Southwest Airlines Community

Per Southwest:   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 fact-finding 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.   Link: https://www.southwest.com/faq/boarding-the-plane   TL;DR - ask the Customer Service Agent at the ticket counter.    --Jessica ... View more

If Southwest cancelled your flight (and it was not a cancellation you made yourself) and you did not fly then you are certainly entitled to a refund there - but since you were rebooked and flew, any rebooking that Southwest had to do should for you should not have made you pay any difference in fare. I would definitely contact Southwest about this issue using one of the Contact Us methods below and explain the situation to them.   --Jessica ... View more

I wouldn't say I have had this issue "repeatedly", but I have had sporadic issues when I try to change flights and I cannot do it on my own and I have to contact Southwest to have them resolve the issue.    --Jessica ... View more

Did you book the flights after you received (and accepted) the offer? Most promotions require that you book and fly after you accept the offer, and flights that you booked before you accepted the offer don't count, even if you fly during the offer period. It's possible that this promo is exempt from that rule, but most are not.   --Jessica ... View more

@TheMiddleSeat wrote: I would love to hear where you are reading you would need to be tested or be vaccinated to travel domestically.  This question keeps popping up, but no one has pointed to a source.   --TheMiddleSeat Same! Getting a test or COVID vaccine to fly has never once been a thing in the United States *unless* you are traveling from Hawaii into the US.    I think it's just something that people are assuming they need, because I mean for goodness sake, last year you could have gotten in "trouble" if you literally drove across certain state lines for awhile.    --Jessica ... View more

@jperez0305 wrote: Their open seating is the lamest idea I have seen in a while. That's what they do on public buses, not planes smh. Tell me you know nothing about Southwest, without telling me you know nothing about Southwest.    Lamest idea you've seen "in awhile"? Southwest has had an open seating policy for 50 years - probably longer than you have been alive.    This whole story doesn't make one lick of sense - i.e. "there wasn't even a seat for my infant" - what? Since when do infants have their own seats? Aren't children under 2 years old considered "lap children" and don't need their own seat (meaning they don't require a ticket which means they are free, by the way).   There must have been a seat, because your child apparently was in one, but why was your child not even sitting next to you!? Was he/she fussing next to complete strangers during the duration of the flight?! And if he/she was - is this a joke? What is wrong with you, Parent?! I simply don't believe that *no one* on the flight would have accommodated at least one of the parents to sit next to a *not even 2 year old child*.    Ridiculous. I don't believe a word of it.    --Jessica ... View more

No, if your travel fund is $250 and your flight is $200, there's no way to only use $150 of your travel fund and put $50 on a credit card, for example. All of your travel funds will be used up to the travel fund amount. You could always go up to an Anytime or Business Select fare, which costs more, if you wanted to use up your travel fund and pay for the rest with a CC. Or pick a more expensive WGA flight at a different time, etc.    --Jessica ... View more

@TheMiddleSeat wrote: @bwallet As noted above, hotels booked through the Southwest website are actually booked though hotels.com.  Southwest is just providing a link to their service.    --TheMiddleSeat It's actually a partnership with booking.com 😉    --Jessica ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: The downside to using southwest hotels, at least the few times I have done so, is that southwest hotels requires immediate payment with a reservation.   This is not true - I book through Southwest almost exclusively for hotels and they always have a "Reserve Now, Pay Later" option for the hotels I want. I never pay for my hotel immediately upon booking, even though that option is a little cheaper overall.   But to answer the OP, yes, if you want Rapid Rewards you have to book through https://www.southwesthotels.com/. Look for hotels that offer point bonuses - I got an 8,000 bonus offer once a few years ago, didn't pay anything extra for it! Sometimes you'll get 1,000-2000 point offers, but a lot of times your point earnings is 1:1, so if your hotel cost $250, you get 250 points. Still worth it to me, a lot of my RR points come from hotel stays (except when I go to Vegas since I have casino loyalty there, lol).    --Jessica ... View more

I have never been A-List in my life (until right now / next year! Huzzah!) and I am never in the Cs ... ever ... lol   --Jessica ... View more

They announced on my flight home (Nov 2) that they were expanding the drink menu, either the next day or later that week, so that's great to see!   --Jessica ... View more

@BobNoxiousUSA wrote: If I do NOTHING what will happen?  Will I have better boarding due to recently getting A-list? Yes, which is why you should request a refund for Early Bird.   --Jessica ... View more

Congrats on your win!   --Jessica ... View more

The whole "saving seats" thing is a non-issue to me as a solo flier. I can almost always get a window or aisle seat somewhere in the first 10-15 rows even with a B or C boarding position (once I was in the late Cs and got a row 2 seat) - I typically like to sit around the wing, but it's OK if I don't.    --Jessica ... View more

Delays are frequent and rampant since COVID began in 2020. I'm sorry that discourages you from flying Southwest, but Southwest is honestly no different than any other airline in this regard, and IMO, they are one of the best, not the worst.   --Jessica ... View more

Hang up and contact Southwest on social media. Phones are the airlines preferred method of contact but in the case of these long wait times I suggest an alternate option: social media (FB, Twitter). I get faster responses that way and don't have to wait on hold.   --Jessica ... View more

Rule of thumb with checked bags: never pack anything valuable. Always put valuables in your carryon.    That aside, I'm not sure why Southwest would still take your bags to Buffalo when your flight was cancelled and you were not going on a new flight to Buffalo. Did you get confirmation that your bag made it to Buffalo? Did you file a lost baggage report? You should be able to follow up on the status of your bag with that. More information on lost or damaged bags here:    https://www.southwest.com/faq/lost-damaged-baggage    --Jessica ... View more

Cancelled flights - they happen. Especially in the middle of a pandemic when few things are guaranteed. It's possible that you can get to your final destination via a different connection path and not wait 2 days, but you'd have to talk to a Southwest rep either at the airport or via one of the contact methods to see what is possible.    --Jessica ... View more

The posts keep coming because everything keeps changing by the day/week/month. You'd be surprised how many people are convinced that you need a vaccine to fly. This has never been the case, but a lot of people actually think that you need one - when you don't.    @gsking wrote: The question then becomes... when does your vaccine expire?      Mark my words.... it's coming.  I have been trying to get an answer to this for months and have been unable. Sure getting vaccinated and showing your vaccine card to enter an establishment (which I just did last night, thank you city of Philadelphia) is one thing. But what happens in 6 months? 9 months? A year? Will my vaccine card still be valid? Why or why not? Equally important: will I eventually be considered "less vaxxed" because I got J&J vs Pfizer which has a booster option? (Case in point: Look at Israel where now you are only considered "fully vaccinated" if you have 3 shots.)   So many unanswered questions; I don't see how showing your "vax card" in general is a sustainable option as time goes on and dates will surely become an issue. The whole premise needs to be dropped, in my opinion. We functioned just fine until March 2020 without caring about vaccination status at all - it shouldn't matter now. Get your yearly COVID and flu shots if you so desire and have that be the end of it.    --Jessica ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: Many airport just use the labels long term and short term (in hours) labels. Everything else is more than short term but less than long term. What do you mean by "everything else"? Is there a parking option in between short term and long term at other airports? All we have in PHL is short term (ground level parking), long term (upper level parking garages) and an economy lot which is a flat rate/day.    I guess technically we also have a "cell phone lot" (I don't know why it's called that - maybe an outdated term when cell phones were still new) where you can "wait" for free up to 30 minutes before picking someone up directly at baggage claim: https://www.phl.org/to-and-from/meeting-passengers/cellphone-lot    --Jessica ... View more

@Goforwand1 wrote: @jksobonya Well, $44/day is for short term parking. That's not really a part of the discussion since I would never use short term parking - and who would park 24 hours or more in short term?!    I guess it's how you define "short term"   When I lived in Pittsburgh, I and hundreds of people used short term parking: https://flypittsburgh.com/pittsburgh-international-airport/parking/parking-options/   The parking at BNA adjacent to the terminal would probably be considered "short term" but isn't described in that way... Short term is if you aren't going to be at the airport for an extended period of time - it's primarily used if you are picking up or dropping off passengers. So - it's not a place I would ever park when I am going on a trip. I am pretty sure 24 hours is the max you can stay in short term. At least in PHL, there are specific areas designated for short term parking: the ground level of each parking garage. If you go to the upper levels, it's considered long term, and there are different entrances for the ground level and upper levels so you get a parking ticket that reflects where you are, so they charge you accordingly.   https://phl.org/parking/garages    --Jessica ... View more

@gsking wrote: Never mind that we all flew for over a year WITHOUT vaccine and did fine.    Precisely. I flew multiple times last year and this year because I wanted to prove that flying was safe. It is. I'm glad I did it. I wasn't vaccinated until June 2021, never got COVID before then, still don't have COVID now. Am I just lucky? Is my immune system that much better? Is my health (which is great overall) a factor? Sure it is. The vaccine is helpful for those who are actually at risk and who need the protection. The vaccine should not be mandated across the board because everyone's health situation is different, and besides that, many have already had COVID and have natural immunity - but people aren't ready to talk about that, they just want you to "get the jab".    Because of this, the fact that many are now thinking unvaccinated = sick/deadly is very telling. This way of thinking not only incorrect, it's actual misinformation. I am not sick because I have not taking a certain vaccine. When did we get to the point where unvaccinated = you are sick? It's mindboggling what people believe - and what people are afraid of - when they have no reason to be.    --Jessica ... View more

@Goforwand1 wrote: In Nashville, here is the cost and pricing structure https://flynashville.com/park-at-bna   As my company reimburses up to $25 a day in parking expenses for travel, I will use the Terminal Garages which are less than a 5 minute walk to check in which is incredibly convenient!   Not 100% sure of the comparison to PHL but if the "best" parking is $44 at PHL vs. the "best"parking in at BNA at $24, then you definitely win that bet..heck valet at BNA is $33! Nice! Getting reimbursements for parking is a good perk. I'd park in the garages too, if I could get all of it reimbursed!   Well, $44/day is for short term parking. That's not really a part of the discussion since I would never use short term parking - and who would park 24 hours or more in short term?! The long term parking is $24/day (or $16/day if you park more than 72 hours), and that's what I've been paying since summer of last year.    --Jessica ... View more

Most will say don't buy points, as the $ / point conversion isn't worth it and you are better off spending your $ on the flight itself. As for me, I've purchased points a few times in the past when I needed a couple thousand to get a free flight. To me, paying $50 or so for the points and getting the flight for "free" (well, $50) was worth it to me compared to what the flight would have cost me if I paid for it at full cost. Although, that was before I really cared about getting to A-List status, and flights purchased with points do not qualify for A-List, so that is something else to consider.    --Jessica ... View more

Southwest's pre-boarding process isn't something that affects me at the end of the day. I don't care if I am in the front of the plane or the back - I do try to get a seat right on the wing when I can 😉 Typically, that is around row 10, and I have always been able to get a window or aisle seat if I am in the A or early to mid B group.    --Jessica ... View more

I don't think any of us are privy to that kind of information since we are not employees, and I doubt most employees even know that off the top of their heads.    --Jessica ... View more

Dang, $28/day!    I haven't tried any of the off-site / private parking lots-shuttles, although to be honest I haven't researched them much. Driving to a different location, even if it's only a mile away from the airport, and then taking *their* shuttle to/from seems like an unnecessary, extra step. It might be worth if if their rates were significantly cheaper, but I don't think they are. From what little I've seen the rates are on par with the economy lot, maybe a little more, which to me isn't worth it. I'd rather stay on site at the airport.    --Jessica ... View more

@Reeseg wrote: What is a travel declaration.  Hello,   Depending on where you are traveling, some states require you to fill out a traveler form. California - Los Angeles specifically - requires this. You can learn more here: https://www.southwest.com/coronavirus/california/    You could be referring to the health declaration that you must agree to when you check in to your Southwest flight. It is a prompt that appears where you must acknowledge that you do not have symptoms of COVID-19 and that you are aware of the face mask policy.   --Jessica ... View more

Alcohol hasn't been served since 2020 when COVID halted beverage service. Currently you can get a limited beverage service which includes 5 options: Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Water, and Coffee.    There has not been any announcement on when alcohol may return.    --Jessica ... View more