Southwest Airlines Community

@SWFlyer007 wrote: It appears you posted this twice???  Go to the other thread to see my reply.  Losing items out of the upper storage bin, this is the first I've ever heard of this.  Actually I've heard of it three or four times from a certain unlucky in flight individual, although I believe always returned.      ... View more

I think one issue for Southwest is that the planes can all do short haul or long haul, and may mix between the two in the same day.   The spoke and hub carriers have dedicated larger aircraft for their long-haul flights so they can plan on serving heavier food items more or less all the time, and then the regional jets don't do that.   Southwest would lose some of their interchangeability by adding food service to some of the aircraft. They'd lose economy of scale if they had to add it to all the aircraft.     ... View more

@SWFlyer007 wrote: I'm only responding to this because this actually happened to me on a flight and a good story.  Yes, you can take it on with you.  Now my story.  Let me preface, I'm an older gentleman, therefore, I don't keep up with the latest trends.  At a time when bigger was better, I had always intended to get a new laptop.  By the time I decided to pull the trigger, that bigger is better time had passed but found a great deal on a new one and my old one died. (forced to get one)  Well when the flight attendant started talking about using electronic devices, he made a shout out to those of us who still (lol, my was only a month old) had those dinosaur 4-pound large laptops', Yada yada yada.  I actually felt embarrassed and didn't pull it out like I had previously done.  I still have and use that laptop but never bring it out anymore due to this one flight attendant.  Yes, I guess I have issues, but they are self-implanted in my head on my own...but I still give SWA the love, only on a frustrated cell phone that makes me squint to see due to my limited vision.   The opposite - I had a Yoga 2-in-1 and when they said hey you have to put away your laptop I just grabbed it and yanked the screen around and voila, it's a tablet.     ... View more

We may try it but the 1/8 to 3/8 period is missing two of our planned trips on both ends by a week each 😫 ... View more

Reimbursement for interim expense which I think may be the "IX" - is that costs you incurred due to the missing luggage?   They are asking if you have your bag since they can only pay either lost luggage, or interim expense, but not both.   *I'm not overly familiar with the policy, just trying to rephrase the message.     ... View more

@drclaw411 wrote: Hi, I booked a flight to Seattle (Wanna Get Away) with a payment combination of using a card, and using two separate travel funds. Immediately after I booked, the cost of the return flight went down $100+. So here's my question: generally, Wanna Get Away reservations get refunded in the form of travel funds when cancelling a flight. But since I booked with combination travel funds and cash, will I lose either if I cancel? Will I lose the travel funds? The cash? Will I keep them all, but have them refunded as three separate travel funds or will they all refund together in one lump travel fund? Also: if I cancel this flight, will it go back to being the higher cost or will it remain at this new cost? Finally, if it *does* remain at the lower cost, and if everything is refunded together as one travel fund, that will be more than the new cost of the flight. If I use that, will I lose all the travel funds or only what's necessary to pay for the flight? Just to clarify - if you "change" the flight to any other flight or even the same one you already have, the pricing will be trued up to the current advertised price.    If the flight costs more then you'd have to pay the different, if the flight costs less you get travel credit back.    All your credit and cash went into the ticketing system - for a WGA ticket the only thing that comes back is new flight credits, combining the ones you paid for the flight.   I'm curious when you say "immediately" that it went down $100 like while you were still sitting at the computer, or do you mean the next day or that week?   I would review what you paid, it's unlikely that any WGA fare would drop $100 like that.   The only other thing I can think of is if you were buying multiple tickets - in that case if you have "1 left" at a certain price and you go to buy two tickets, both will be at the next pricing tier and the single ticket may still remain at the old price.   Don't give away any identifying information but if you want to dig into this further you might need to point us to the flight so we can see the current price or take a screenshot or something. Snip out anything that identifies you personally.           ... View more

Maybe - there was another announcement recently about if you have kids that were 7 and older but younger than some upper age (maybe it was 12) to see the gate agent and they will try to accommodate the flyers - maybe that group already asked about it and that was the accommodation?   There were also several other reports here and on other flyer forums about announcements including 12 year olds, so it might be a pilot of a new policy.    So I'm not sure that the announcement was rogue necessarily, or whether anyone actually used the extra years for boarding or not.      ... View more

Great trip report!     ... View more

@Alexmiller1313 wrote: Most laptops cannot be charged with USB ports, at least that I know if.  I'd get something like this for a laptop, I have an older generation of it and it works great.   The USB-C can trickle charge a laptop, it might not run fully on the port but can run 1/2 power.   But this battery can run a 13" laptop.     ... View more

@SoCalFlyer97 wrote: @Makana808 wrote:     Laptop computers are also to be taken out through standard TSA screening but may remain stowed through the PreCheck lane.   Unless you have several! They don't like them stacked on each other even in PreCheck line.   Except at MCO when I requested a bin for them they ignored me and then eventually said to send it through as-is, then pull my bag and dig through it and try to get the computers back out to send them back through, then half-heartedly stuff everything back in there, give up, and eventually leave me a pile of luggage and computers to put back together.    Maybe I knew this having just done the same thing earlier in the week. Anyway...   TL:DR - go ahead and ask for a bin if you have two or more laptops, it will save time if they give you one to lay them all out. I assume they may want to see the desktop computer separate as well - just ask them what to do.       ... View more

@Makana808 wrote: This may sound very dumb but has anyone ever tried it or know if it’s okay. I have a PC that does fit into a bag but I just want to know if okay to do so, it basically fits the requirements for a carry on. I don’t really want to spend a couple hundred shipping a pc from Hawaii to Las Vegas I brought a monitor on board in its shipping box.   If you can find a cheap carry on suitcase that fits it it will help lugging it through the airport.   Other than any questions TSA may have you should be fine, as far as Southwest is concerned it would be like any other carry on. (You'll still have to obey the two item limit one carry-on for the overhead and one for under the seat in front of you.)             ... View more

@bec102896 wrote: @SoCalFlyer97 wrote: @DancingDavidE wrote: This fine print is interesting to me because if you have a WGA+ fare or A List WGA and do a same day confirmed you may have to pay $5-$10 if you go from non stop to connection (at least for non points flights) the app shows me +$5 for a flight that is a no plane change or $10 if it’s a connection I’ve paid that multiple times no refunds  That's the more common one for me where I booked a connection but trying to get on a direct flight as an A-list - I don't recall any refunds of the $5.60 unless it happened automatically, maybe I didn't notice. And I didn't "care" - after all I'm getting home earlier, it's worth $5.60.     ... View more

@TonyinFL wrote: When flying “standby” on a flight with a connection(s), it sounds like it is possible to get significantly delayed.  So one could be cleared for the 1st flight but only be on the standby list for the connection(s).  At the connecting airport, if it turns out there is no  seat available on the flight you were on the “standby” list for, I assume Southwest would still be on the hook to eventually allow you to reach your final destination via flying “standby” without being charged a fare differential? Two pathways here: If there are additional flights that fit your destination then you'd keep "standbying" until you got on one. The original agent may not allow you to standby if the situation looks poor and there isn't a backup option - for instance if you are trying to catch a late flight and it's mostly full they prefer not to send you to Denver for instance and have you end up waiting overnight to catch an early morning one. But the same flight earlier in the day no problem, you have many chances to make it. ... View more

@Cocowum1 wrote: I did and receive the canned response, so I was hoping for other options by posting here. But thank you for your comment. Add your commentary onto the canned response and resend via US post office, that will get the most attention if you previously sent by email.   They know you care if you take the time to send a letter, it adds emphasis.         ... View more

@bec102896 wrote: sometimes the app will say a flight is boarding before it actually boarded especially if the plane is there and the ops agent sent some nonrev crew down early because once a boarding pass is scanned it thinks the flight is boarding.  The technology issue hopefully you an laugh about next time. Its recommended to be in the gate area prior to the boarding time but I'm sure missed announcements happen all the time.   After that it sure when downhill - use Contact Southwest Customer Service to send the details directly to the company. They won't be able to comment directly on any staffing activity but maybe some LUV could come your way to partly make up for your treatment.   All we can do here is talk about it as we are primarily customer to customer, if you want to send official description of the situation use the contact information for Southwest.     ... View more

@TonyinFL wrote: I like the idea of the newly introduced same day standby policy but was wondering how it applies when it comes to direct and non-direct flights.  For example, if I search for a flight from Tampa to San Juan, on the same day there may be a variety of options i.e. direct, 1 stop, and 2 stops.    If I am initially booked on a direct flight can I fly standby on a flight with one or more stops or would it only work with another direct flight?    Conversely, if I am booked on a flight with one or more stops, can I fly standby on a flight that is direct?  And if such a change is not allowed, would I have to fly standby on another flight that is not direct with an identical stop(s) or can the stop(s) be different?   I was thinking about this some more and since you gave two specific airports we can delve into it a little deeper.    There is consistently a midday flight from TPA to SJU direct on weekdays, earlier on Sunday and later on Saturday. Saying that you would standby on weekdays would be a 5 a.m. flight and you may have some connection through BWI on most days, and on weekends it gets a little goofier see below...you can standby on Saturday to a 6 a.m. flight that goes through DENVER to get to MCO and eventually to SJU eight hours later than if you had the original flight.   Overall this is a pretty dismal route for standby options Weekdays go through BWI so you are extending your travel time significantly in order to arrive an hour or two earlier - you'd be getting to TPA at 4-5 a.m. to do this. Weekends are even worse, you can standby on Saturday to go through Denver! On Sunday is the only day when the standby flight is at a reasonable time and gets you into SJU seven hours earlier to make it worthwhile. Otherwise forget it on this route at least for the sample schedule next month. Let us know if you are looking at a time when the schedule is more frequent maybe it would make sense then.     If we didn't answer your last question in the prior posts - the stops don't matter, you can get any selection of the same or different stops depending on what is available. I think you have to pay the $5.60 to add stops, not sure if you get it back by removing stops.         ... View more

@CupCrusher40 wrote: Since redway left? Omaha is fairly close, I think that would be the recommended destination. IMO Southwest won't likely be serving Lincoln.   Edit: it takes me an hour to drive to MDW from my home most days, I don't see any issue for people from Lincoln to drive to OMA for connections to the wider network.         ... View more

@SoCalFlyer97 wrote: @TonyinFL wrote: I like the idea of the newly introduced same day standby policy but was wondering how it applies when it comes to direct and non-direct flights.  For example, if I search for a flight from Tampa to San Juan, on the same day there may be a variety of options i.e. direct, 1 stop, and 2 stops.    If I am initially booked on a direct flight can I fly standby on a flight with one or more stops or would it only work with another direct flight?    Conversely, if I am booked on a flight with one or more stops, can I fly standby on a flight that is direct?  And if such a change is not allowed, would I have to fly standby on another flight that is not direct with an identical stop(s) or can the stop(s) be different?   Hello-   This question appeared to come up a few years ago: https://community.southwest.com/t5/Rapid-Rewards/A-list-standby-for-flight-with-stops/td-p/89924   @bec102896 described in that post that it's possible to do this but if you elect to do a Same Day Standby from a direct flight to a flight with a connection, you'll want to make sure you can clear the second flight too so you don't risk getting stuck in a layover city:   @bec102896 wrote:   You can standby for an earlier flight with connection(s) but when you are cleared for the 1st flight you may not be cleared form the connection flight so you will want to make sure there are seats on the connection flight as you will then be on standby for the 2nd flight. You will know if your cleared by the boarding pass they give you it will either be a standby pass (no boarding position or a boarding pass with position) if you get a standby pass check in at the counter when you get to your new next gate and let them know your there in case they cannot clef you right then.    Here is what I recommend you do before you take the risk on standby with a connection flight:   use the mobile app, Southwest.com, or the mobile site and search your flight as if you wanted to book another seat but search 8 people (the maximum number of passengers you can book on one reservation) and see if it still shows available seats. I usually do this the day before I want to do a standby with connection reservation and I do it as I am pulling up to the airport before putting myself on standby as inventory may have changed. If I see 8 seats available then I will proceed with standby.    If checking bags they usually wont transfer bags checked at the ticket counter so I would do carry on bags only when doing standby. When you are cleared at the gate for the flight you could check your bag at that point if you wanted to.    Also if your doing standby on a full flight they may not clear you until 10min before the flight so you will probably have a middle seat as you will miss your priority boarding opportunity and most everyone else would be boarded.    Hope this helps Blake      This just occurred to me - I wouldn't normally standby onto a connecting flight but in theory its fine - do you have to pay the extra $5.60 though? I don't think I've ever done that but I can't think of too many times I would have standby onto a connecting flight if I wasn't already on a connecting flight.    But that's the only issue I see @TonyinFL  nothing would prevent you from making the change other than the logistics as mentioned by @SoCalFlyer97 and @bec102896  ... View more

@jhw1015 wrote: I had this same problem because I have two first names.  What fixed it for me was creating a new person who will fly on the new ticket I was purchasing with the first name of my first name and my last name, then I applied the credit with the same first name and last name as well as confirmation number, then afterwards switched it back to my real first name and last name.  For example if my name was Mary Grace (first name) Smith (last name) then under the who is flying section I entered first name: Mary, last name: Smith.  In the apply credit section I put, confirmation number, first name: Mary, last name: Grace, then once the credit was applied I switched it back to my correct ID info: Mary Grace Smith. Hope this helps! That's a good hack to know, thanks for posting it!     ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: Family boarding is limited to kids under age 7. If yours are, then you qualify.   Southwest boards by groups A,B, and C. Each has about 60 people in it. Families board after A group boards. Planes seat either 143 or 175 people, so there would be plenty of seats available after A boards. You should have no problem finding seats together. Don't go up during the preboarding - it is a common mistake - but stand off to the side there near where the preboarders are. After they go and then the A-group the agent should call for family boarding and you'll want to be ready to hop up there, regardless of your actual boarding pass letter and number.   Two adults per kid are allowed.      ... View more

@cheyenneallgood wrote: Hey @akdover09 how exciting! Since you're so close to your trip I'd encourage you to follow through with what both @bec102896 and @DancingDavidE have already said! I'd encourage you to reach out to the Employees at the gate and your Flight Attendants onboard. While I can't guarantee they can make anything special happen, our Employees do love celebrating these milestones! Our Pilots are usually always willing to show off the Flight Deck, when able.  You might not find a Southwest logo'ed version like this, but I've seen similar ones for sale at airport gift shops:      ... View more

@HENNozzles wrote: Awesome thanks for the info. Any chance you know how Southwest handles thier de-icing? At my locals they are both provided by the airport I believe. I don't know how many airports Southwest maintains their own equipment.    Maybe try this link, I don't expect anyone from that part of Southwest will be on this message board, it's primarily customer to customer. A few of the communication people check in once in a while or technology.    Supplier Information | Southwest Airlines     ... View more

@sammalott wrote: This was a strange experience I had today, and I am not sure what happened and wanted to know if anyone has had this happen to them.   I found a flight a little later than the flight I was ticketed for and could get a refund on some points I used to book, figured, why not - might as well make the change. I did this, got my boarding pass, and even upgraded to the A boarding group. When I went to board, my ticket was denied and I was told 'I didn't have a ticket to this flight'. Thankfully the counter staff was able to get me on a flight (5 hours later, anyone got any time-killing suggestions at DIA?) I decided with all of my free time to call customer service (counter staff suggested this as well since she said I shouldn't have been able to check in if I wasn't ticketed.)   Now here is where I really got frustrated, I call SW and the agent said verbatim 'when you changed your flight you must have done something wrong' I kept pressing her on how I was able to upgrade my boarding pass, save it to my wallet, view it up until minutes before boarding in the app and she had no answer for me.    Just really disappointed in how I was treated, and curious if this has happened to anyone. At a minimum, I think a refund on my 2nd leg of the trip (like 13k points) could be a fix, but she kept insisting I DID something wrong. I was honestly shocked.    Part of the issue might be solved if you can find out what flight you did have a ticket for - hopefully you saved that boarding pass, double-check the flight number and dates that there wasn't accidentally a change in the date being shown when you changed it.   Since it allowed you to upgrade position could it have been one day ahead? Anyway - rule that out first.   @bec102896 's suggestion is also great to confirm that your transaction when through and you weren't still ticketed on the original flight.   I know its a pain, but it will help your case if you can rule out some of these pathways before writing to the company.         ... View more

@HENNozzles wrote: Hello. I am looking for some info on who is in charge of De-icing the planes. More specifically, who can I talk to about the nozzles that they use. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. I believe it's a mixture - some airports provide the service and/or the airline can provide their own de-icing trucks in some cases.      ... View more

@sammalott wrote: Thankfully the counter staff was able to get me on a flight (5 hours later, anyone got any time-killing suggestions at DIA?) I decided with all of my free time to call customer service (counter staff suggested this as well since she said I shouldn't have been able to check in if I wasn't ticketed.)   Regarding DIA:   Amex lounge if you are eligible - that's worth a few hours at least Elway Steakhouse if you go over to the United concourse - not really sure what else may be over there. Southwest's gate expansion at the end of C gates is really nice, great views, and depending on conditions has an outdoor patio Dazbog coffee There is a train now that you could go back to downtown for an hour.       ... View more

@bec102896 wrote: You could try sending SW a message on Twitter (well X now) or Facebook and maybe they can help otherwise I’d let the gate agent or ops agent know prior to boarding and maybe they can do something or get a first time flying certificate    @cheyenneallgood got any ideas here?  My most excellent idea is if you can get a captain's hat that's always an attention-getter for the FA at the entry door and depending how things are going they might let the little one take a peek up front. If not, then try also when getting off the plane.     ... View more

@floridaguy wrote: I have seen gate agents place bags against the standard and request that they check the bag.   Since both of your bags are technically over sized, I would check them and not have the hassle at the gate. For carry-ons yes - the OP is talking about checked luggage     ... View more

@DJ_Ran wrote: Came across this article about Southwest limiting the number of early bird check-ins on select flights. Is this true and has anyone experienced it?   https://thepointsguy.com/news/southwest-changes-early-bird-wifi-standby/ It's true!   Personally I'm A-list so I haven't experienced it. You can find some previous discussion on this community about EBCI though and I think a lot of people think it makes sense to have some formula that limits the sales in cases where there are many people who already purchased it - in a theoretical scenario where everyone on a flight bought it, the last person would be checked in, but not getting a very good position (which is suggested but not promised)  it would make sense to cut it off in some cases.   It isn't clear if they might eliminate it entirely from some routes whether to push people to buy the higher fare class or else because it is saturated with A-list customers and the EBCI would be getting late B's and C's.       ... View more