Southwest Airlines Community

The next time my companion and I are A and C boarding, I'll save the seat and say "she's in the bathroom." Hopefully it'll work! (My companion never checks in in a timely manner.) ... View more

As a side note, there is no reason the mandatory retirement age couldn't be extended to 67, which would relieve some of the pilot shortage issues. Sure, there would have to be some guidelines, like the pilot over 65 and under 67 would have to act in the capacity of co-pilot (right seat), though their responsibilities could include both PF and PM. And the captain would have to be at a younger age, say under 50. Both pilots are already required to pass an FAA Class I physical (which ensures that the over-65 pilots are still healthy). The transportation secretary's blanket refusal to consider this shows a lack of understanding of the aviation industry. I'm a Gulfstream ATP myself and I know many Airline Pilots between 65 and 67 who are in excellent health condition and would gladly continue flying under these conditions.     ... View more

Your opinion only.  Best wishes in your pursuits. ... View more

@parpitt1 wrote: I too was just short of the threshold for A-List preferred in 2022, (2 legs or a few thousand points) I just checked and my account now says I have Preferred status thru 2023.  A very much appreciated gesture on SWA's part.  Same here!   I had been hoping to make a last-minute points run and then obviously didn't.         ... View more

To my dear legal scholar,   The judge does not have to agree to a settlement if the plaintiff wants to withdraw the case.  I don't know where you get your information.  I anticipate that the case will be SETTLED and the complaint withdrawn.   Please do some research before responding to posts.  Thank you. ... View more

I haven’t received such communication (nor seen that) where it states travel in January 2023 counts towards A List or Preferred renewal for ‘22 as well as ‘23.  The only comm I’ve received is one stating they would be reviewing all accounts where the cancelled flight would have qualified for the new tier and to standby for an additional communication.  I’m still waiting.   ... View more

Selling points is forbidden.  If found out, the points   would be zeroed out. ... View more

I like another comment you had in a different thread, "they meet my use case".  For what I need, Southwest is great and that's why I will also continue to fly them.   --TheMiddleSeat ... View more

Air travel has risks, any airline can and has had an occasional meltdown, pick your poison or pick your pleasure. I was impacted, and made adjustments, no worries. If it was life or death I would have booked another carrier, chartered part 135, or flown my own plane. It wasn't, thankfully. Still, Southwest came through rebooking my flights at no charge, extending my companion pass so that I could renew it with points in January, and unexpectedly gave me 50,000 points for my canceled flights. Southwest is not perfect, none of them are, but they're one of the safest airlines, they meet my use case, and they take care of their customers under adversity. I thank Southwest for that and will continue to support them, including two new trips I just booked. Anyone truly not happy with Southwest can book an alternative; but me, I'm staying with them.   PS - I'm neither a shill nor Southwest employee, just a regular customer who's flown millions of miles across the globe with all carriers and by myself. ... View more

Well said, and exactly my attitude during the disruption. Was it a bit of a disappointment? Yes, but not the end of the world and we planned alternate activities at home instead of in FL. It was all good.   In return, Southwest rescheduled my travel to January with no change fees, extended my companion pass (which should have expired because I didn't get that last end-of-year flight in) so that my companion could fly with me, and they gave me 50,000 points (already deposited in my account). Totally unexpected, what's not to like?   Thanks again Southwest, I appreciate everything you do to make things right under difficult circumstances.   -Will (where there's a will there's away) ... View more

I did see this which is a little more helpful: Additionally, we are identifying Members whose disrupted travel would have qualified them for A-List, or A-List Preferred, and/or Companion Pass in 2023, and will provide further communication soon…” ... View more

@TheConnection wrote: We don’t know what that means yet though.  Can we still earn towards renewal?   Will points count for this year, next year, both?(should be both).  I don't see anything like that in my account right now.   If they are doing that, it's being tracked separately.     ... View more

@DanielS_1996 Not sure what type of file you linked but it isn’t viewable. Interested to hear what the agent told you though.  ... View more

This happened to me the first day airlines started flying again after 9/11. Got to PHL from CMH but BOS connector was canceled. Did a rental car ride share with others and drove to BOS. US Airways reimbursed me. I'm optimistic Southwest will as well. Hope it works out. ... View more

Just to update in case it helps someone.   I called the 855-234-5234 number tonight instead of the 800 number and my wait time was only 44 minutes!! I was able to confirm that I would get a refund for the outgoing portion of our flight and keep the return flight.  (Website was showing all day that the outgoing flight was still happening even though the flight was indeed cancelled) The new itinerary was sent to me and I was told that the refund would be processed within 5-7 business days.   The other good thing is that it turned out that the outgoing flights were the pricier of the flights and so, after the refund, the additional cost for our 3 nonstop flights out of DFW on American is only about $400 total which isn't too bad. And I do plan on submitting a request for reimbursement though from Southwest because that is a lot of money for us and not having the extra money is why we haven't had a family vacation in close to 10 years when my son was just a wee baby. I also feel blessed that we were able to get this handled from home since we were notified about 36 hours before our flight got cancelled. Thankful for the small blessings. ... View more

If you were stranded for 4 days somewhere instead of the comfort of your own home I think your outlook may be just a bit different just saying. Luckily I had the means to fork out the additional money for hotel rooms and food for four days not to mentiona flight home with a different airline. Some people weren't so fortunate and having been living at airports! Now I have to submit everything for reimbursement and hope they consider it "legitimate ". Thanks Southwest for bending us over Merry Christmas! ... View more

There were hotels.  They didn't give me a voucher because they stated cancelation was solely due to weather,  which we all know now is a lie. Put me thru hell for no reason. ... View more

See my post “not all SW fault” not summarize, yes new staff technology was due in 2020 and the post Covid financial picture did not allow investment in 2022 but was slated for 2023. Yes SW should not have offered as many holiday routes knowing their staffing was not sufficient to handle an emergency like this.  and finally, I totally believe that if your claim is submitted respectfully noting these non weather related failures on their part that everyone will be reimbursed.  as mad as I am I’m not giving up on this very good airline. It will take time and money for them to figure out this crisis and then right everyone’s claims.  regards,  former type A turned peaceful hippie ... View more

Well said.   Is it frustrating or perhaps disappointing to have your vacation travel canceled? Of course, my family's trip to FL was canceled, but it's not the end of the world. I appreciate that Southwest prioritizes safety over schedule. And I certainly would not take my frustration out on the pilots, FA's, gate agents, customer service reps, or anyone else.   Can Southwest improve operations, undoubtedly; they've always had a continuous improvement model, I'm sure they'll learn from this event and make things better in the future.    In the meantime, thank you Southwest for being the best airline possible, and I hope operations return to normal as quickly as possible. ... View more