Southwest Airlines Community

I think the earlier leg will apply to 2017 for you, but let us know how things turn out. ... View more

https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Rapid-Rewards/Drink-Coupons/m-p/51847#M966 ... View more

Customer service is surely emphasized, but Southwest is also a business. The response to re-issue one of the vouchers for $200 seemed pretty great to me when it was accidentally allowed to expire.   I'm not surprised that they can't/won't reissue all three, especially if one or two of them were used, there must be some internal checks that don't allow $200 vouchers to go out the door without some reviews.   It is very disappointing for someone to have said that you could get them re-issued when that doesn't seem to be the case, and some sort of horrific cascade of phone calls after that which are difficult to navigate since they are all by phone, and with the first person saying something that they apparently couldn't actually do, or they misunderstood the situation. Then finally someone there seemed to be authorized to say "no" they wouldn't do it.   I feel bad for you that you've spent all of this time on the phone, but I wouldn't see any company giving you $400 for it. They offered an extra $50 if I'm understanding the situation, I'd take it.   ... View more

No, he should have boarded at "A61" with the A-list and A-list preferred members that don't have A boarding passes. Certainly not in front of the Business Select. ... View more

What was the verdict? ... View more

So much info. Are you asking about flights, hotels, and Southwest information?   Disney in general? it's too much to list here...a few favorites:   You can book dining and fast passes at six months out I believe if you have your tickets in-hand. I know you mentioned being on a budget, but if you did want any of the premium dining options it would be best to book them as early as possible and change them later if your schedule doesn't line up. Staying at All-Star Music you may be using the Magic Express in the lower level of the opposite terminal from Southwest. Tag your luggage with the yellow stickers and they will go automatically to the room(s). If you have anything that you need in the morning or during the day bring it in a carry on as you may not want to wait around for your checked bags to appear before going to the parks. Bring your first day supplies with you in order to jump right in. For instance you'll want your magic bands to be with you and any change of clothes that you need to go inside. Which parks will you be going to? Are you going to anything non-Disney?     ... View more

It should should up as quickly as if the booking was for your companion - not quite instantly, but within ten minutes or usually faster.   It wasn't clear if you already did this and it wasn't showing up - if so and it has been more than a few minutes, you should call the 800 number with the RR# and confirmation# and see what's missing from the reservation while you still have the confirmation email handy. ... View more

Did you get any confirmation by email that might have the details? That's probably your best resource.   ... View more

Hopefully you found a good flight for today and make it back for NYE @JNK! ... View more

Which I think should be obvious - if you have Path A to buy direct from Southwest, compared to Path B where another person handles the transaction as a business, of course Path B will be more expensive than Path A.   Great option to top off some points to get a reward flight, especially if your reward points were going to expire soon and you needed to use them.   Not recommended to purchase points for the majority of a ticket. ... View more

Flying is probably the most reliable way to close that gap in the limited time allowed. I don't know if any shopping or credit card earning can post fast enough for you.   To reach 14,000 points with a BS fare at 12x points you'd be looking at $1,167 worth of flights, so that's a pretty big bite, as well as taking up a day to make the round trip.   I don't know if you felt that you got $1,200 worth of value from companion pass in 2017 or not...for me I estimate $5k+ value last year, so in the same situation I'd do it if I was free on Saturday.   ... View more

Please remove your name and confirmation number from your post.   PreCheck isn't guaranteed, but i suggest to call Southwest's 800 number with the information you've shown here and your KTN and they can add it to your pass.   If the flight is coming up soon, you can go to the airport a little early and have it added at the ticket counter and re-print.   Make sure that your PreCheck and ticketed names are identical, that is one frequent cause for the PreCheck not to be awarded. It is also randomized so that you won't necessarily get PreCheck everytime - but check into having it added to the boarding pass. ... View more

I think it is more of a battle of attrition than any absolute temperature that would automatically cancel flights. Maybe there is some absolute limit but that may be -20F or colder.   But as you mention, people will need to take more breaks to warm up, gradually as temperatures get colder the de-icing and ground crews will end up bottlenecking the flights so some will end up being canceled premptively in order to manage the overall system.   One article popped up with a search: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-planes-cant-take-off-in-cold-weather-2014-1   If you consider Minneapolis as an example, it gets colder there than Chicago and all the airside equipment still works into the extreme temperatures.   Moisture however is another story, ice and snow will have a larger effect than the temperature alone, especially at Midway since the runways are a little shorter than other airports. Chicago Department of Aviation has to be able to keep the runways clear as there isn't as much extra allowance for braking distance, and visibility is needed for the approach for landing.   ... View more

Good luck @Bookish, I hope you made it! ... View more

A few suggestions for you @libbyrp:   Pay the extra to upgrade one or both of your flights 12/29 or 12/30 to business select, earning 12x points instead of 6x if these are WGA fares currently. Assuming half and half at 854 points each, upgrading one flight gets you an additional 800+ points, and voila. For a couple of hundred bucks incremental cost, probably worth it, especially since you are flying anyway. Hopefully I didn't misread the situation and this is an option. The gate upgrade to A1-15 if offered doesn't count for points, just position, so you have to actually change your current ticket. Make a separate additional flight worth that many points...tough to fit that in, but you could fly another leg on 12/31 for the additional points. I'd do it in the morning just in case  It's possible the rental car and shopping will post in time - I haven't been tracking that closely to know if rental car turnaround has been that fast (I think the terms are much longer than a few days). Someone else will have wo weigh in about shopping. It sounds like if shopping hit and rental car didn't that wouldn't be enough anyway. If you want to take an aggressive approach, book a refundable fare for 12/31 that would cover the balance and wait and see if you get the other points before flight time...Risky if you live in the northeast though, storms are projected and the whole network could be shut down that night - safest bet is option 1, get it done with a few days to spare. I agree with Southwest - add your grandson now on points as a safety net, and then refund the points ticket if/when you get the companion renewed and add him as companion. You'll get all the points back, and can re-use the $5.60 as a credit for the companion booking. ... View more

I wouldn't purchase wifi in the future if your primary goal was to achieve a VPN connection.   It has been pretty definitive from posts on here and my own experience that if you are depending on VPN connections, don't bother, you'll need to plan on something else to work on from your local drive or "light browsing" over regular internet.   Email is usually good, reading articles, basic websites. Any large bandwidth I would download in advance and work from the local hard drive.     ... View more

Where is your home airport?   This strategy would be difficult at Midway for instance...you'll want to do some screening in advance for "next direct flight out that has WGA fares left and matches the climate that you've packed for" but sounds like a fun idea overall.   This would be very interesting in the "Stories" section of the community - see @LindseyD for more information on tips for what things to include about your trip.   I don't think it would be diminished at all if you booked ahead of time when there is a sale going on, it could be the "$100 flight of the month" or something instead of next available.   Plus your packing would be different if you were visiting Chicago next week compared to one of the international destinations. ... View more

I believe you retain early-bird if you "change" the flight which would still give you the credit, as opposed to canceling and rebooking which would lose the EB payment.   If you don't plan to fly Southwest again within a year from when you first purchased the ticket then the credit would expire anyway, but maybe you'd have a trip come up where you can use the $33 unexpectedly? ... View more

I don't think that will work @cbeghein as the points are processed based on the statement dates, not when you make a payment.   In hindsight you could have called Chase and asked to move up the billing period ending date to mid-December, I don't know if you'll be able to do that now and have points process in time though since there may be a few days after the end of the period before points are posted. ... View more

You should approach the gate agent early then and ask to board all at family boarding and mention that you got EB for your older child.   If that's a no go, then tell them you'll board with the EB number together either moving the EB back, or all joining on the EB number.   Good luck!   David   ... View more

Not sure! I think I had typed mine in with mixed case originally and don't see a way to edit that at the moment. Maybe @LindseyD can help with editing profiles. ... View more

I don't think it is accurate that a half-pound over is typically passed through either. I've juggled several times to get under 50 lbs. Maybe the curbside guy is a little more lenient than inside, but that guy also gets tips. ... View more

At the gate, and do this in advance of boarding time, you'll bag the stroller and car seat in their protective bags - your own are fine to use - so these each count as one of your two extra baby items, not as four items.   If you can fit the pump into the diaper bag, then the diaper bag would be one of your carry-on items, and you get one more carry-on item.   So as described you would be fine as long as you have the diaper bag and pump bag, and everything else that you are carrying fits into those two bags. If you have anything else then you should try to combine something so you have two items.     ... View more

There are a few options.   You can ask the gate agent and see what they say. Maybe they say it's fine. I'd have a back-up plan... The policy says to get everyone checked in and you can all board with the highest check-in number. As long as you make sure your 10 year old checks in at the 24-hour mark they may not be too much later. Early-bird or an A1-15 upgrade (if offered) would guarantee everyone access at family boarding if it is worth the peace of mind. Don't ask and see how it goes. Same back-up plan in #2 would apply. ... View more

If it doesn't resolve itself you may need to call Rapid Rewards to explain, but I'm not sure how they handle this situation. Worst case...enjoy your 2018 companion pass. ... View more

To elaborate on @franktravel a little - if there is a low fare available it may mean that there are a few WGA tickets available, eventually those WGA are higher priced as they sell, and then sold out. If you see a flight that has only BS or Anytime fares it's probably pretty full.   In general I think Southwest is known for achieving pretty high occupancy rates on flights, for any popular routes it will likely be pretty full for any flights except the late-night options.   The pricing may be an indicator of availability, but nothing would prevent Southwest from charging more money for a short-notice WGA fare on a limited route even if seats were available, or on some routes they may have cheap WGA until the end, so although the pricing may be a clue, it's not an absolute rule.       ... View more

That's advanced to lose a gate checked item! (My guess someone grabbed it accidentally?)   Anyway - the credit card doesn't contribute towards tier qualifying points for A-list or A-list preferred, so you didn't miss out there.   EDIT: realized I left out one credit card contribution - there is a 1,500 point bonus per $10,000 spent on premier cards that have annual fees, up to 15,000 points - so that maybe would have helped you if you put $70,000 on there.   I am a similar amount of points away actually - I ran the numbers and decided I was fine with A-list, it wasn't worth upgrading that many flights to close the gap. ... View more

Wow! Knowing how the program normally works, I can see that someone probably meant that during 2018 as described by TPG, earning a "regular" companion pass would supercede the promotional pass (although I don't know if there is any difference between the amenities of each) and qualify through 2019, but the highlighted wording doesn't specify when the points are earned and I can see where it could be interpreted for earning in 2017 extending to 2019.   Let us know how it goes. ... View more

MDW to MSP for me last year. But wow, that is excruciatingly close! ... View more