I haven't flown on a multi-passenger itinerary since the update, so I've been unable to verify exactly how it works. But I suspect that each passenger needs to have a Rapid Rewards account and be logged in to the Southwest app on their phone in order to receive their own individual mobile boarding pass (just like if they were on an individual itinerary). EarlyBird Check-In should have no impact on anything.
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07-02-2018
02:23 PM
Best guess is tickets on sale later this year, with service beginning sometime in 2019. Other carriers are currently having fare wars for Hawaii, likely trying to snatch up all the demand in light of Southwest's slow movement -- you should check them out. It's very unlikely Southwest will offer anything like the fares seen now. (IMHO, Hawaii will be very challenging for Southwest.)
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@Passenger1C wrote: When I travel with my family I often ask to pre-board. In my opinion, pre-boarding families actually helps the boarding process by being quicker and smoother. Have you ever carried 2 large Britax car seats, diaper bags, etc. down the aisle avoiding other passengers heads? Then when you finally make it to a pair of open seats, it’s a total joke trying to get them secure and takes time. Pre-boarding avoids my safety concern with hitting passengers, and gets us out of the aisle so that general boarding is not held up. On the flip side of pre-boarding, after we finally land and make it to our destination, we are the last ones off of the plane because I know that we are slow and will hold up other passengers. All airlines have pre-boarding processes for reasons like mine. Do some people abuse it? Of course! Unfortunately, that’s life and karma goes a long way. If it seems that someone is abusing the process, ask yourself “have you walked a mile in their shoes”? Do you know for a fact they don’t need the extra time to board? Please do not judge because more than likely if you have never been in their situation, you would understand. When I travel alone for business, I help out those struggling passengers instead of throwing dirty looks or making comments. We all know that boarding is frustrating and can be stressful, but doing the right thing goes a long way. Do you fly Southwest often? Southwest doesn't offer preboarding for families, only for anyone with a disability who needs a specific seat or assistance boarding the plane. Family Boarding (an adult with a child age 6 and under) happens between the A and B boarding groups.
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@Passenger1C wrote: This is the exact reason why I always carry a sweatshirt in my carry-on. By chance did you ask the FA for a blanket? If not that’s always another option. FYI: Southwest doesn't have blankets.
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06-29-2018
01:46 AM
06-29-2018
01:46 AM
Just a note that Southwest will cancel reservations it feels are "duplicates," and refund to the original payment method. Did you happen to have mutliple flights booked for the same day? Or overlapping itineraries? Their system may have interpreted it as a duplicate booking. If that's the case, the rep should be able to rebook at your original fare. Please do come back and let us know what you learn, and how it works out.
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06-27-2018
01:28 PM
06-27-2018
01:28 PM
35 preboarders?! I fly frequently and have never seen anything like that. What cities? What's the flight number?
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06-26-2018
07:41 PM
06-26-2018
07:41 PM
@Porter570 wrote: I stand corrected, we are not allowed to SIT together. Valid call out. So my reward for 50-100 flights a year is to sit by a stranger, but we can board together. You are correct. Not a solution. or we save seats... (tactics documented above). so why not board together at the highest vs the lowest? Where is the logic behind that? Again, SW employee response? we all paid a fare, so that point doesn’t resonate. your “take your business elsewhere” (paraphrase) comment ... you are correct, free markets do operate that way. But you likely don’t work for Southwest and my guess is they would rather I not do that. Odd “get off my lawn” comment frankly with no value. As an A list preferred, I don’t want to sit by your family, I want YOU to sit by them. If you have A16 and a family of 4.... great! Sit together and my A17 is Fine as really an A20. And this will happen to me 50-100 times a year to my 1-2 for me. Happy to trade. Appearantly you will all save the seats anyway....so why object. BTW, Defending an illogical status Quo on behalf of a company is really an odd behavior for passengers. I am open to A listers who demand A17 remain exactly 17....but the obvious counter point to that is... if they are saving seats anyway, is A17 really A17? Ideally we get either Southwest to chime in OR someone to say “saving seats is 100% NOT ok and point to the policy.” Simple request for SW, I want a valid business reason why we can’t board together ...on the highest number, not the lowest. Unfortunately, the only official comment you'll get from Southwest (more likely through direct contact vs here, as this is a customer info sharing platform) is an acknowledgement of your issues, and a blanket apology for the inconvenience. Southwest is well aware that their unique boarding system has it's disadvantages. The issue you highlight is one of the more prominent ones, but there are many others. Ultimately, Southwest's primary concern is turning planes as quickly as possible, and for now they accept a certain level of customer anger and frustration as the trade off. One potential positive interim change (between now and whatever new boarding system is undoubtedly coming) is allowing companions to board with the CP holder. This has been tested, but concerningly has not yet been implemented. Perhaps interim changes to address Family Boarding issues could be considered as well. Unlikely, but perhaps.
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That's fantastic news! I'm so glad to hear they did the right thing in this case.
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Unfortunately, in my experience once Southwest has failed to give you a hotel discount voucher at the airport (for whatever reason), it's nearly impossible to get reimbursement for a hotel you booked yourself after the fact, regardless of the circumstances. 😞 As suggested earlier, you may be given a small voucher toward future travel as a goodwill gesture. Please do let us know how it works out.
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Check the year again. 😉 Drink coupons expire at the end of the month one year from when they are issued. The expiration most likely is 2019. If by some chance there's been a glitch and your coupons do actually say 2018, contact Southwest Customer Relations (my recomemdation is via Twitter) -- they'll replace them for you.
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06-24-2018
12:40 PM
06-24-2018
12:40 PM
True, the contact options from the app are limited to "call, tweet and Facebook", and if you select "visit southwest.com" and then "contact us" you're just redirected back to the mobile site, where the email form isn't an option. If you're on Android (not sure about iPhone): From the mobile "contact us" page you can "force" a desktop page to load -- just select the three dots "more options" menu in the upper right corner of your screen, then choose the checkbox next to "desktop site." That said, it's pretty difficult to complete the form on a small phone screen, so your best bet might be to wait until travel is complete to use that contact option.
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06-23-2018
06:27 PM
06-23-2018
06:27 PM
Unfortunately, Southwest stopped allowing customers to use travel funds to rebook for anyone back in 2011. (Ah, I miss the good old days.)
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Just to double-check: Had you purchased a refundable fare (and made no changes)? Or were otherwise told by Customer Relations you would be receiving a refund? Wanna Get Away fares aren't refundable, they generate Travel Funds when you cancel. (Just in case you didn't know.)
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06-22-2018
02:53 PM
06-22-2018
02:53 PM
Sounds like they've already had extended contact with Customer Relations. As we've discussed before, in my opinion it's unlikely a letter sent to "Gary Kelly" would get anywhere near his office. That said, the OP has nothing to lose. jandaspen: Please do come back and let us know if you try any of the suggested additional steps, and if Southwest does anything differently for you. Good luck!
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@WZiel-SWC wrote: Hey CHGOFLYER, I liked the fact that I could save the boarding pass format to a third party app. When they updated this the last few weeks I can no longer do it. (I run stock google Pixel XL) and the google pay does nothing for me. In fact now if I save it to google pay I have to dig for my boarding pass. The third party app let me find the boarding pass when launched, stayed on my screen when locked and set the birghness to the highest. (PassAndroid). I have done the picture from the southwest app and that is a hassle to find in the 1,000s of pictures i have on my phone. Right now my "alternative" is to email it to myself and then open the pkpass file up from the email to 'import" it into my (PassAndroid). Where as saving it as PKPass would be better. The southwest app sucks as many times if you do not pull up the Boarding pass seconds before you get to the gate it has to "refresh" and last time I had to kill the Southwest App and realuanch it to pull up the boarding pass. I like the boarding notification but for the boarding pass view Southwests app has a bit of a ways to go to before I can use it as primary. You might want to check your Google Pay settings and permissions. I'm not sure why it isn't working for you... but if you save the mobile boarding pass to Google Pay, it should automatically show up by default when you launch Google Pay. (At a minimum. For me, it shows up automatically when I reach the airport, and when pulled up locks auto-rotate and sets the screen brightness to max.) Good luck!
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06-22-2018
02:39 AM
06-22-2018
02:39 AM
Did you buy EarlyBird Check-In? If not, you'll need to check yourself in manually. To do so, you'll need the confirmation number. Do you have a Rapid Rewards account? Are you enrolled on the Southwest website? If so you can check there for the number, and if necessary check yourself in. If not, search your email for the confirmation message you received when you booked -- it contains the confirmation number. Or check the account of the credit card you used to make the purchase -- it may contain the ticket number (in the description line for the purchase). If you call, you'll need the flight information (date, origin and destination) in order for the phone rep to help find your reservation. Good luck!
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06-21-2018
08:11 PM
06-21-2018
08:11 PM
Unfortunately, others have reported that in similar circumstances Southwest does not reinstate points. 😞
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@AngryPassenger wrote: Not having any closets or a hanging bar is a bunch of bull crap, and all the responses are bull crap too. 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. Perhaps when traveling with a garment bag you'd be better off on one of those carriers, as Southwest -- again -- simply does not have closets in their planes (no bull). 😉
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06-21-2018
01:28 AM
06-21-2018
01:28 AM
@Passenger1C wrote: I know it’s a tough and difficult situation when one feels like they being judged. Not to mention the added stress of being in a crowded gate area looking to board. Luckily SWA has policies in place for special accommodations/needs like yours. Since you provided all the necessary and required documentation to SWA to gain pre-boarding privileges, keep in mind that you are doing the best thing for you. After you board, the attention of the passengers waiting to board will be redirected. Happy Traveling! There's no such thing as "the necessary and required documentation." Do passengers with disabilities get to preboard? Preboarding is available for Customers who have a specific seating need to accommodate their disability and/or need assistance in boarding the aircraft or stowing an assistive device. If a Customer with a disability simply needs a little extra time to board, we will permit the Customer to board before Family Boarding, between the “A” and “B” groups. Those Customers who need extra time to board will receive a new boarding pass with an extra time designation. The designation serves as notification to our Operations (boarding) Agent that the Customer should be permitted to board before Family Boarding. We will allow one travel companion to act as an “attendant” and preboard with a Customer with a disability. In most cases, the Customer requires assistance from only one other person, and any additional family members or friends are asked to board with their assigned group. Customers should request preboarding from our Customer Service Agent at the ticket counter or departure gate. Our Agents are trained to ask factfinding questions to determine if the Customer meets the qualifications described above. Those Customers who qualify for preboarding will receive a new boarding pass with a preboarding designation. The designation serves as notification to our Operations (Boarding) Agent that the Customer should be permitted to preboard. It's important to keep in mind that Customers who preboard may not occupy an exit seat. Note: Customers who are preboarding because of a need for a specific seat onboard the aircraft should speak with the Operations (Boarding) Agent prior to the start of preboarding to alert the Agent to the seating need.
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If you're seeing WGA sold out 5 months in advance, it's probably a high-demand travel day during a holiday period. If that's the case, there's less likelihood of WGA becoming available, simply due to Southwest's load management systems anticipating and responding to that demand. It can still happen, but it's a bit different than, say, a flight next week that's currently sold out of WGA. For peak periods, Southwest may have restricted significantly the number of WGA seats that were even available in the first place. There's a much smaller pool from which a seat may become available. That said, it's possible the system over-estimated the demand, and at some point more WGA could be released. Your best bet is to keep checking frequently. If you must travel on that flight/day, and are ok with possibly paying full fare, do as was suggested earlier and book an AT fare now. Then book the WGA if it shows up, and immediately cancel the previously booked AT fare and request a refund. Good luck!
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06-21-2018
12:55 AM
06-21-2018
12:55 AM
@DancingDavidE wrote: 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. Any "restrictions" are self-imposed.
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06-20-2018
06:26 PM
06-20-2018
06:26 PM
I don't think that it is necessarily because Southwest doesn't want the business of international travelers, just that Southwest currently lacks the ability to correctly implement international booking systems. Things as simple as accepting foreign credit cards, funds conversion, or even entry forms in country-specific date & address formats would all need to be setup. I'm sure there's some sort of IT plan for that -- eventually -- but with the site being blocked for those outside the US for over three years now, I don't see this happening anytime soon. 😞
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Yes, call and request the refund. They will process the refund unless there are any circumstances that would prevent it -- for example, the flight was originally booked using travel funds, or a gift card. Good luck.
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06-20-2018
02:11 AM
06-20-2018
02:11 AM
FYI, the app work-around is no longer viable. Using a VPN or proxy server is really your only option for access at this point.
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06-18-2018
03:04 PM
06-18-2018
03:04 PM
That info is always available under Travel Tools on the website: We are currently accepting air reservations through January 6, 2019. On June 28, 2018 we will open our schedule for sale through March 6, 2019. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently. Hope this helps!
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06-18-2018
02:50 PM
06-18-2018
02:50 PM
It's always frustrating when you lose something. If it was found by or turned into Southwest, they generally do a pretty good job of reuniting lost items to their owners, but it can take time. Most smart phones have a "find my phone" feature, have you tried locating it? Also, is her camera or gallery app connected to the cloud?
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06-18-2018
02:47 PM
06-18-2018
02:47 PM
Southwest has never published a contact email address. To email them, go to Contact Us on the website. The email form link is there.
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06-18-2018
10:52 AM
06-18-2018
10:52 AM
This can be handy if you're approaching expiration and are planning on requesting reissue as a voucher, in order to make it worth the $100 fee. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it unless all the funds have expiration dates very near each other, as doing so will cause all the funds under the new confirmation to take on the earliest expiration date. Proceed with caution. 😉
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@GoIrish67 wrote: quick question (should be obvious but want to confirm). If i book a hotel on Southwest.com and it tells me that Rapid Rewards members earn 10,000 points, do those 10,000 points count towards companion pass? What confused me is the rules say "partner base points" count towards companion pass, but "Partner bonus points" do not. what is the difference? thanks Technically, the rule is as you've noted: Base points count, bonus points do not. With most partners it's pretty clear -- on rental cars for example, the base 600 will count but any special offer (extra 1000, or 2x multiplier, etc.) will not. When you use the Southwest website to book a hotel (via Booking.com) it's a bit harder to tell what is base and what is bonus. The good news is that, currently, people are reporting that all points earned from Southwest website hotel bookings are counting as Companion Pass Qualifying. It's unclear if that's inadvertant and/or if that will change at any point.
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I was about to post that the website FAQ hadn't been updated yet, then I saw that they added a new section specifically about this. (Now they just need to correct the earlier info.) 😉
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