Southwest Airlines Community

One additional option is also the chat function within the Southwest app. ... View more

For all of you who are giving the poster a bit of grief about their concern, let me ask you a question.   What monetary difference would it make for Southwest to extend travel funds until this outbreak is over? The answer is "no difference" unless you consider that if they don't they'll keep the poster's money and supply nothing in return. It wouldn't cost Southwest one dime to simply extend the expiration dates. This person is not asking for a refund. If the poster doesn't feel safe putting their family onto a plane at the moment who are any of you to lecture them? I'm a pilot. If any of you were to decide you didn't feel safe flying with me for ANY reason I'd be ok with that because a person's fear whether real or imagined is just as terrifying. I'm also an avid motorcycle racer. I have no fear of being on my bike at 175 mph but I'll bet you would. Each and every one of you probably has a fear of one kind or another that the poster would consider to be irrational. Give the poster a break. Southwest (and every other business) is in the business of making their customers feel good about their experience. The stance that Southwest has taken with this will simply cause lost customers and lost revenue. The reasonable decision would be to just extend the travel funds beyond this (yes media hyped) outbreak. ... View more

Personally, banning for life is a little bit harsh. But I do agree that this person should not have gone on an airplane -knowing- that he recently took a coronavirus test with pending results. Pretty sure the CDC / everyone says that if you think you might have the virus you should not even attempt to get on a plane.   --Jessica ... View more

Thank you. I meant non changeable (other than names) and non refundable. We have large school groups who are being denied the opportunity to go on their trip, it wouldn't help changing names as no one is allowed to travel for this group. It is unfortunate. I truly hope SW changes their policy on this. It is out of our control. ... View more

Twitter is usually the fastest route, and DMing on Twitter is even faster than fastest 🙂 best of luck! ... View more

@Cable-TV-Guy wrote:   It's not a question of price for the A321. It is a question of availability.  Airbus' factories are running faster than ever - at the highest capacity ever. The aircraft is sold out for the next 5 years, so it can't just "turn out a few more" for Southwest.   The only way any airline gets a few A321s in the near term is if Airbus talks another customer into giving up some near term delivery slots. ... View more

@jksobonya wrote: @dfwskier wrote: Jessica, try booking it as a one way multi city trip PHL/DAL/LAS for example.   That way if your first flight is late, SW know you are coming for the second, and if you miss it, you'll be protected and not treated as a no show       What happens with checked baggage on a multi-city itinerary? Do I have to get it from baggage claim, recheck it, and go back through security at X, or can I check it all the way through to Y?   --Jessica You'll have to ask the agent to "check luggage through" to the LAS destination, they won't automatically go all the way, without asking for this the luggage would be delivered to the intermediate city.    Think of it as making a round-trip flight but all in one day and you don't return to where you started.      ... View more

@VidhiG wrote: I am having the same issue where I cancelled my ticket but i had a travel fund and instead of giving me more time to travel my expiration is April 8th and they wont wont allow me t transfer. Southwest claims flexibility, yet the corona virus will still be around early April.  Surprisingly, united airlines cancelled my ticket and issues a new voucher to extend for another year. take some notes southwest. You issued a voucher due to issues on your end and now with the virus you cant extend me and my husbands voucher. very disappointing.  If your expiration date is April 8, that means you originally reserved your flight on April 8, 2019, and cancelled it sometime after that. You have had all of last year up until now to use your travel funds (an entire year). Please do not blame the virus for not being able to use your travel funds by the expiration date when you could have easily used them last summer or fall when this virus was not an issue.    --Jessica ... View more

@sheryls wrote: They basically said that they will NOT accommodate but you are more than welcome to pay the additional fares for changes in flights.  Every other airline is accommodating customers' requests due to the virus outbreak and companies cancelling all travel.  SW doesn't care.   There's nothing to accommodate here because the other airlines are doing what Southwest already does: no fees to change flights. All other airlines charge fees as high as $200 (on top of the difference in flight cost) just to change a flight. The airlines are now waiving those change fees. Southwest has never charged fees to change flights, so there's nothing they need to do differently.     --Jessica ... View more

Thank you. One employee in Tampa said they had to take PTO time without pay so that is why we asked.   Another employee in Tampa just returned from Milan.   So again that is why we asked. ... View more

I don't know if this is related, but I've been having log in issues as well. I can log in successfully, for example on Southwest.com, but when I go to another page of the site (i.e. "My Account") I have to log in again. And if I go to "Recent Activity" - I have to log in again. So on and so forth. Sometimes I am able to navigate successfully, but as of late I've had to constantly re-log in.    --Jessica ... View more

@cameronlaufer wrote: Concerned that a flight is going to sell out before I can change/add my companion. the flight is sold out of Wanna Get Away fares. Typically, what % of the seats are sold in these fares? Does this mean it is close to selling out?  In addition to all of the excellent advice above:   Use points to buy a seat and exchange it later I'm assuming you have booked yourself on the flight and are not waiting? Refundable fare also saves a spot   ...I have been in the unfortunate position of adding companion to flights in the 1-36 hour timeframe several trips - I'm not recommending you do this necessarily, but since Southwest changed policy not to overbook flights there will almost always be some action at the 24-hour mark when people get their automatic check-ins and many realize either they forgot they booked and cancel, change to another flight, business meetings are canceled, and even closer to the flight time people are standing by on earlier flights or missing their connections.   So most likely you can get on, but it may be stressful. I'd go with the advice to book a points ticket to hold a spot if the "penalty" for not having a seat would be major.   It doesn't matter if WGA, A, or BS tickets are available, any of these seats would be superseded by a companion booking if available.   Another angle of advice tangential to the discussion - many routes have the WGA removed and only Anytime or BS are available - if Southwest has data that last-minute people are going to take these, no reason to offer WGA fares.  So there could be many seats left if Anytime is showing.   Now if it is only BS left, then I would estimate fewer than 15 are available, possibly the last few seats.     ... View more

Suggestion, follow the lead of the cruise ships and have a fight attendant at the entrance to the cabin with a dispenser of Purell or similar hand disinfectant and apply it to everyone upon boarding.  ALSO supply disinfectant wipes to every passenger for them to disinfect their personal space.  There isn't sufficient time between flights to do a complete and thorough cleaning/disinfecting. Not taking anything away from your efforts but given the mindset of most travelers at this time, the fact that they can help in the fight of this disease and protect themselves and others with this process would be priceless.  At Walmart a 4 package of Clorox wipes is less than $13 about 4 cents a piece.  At a volume that you would be buying I am sure the cost would be less than half.  Think about it, material cost 2 cents and free labor.  From this you will undoubtedly help assuage peoples concerns, and keep more people flying as well as help to limit the spread of disease.  This situation is not one to be reactionary, Southwest should take the lead and be proactive in this fight.  CDC,  WHO,  government historically are behind the curve.  I would gladly forgo a bag of crackers for a couple disinfectant wipes.  Maybe Southwest can be the first air carrier to have the term "Germ tube" no longer apply. ... View more

I will admit that I was wrong here.  The links they typically provide send you back to the “find funds” page.  When I went in to just my account, there was the 1 that I just cancelled.  I have about $1500 worth of vouchers that I still need to find.     ... View more

I have had similar issues getting points through Alamo Car Rental.  The last time I got the points automatically was January 2019.  I took 4 more trips since then and have had to follow up with SW. I eventually get the points but only after contacting both Alamo and SW.  I am still waiting for the points from a rental in early January.  ... View more

I agree with @ksbrg.  Wait until an offer has been made before you mention your future commitments. As long as you are reasonable with the time off needed, I’m sure this is a non issue.  ... View more

I agreed to fly out in the morning, and not realizing that these two bags can be carry-ons because my suitcase was way under 50 pounds.   The 50 pound limit is for checked baggage; if your bags are under 50 pounds, they are free to check. If they are over 50 pounds, you have to pay a fee. To carry on your bags they need to meet certain size requirements, and you also need to make sure you have no liquids above 3.4 oz. It's unclear based on your post if your bags met the size requirements to carry on.    --Jessica ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: CDC recommends to wash your hands frequently and  NOT TOUCH your face with your hands. It really is that simple. Recommendations from an infectious disease MD, are similar to the above:   https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/26/opinions/colleen-kraft-coronavirus-best-defense/index.html ... View more

@mtmass1 wrote: I purchased Business Select and boarded A1. When I ordered a drink I showed the FA my Apple wallet boarding pass and it had NO for drink ticket? I routinely fly BS and ALWAYS have YES under drink ticket. This is the first time I have ever encountered this? Any ideas as to why my BS ticket did not come with a drink ticket? That sounds odd that the boarding pass wouldn't have your drink ticket on it when you booked a BS ticket. I would reach out to Southwest directly on Twitter and hopefully they can look in to it.    If you still have the mobile boarding pass I would double check that it says Business Select in case it says Anytime instead as there are only 15 BS spots per flight.   -Blake  ... View more

Thanks for the screen shot, Blake!   I wonder if there's a particular reason I don't see any?  Very odd to say the least.   ... View more

Just as an FYI per the Department of Defense, member are not authorized to travel in uniform. The only time this is authorized is if a member is to report directly to a duty station or a military flight where they are required to be in uniform or will not have the opportunity to change in uniform. So, your policy of military boarding only captures a very small percentage of members that could use this.  ... View more

My purse is more important than your comfort. I'm not going to move my purse for anyone unless the air marshal requires it. ... View more

As a matter of fact, we do own an electric car.  Carbon offsets don't have to be spent only on trees, but on any wide variety of initiatives that can reduce CO2 emissions, including initiatives that prevent the mass cutting of forests, such as in the Amazon.   Unfortunately, nothing from Southwest is all that encouraging as answer to the question of offering offsets. ... View more

@bec102896   Oh okay, gotcha. I was looking for an actual document. Thanks for the note. 😀 ... View more

Also, your odds of securing low boarding positions (meaning seats together) improve with the purchase of EarlyBird. We know that's not always a desirable option, so for good measure, always be sure to check in exactly 24 hours prior to your scheduled departure when you do not purchase EarlyBird.    We look forward to welcoming you and your family onboard!   ... View more

I agree with you 100%! LUV the free changes and cancellations and I was in the same boat several times where a flight was delayed and they gave everyone a voucher the other guys would make you email in to get a voucher.    -Blake  ... View more

That's awesome that they were able to help you use your travel funds!   One note for future reference: All airlines allow you to cancel any booking within 24 hours. If you remember immediately that you're forgotten to apply funds, you can always just cancel the reservations and then rebook them yourself, applying the funds at that time. ... View more

When you book your hotel reservation make sure to enter your Rapid Rewards number during checkout - if you don't do this, there is no way for them to give you your points. I've never had a problem with my points posting, it typically takes a few weeks but in some rare cases they will post just a few days after check out is complete.   --Jessica ... View more