etc. its worth a try on any day.
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06-24-2018
10:51 PM
06-24-2018
10:51 PM
Assuming you have Wanna Get Away fares, you can cancel and rebook or change the flight, it should be the same total cost either way. If you have a refundable fare, to maintain refundability you must cancel and rebook. Changes to refundable fares make them non-refundable. There isn't a change fee, but you do have to pay the current price of the ticket - i.e. if the change takes place close to the date of travel it will be likely for the current price to be higher than what you booked today, you'd have to pay the difference although there isn't any additional fee for changing the ticket. This would apply equally to cash or points, if you booked on points then you'd have to increase the points as necessary - if you don't have many extra points then don't book your husband's ticket with points as you might not be able to cover the cost increase, book yours with the points first. You can also book one-ways to allow use of points on three of the legs, and pay cash for only your husband's outbound leg that might be changed. I guess technically if you did book your husband all with points and then didn't have enough to change the day, you could refund the points and then buy a ticket if necessary which would let you use points first, and then if you had to pay cash it would be the same as paying cash all along. I don't know how it works with two people on one confirmation. I would guess that it is possible to change one person's flight, but might require calling instead of self-service online, the result may be to split the person off into a separate confirmation. I'd suggest you may want to book separate confirmations if you know that there is a chance your husband's flight would be changed so that you can do it easily online.
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06-23-2018
11:11 AM
@dfwskier wrote: I'll propose a solution that I'm sure will be contoversial: Save the seats. Take an aisle seat and throw your briefcase in the window seat (or middle seat). when people ask, you can tell them the seat is taken. If you need to, have the person you board with sit in the aisle seat across from you and have that person do the same thing with a bag. Southwest policy does not prohibit saving seats, but a lot of people don't like it when people do it. You'll find discusion on the topic on this site. In the interest of full disclosure: I do save seats - normally one and never more than two.. Same...my wife and daugher are coming in family boarding - sometimes we all do family boarding, sometimes I board at my A-number. I don't see the middle seat being a big issue, so basically there would be one less aisle seat for the A31-A60 crowd.
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Southwest told you their name, but not the confirmation number? As one of the other posters mentioned, if they used your credit card for the fees, then you have the information needed to call back and have the flight canceled. Or alternately, can you call back and try to get the confirmation number, if you are entitled to that information as owner of the points? This situation (and other similar fraud cases) is so strange, I can see one aspect from Southwest's viewpoint is that the points aren't technically for sale between individuals, but they don't know what personal agreements might exist between people booking flights for others and they can't necessarily just cancel someone's flight in case the booking had been made in good faith. Then for the person committing the fraud, it's not like it couldn't be proven if they use their real name and ID to fly that they used the points, or that it seems so likely to me that the truth would come out and the fraudulent flight would be canceled. Good luck. Common sense seems to say that if the flight hasn't taken place yet, that things could be remdied, and if the flight did take place then a police report seems to be one of your options.
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@ruchivarma wrote: Hi I had a question. Is there a way to transfer available funds for a confirmation number in someone else's name to my name? My hubby has funds available under his name and I wanted to travel and use those funds instead. Please let me know the ways I can use those funds. Thanks! The travel funds are unfortunately only available to the traveler whose name is on the confirmation number. If your husband would end up not using the travel funds, there is unofficially a pathway to call customer service after they expire an have a travel voucher issued for a fee (currently $100) and then the voucher could be used for any flyer. This won't help you for any short-term travel though, since you have to wait for them to expire before requesting the voucher.
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@Khofer wrote: One agent said that I do not need to have the birth certificate for the 4 yo's. (He then went on to say if I was worried, to go ahead and bring a copy.... but I don't have a copy yet that I could bring, or else I would!) My flight is in 3 days and I may not have time to get their certificates- (they were born in a different part of the state... so I'm kinda panicking. I have a newborn that will be a lap infant- flying free- and I DID get her a certified birth certificate to prove she is over 14 days and less than 2 yo. ... This version is correct - you do need the birth certificate for the infant, but not the twins. If it would make you more comfortable a recent immunization record from the pediatrician's office would also show birth dates and names for the twins as a helpful document (that you shouldn't actually need). We actually got our daughter (2 years old) a passport now to have as a durable identification, besides if an opportunity for international travel comes up on short notice. We flew a lot with her as an infant as well, so we did have a copy of the birth certificate in a protective sheath that was in the diaper bag full-time. Don't laminate it permanently though, the rules actually say that the paper documents should be able to be inspected.
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06-22-2018
01:49 PM
@Shaneydior25 wrote: How can I get my confirmination number to see if I was check in You'll probably have figured this out already, but it is the six-digit (letters and numbers) code that was on your confirmation email when you purhcased the ticket, if you have that email from Southwest the confirmation number will be on there.
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06-21-2018
04:54 PM
2 Loves
@AngryPassenger wrote: ...How are you supposed to put an entire suit or a dry cleaned dress into a freaking slammed full overhead bin without destroying it? It is not possible, those bins are tiny and the clothes will be smashed and totally messed up by the bags. Delta has closets, American had closets, come on southwest. I've seen it work with wedding dresses before, so I would say it is possible. Maybe not guaranteed though. But seriously, wait to the end and find a bin that has some smaller carryons in it, definitely don't put your garment up there before the bin is full.
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06-21-2018
12:51 PM
1 Love
I didn't take one, but will be sure that Ruby gets dressed up for our next flight tomorrow We also found that putting her in the window seat with the CARES harness helped, she enjoyed seeing out the window to help distract compared to the outbound trip where we had her in the middle.
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@SoCo4Now wrote: Curious if Southwest ever adds Wanna Get Away seats to their flights. Tyring to book a flight 5 months in advance and all these seats are sold out. Is it worth waiting, or is the number of seat fixed and I'd be wasting my time. Thanks! I'll add to what @dfwskier @TheMiddleSeat @chgoflyer have said - if you are an infrequent Southwest flyer, buy the Anytime fare if your date/time is set and then refund it if you see a WGA pop up. As the others all said, these may come and go to some degree but I wouldn't recommend waiting for one, particularly if this was a holiday travel or going to Orlando during special events at WDW. If you are a frequent Southwest flyer, I'd recommend spending the extra few bucks for Business Select over Anytime - you get the 12x points, beverage, and priority boarding. Especially if you may be close to A-list or A-list preferred at the end of the year based on points accumulation, don't buy the Anytime.
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06-20-2018
07:54 PM
5 Loves
I wanted to post an update about our use of the CARES harness for our two year old. It works great! We purchased ours at Bed, Bath, and Beyond using one of their frequent coupons. Also available on Amazon, and presumably other sites. Anyway, one clarification that doesn't appear in the instructions - the FA on our flight today (typing this somewhere over Iowa as I write this) let us know that the harness shouldn't be used in the rows adjacent to the exit rows due to the loop that goes around behind the seat - the exit row shouldn't be encroached on by that band. So obviously it shouldn't be used anywhere that the child wouldn't be allowed to sit, but also avoid the rows adjacent to the exit rows. During normal operation it shouldn't make a difference, but I can see that if the band became loose during an emergency situation it could be an obstacle to the exit. I'm not sure why this would apply to the row behind the exit rows, but that's what they asked us to do.
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06-20-2018
07:49 PM
06-20-2018
07:49 PM
They obviously do want international passengers, especially from South America where they have a network. I'm sure that they would also like to have European travelers, assuming you find some other convenient way to get to the mainland USA (or Central America!) but I'm not aware of what the restrictions might be for access overseas.
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06-20-2018
07:45 PM
@dianamezzanotte wrote: I went to create a rapid rewards account and it said I already had one, even though I have no info about it in my email. I tried to log in to retrieve my password and it says the system can't find me. Essentially, I can't create a new account, but I don't actually have an account to log into. Has this happened to anyone? For some reason Southwest may not have an email associated with it - then they can't email you a reset link. I'd say call. Worst case if you are in a time crunch to get tickets booked now, and most likely if there is an account in your name that you've forgotten about you must not have used it and any points are likely expired? Make a new account to get your flights booked, then combine them later. https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Rapid-Rewards/I-ve-discovered-that-i-have-2-separate-Rapid-Rewards-accounts/td-p/52456 Use the same contact info in the link above to call and get a new email assigned, then you should be able to use the online reset tools.
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@ashmama wrote: Thank you! I spoke with a Southwest rep who assured me it would be enough time. Worst case, there's a later flight to our hometown with seats left, if we miss the connection. Also if you have TSA PreCheck or other priority you will be in good shape getting back through security. I'm not sure where international flights for Southwest go in ATL - I don't believe Southwest has any infrastructure at the International Terminal there, so it must be deplaning at C gates and there may be a way to claim, re-check, and get back to the terminal all right there. Otherwise if you are facing a tough connection you can always ask people ahead of you in security if you can move forward due to your flight's timing. Sometimes that works.
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06-20-2018
06:50 PM
06-20-2018
06:50 PM
Dang, I din't think to check this until being on the wifi on my return flight from PDX. I'll have to come back to try these spots! I did have the chance to visti McMenamins North in Eugene on my trip, they have a tiki bar as part of the restaurant!
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06-20-2018
06:44 PM
Guess what - 2 hour delay for me on the MDW - PDX route on Saturay evening! I was jinxed.
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Nice work there La Silla Medio!
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06-18-2018
12:11 PM
06-18-2018
12:11 PM
@bgubs14 wrote: Yeah! I recently had this issue and took a Greyhound from MKE to MSP and then flew back to my final destination(MDw). It would be a very short flight but I could see Southwest getting some demand on this route Check out the Hiawatha line Amtrak next time @bgubs14
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A different hack - I use up the credit before it expires on new flights Just kidding - I think the hack as proposed would help if you were facing expiration and planned on requesting a voucher, you certainly wouldn't want to request multipe vouchers and lose $100 on each one when it could be combined.
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06-18-2018
12:09 PM
Based on questions on this community I believe the email has been taken down - I don't know if it still exists or not. Would Twitter or Facebook work for your communication?
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06-18-2018
12:08 PM
06-18-2018
12:08 PM
If you are traveling light and at the right time of day it may make sense to go MSP -> MDW and then take the Hiawatha Amtrak line from downtown Chicago to MKE (downtown or General Mitchell Airport). Obviously not as good as a direct flight, but might be more comfortable than the bus. You can take the Orange Line CTA from Midway to downtown to catch the Amtrak. Not sure if that works out better than going all of the way to STL or MCI instead?
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@bec102896 wrote: i have also done a RT in a day where I went LAS-AUS-DAL-ELP-PHX-OKC-HOU-AUS all started at 9pm Vegas time arriving in Austin at 5:30pm central (3:30pm Vegas time next day) that was my longest string of flights but that was my goal and the way I booked it it was $199, got me 3 A List credits, and got me a stop in a new airport that I had not flown to which was ELP. You are my hero @bec102896
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It's not like a car - younger than 2 years old the child can be a "lap child" and not have their own ticket, sitting in the lap of the parent. For over two years old the child will have their own ticket, and should sit in that seat during take-off and landing. (And in general in case there is surprise turbulence.) A car seat can be used if it is TSA approved - that applies to all infant/toddler ages except when the child doesn't have a ticket and no extra seat would be available. The car seat would have to be buckled in against the window, or if only two people are in the row it could be the middle seat and the parent on the aisle. It can't be installed in a way to block someone into the row. We have just purchased one of these on recommendation of this community and will be trying it out this evening: https://www.amazon.com/CARES-Child-Airplane-Travel-Harness/dp/B0012E4FV8/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1529161801&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=cares+harness&psc=1 They also have it at Bed Bath and Beyond if you are in their mailing list and get the 20% off coupons on a regular basis. If not in stock they can order for delivery to the store. Here is a blog post about CARES vs Car Seat: https://www.simplefamilytravel.net/blog/caresharness
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@rtbarron wrote: However, Southwest's business model requires a large number of local origin and destination ("O&D") passengers in order to provide frequent service with 737 aircraft. Unfortunately, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City just don't have the population to support frequent 737 flights. This is why the other major airlines at CID have switched from "mainline" aircraft like 737s to smaller regional jets. While Allegiant does provide service to CID with Airbus aircraft, their service is infrequent. I would love to be proved wrong but I just don't see Southwest serving CID anytime soon. If they did, I'd be on one of the first flights there. Southwest has historically been less hub and spoke oriented, using an approach where the aircraft flow across the county with lots of connections at the smaller airports. On "the other guys" they are more likely to use a smaller aircraft to shuttle back and forth from a regional airport to the hub, travel among the hubs, then shuttle to the regional airport. For Southwest going to CID like @rtbarron said, there wouldn't be enough traffic to fill multiple 737's every day, especially with Des Moines so close. Other locations where two Southwest serviced airports are in close proximity are much more populous. The total number of enplanements at CID does fit with some of the smaller airports that Southwest serves with at least a few flights per day although towards the lower end. There would definitely need to be some more analysis on where people who fly to CID are coming from, and would that benefit Southwest's network overall. Separate question would apply about whether gates were even available, where there are many airports that would seem to be desirable, but all of the space is contractually spoken for.
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@rtbarron wrote: BTW, that toddler who was fond of the Herky the Hawkeye statue? He wants to be a Cyclone now. Go figure. Thinking about engineering? Good choice!
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@jkmcem wrote: I am travelling with an infant. Any tips? Don't let them drink their bottle or nurse while you are boarding. Wait until the takeoff, they may benefit from drinking during the ascent which helps equalize their ears. Many more, but too much to just write down - anything in particular on your mind? There are some good threads on here about gate-checking strollers, that's always a good one.
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