Be careful, Southwest is not as HONEST as they would have you believe.
First, I fly a fair bit… Southwest most of the time, but also US Air and Continental.
Recently I had booked several trips on Southwest, a couple for me, and one for my wife and I both... No big deal. But before I booked the flights, I was watching the Southwest flight prices. I was not in a big hurry to book the trips, all of them were 2-4 months out, so I was just checking prices every now-and-then...
Anyway, I saw all the trips I was watching take a $10 - $15 price increase per leg... So figured I better get these booked. So I did, I booked 6 trips, or legs at whatever the going price was that day.
My Mistake... I have always trusted Southwest. I fly them quite a bit, they work for me, and they have always been good to me. I just trusted them. Well...
Another trip came up, and Southwest was the most obvious choice. So I went to Southwest.com and plugged in my dates and stuff, and the trip came back cheaper than the very same trip I had booked earlier, although the actual trip that I had booked was further out.
So, for shits-and-grins, I plugged in one of the other trip dates that I already had booked... And low-and-behold, the damn thing was $26 less per leg now. So, needless say, I was a little PO'd... I just always thought the 'Lowest Fare' was the 'Lowest Fare' at the time that you booked it on Southwest... I just trusted them.
Well, I called Southwest... And a really nice lady walked me through how to re-book the same flight at the reduce cost and all that. And she explained to me that you do need to keep an eye on the flight prices, even at Southwest, because you may not be paying the lowest fare all the time.
So I went through all the flights I had already booked, and re-booked about 5 of the 6 legs at cheaper prices... Picked up about $142 in savings.
Now - Here's where they really get sneaky...
YOU don't get that money back! NOPE...
It basically goes into a little Southwest bank account, tied to your confirmation numbers for each of those flights. You lose it if you don't use it, and they do absolutely nothing to tell you or remind you that you have funds available to use, and you MUST use the refunded amount for -or- on a trip booked in the exact same person's name.
After I had gone through this whole process and re-booked all these trips... One would think you'd be able to log into your Southwest account, and somewhere there would be a place that would say... Your Southwest Credit Balance Is: $XXX.XX
NOPE, NADA, NOWHERE... As a matter of fact, they make it all most impossible for you even find out how much you have, or how to use it.
Again, I called Southwest and asked... Where can I find my credit balance in my account??? Shouldn't I be able to see it in my account??
NOPE... And this customer service lady was firmly convinced that what they (Southwest) were doing was the best way to do it - Ah... Yeah, for Southwest, damn sure not their customers.
Well, with all that said, I will still fly Southwest, but I have now thrown them in the pile with all the other scum bags airlines... And I know now you CANNOT trust them either.
It's ashame too... 'cause I really thought they held themselves to a higher standard.
Oh well...
o http://allyncutts.com/southwest-airlines-not-the-white-hat-wearing-company-you-thought/
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