Southwest Airlines Community

@mjweber wrote: I've used Early Bird for years and never had anything but an A position. Purchased it this time and the dreaded B48/B49. Glad it's a short flight and we aren't on a tightt deadline. No thanks, you won't get my extra $$ anymore for no benefit. I don't need to be checked in early, I can remember that myself. I'd rather have a choice of seat. By some chance did you buy your early bird less than 36 hours before flight time? If so that could explain that high boarding position. Other than that , you may have just been unlucky enough to be on a flight with a lot of A-list passengers and people that bought EBCI before you bought yours.   I'm A-list now so SW checks me in automatically, but I know lots of people that check in exactly 24 hours before flight time, and normally they get pretty good boarding positions.   Remember  the way SW assigns boarding positions though: first to A-list followed by EBCI followed by people that check in themselves. By definition, that means you'll never get a better boarding position yourself than you would get with EBCI   .unless you get lucky.   if a person holding a good boarding position happens to cancel his/her flight at the moment you check in, then you get the best available boarding position, which in this case would be the one held by the person who just cancelled a reservation. ... View more

    Sorry to hear that you are running in to dificulty. What you are experiencing is maddening.   Southwest's policy on the topic is virtually identical to other airlines' polcies, not that that fact makes you feel any better.   If the cancellation is due to an act of god (weather, earthquake, etc), then the airline does not pay for a hotel room. Southwest may provide a voucher that allows one to get a discounted  rate for a hotel room. You normally have to ask for a voucher to get one.    If the cancellation is due to things that are within the company's control (the plane breaks down for example), then Southwest does normally provide hotel rooms for inconvenienced passengers. ... View more

@DancingDavidE wrote: @     This is a tough one - I also don't expect that they would be canceling a flight early in the morning, especially if that plane would be planning to be somewhere else later in the day. At the same time, there must be some good statistics on when not to fly to Oakland in the morning, and perhaps this route is prone to cancelation.    Do you know if the plane is a "shuttle" that goes back and forth from LAX to OAK and back? I think that Southwest would have to plan ahead for this route to be subject to fog if that was actually the reason and if it occurs often.   Otherwise I'd have to take it at face value that there were storms in the area or between the cities that prevented a safe route.    I'd recommend to try and leave some time to talk to the staff at the LAX airport to get a better feel for this route if you are taking it once a week and having trouble.             Well, the flight does continue from O akland To Atlanta to Reagan National to Midway. So cancelling the flight puts Southwest in the position of having to find another plane to continue that route out of Oakland. So I doubt Southwest would cancel the flight if it really did not have to do so.   I can only access 2 months of flight details, and Southwest 1073 LAX/OAK has been cancelled twice in the last two months - June 19 and this morning.    Unfortunately, flights do get cancelled. My guess is that cancelling an early morning LAX/OAK flight due to low numbers of passengers is unlikely due to the disruption to the rest of the routing scheduled for the plane for the rest of the day. ... View more

Hello.   You can cancel the new booking (and get a refund) IF you cancel within 24 hours (and did not use travel funds for the new booking). Then you could use the travel funds .   If not, cancelling would just give you more travel funds to use in th future.  Given that, if the old travel funds are due to expire soon, and you are not likely to be able to use them in any other way, that might make sense. ... View more

Morning.   It depends on the dimensions of the chair. If it's no bigger than 24X10X16 it can be crried on board. If not it should be checked (preferably in some type of box). ... View more

@gamemasterdls68 wrote: I went to board the plane on July 27th at 6 pm from denver flight 1560 and the flight was switched multiple times throughout the night. I was told the reason was because there were many cancellations and not enough people to fly. It seems that customer service has gone down the drain. The CEO Gary C. Kelly of Dallas, TX, is not suffering at all. He earns 2 million dollars per year and $750,000 in misc benefits among other compensation. I suppose it is all about the almighty dollar. Don't worry about anyone except the end dollar. I will never fly Southwest Airlines again. The service is horrible. My father works for the IRS- I am going to ask that this CEO is investigated. He must be a crook.  The last 4 or 5 days have been very difficult for every US airline. The bad weather  on the east coast has caused countless delays. The more the delays piled up, the more cancellations there were. Why? There are federal rules that specify how long members of the flight crew can be on duty- either on the ground or in the air.  Whn that time has been exceeded, federal law prevents them from flying. No airline was prepared for what happened this week. No airline could be staffed to a level to accomodate what is likely a once or twice a year situation. You were among tens of thousands of people affected on Southwest, and every other airline.   Southwest cares very much about it's passengers - more than any other US airline. It's level of customer satisfaction is the highest of any airline in the USA. Only one airline in North America is rated as one of the 10 best airlines in the world. It is Southwest. Even good airlines run into situations that they cannot overcome.   I know you had a bad experience,  and I'm sorry that happened to you. EVERY airline runs in to these situations. The best do, and the worst do. If you fly enough, you are bound to run in to one of them at some point. I know I have. ... View more

Hello. As I said to the other person that complained about excessive phone delays   Sorry to hear about your trouble.  I looks like severe weather on the east coast is causing all kinds of mayhem. Likely hundreds or thousands of people like you are affected.   I am NOT completely confident of what I am about to say, but I seem to recall a day in the past where my flight was cancelled and I was able to just log in to my account, go to reservation in my account, and then pick "change flight." You might want to try that.    Absent that, regretably, your best option may be just to put up with the phone delays brought on by lots of other people like you trying to get rebooked.   The east coast weather problem has been ongoing for several days , causing lots of cancelled flights, and that makes the rebooking process to be exceptionally difficult.    Southwest appears to be struggling. It's likely the same at American, Delta, United, Jet Blue, et all.   All I can advise is to try to be patient with a very frustrating situation. ... View more

Sorry to hear about your trouble.  I looks like severe weather on the east coast is causing all kinds of mayhem. Likely hundreds or thousands of people like you are affected.   I am NOT completely confident of what I am about to say, but I seem to recall a day in the past where my flight was cancelled and I was able to just log in to my account, go to the reservation in my account, and then pick "change flight." You might want to try that.    Absent that, regretably, you best option may be just to put up with the phone delays brought on by lots of other people like you trying to get rebooked.   The east coast weather problem has been ongoing for several days , causing lots of cancelled flights, and that makes the rebooking process to be excpetionally difficult. That may be why you were told there were no rebooking options available.   Southwest appears to be struggling. It's likely the same at American, Delta, United, Jet Blue, et all.     ... View more

@DancingDavidE wrote: @mckim921208 wrote: I changed my first name and last name. Is it replaceable? In addition to the other responses, make sure that your ID when you fly will also match the new name on the ticket.   It comes up a lot with married/maiden names that someone has changed their last name, but their ID may still be the prior name at the time of the flight.         Tha's an important point because TSA will require that the name on the ticket matches the name on the ID. So if your ID still has your old name on it you might just be better off using the old ID with your ticket. ... View more

Good morning..   Sorry to hear about your travel experience.   That being said, this is primarily a customer to customer forum. In order to obtain a refund, you should contact Southwest directly. You can do so via phone, twitter or e-mail. The upper left side of the following web page explains how to make contact.   https://www.southwest.com/contact-us/contact-us.html?clk=GFOOTER-CUSTOMER-CONTACT-US             ... View more

Hello.   I'm afraid not. Travel funds are for use of the person whose name is on the original TICKET. So, as soon as you try to book a single reservation wth two different names on two different tickets, you run in to trouble. ... View more

@lyndapage wrote:     Southwest knows virtually NOTHING about how to do this and refers you back to the Rio.  of course there is no way to call the box office  at the Rio.       You need to remember  that Southwest had nothing to do with this ad , except accepting it for insertion in the Southwest magazine. Southwest did not devise the ad content. Southwest did not compose the ad. Southwest did not come up with the discount code, Southwest did not come up with the apparently ineffective way to use the discount code. Southwest was paid by Rio for publishing the ad in the magazine. That's it.   I'm just trying to insure that your indignation is  focused on the proper target: The Rio. ... View more

Hello.   It's not unusual for ticket purchases to default to companies like Ticketmaster. In many cases the only way to purchase tickets directly from the organization is to appear in person at the box office. So the Rio isn't different than most larger venues.   That being said, I did some research, and found a copy of the ad you talked about. The discount code is PNTSS:   https://issuu.com/southwestmag/docs/april2018/23   It looks like the Rio box office phone numbers are: 702-777-2782 or 855-234-7469.   https://www.caesars.com/rio-las-vegas/shows/penn-and-teller#.W1j0PqhKjrc    I looked at the ticketmaster website and could not find a place to enter a discount code - which was disappointing.   Hopefully the information above will let you take advantage of the 2 for 1 offer.     ... View more

@clostaunau wrote: how long do we have to reuse unsed funds?  I had a ticket that I cancelled a while back wasnt given any information about that.   Hello.   You have one year from the date the original ticket was puchased to complete travel. The person named on the original ticket is the only person that can use the funds   Note that if travel funds were used to purchase the ticket mentioned above, travel must be completed by the one year anniversary of the other ticket. ... View more

@caligator wrote: Has anyone gotten this email issue resolved by Southwest?  I am no longer receivng my trip confirmations or receipts. This started July 16, 2018.  Can find no problems on my end and worked a long time with my server provider and they find no problem on our end.   Does anyone have a direct way to contact S.W. IT department.  Customer Service will not solve it. Hello.   I'd suggest that you check your Southwest account.   1) Log on to your Southwest Account 2) Scroll down the left side of the page to "My preferences" and under that "communication"  3) Click on "communication" 4) The click on "Edit" Your e-mail should appear next to any of your subscriptions. If not ... 5) Click on "want to add another e-mail address to your account" 6) Your current e-mail; should show up as "primary". If not add it, and hit save   The other thing you can do is to examine your next booking to insure that it shows your e-mail address. If it's not there you should add it.   If none of that works, I'd suggest you contact customer relations via e-mail. ... View more

@unhappyatswa wrote: chg   Yes, I've used that contact link twice.  The two submissions were acknowledged, but then no follow up.   Even though SWA has subcontracted out the rapidrewards program, SWA is ultimately responsible for the program.   I'll post any followups from SWA. Southwest will only do what Cartera tells Southwest to do -- add or subtract points. Southwest has no information other than what Catera gives it.   I'd suggest that you e-mail SW customer service with a subject something like "Complaint about Cartera's administration of the SW shopping program."  Give details  of where Cartera is not performing as promised. Ask SW to intervene and ask Cartera to get it's act together. ... View more

@Deion wrote: Why would the fund be in his name when I purchased the ticket with my card?  The funds belong to the person whose name is  on the ticket - even though you paid for the ticket.  That's the way it works for every airline. Sorry. ... View more

@Deion wrote: So about a month ago I purchased 3 tickets for a flight and one of my friends that I purchased the ticket for is no longer able to go. I want to give his ticket to another friend of mine but southwest won’t let me change the name on the ticket. What can I do about this? I need it to be a fast fix cause the trip is August 2nd. Could he just use the ticket without me changing the name?  Hi   Giving the ticket to another person would not work. That person would have to get through TSA security. That requires the name on the ticket and the name of he tarveler's passport/dirivers license, etc. to match -- which it would not.   I'm afraid that the only way to get a new traveler to join you is buy a new ticket.   Sorry. ... View more

@rtbarron wrote: That said, were the purchases made with a Chase Rapid Rewards card? If so, have you contacted Chase about this yet? I have to agree. You see Chase buys points from Southwest. Chase determines how many points it's card holders receive, and then tells Southwest to award those numbers of points. Southwest is not in control of any part of that process.   Also, Southwest has no access to your credit card purchase information. If there is a problem, the problem is most likely on the Chase side of the transaction. ... View more

Hello.   Lots of people try to change their flights for various reasons. Some are legitimate. Some are excuses.   If your friend had realized the error immeditely after buying the tickets, the claim would have had greater credibility. I've done that -- Realizing I'd made a mistake  minutes after hitting the "buy ticket." button. In those cases the airline has been pretty acomodating. Waiting a significant amount of time since the intial purchase just looks more suspcious.   All I can suggest is to try customer relations again. You might get the same response as the first time, or maybe a different one.  My guess is that you'll get the same response. You won't know unless you try.   Good luck. ... View more

Morning.   Sorry, but non-refundable tickets are, by definition "non_refundable." It's that way on Southwest, and United, and Delta, and Americanand every oher airline   Unlike the other airlines I mentioned, at least Southwest lets you keep the full value of your cancelled flight for use within a year of the date the original ticket was bought.   Hopefully you'll find a way to use it. ... View more

To add to what blake said,  you CAN book interntional flights using RR points:   this is what comes up from the SW R apid Rewards area:   https://www.qrttravel.com/search.jsp#/air   I just tried to book an ORD/MUC trip. The response gave me a choice of flights on British Air, American or LOT       ... View more

Hi.   Here's informtion from Southwest about what to do about the lost laptop.   https://live.nettracer.aero/southwest-paxview/lostandfound/landing.do.   When you realize that Southwest wll fly something more than 160 million people this year, lost and found becomes a fairly time consuming process. If just 1 in 10,000 people loses an item, that means that Southwest will have to try to find 16,000 itmes this year. There are procedures that employees follow, and I'm sure there are data bases to update.   I can only suggest that you give Southwest a bit of time to try to sort things out. Yes that is frustrating, but it takes time to let the process work. ... View more

Sorry to hear about your continuing  bad eperience.   Been there, done that. A few years ago I was stranded in Denver as a res ult of thunderstorms rolling thru. I got rid of my rent car and went to the gate to wait for my flight. Flights were being cancelled all around me. My flight was delayed , then delayed more, then delayed even more, finally cancelled at 11:30 pm (6 hours after scheduled departure time). By  then all hotels near the airport were sold out (except the $400/night one), rent cars were going for $175. I got on the phone with SW and was told the earliest flight out was 22 hours later. Then I got lucky, and someone cancelled a seat on the 5 a.m. departure while I was on the phone with SW.. The reservation agent grabbed it. I slept on the concourse floor, and started boarding at 4:30 am.   Unfortunely, when things start heading south, they keep heading further south. Federal rules about pilots and flight attendants maximium time on duty or in flight start kicking in, and crews are prohibited from flying. The excessive delays cause more and more crew members to "time out," and the airline runs out of people to fly the planes, causing even more cancellations. I ran into this, I suspect you did too.  So many passengers get displaced by cancelled flights that there is no way in the era of planes that fly out 85% full to get everyone accomodated in any kind of timely way. It happens to every airline, not that that is an excuse.   It is absolutely not fun. It is absolutely madening. It is absolutely frustrating, and unfortunely, there really is nothing you can do about it. The sad thing is that there are likely hundreds of others experiencing just wht you are experiencing. Sorry.   If you are still stranded in Orlando, you might see if SW can get you out of another airport. You might check orbitz or expedia to see if a different airline can get you out.   Sorry, but that's the best I can suggest for this awful situation. ... View more

Hello.   Sorry to hear about your lost phone.   I can only advise patience. Assuming you gave SW ways to contact you, it will conatct you if/when the phone is found.   Lost and found is a significant job for the airline. If only 1 in 10,000 people reports an item as missing, that means the airline will be serching for over  16,000 items over the course of a year..   There are cell phone utilities that allow a phone owner to ping his missing phone, and the phone will report it's location. Were you lucky enough to have one on your phone? ... View more

Hello.   Southwest does take drink coupons in flight. I can only think  a few reasons a flight attendant would refuse to take your drink coupon.   1) Southwest sets aside 6-8 days  year to celebrate various events, and on those days drinks are free (no coupons needed) 2) If a flight is seriously delayed (say more than an hour), Southwest lets anyone that wants alcohol to get the drink -- again no coupon needed. 3) Maybe the flight duration was so short that the FA thought there would not be time to mix drinks.   As was already said, try again on your next flight. ... View more

Morning.   If I put two and two together (the response from SW saying there was no contest) and your clicking on a link tht apparently was not Southwest's, I'd guess you were the vistim of a scam to either get your personal information or to install malware on your computer. If it happened to Hillary Clinton, it could happen to you.   I'd suggest tht you run an antivirus scan on your computer ASAP,  keep an eye on your FICO score (some credit card companies let you see it for free), and take a look at your credit history. You get three free looks a year (1 for each of the 3  major credit reporting companies). You can do so at    https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action ... View more