Southwest Airlines Community

@CNoll wrote: In 2017 i reserved AND paid for hotel rooms for others that i booked thru SW just for the bonus points.   The points did go into my account.  Trying to do same thing this year but I am told by SW Customer Service that only the guest staying in the room is eligible to receive the points.  Anyone else hear the same? Hello.   I think the rule is that the person who makes the reservation AND checks in at the hotel gets the points.    So if you reserve 4 rooms  for a single stay for your party, and pay for 4 rooms, and you check in at the hotel , then you'd get all points tied to that  single reservation for 4 rooms.   I don't think you can earn points  for a stay, where someone other than you checks in.    Now there is one point of clarification. There are RR points issued by SW for hotel stays, and I think what I said above applies to these points. Some hotels issue their own RR points. I don't know what happens if someone reserves a room thru the hotel specific site, and then gives the hotel someone else's RR # .  ... View more

BTW, the early check in does not always work. I paid for their automatic "early check in" on a flight home from Cancun and they did not do it. I was in a remote area at check in time and my wife and I had to check in on our own later when we had cell reception again. Never count on it and always follow up to be sure it happened. Never even got around to calling to get my $$ back either but that was on me. ... View more

Oh...since you put it that way.  🙂  Long live Southwest! ... View more

You can apply Travel Funds towards vacation packages booked through Southwest Vacations (actually Mark Travel Corporation). And, of course, towards air travel on Southwest. But that's it. No group travel, extra-fee Southwest products (EarlyBird Check-In, Upgraded Boarding, etc.), hotels or rental-cars, despite being able to book them on the Southwest website. ... View more

@elijahbrantley wrote: Hey hey! What @chgoflyer said. I actually had to read the family boarding policy, and it’s rather vague. It says “An adult traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding.” This caught me off guard because (as stated), I see whole families get on together all the time, and it seems to be largely allowed. It’s not uncommon to see one youngster, the parents, and their grandparents board during family boarding.    Personal opinion moment: as much as I like SW boarding, this is one area that is not that great. If the policy were enforced as it reads, it could make family boarding difficult, even if sitting together is not important.    A while back, there was a brief period of strict enforcement re: not allowing adults in addition to parents to board with the family, following an incident where a gay couple were denied Family Boarding (the couple wanted to board with a grandparent as well). I still frequently see social media posts from someone upset that their grandparents (aunt, uncle, etc.) couldn't board with the family at Family Boarding. Which is how it should be, IMHO. Much like Preboarding, Family Boarding has become somewhat of a free-for-all. If you're the unlucky one who -- despite purchasing EarlyBird Check-In -- has a B or later boarding position, you suffer. Admittedly, since seat-saving is allowed, it's ultimately not that different really whether the OPS agent enforces policy strictly or loosely, but I do think that consistency would help avoid customer anger and stress.   Southwest's boarding system certainly has it's challenges. ... View more

Sounds like you might be trying to put the code in the travel funds section. That would required the confirmation code that sounds like what it’s asking you for.    You need to find the voucher entry and not the travel funds entry. See here...all the way on the right.      Good luck! ... View more

I don't believe that can be done online but if you call or email Customer Relations they should be able to export your activity to a spreadsheet and email it to you.   Hope this helps! ... View more

Morinng.   I'd advise you to take a look at your point history to verify the transactions. You get there by logging into your Southwest account. Looking at the left side of the page click on recent activity. That gives you a list of all points added to and subtracted from your account.   If in fact you changed your first flight (both the original and the changed flight would have the same confirmation number), what you should see is 3250 points subtracted (for first flight), 1741 points subtracted (for the change), followed by 4991 points added (for the cancellation.   If that's not what you see, you probably should follow elijah's suggestion and contact customer service.     The last time I cancelled a fight purchased with points, the cancellation page gave me the option of getting a $ refund or keeping the funds in my travel fund account.   You should have received three e-mails from SW: 1) For your original reservation showing points used and $charged as 9/11 security fee 2) For the change (subject would have been UPDATED flight reservtion" 3) For the cancellation (subject would have been CANCELLED flight reservation) the end of the e-mail would specify what happend to you 9/11 security fee. ... View more

You're* ... View more

@Daveg2013 wrote: United is the only choice. From HOU - ICT. United (actually ExpressJet operating on United's behalf) operates four 50-seat regional jets on the IAH-ICT route. Southwest's smallest aircraft, the 737-700 has 137 seats. Southwest simply can't match the frequency that United has on the Wichita flight because they don't have smaller aircraft to properly meet the market's demand. ... View more

Hi @LMG09,   Here's a link to the post that @dfwskier mentioned above. It has a lot of great advice that I think you'll find helpful! 🙂   ... View more

This reminds me of another activity that is discouraged, the other airlines will cancel tickets if they know you are doing this, I'm not sure what Southwest's opinion is:   Buy one set of RT tickets from BWI to LAX, and buy a second seet of RT tickets from BOS to BWI, "nesting" the BWI-LAX round trip inside the BOS-BWI round trip.   Then you could add the companion just to the BWI-LAX round trip ticket.   The reservation system may not like this though. On Southwest it woulnd't normally affect pricing, they don't offer savings for RT vs separate one-way tickets like other airlines, but I think they still prefer you not to book this way, although it would be another way to solve the companion booking issue originally described above.   I'd confirm if this was allowed or not before doing it, you don't want to jeapordize your status by violating the terms.           ... View more

@kyderr wrote: I am planning my honeymoon for November, and I am just about to click on United, but I don't want to.  I wish I had some certaintly to make a decision. But I would have to fly from the East coast, and Fares on southwest are already over $500 just to get to california. Perhaps I can't wait any longer. For something as important as a honeymoon, I'd go ahead and book on United. You won't get legendary Southwest service but at least you'll have peace of mind. ... View more

EBCI = Early Bird Check In. It programs your boarding number to basically be after the a-listers.  Though you might not want to add the $15-30 cost for a quick trip lasting less than 24 hrs.  I am not sure if you can buy for the return trip only.   Like you, I also wish that I could get the return boarding pass at 24 hours but it won’t allow it until I complete the first leg of the trip.   ... View more

@revmlt54 wrote: Is 5.6.1 the most recent?   Sorry, I didn't see your response til now.   5.6.1 is what I have on my phone. ... View more

You can obtain your boarding pass  (You don't have to print it. You get get it on your phone) any time after the 24 hour in advance mark and before you get to TSA.  ... View more

Hi again, Rae.   I fully understand why you want to fly other airlines that have fares significantly cheaper than those offered by Southwest. In similiar situations, I do the same.   Since you apparently like fliying with Southwest, you might just want to occasionally check  SW fares in the future to see if the situation changes.   Have a good week. ... View more

Hi again.   The fact that booking.com hasn't contacted you is pretty disappointing. I'd advise e-mailing them, AND slamming them on twitter, facebook, YELP, and any other on-line rating platform you can think of. Bad public press does wonders in encouraging companies to be responsive.   I fully understand why you never want anything to do with the company again, but it appears this was your first bad experience with it.  Only you can say whether or not this experience was so aggregious that it deserves "one strike and you are out." Booking.com finally did rectify the problem, admitedly at great discomfort to you.   10,000 points spent on a wanna get away fare is roughly worth $150. Only you can say whether or not your experience  was so distasteful that you are willing to forgo that type of opportunity in the future. ... View more

I tried it but the $100+ fare difference wasn’t worth it! I was flying from MDW to LGA with a connection in STL. Both flights from MDW had the same connection flight so I was wondering if I could take the late one to reduce my layover from 4 to 1 hours . I asked and it Didn’t work ! But it was fun trying  ... View more

@jntway wrote: Jacksonville was my final destination, I live there.  I did not have a ticket to continue on to Baltimore.  My ticket was MDW to Jax, not MDW to Baltimore.   Hello.   I suspect that something got messed up in the automated (I presume it's automated) notifiction system. I've had flights cancelled when the second leg (that I really was on) of my flight was cancelled, but never when a second leg (of a flight I WAS NOT ON) was cancelled.   It sounds like you were pretty badbly inconcenienced with a  2 hour dirve drive to and a 2 hour drive from Midway - all for naught.  Then you'll have another trip to Midway for your rescheduled flight. That doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun.   I d on't know whether the company would offer any compensation for your trouble.  It might be worth asking the quetion. Also they might be able to explain what happened.     You can contact SW by phone, twiter or e-mail. Here's how:    Hope you have success.   https://www.southwest.com/contact-us/contact-us.html?clk=GFOOTER-CUSTOMER-CONTACT-US   ... View more

@treichelm wrote: thanks for the prompt reply, I figured that was likely. Hopefully you and/or your wife are able to use the credit before then for full value. Good luck!     ... View more

Are you traveling with a trained service animal, or an emotional support animal? The requirements for transporting each type of animal are different.   Documentation is not required for trained service animals, but at check-in the agent will ask some factfinding questions to determine if your animal qualifies.   The requirements for travel with an emotional support animal are very specific:   Current documentation (not more than one year old) on letterhead from a mental health professional or medical doctor who is treating the Customer's mental health-related disability stating: The Passenger has a mental or emotional disability recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition (DSM IV) The Passenger needs the emotional support or psychiatric service animal as an accommodation for air travel and/or for activity at the passenger's destination The individual providing the assessment is a licensed mental health professional or medical doctor, and the Passenger is under his or her professional care AND The date and type of mental health professional's or medical doctor's license and the state or other jurisdiction in which it was issued Complete details are available on the Southwest website:   Customers with Disabilities > Trained service and emotional support animals    (Click on Assistance Animals in the left-hand column.)     ... View more

Southwest is always evaluating new routes! Those decisions are made based on demand and availability, and viability of the route. It helps to know we'd have at least one Customer onboard for that one though! Thanks for weighing in. ... View more

@DancingDavidE wrote:     Southwest (and the other guys too) will try to accomodate someone in what is informally known as the "flat tire rule" - however this depends on your mom arriving at the airport within an hour or two hours of the scheduled departure, or if she won't be arriving at the airport then she must contact Southwest right away.   If she no-shows a WGA fare then the funds are forfeited. No-showing a refundable fare will get you travel funds, or strangely enough a points booking will be returned to your account.   She can calso call up to ten minutes before the scheduled departure to cancel or change the flight, and make pro-active re-booking but this would be at the current fare pricing as opposed to the flat tire rule which as far as I know would be an even exchange of tickets on the next open flight. (Even if it is the next morning.)   I hope it worked out for her and that she was able to arrive at the airport or at least contact Southwest to avoid a no-show situation.     Sorry that I didn't see this yesterday either as I was already on the road for my flight from Midway.   Hope it worked out for your mom.   For others who might search the forum in the future:   David is right, the best thing is to get to the airport even though you've mised your flight, however ...   At the very least, a call to reservations explaining the problem and asking to be allowed to go out the next day would be in order. I know the airport staff can be accomdating, but I'm not sure about the phone people. Cancelling would have eliminated this option and would have  caused you mom to pay the much higher (normally) same day walk up fare.   I used the flat tire rule 4 or 5 summers ago in one of the few times that I allowed more than enough time to get to the airport in Denver. (hours more than normally needed). Denver flooded,   Although Denver is not home, I know Denver pretty well. I tried multiple alternatives to get around cars on flooded roads. Nothing worked. Southwest put me on another flight even though i was using a Wanna Get Away fare and no showed.    In my case it was the "flloded city rule" instead of the "flat tire rule. ... View more