Southwest Airlines Community

@Itzroxy814 wrote: I have children ages 9-13 and they are going to be flying for the first time. On the first trip, I will book our whole family’s flights on one order. I know that I have to get them all their own RR #.  My question is about once they have earned enough points for a free flight. Will I have to book all their tickets under separate confirmation numbers to redeem their points? Therefore checking us all in separately and possibly being seated all spread apart? I would not want my 9 year old to end up boarding first or last in our group in case we can’t manage to get close boarding groups, so this worries me.  This is a good strategy question and I have few follow ups to clarify   How often will you and the kids be flying? If you'll be taking a lot of trips just let the points earn until each one individually has enough points to book the others. This might be a while, but will add up over time if each is flying a fair amount. Points can be used to buy anyone a ticket, so the points for one kid aren't reserved only for that kid, they could buy all the tickets for the group when the points build up enough.  Or wait until the points are enough to buy for multiple people in your party so you can be on fewer confirmation numbers - maybe not all on one but if you can get it consolidated to two confirmations or at least get the youngest kid with you it may help. Book one-way flights in order to use fewer points for more tickets, then buy the other one-way as a group like you are doing. Do you have A-list or will you eventually have A-list? You can always board later than your position so the younger child would never be "forced" to board earlier. Just move back to the first older child or yourself so they can board as a pair.   But it would be easiest when you are all on the same reservation and therefore have sequential positions.       ... View more

@afaygenholtz wrote: Does Southwest allow using a personal hotspot while in flight? Last time I flew, I purchased wifi and the connection was so terrible I couldn't send an email. I'd like to rely on my own wifi source. Not just that it isn't allowed, even if you chose not to turn it off it wouldn't work as you will be too high above the cell towers except during ascent and descent. When you can't have your laptop out anyway.     ... View more

People have said before that you can call Chase to get the info.    The advertising in particular is "get this card and use it on the flight you are buying right now" but then of course you don't get the number shown to you automatically to do that, but people said they were able to get it.         ... View more

@PaulaNH wrote: What is the latest time to check luggage? Some of the smaller locations may allow a shorter window but no one would recommend that, and you gradually are less likely to travel with your luggage.   *Thank you PNS for that one time where it was about 15 minutes! That's an exception, not the rule...   I like @tappingmom1 's advice. Trying for at least an hour on most domestic flights but 45 minutes may be allowable.         ... View more

@jeantags wrote:   This is critical to my decision because if it's 3 months, I won't be able to use it for my May trip, but if it's after I spend $4K, I will.   The credit card promo ends next week so any assistance you can provide would be very helpful. So just to follow up as you mentioned it is "critical" to your decision - what is the decision?   If you are flying Southwest anyway buy the prospective companion's ticket with points so that you can refund the ticket if you do get CP in time, or buy WGA+ fares so you can get the travel credit back in your name. If the decision is to get the card or not or even fly Southwest or not - there's no certainty here for a May flight, it seems like there could be enough time to get CP but if that was the only reason, and you only have this one flight, I'm not sure it is worth changing your normal decision making. But if you would use CP throughout the year it might be worth $000's to you over the course of a year and would definitely be worth it, especially if you were going to hit that spend requirement anyway. i.e. you aren't buying anything extra that wouldn't have otherwise bought it is a no-brainer.     ... View more

@JoAnnF wrote: Re: customer service on flight 2504 Long Beach CA to Las Vegas Nv leaving Long Beach 7:45 pacific standard time. The male flight attendant was quite rude to me just before takeoff on the flight to Las Vegas. There were plenty of empty seats and a very tall big man arrive five minutes before take off and asked where to sit and the female attendant pointed to the middle seat next to me. I began to say “I don’t think you want to sit next to me…” I was going explain I might be coming with something (a cold) but I didn’t get a chance because the man found another seat since there were plenty. The female attendant seemed annoyed that the man didn’t sit in the seat she pointed to and called the male flight attendant over who must be in charge and he had the nerve to tell me I can’t just keep another seat next to me and if I did I would be charged for another seat! I tried to explain but he just rudely stomped away. It was loud and embarrassing interaction and must be reported. No one ever before with Southwest has ever talked to me with such nastiness and a threatening manner. It was as if he was trying to provoke me. I request a LUV voucher or some sort of reimbursement for this rude experience. They are trying to get the plane moving so the FA was just trying to keep things moving.   I don't think it's valid at that point to suggest "maybe sit somewhere else" of the whole plane would be people suggesting all kinds of reasons why someone should find another middle seat besides theirs.    If you felt sick enough not to sit by someone then you shouldn't be flying, or could wear a mask, etc.   That said they don't really have the ability to charge you for an extra seat, so my best suggestion is just to move on from this.   But use the Contact Southwest Customer Service information provided by the other poster if you still want to follow up on this exchange.     ... View more

@here4points wrote: I just received my points yesterday for this promotion. Based on how the promotion was worded I assumed it would count towards my 2023 balance to achieve 2024 companion. Customer Service on the phone thought the same thing in December which I then booked a unneeded hotel to get me over the limit for companion. Now they are saying it counts towards your 2024 balance to get companion for 2025 given the points hit my account in 2024 even though there would be no way to hit your account in 2023 with their 8 week waiting period. Anyone else get confused by this promotion? Seems a bit misleading based off of the "finish the year strong" and "points count towards 2024 companion pass" messaging.  All of it makes sense to me as counting today for current points except for that last line.   Do you have the whole excerpt? There could be a mix-up in the lingo where someone is saying earn points in in a year vs for a CP period.    The wording would be clearer if it said "current year qualifying" which would always be this year plus the whole next year. ... View more

@bballflyer wrote: Typically you earn it after the close of the statement that you reached the 4K on.  So if your statement closes on 2/29 and you had 4K of qualified purchases that month, then typically you would get companion pass a few days after your statement has closed.  You can book your May flight and once earned add a companion later. The 8-week thing for the promotion is the only wild card, so work it backwards. Agreed that the "regular" Companion Pass earns right away but with the promotion it may be reviewed separately.   In the meantime @jeantags book a placeholder flight so that you have something booked using points - that way if the CP does come through you can cancel the points flight and get a refund. If CP doesn't come through, you aren't stuck buying a last minute ticket.   Are you only using the CP on one flight @jeantags ?     ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: Again, nnsense.   Right now if  pax get to bag check too late to check   bags, the airline will tell said pax to carry the bags to the gate and gate check them. I've seen pax send 5 bags thru the scanner.   I've carried skis, large roller bag, boot bag, and laptop case to the gate and gate checked the first two  of those items   There is no rule prohibiting that  I may have my family's baggage as well as mine, it only matters when you get to the gate. You are welcome to carry as much (more than I want to for sure) luggage around the airport.     ... View more

@craigclayton59 wrote: secondly, when checking flight status if you have flight number there is NO REASON to enter the to and from city.  That isn't completely correct - the same flight number in many cases follows an airplane across the country through four (or more?) stops.   So tracking your flight by flight number only won't be sufficient on those routes where the flight number continues across multiple stops.   Some flight numbers are indeed between one city pair and that's it - in that case yes it is over specified.     ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: The pracice of automatically sending drink coupons to people that have completed 10 paid flights was discontinued early in 2023 -- be they paper or electronic coupons.   Sounds like the airline needs to update it's website. Definitely still opt-in in case they suddenly come back in any form, or if there is a surprise and delight issuance you don't want to miss out on it.     ... View more

@Hetherington wrote: Hello, we fly from DEN to IND in April and we have a short layover with no plane change in MCI. My worry is that they won't put the carseat and stroller back on the plane for IND after our layover in MCI. We can't afford to lose the stroller or carseat. Thank you!!! It will be sorted by the baggage handler and immediately placed back on the same plane, if it is even removed at all.   They will be looking for this as it is a no-plane change route.   This is by far the best case for a quick layover compared to a connection where you change planes.     ... View more

@KBayron you had A1 and A2 and did not get to sit together?   That doesn't make any sense, even with about 50 preboarders and companions there is still close to 100 seats left on a 737-700.      ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: When you use  RR points to buy a ticket, they are worth about 1.3 cents each. So, if you pay more than that, it is not a good deal And if you have companion pass, then they are worth 2.6 cents (assuming you'd buy the same ticket for your companion...it's probably not fair to say double, but there's some boost).     ... View more

@Hrobbbs wrote: Thank you. I figured it might not work, but worth a try. I bought both our tickets back in October with no plan to use CP. When the offer was announced last week we thought we might get lucky if there was a way to get the pass before our flights (Feb 24).    If there's a week or so maybe! At least you are covered now with the tickets in-hand so you won't be scrambling the day of if it doesn't come through in time.       ... View more

@Hrobbbs wrote: I will be able to hit the spend requirement. So I guess the question now is if the first statement can be moved up on a new card.  You can change the date of the statement, contact Chase directly for that as Southwest doesn't have any input there.    However they have been known to change it for the next one, once the current period is concluded.    Call Chase and ask, but likely it will be a "no" - in the meantime book the CP ticket with points if you need to save that spot, so you can get it refunded if the CP comes through in time. (i.e. don't buy a placeholder WGA fare which will refund into travel credit.)     ... View more

@207412273 wrote: The police are asking for my help from SW, because thus far, they are willing to give me more information than them! Which seems crazy, given well..  the are the airport authorities.  Carry on then, and good luck. I do hope the person is caught.    Since this is a customer to customer forum I'm not sure that we can offer much else in terms of actions that you can take.          ... View more

@Kayo131 wrote:   Thank you Southwest for making my evening.  WOW is all I can say.  Who knows when my bag will be returned or what condition it will be in.  When is a good question, but there's no reason to think it will be mangled unless you saw it get run over by a ground vehicle. I hope you were able to get compensation, keep us posted.   I did see this once at DAL where a tight turn on the baggage cart let an item fall off and a few thousand people could see it from the concourse gate area. Eventually someone picked it up - at least that was a checked item, that's not quite on your level with a forced gate check but it does happen.     ... View more

Thanks for sharing! Great tip for ONT as well although if I’m there I probably will be in a rental car. ... View more

Even if you buy multiple tickets then you’ll forfeit the extras as “no show” when you get there and then scan the boarding pass for yourself that’s all you get - the additional seats will be marked no show and forfeit.   Potentially there will end up being empty seats on the plane, but you won’t be guaranteed to have them next to you.   *the last place I would sit on a plane is next to someone with three pets but I’m allergic, it may not bother some people or they might even enjoy it.     ... View more

@liquidimports wrote:  Would it be beneficial for her to enroll in Rapid Rewards® so I can include her account on the flight reservation Yes! Having her account she'll be able to earn points and you can submit prior confirmation numbers to get points retroactively up to a point. She can also login and see her flights, get boarding passes, etc.    Will this action reduce the total points I'll earn for the flight in my account? No, the points are earned for the passenger flying no matter who buys the tickets and what account was logged in at the time of the purchase.    If the purchase is on your credit card you still get the 1x points for all purchases plus 1x points for buying on Southwest.com (if you used the web) and then each passenger gets their own 6x per WGA fare (higher for the other fares up to 12x for Business Select) no matter who purchased and who was logged in - each person needs their own RR account to earn the flight points. ... View more

@sdover1966 wrote: Great info @DancingDavidE , thanks. I had not thought about the bins in the middle being a tad larger than the ones in front or back but it makes sense.    3 of my 4 flights are on the 737-700 and their bins are smaller than the 737-800 so every inch will matter for sure.      Good point on the 800/Max vs the 700's. The bins are a bit larger overall on the newer aircraft.   Some of the Max are even having new larger bins that fit the luggage on it's side in the 10" dimension instead of the 16" dimension so you can get six bags in an overhead compartment vs four in the standard configuration laying flat. (height is still the same) if you have one of those then the 10" vs 12" would be fine as well.     ... View more

@05bardic wrote: As active duty military Southwest lets me board early between groups A & B. If I'm flying with my wife will they let her board early with me? The wording is only for the active duty military member.    I reached out to twitter to see if they had any additional advice and the policy they have is also for the active duty military member only.    I'd suggest to check with the operations agent who will be performing the boarding process and ask them in advance if it would be okay in case they allow it.             ... View more

@bballflyer wrote: I have recently been booking hotels through the Southwest website to get the extra points toward companion fare qualifications;  I have just noticed that at the bottom of the booking page there is the offer to pay a little more and received extra miles and a special phone number to use, I suppose if there are issues with the hotel.  For example if book a hotel for 4000 points, can pay another $40 and get 4000 more points;  Does anyone know if these points also count toward the companion fare?  I know the first 4000 do but what about the extra? I think so: End of Year - Tier Qualifying Points (southwest.com)   Hopefully someone can confirm that has done it, but if the points are hotel points then yes.   If they have another category from the box way at the bottom of the linked page then no.    Check the fine print again to see what the keywords are, unless someone can confirm.   It would be consistent that they are - Rocketmiles for instance does a similar thing and those count.     ... View more

@bballflyer wrote: I check frequently for promotions that they will have on your RR account.  I am not sure, but I also think that the different credit cards receive different offers.  I started getting better offers when I upgraded to the priority card than my husband who had not upgraded.  I also suspect the offers may be geared toward your spending habits as our offers are slightly different even now that he has upgraded to priority.   I think you are right, you may have other cards in your portfolio and they can tell that you aren't buying gas with it for example.          ... View more