Southwest Airlines Community

@MizzT74 wrote: That being said I just felt it would make sense to purchase the base price ticket if I were being offered family boarding simply to try and save a little money.  I do not expect to get anything more than what I pay for... That's exactly the rules and thousands of people do this every day. It isn't entitlement.     @MizzT74 wrote: And even though they have family boarding the real assurance would just be to purchase business class tickets.  But thank you all for your feedback.   Business Select will be way overkill for that. Although you would be one of the first 15 positions the cost increase may be 3x the cost of WGA fares.   Consider upgraded boarding, if it is available, on the day of the flight but that's it. The system is designed that regular customers can buy WGA fares and have a very reasonable, if not quite certain chance of sitting with their children.   The only time it doesn't work is if the child is seven or older or if the passengers are late and miss the window for family boarding.     ... View more

@gsking wrote:      Having four east airports in my area almost equidistant, this option is both very useful and overly flexible 🤣 Analysis paralysis, which one is best?   it's bad enough here debating ORD vs MDW, or occasionally MKE in the mix although it hasn't ever panned out.   ... View more

@SoCalFlyer97 wrote: @Darellgolden11 wrote: Now, that the merger between JetBlue and Spirit was not approved, and those two airlines are struggling to survive, it is the right time for a BIG return to EWR. Customers can't wait anymore. Just LGA is not enough for such of airline. Come back to business Southwest. Come back to EWR. this is the right time!  Hello! Since this is a customer-to-customer forum, I would submit your request directly to Southwest: https://www.southwest.com/html/contact-us/   I was reading that the market at EWR was very tough on SW specifically and that LGA turned out to be a better location for Southwest to operate for the NYC-area market. I'm speculating that SW had to muscle in a bunch of resources to operate at EWR but the return-on-investment was not good in comparison to operating at LGA but I could be wrong. Spirit has taken a bunch of the open slots there and I do think that bringing the LUV airline back to EWR would require some high-level negotiations in my opinion.    Here is a great write-up from Cranky Flier. In a nutshell (and my interpretation) the Southwest passenger is looking for low fares and they just weren't competitive to business travel from EWR to the west coast and had trouble with most routes other than going head to head with United to Chicago (which they were winning).   https://crankyflier.com/2019/08/01/why-southwest-is-leaving-newark/   One point he makes is great which is that people from the rest of the country feeding into EWR don't see it as "NYC" to start with. It's actually quite easy if you are taking public transit but people looking at driving into NYC or taking a taxi would look to LGA instead.   It'll be fine in the short term but eventually Southwest will be wishing they could get that EWR/MDW/ORD route back into place.     ... View more

@Ancadgel wrote: Thanks for the response! I was going through DEN bc I can get there nonstop arriving at 650am. I was trying to do the 830am departure, but there is a 11:15am also. Thoughts on this? Since my first flight is nonstop I should be fine with the 830 right, especially with only carryon? I'm using points so this whole trip is free! I will have to stay overnight coming back but really wanted to get there in one day.  With the expectation that everything is on-time especially early in the morning I'd want to leave myself an hour to make the connection and grab a snack, bathroom, coffee (Try the Dazbog).    I don't see the 6:45 a.m. arrival but in general if you can get an hour or so that's a good amount.    Do the 11:15 a.m. if you want to do a sit down breakfast, stretch your legs a bit, etc. Unless you had lounge access it would be a bit excessive for ~4 hours layover.         ... View more

Caption:   Hello, this is the office of President Nixon and I'd like to reach the general manager at Knoxville Tyson Airport. ... View more

@floridaguy wrote: Compelled how?  I'm not moving my seat so that they can "sit together".  Southwest has open seating and if you want to drag me off the plane in handcuffs for not moving, then do so.   That part of the post was referring to Spirit and Frontier:       ... View more

@Ancadgel wrote: When I try to book rdu to Koa it says call Southwest ( can't be booked online). So I called and the person said they couldn't book that either...that id have to book a one way to West Coast then another from there to Hawaii. But they also said I'd have to exit and renter security again therefore I need at least 2 hours in between flight. This seems crazy...why would I need to exit? I'm not planning on checking bags. I was planning on catching the Hawaii flight from Denver bc I can do a nonstop from RDU there.  They are probably assuming you would check bags, or else it's overnight and the airport may be closed depending where that connection was. (If it was DEN or OAK they are open 24/7)     ... View more

@parpitt1 wrote: Boarding with 6 year old? yes, you are eligible for Family Boarding after group A and before group B. Are you Guaranteed to sit together? well actually NO, but it highly likely there will be seats together, and I can't imagine you will have an issue. I wish you safe travels    That being said, prefacing your post with the intention to buy the Cheapest ticket and expecting a guarantee of sitting together seems like a bit of an oxymoron. Seriously, it's like buying ground beef and expecting filet mignon. If you purchased the "cheapest ticket" on ANY other airline you would be SOL. I've never flown them but even the green planes and yellow planes are compelled to offer young children to sit together by some arrangement without charging extra although also not guaranteed, and a level below offering free seat selection. In their case they will be the ones making the assignment as opposed to Southwest's method where it is by boarding position.   So I'd compare it more to buying the standard grade beef but expecting organic. Still have to pay for that steak.               ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: regardless of how cheap or expensive I prefer the term "thrifty" 😁     ... View more

@willeaton wrote: I booked 4 trips for my wife and I this coming year using points for each of us (from my account). Now, I have earned a companion pass. When I went to my 4 flights there was a button that said add companion pass, so I clicked on it and added her. Will we get the points added back to my account and a credit for the gov't fees now that we have paid twice for the fees? If you call they can do the swap simultaneously so that you can re-use the taxes and fees for the companion from the previous booking. Especially do this if the flight is nearly sold out and you are at any risk for canceling your original ticket and then not having any open seats left to add companion.   Otherwise going through and canceling first and adding companion second (and re-using the travel credit for fees) is generally fine.     ... View more

@lizflygirl wrote: University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Sorry had to correct my error. If you click the "gear" icon there is an option to edit posts, although there is a time limit in case you come back way later then the original post will be locked.     ... View more

@disneyfreak3121 wrote: We are hoping to fly to Florida late June (June 25 or 26 to be exact). When will the best time to book be? Will prices go lower between now and then?     You can use Google Travel to track the trends for other airlines, Southwest won't be included but you can see their projections.   If you fly very often then the best solution is to book now and then re-book later to claim any drop in price as a travel credit. There is little downside to this unless you won't make any other flights and then can't use the travel credit.   Otherwise you have to judge is the price reasonable now and you'd be happy? Or is it worth a risk what if it goes up $10 vs down $10...if you are seeing costs under $100  or especially anything $75 then no you probably aren't going to see much drop except for the specific sales. The risk is only that it will go up.   If the costs are $200 now is there a chance it drops a bit to $150 - its possible, but now way to know for sure.       ... View more

You could store it in LastPass or 1Password or other third-party software.   Southwest doesn't have a place to save it for wi-fi purposes.   Same boat (plane?) here - one of the great enjoyments of ALP last year was not typing in my credit card, but back to A-list this year.   I wish they would offer at least a "five pack" or something so you could purchase a block of wi-fi access offline and not have to get your card out when onboard.     ... View more

@SoCalFlyer97 wrote: @2O1OO wrote: Knowing how full a flight is is very helpful to all passengers: if I know the flight is full, I don't feel bad going for a middle seat in the front rows because they're going to be taken anyway, whereas if I know it's empty, I'd go for my own row in the back (and help distribute weight in the process) Many people do the same but the process for this is inefficient: - many people ask the flight attendant in front when they get in - very often, flight attendants will make announcements that the flight is full or that it's half empty and people can get their own row in the back, but no matter how many times they say it, they're gonna miss people since only the 5-10 people who are getting in at that time will hear it, so it's inefficient.   This could be easily solved if the gate agent was telling people (or maybe each boarding group) how full the flight ("about 70% full") is with simple guidance on where they can seat: - flight is full, all/almost all seats will be taken - everyone should be able to get an aisle or window seat - everyone can get their own row Thx   I've found that approx. 75% of the time, the gate agent will announce how full the flight would be but I wouldn't mind if that's part of Standard Protocol and announced every time. Usually the Gate Agent will need to announce if the following is true: I think they are more likely to announce the passenger load when it is full, if its empty there isn't a lot of concern (there's plenty of room, boarding should go quickly, lots of aisle and window seats available, etc.)   Unless as you mention it is so empty that the FA want people to spread out for weight and to share the service sections.     @SoCalFlyer97 wrote: @2O1OO wrote:   This could be easily solved if the gate agent was telling people (or maybe each boarding group) how full the flight ("about 70% full") is with simple guidance on where they can seat: - flight is full, all/almost all seats will be taken - everyone should be able to get an aisle or window seat - everyone can get their own row     PDX-SJC (Full):   OAK-SAN (75% Full):   PHX-SAN (95% Full):   Hopefully these will gradually make it out to all locations.     ... View more

@allanpickering wrote: Two questions... one, if I add a Business card, do those points go to my regular SWA account? Two... I get that each spouse must be separate accounts and points, but can we switch the RR number on our cards so that it goes to her points?  At first I read this as each of your spouses must have their own account. 🤣   If you have a joint card then it will still go to the account of the original account opening applicant.   The only way around this might be if your spouse can open the account and direct the points to her, and then add you as joint to the account after the setup.     ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: Grahams are morning flights only I had not picked up the pattern 😋 okay more morning flights it is.     ... View more

I'm sorry to hear of the circumstances - hopefully the bag shows up soon.   As @dfwskier mentioned you can use the baggage tracker to see the last position.   Then also make sure you did this online report of course I'm sure you did but I wanted to verify: Southwest Airlines | BSO Home (nettracer.aero)     ... View more

@bbland wrote: Based on this, shouldn’t everything from the statement that started in December count towards the next year qualification?  My statement went 12/6/23 to 1/6/24. I had $21,000 in spend & only got 4,500 Tier Qualifying points. Most of my spend was in December.  Was there any part of the spend that was ineligible like buying some gift cards or something?         ... View more

@bec102896 wrote:    I’ve found more flights have the other provider though in my experience    Anuvu will be the other branding, that's all I've had lately.    I had gotten the promotional package about the Viasat actually, but didn't remember anything in there about device swapping, my apologies on that one as it slipped by me if it was in the promotional materials.           ... View more

@TamSwin wrote: I’m planning to travel next month on a same day trip to pick up my 10 month old grandbaby and bring him  home with me. I would like for his mom to be able to meet my incoming flight at the gate and sit with us until I board the flight home with him.  How can I get her through security for this?   She'll go to the ticket counter and ask for a "gate pass" for which she'll need identification and will go through security so no liquids, etc. along all the other passengers.    She'll give the ticket counter the flight info and they'll mark it down on the gate pass that she's allowed to go visit that specific gate.   PreCheck won't apply to a gate pass, although if she has CLEAR she can use it.   Gate passes aren't always offered but usually they can do it when a little kid is involved like this.   I'm not sure but it would probably help a lot if you are able to come back out to the ticket counter to add the lap child to your ticket and go through security with them.   @TamSwin wrote: Also, do I need to book my flight legs as separate one way trips on the app since I will have a lap child only on the return flight? That's a great question - I always love one-way tickets for many reasons. Especially if you'll call to have the lap child ticket added in advance then if you are calling they can add it to one leg so you'll be fine either way.    The situation is a little bit atypical if your layover allows it you may want to come out to the ticket counter to help demonstrate the situation.                 ... View more

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@Ckemp1966 wrote:  A large person would have to purchase two seats MINIMUM just to be able to sit down.   Actually Southwest has a customer of size program where a second seat can be requested for free or purchased in advance and then refunded after the flight.     ... View more

@ShortCheckBagga wrote: 1 - If I am on a Nashville to San Francisco flight and want to get off in Las Vegas and  NOT board the connecting flight to SFO - am I allowed to do that?   "Allowed" no but you won't be restrained from leaving the airport, as mentioned above you will forfeit any RR points and if you have a round trip ticket the return trip will also be forfeit as a no-show for that leg. As a courtesy let the gate know you are doing this so that they aren't waiting for you thinking you may be in the restroom or something.     @ShortCheckBagga wrote: 2 - Would my checked in luggage just continue to SFO? Yes it will keep going to SFO.         ... View more

@floridaguy wrote: I will give an award of "honorable mention" by trying to spin this back on me.  This is not about me.   Southwest is going to have to decide whether its rules apply to everyone.  What I can see is that since they didn't find the first open seat, they were failing to follow flight crew instructions and should have been thrown off the flight. From the description it sounds like flight crew instructions were "wait here while we ask for two people to move"         ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: It looks like in seat power is on 18 currently flying planes and will be on all new MAXs delivered from this point forward. I haven't found my way onto one yet, but hopefully try it out.   I'm actually out of flights right now, nothing booked. Need to remedy that!     ... View more

@JP66 wrote: This is helpful for points from now forward. I wish they had posted this for 2023. It's been posted the last several years and updated each year, you can search it on this community.    But that doesn't help you now, but it is available to you going forward as a resource.   Hopefully a promotional offer will come your way for being so close.          ... View more

@SoCalFlyer97 wrote: @Anxiety-Filled wrote: I meant to click round trip but i accidentally selected the one-way.. and when i was trying to change it to round trip, it cancelled my flight The only drawback of this approach is if Southwest changes its flight schedule, issues a weather advisory, or there's a flight disruption that allows for a +/- 14 day  rebooking window without any difference in fare, my understanding is that the change can only be made to the one way leg of the impacted itinerary whereas both legs can be changed under a Round Trip booking. Not that they may not allow a change, but it won't be automatic in the system and you'll have to call and explain yourself. In some cases they may still allow it but it won't be guaranteed in the same way, and you won't be able to self-service it online.   But yes - just book another one-way, in general it's a good approach no need to rebook the flight as a return trip.     ... View more