Southwest Airlines Community

@sdover1966 wrote: I have not flown for several years but I have recently taken a job that will require me to fly several times a year. I have 2 trips already planned for Texas and California. Because of my time away from traveling, I am going to have to purchase luggage for my trips.    My issue is with the carry-on size guidelines. Southwest says bags must be 26"x16"x10". How closely does SWA stick to those numbers? I have found several carry-on bags that will fit every dimension except the height requirements. The bags I like the most are either 11" or 12" high.    I have read that as long as the total dimensions are less than 51 inches (LxWxH) it would be ok. But not according to the numbers listed by SWA. I know if the operations agent doesn't measure the bag I'll be ok on the plane. But I do not want to check bags for this trip.    Any advise or experience would be appreciated.  Agree with @tappingmom1    Also you can help yourself out a little bit:   The bins at the very front of the aircraft and towards the rear are a little smaller due to the curvature of the aircraft body, if you have any question about it fitting go to the middle of the plane. I don't expect you to be bounced at the gate being one inch too tall and meeting the other dimensions - the issue will be if you get on-board and then it doesn't fit. The gate agent will be scanning people for luggage that is obviously meant to be checked. If the luggage advertiser promotes it as carry-on it will likely fit. Southwest flies only 737's and so the other airlines are much more restrictive if you end up on a regional jet. Depth is the most critical at 22" I hope that helps, feel free to post a link to the item online if you have any further doubts.   Here's one example - the first bag that came up at Target as a carryon is fine.  Hardside Carry On Spinner Suitcase - Open Story™ : Target   The next two also are good - if it says "Carry On" in the name it should be fine for a 737.               ... View more

@Southernpilot wrote: Are we allowed to save digital boarding pass drink coupons for future use or do we have to use them on the leg they are issued for ? I believe the terms on them are for that flight only, or I'm vaguely remembering that one version of these used to be valid on the same day but not sure if that survived to the digital coupon age.   That said, save a copy/screenshot of them and ask nicely, many FA will allow it but YMMV. I'd say you have a good chance for same day usage. "Hey I didn't want to have this at 7 a.m. but now I'm on the way back home at 7 p.m. and I'm ready..." will be understandable by many.     ... View more

@5280Av8r wrote: @John_Ocampos wrote: Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum and just came across this thread about the updated Southwest airport codes. As someone who frequently travels with Southwest, staying updated on any changes, including airport codes, is incredibly important for planning trips and ensuring a smooth travel experience.   Additionally, if there have been any significant changes or additions that could affect travel plans, such as new destinations or removed routes, I'd love to learn more about those as well. Understanding the logistics behind these updates can also provide insights into Southwest's operational focus and future direction, which is fascinating. I'm confused on what you mean by updated airport codes because usually those don't change. Now, the airports that Southwest serves can change if that's what you mean.   Here are some quizzes to learn some airport codes (not limited to Southwest): https://www.jetpunk.com/tags/airport-code   You can also go to Southwest's route map in list view and it shows all the airport codes next to the city.  https://www.southwest.com/route-map-list-view/?clk=RTMAPLIST   I follow https://swamedia.com/ to stay updated on route changes and additions. Also, their flight schedules page shows when their next schedule release is.  https://www.southwest.com/air/flight-schedules/?clk=GSUBNAV-AIR-SCHEDULES I used to play a game called "Airportle" as well but the airports are international and not just domestic or of course SWA destinations so limited use for this purpose, but still fun. ... View more

@luxe22 wrote: @DancingDavidE  Thank you so much for clarifying! I was not aware that baby gear is an exception to the checked bag size policy.   I apologize for the confusion in my initial post- I'll be sure to add as much detail as I can in the future! 🙂 No worries - the main distinction was were you planning to take it into the cabin (no) in which case it is all good.         ... View more

@John_Ocampos wrote: I'm new to the forum and just came across this discussion on the 2024 bonus categories for the Southwest Card. It's great to see such an active community sharing insights and tips on making the most out of our rewards. I recently got my Southwest Card and am eager to maximize my points for future travels. From what I've gathered, staying updated on the changing bonus categories is key to earning points more efficiently.  Personally I use it for almost everything already to maximize points, but there might be a few cases where they are competing with another card for specific purchases and that's up to you.     ... View more

Love your username!    I'll have to check on the offer, didn't see it yet. It might be specific to one of the card lines Priority, Premier, I don't remember all of them.     ... View more

@Penguingirl wrote: WHERE CAN I VIEW IF I HAVE CHECKED BAGS OR CARRY ON IN UPCOMING EXISTING FLIGHT Nowhere - you just show up on your day of flight with what you want to bring - included will be two free checked bags and you are also allowed one carry on luggage item and one personal item.   Here is the page that might help with any questions about size of luggage, weight, etc. https://www.southwest.com/help/baggage         ... View more

@Tagurit56 wrote: I know this question was posted a while back but I needed help with this issue. Finally, I figured it out. You need to cancel the reservation, and it will allow you to select passengers to change flights. Once you make your selection, Southwest provides a different confirmation number, and you can rebook all the groups. I hope this helps. So you started out saying "cancel" and it offered you to select passengers, and then before canceling you were able to change those two instead?   I'm not quite following for sure and wanted to clarify what you did.     ... View more

I don't like to encourage cross-posting, but there is probably a better board for you to offer:   https://community.southwest.com/t5/Routes-Destinations/bd-p/travel_inspiration   In case people are browsing destinations they would see your post about a favorite destination there.   Obviously if they search up the word "Cozumel" they'll find your post either way.   My suggestion would be go ahead and post a list of 2-5 of your favorite insights now, it is usually fun to hear what other travelers recommend or any interesting challenges you overcame.     ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: I am not absolutely certain, but I suspect that the reservation system does not have the capability of using two companion passes on one reservation.   Each companion pass will have a separate confirmation number, so the OP and wife will be on one confirmation, and each companion will have separate confirmations.   But I do think the position assignments should flow through okay, we know it works for one companion and I'm wracking my brain if we did or didn't do this on one trip last year when my wife had a promo companion pass too.     ... View more

@SoCalFlyer97 wrote: @jerryf wrote: Do A-List Preferreds get a better boarding position than regular A-List?  (Assuming tickets are purchased at the same time, etc.).     Also, persons on an ALP's or A-List's reservation also receive sequential boarding positions too. As mentioned before on this board, I had flight that was booked well in advance from SAN-SJC. I have A-List and when the 36-hour mark came around, I never even made into the A group; thus, I assumed this flight was full of ALP's or people who were booked under an ALP's reservation. As you may know, ALP's and A-List have the "A61" benefit and can board after the A-Group.    Based on this and my recent flight experiences, I believe ALP's and persons on their reservations are positioned ahead of A-Lists provided they book at least 36 hours in advance.    Hope this helps. That's true for what happened to your ticket for sure.   However we don't know if there were any other A-list ahead of you, and/or ahead of any ALP.    I'm thinking to some flights where I had A-16 as an A-list member and maybe I had purchased my ticket far ahead, or paid more for it, or else there weren't any ALP on that flight.   As ALP last year I was getting A-18, -19, and -20 pretty often but I didn't ask the groups in front of me if they were also ALP - missed opportunity.   But for the OP's question - if the tickets were bought at the same time for the same price, and one passenger was ALP and one was A-List then I think the ALP would be first.     ... View more

@confused1 wrote: hi everyone and thank you so much all your help.  I am really confused 😞  I guess my question is...if I gain 135,000 RR points, let's say for example, in March 31, 2024, will i qualify Companion Pass status? No, the total rapid reward points doesn't do anything for status. Some people who never spent them could have millions of points.   You have to earn 135,000 points during a calendar year, it resets to zero again 1/1/2025.   so if you started Jan 1 for example with 60,000 points in the bank.   Then after January 1st your CP earning went to zero, but you kept the 60,000 points.   In 2024 you earned 65,000 CP points so far, 55,000 of which were also Rapid Rewards points.   Your bank would then be 115,000 points and your CP earning this year 65,000 points.   If you continued to earn points this year, another 70,000 points these would count both towards your bank of RR points as well as CP qualifying points.   You'd end up with 135,000 CP points and 185,000 RR points at that point.     ... View more

@confused1 wrote: thank you for the quick response! I guess i am still confused because i thought if I had 135,000 rr points i would qualify for Companion Pass. To be clear, the 111,918 cannot be allocated or used towards Companions Pass? The 135,000 has to be earned in one calendar year, and is regardless of your total bank of points.    The bank goes from year to year, points don't expire. They used to expire if you didn't have activity at least every two years. So the bank can keep building and building. It has no effect on your tier or companion pass qualifying.   You can redeem the points from your bank for instance and your bank will go down, but your yearly earning keeps going from Jan 1st to December 31st whether you redeem points or not.   (Of course if you redeem points you won't also be earning new points on those flights.)   So the gauges you see on your Rapid Rewards dashboard there are for the annual earnings towards A-list and towards CP.   Here's some help on how to earn points and under what timeframes to apply to the current year: https://www.southwest.com/html/rapidrewards/eoy-tier-communication.html             ... View more

Your bank of points stays the same - that's the 111,918 points that you have to redeem.   The yearly counter resets to zero every January 1st. So this is showing 65,091 points earned towards companion pass for this year. Pretty good for February 1!   You can go into your account and view rapid rewards points to see what the breakdown of that 65k points are from - 10,000 for being a RR credit card member and 55K+ from hotels, bonuses, flights, etc.    You can see the 5,091 points in tier qualifying - that's where the odd amount is coming from on your CP qualification which also has 5,091 points. plus the 10,000 and then you must have a 50,000 bonus points perhaps? So the 5,091 is in both from flights. ... View more

You probably did this already but did you try using one or the other of your first names with the last name but not both?   Also review your email from Southwest when you earned the flight credit to see how they broke the naming out in the notice.   Rapid Rewards and other website functions work normally for you, it's only the travel credit interface that isn't processing? ... View more

@sdover1966 wrote: Does the machine need to be carried in its original bag or can it be placed inside my carry-on bag? Will there be a time I will need to remove it for scanning or xray?  If you carry it in its own original case you can bring it as an extra item - if it fits in your carry-on that's fine too, but you won't count it as a third item though.   I'm not 100% about the TSA, with PreCheck they don't need you to take it out and many airports with the new scanners also won't. Some sites may if they have the older scanners and non-PreCheck.         ... View more

Meanwhile I just flagged several real scammers posting a false number for people to call and which must not have been flagged. A Google search turns it up all over the internet for all other airlines so someone is being aggressive in their scam.     ... View more

This might be a staff question, it's been so long I'm not sure where the menu was. Also for DM's you  may need to reach a higher level on the board before that opens up. The restriction might be to keep spam bots in check but unfortunately the impact is to limit accounts at the beginning for all users.   Maybe @CarlyeThornton can help.     ... View more

@bfabre wrote: Does it make any sense to anyone else that you lose status, but maintain Companion Pass? I'm working more and more from home now and not traveling as much. So over the years I've had to fly less and less, but I'm still using my SWA credit card. So I've gone from 10+ years of A-list preferred, to just A-list last year and finally this year, no status at all. Seems like there still should be some sort of qualifier for status if you maintain Companion Status????   Companion Pass no - the role is really disassociated from flying with the credit card contribution.   However I would be in favor of some lifetime status or gradual step back where if you drop one year you might be given a promotional status to see if you can bounce back. They do sent promotional offers sometimes.     ... View more

Maybe phat. 😁 And yes I would order that should I find myself back in TUL.   I  had one last week that was innocent in context of the post but excerpting just the two words the algorithm flagged it for salaciousness.      ... View more

@Shynot wrote: I haven't flown since 1970's.  Bought new 27" check-in luggage.  Also bought some luggage straps and vivid tags.  Considering purchase of luggage sleeves/protectors for my 2,  check in pieces.  Any pros/cons or suggestions that you can share? Its nice to have something distinctive when you go to retrieve the items.   I don't personally go for the protectors, the luggage will get worn as it lives a happy life containing my items. It's happy with a few scratches. 😁 ... View more

@Dino68 wrote: I have since found out this was a scam. Somehow when I tried connecting to Southwest, Infinity Travels intercepted the call and claimed to be Southwest Airlines. They rebooked the tickets and charged me 410 dollars extra that went to them, all while claiming to be Southwest.  The 410 showed up on my credit card as Infinity Travels. Apparently this has happened to a lot of other people, some people losing over $4000. I am going to contact Southwest Airlines to see if they can give mea credit for the $900 that went to Southwest. They probably would have let us fly standby if I actually would’ve been talking to them.  Thanks for posting this follow up - the first post described a conversation that you wouldn't have gotten from Southwest. To clear up for others in the same position:   You need to cancel or change within 10 minutes prior to the departure for Southwest to avoid forfeit of your funds, points, and potential cancelation of the remainder of your itinerary. If someone on the phone is offering an hour for this it's not Southwest. It's not a written rule but domestic airlines will offer a "flat tire rule" if you show up to the airport in good faith of catching your original flight but miss it just slightly. This is generally accepted as 1-2 hours late with an excuse - if the delay is going to be longer than that you need to call and officially change the flight which will likely cost extra - there's no change fee on Southwest but you do pay the current price difference, which is often higher for same day travel. (Not always - I got a travel credit once on a flight I had to change the same day and the current fare was lower than what I had already booked!) If your ticket is eligible for same day changes that's a different process as well. But you have to call in advance for this, at least the 10 minutes prior to scheduled departure.     ... View more

@PettyIntrigues wrote: I’m a little surprised by the explanation here. I’m another ALP who does about a hundred flights a year who gets A16 95% of the time, A17 about 4% of the time, with the rare-ish outlier in the low A20s, but I book my flights usually just a few days out. I have also kind of noticed that when I don’t have A16, it’s usually on a shorter “commuter”-type route, so I always just presumed it was based on the amount of travel people do. FWIW this has been the same for me in 2024 thus far. Very interesting!         ... View more