It's gong to vary based on several things 1) nonstop vs connection - connections will have more taxes as they involve multiple PFCs 2) Some taxes are a fixed amount. Thus they will be a higher % of total cost on "cheap" fares. 3) Some airports have higher fees than others To give you a swag on more expensive fares (BS / anytime), points earning fare will be somewhere around 90% of total cost. Good luck in getting there again. edit add: I just realized that it's easy to determine how many dollars you need to spend on airfare. If you are flying BS, divide the number of RR points you are short by 12. The resultant number is the number of dollars you need to spend on airfare. BS earns 12 points per $.
... View more
05-12-2019
06:41 PM
05-12-2019
06:41 PM
@SWDigits wrote: From a mathematical perspective the easiest benefit to quantify is the bump in the earning bonus from 25% to 100% on your qualifying flights. There is also theoretical quantifiable benefit to the "Free inflight WiFi" if it worked as advertised. Other quick thoughts. I think it's implied that you are considering other carriers, so it really depends on schedule convenience, your experience with Southwest versus the experience you'd get elsewhere, pricing, etc. The free wifi was hard for me to put a number on - it would be convenient to have free access on multiple devices - but in the meantime I have many flights where I never buy it at all, or if I do for business travel then I would reimburse it anyway so it isn't an out of pocket reduction but it is still good to save the clients $8. Side note suggestion - what if we could buy wifi in advance with our ticket for easier reimbursement purposes... Anyway, back to the topic, I had a scenario two years ago where I was in range of preferred, but would have had to take some discretionary flights on my own to reach the higher level. I penciled it out at $0.02/point + wifi balanced against the out of pocket, and ended up not going after it. However since I do fly Southwest whenever possible, I certainly would go for it on trips that I was going to take anyway - it's a bit academic as I don't shop the other guys very often anyway, or at least I rarely did when I had companion pass. Even now I'm in a mode where I want to get companion pass back, so unless the cost was far out of proportion I'd take the Southwest flight anyway. My tip would be when you are getting close to consider taking a flight that you would otherwise make as WGA and upgrade it to BS to get the 12x points by incurring the additional incremental cost. The out of pocket to buy one or two BS fares at the end on your own will be much higher than incrementally upgrading a few flights that you'd be partially reimbursed for. Or if you are able to reimburse a BS flight, then take one but it doesn't fit my usual guidelines to do that unless it was last minute travel and that's all that was available.
... View more
@TheMiddleSeat wrote: @dfwskier good info! My experience is still that I find the rates through my insurance company (USAA) and AAA are better than through Southwest even without discount code, then add on a discount code that applies to bookings through either of those organizations and it's a big savings versus Southwest. Now, if you don't have access to an organization such as AAA then booking through Southwest may be the best option. In general, it pays to shop around as one option may be cheaper for some bookings and then other options might be better for others. Lots of variables. It also pays to recheck prices after booking, just like Southwest flights prices do drop and you can rebook as long as you didn't choose a prepaid rate. --TheMiddleSeat Costco is also very competitive, you get a second driver free all of the time, and the cancelation is about as generous as Southwest's 10 minutes prior.
... View more
04-06-2019
11:24 AM
04-06-2019
11:24 AM
Not true. Im sure in this case that she did not magically get healed in flight like the pre-board fakers. Those that genuinly need to preboard because of visible or not visible conditions are not the problem. Those faking it to preboard are.
... View more
@sirjeff, are you referring to the latest sale announced for “random holidays”? An internet search tells me that it is a day that has a name but not much else,...and it shares the spotlight with Couples Appreciation Day. Guess I better go shopping to appreciate my significant other now (even though I did not it was a holiday five minutes ago.). I will have to choose something that represents the weight and magnitude of the day, so I am thinking a pack of gum or an ink pen. I enjoyed what I interpreted as the humor of the ad for the sale, and I hope you do too.
... View more
03-29-2019
07:44 PM
Is it possible to get some of those plane crackers outside of flights? I flew SW last weekend and saw them. My daughter’s first birthday is next month and will be travel themed, and those crackers would be perfect for it!
... View more
11-14-2018
09:48 AM
@sirjeff, thanks for your intersest in Southwest and hope to see you in the air soon!
... View more
11-05-2018
11:34 AM
@sirjeff wrote: I glad i asked! Had not even thought of the simple solution. Take a couple of Business Select! I hope that works out and you have get two or three opportunities to fly business select to beef up your points.
... View more
