As a frequent business traveler, I am disgusted by this policy.
I don't mind them not accepting coupons whose expiration dates have clearly expired. An expiration date is an expiration date -- you shouldn't have any expectation that it has value beyond its stated expiration date.
However, coupons without expiration dates should not expire. Southwest is a sophisticated company and should be aware that most coupons have expiration dates. However, if they chose not to put one on their drink coupons, then they should accept the consequences.
Finally, my most recent drink coupons I received in the mail a week ago (same as my old drink coupons) states that the coupon is good for one "speciality non-alcholic drink." What, exactly, is that drink these days?
I only used my coupons for Monster, but now they've taken that away. Like many business travelers, drinking alchohol before a business meeting and/or before I have to drive from the airport is not a smart thing to do -- which is why I've always used them for Monster. Now these coupons are useless to me.
My recommendation is that if you have any coupons, give them to your neighbors on the plane who want to drink alchohol. The who purpose of this policy is for Southwest to pretend like they are giving something special to their customers when their actual desire is to have the coupon go unused. The more coupons that get used, the worse it is for them. Odds are that I would have never used all the coupons that I get -- however, I'll make they get used now.
We fly Southwest because it was a special airline. With policies like these, Southwest is becoming just another one of the crowd.
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