Southwest Airlines Community

@@TheMiddleSeat   Thank you for the insight. Hometown airport is small and we usually get high A never B when we use early bird.  ... View more

They make this very clear.  You just made an assumption.  To suggest Southwest conducts their business in a ‘slimy’ way is a huge overreach.   ... View more

Yes, I have to do this often.  Cancel the companion flight and once that is removed from your flight, then you can make the change.  Once you make the change, you will have to add your companion flight back on to your reservation.    A little process, but it works without having to call in. ... View more

Thank you,  I appreciate your help. ... View more

Four days ago, Delta became the first U.S. airline to extend elite status through 2022. Perhaps Southwest will follow suit and extend companion pass through 2022 for those who earned it in 2020. ... View more

In essence,  it seems you're converting your GC to a travel voucher,  which makes sense.  This assumes they can track those online, though... not sure if they do?    They do a great job now of tracking  TF, which is great.   Too bad they are tied to one person and account,  and expire after a year.   I move my GC to TF sometimes if I know I'll spend them soon.  ... View more

Thanks. I am RR member but the person I booked for was not. Sometime in doubt and the price was not change, I just cancel and book the new one. I will try to call customer service next time ... View more

Unfortunately then, in my opinion, I agree with Southwest that you don't have a valid case for an exception.     ... View more

Why not program your computers to behave in an adult manner? My first experience getting cancelled was having a round trip to Newark NJ and finding I might need to return home from Albany. I booked Albany to San Diego. Overnight SWA cancelled my round trip to Newark which of course could have meant I would lose my transportation to the east coast as well as my return.   Most adult response and certainly doable - warn your customer as they attempt to double book. Allow some time for cancelling the unneeded res in case, as was my case I needed to know I could get the return from Albany before I gave up my seat on the return from Newark.   Second adult response - send a daytime email AND text message warning that one of the res needs to be cancelled within x hours. Seems pretty fair to the airline and the passenger(s).   SWA's choice - randomly cancel at midnight and good luck.   In the context of refusing to cancel MAX-8 flights until the compromised FAA was commanded by the President, I have very little faith in SWA's safety concerns.   Didn't use to be this way.   Not only hurts passengers - it's an insult to the amazing rank and file at SWA who made it a superior airline for so many years. ... View more

Southwest Hawaii Additional Flights Delayed by 737 Max Grounding. https://beatofhawaii.com/southwest-hawaii-airline-update/ ... View more

@dfwskier wrote:     @Haipham2017 wrote: I am planning to book a flight from PHL to SNA with the connection at PHX. My question is later I may decide to stay in PHX for few days to meet my friends if they can make it, can I just fly to PHX and not fly to SNA? The reason I may do it since later the price may going up. You sure can. It's called "hidden city" travel. It's where you buy a flight from A to C with  a stop in city B, and you just never fly all the way to city C.  American, United, and Delta get touchy if you do it more than a few times. It's OK bySouthwest.   Just anFYI, you won't be able to use the old ticket to fly from B to C several days later, but you may have a small amount of travel funds to use on a later flight. Kind of - it's okay by Southwest in that you'd forfeit any Rapid Reward points for the itinerary, and if this was part of a round-trip ticket the remaining travel would also be forfeited as a no-show, so book your travel back to PHL as a separate one-way instead of part of a RT ticket.   As a courtesy it would be great for you to let the ops agent know at the gate that you weren't planning to go to SNA due to changes in your plans so that they aren't looking for you.   If you know that you want a multi-day layover, the best would be to book one-way tickets PHL-PHX and PHX-SNA. (I read this that you for sure wanted to go to SNA eventually.) Then if you wanted to move up the leg from PHX to SNA you could change just that portion, presumably at a smaller last-minute cost.         ... View more

This reminds me of another activity that is discouraged, the other airlines will cancel tickets if they know you are doing this, I'm not sure what Southwest's opinion is:   Buy one set of RT tickets from BWI to LAX, and buy a second seet of RT tickets from BOS to BWI, "nesting" the BWI-LAX round trip inside the BOS-BWI round trip.   Then you could add the companion just to the BWI-LAX round trip ticket.   The reservation system may not like this though. On Southwest it woulnd't normally affect pricing, they don't offer savings for RT vs separate one-way tickets like other airlines, but I think they still prefer you not to book this way, although it would be another way to solve the companion booking issue originally described above.   I'd confirm if this was allowed or not before doing it, you don't want to jeapordize your status by violating the terms.           ... View more

Hello,   Many of the previous responses hit it spot on. I would love to add however that as long as there is at least 30 minutes before the next flight starts boarding the Flight Crew would LOVE if you got off. They cannot exit the aircraft if passengers stay on. But if all passengers continuing on get off they are also able to get off and get food. So if time permits I highly recommend getting off. They have to get a head count before. As far as boarding passes go I have had it both ways. One time I only had one boarding pass so they checked my ID against the flight itinerary and that’s how I boarded again (Before they started actually boarding) and another time I had a second boarding pass. I do recommend getting the perfect seat prior to getting off though. Hope this helps!   Enjoy your flight 🙂 ... View more

So shouldn't your family pay to upgrade? Why should your status insure they get priority boarding?  ... View more

Travel must be completed by! ... View more

WN got the reputation of being a low cost carrier when they were able to keep fares artificially low by hedging fuel contracts. Unfortunately most flyers aren’t bright enough to understand the concept and shop for the lowest fare with zero comprehension of how fare structures and corporate profitability and accountability to shareholders actually works.    If you only care about the cheapest ticket, and find a lower price on another carrier, book on the other carrier.     And for the person complaining about high ticket prices in March, it’s called profitability. Last time I looked, WN is not a charity.  ... View more

THANK YOU all for your help! ... View more

@Haipham2017 wrote:   @bhushan_gosavi wrote: I have been a Rapid Rewards member for some time now, However I did not fly Southwest recently. Do my Rapid Reward points comes with expiry date?  If you have no activites in 2 years yourSW points would expire, most airlines has 18 months. Activities do not mean you have to earn points, you can spend points. One of the easy way is buy magazine or donate (not sure with SW) since does not cost many points. You also can give away the free trip to your friends or your relatives. This is wrong.    You must have point EARNING activity once every two years. Spending points does NOT count. ... View more

@scstev wrote: Same happened to me, most recently a few days ago.  I didn't have a bad position, because I happened to check in manually when I opened the app, about 24 hours early.  However, I did receive an email today from Southwest acknowledging the problem and offering a credit to RR account for 1500 miles.   I will note that I think this problem has been off and on for at least a few months, because I have noticed that sometimes I get a notice that I've been automatically checked in and here's your boarding # and sometimes I get nothing, or even a notice that's it's 24 hours in advance and time to check in!   I mentioned it at least two months ago to an agent, who didn't have anything to say.  So I'm glad the sent the email, surprised actually, but I'm not sure they realize the full extent of the problem yet. 1500 miles credit !!! Just like give you $24 (1500 x $0.016) SW is so cheap!!! ... View more

@chgoflyer wrote: According to Southwest, it's now "fixed," but the fix won't be in effect until sometime tomorrow afternoon. Your guess is as good as mine as to what that means. I am surprised the lawyers do not smell this case !!! To me it is more like you bought a "defect" product and the seller does not care. ... View more

@LindseyD wrote: Hi @Haipham2017,   Companion Passes require their own individual reservation, so for the time being, you do have to cancel both reservations. Thanks for letting us know that an improvement you'd like to see is the option to cancel them both together.    Hi Lindsey,   Thanks for your response. I agree there are 2 separated reservations, however the "companion pass" person can't not fly without the other the same token, he or she have to fly the same flight. This is IT or management issues which did not think ahead in the modern age of computer technology. It is very simple since when I cancel or change mine the computer already knows I have companion so just insert a question "if you cancel/change the companion will be done the same".   Hai ... View more

Okay , Thanks !! ... View more

@buckeyenut1964 wrote: I haven't received drink coupons for years.  I opted out of it at one time because I wasn't drinking and now I can't find out how to sign back up.  I fly Southwest a LOT but no coupons.  Some passengers have given me coupons on flights so I know they still exist but not for me.  They do give me a can of water whenever I ask so that's something anyway 🙂 To opt in, log into your account on the Southwest website. Click on My Account. Under My Preferences, click on Travel. The opt in option is under Extras.   ... View more

@Haipham2017 wrote: @chgoflyer wrote: Seniors don't automatically get any preboarding benefit due to their age.   Preboarding is available for those disabled passengers who 1) have a specific seating need to accommodate their disability, or 2) need assistance in boarding the aircraft. Preboarding is also offered to those traveling with assistance and emotional support animals. If a passenger with a disability needs extra time to board, they are allowed to board with Family Boarding, between the “A” and “B” groups.  I thought they are allowed to board before A group? Seniors don't automatically get any preboarding benefit due to their age.   Preboarding is available for those disabled passengers who 1) have a specific seating need to accommodate their disability, or 2) need assistance in boarding the aircraft. Preboarding is also offered to those traveling with assistance and emotional support animals.   If a passenger with a disability needs extra time to board, they are allowed to board with Family Boarding, between the “A” and “B” groups.  ... View more

@chgoflyer wrote: No, you can only use funds towards air travel (base fare + fees and taxes) for the same passanger(s) as originally ticketed.   Southwest does not extend funds.   Once expired, you can contact Customer Relations and ask that they be reissued as vouchers, minus a $100 fee each. These requests are granted on a case-by-case basis. In addition, please be careful to use the travel funds together or with gift cards/cash since if you cancel again the expiration date will be the earliest date. I had a bad experience in the past. I used a $5.60 travel fund which expired in May 2017 and ~ $160 voucher which expired in  12/2017 then I had to cancel it due to conflict schedule. Then, my new travel fund ~$160 + 5.60 was expired in May and end up I could not use all of them. ... View more

Situations like that are exactly why they need a better system in place. Call or ask before cancelling. Super frustrating. I figured this might hit consultants hard.    I have ANOTHER update. So Southwest called to tell me they were going to stop flying to Veradero two weeks before our travel date, so I had to go through the process again to move the trip up two weeks haha. Everyone on the phone has been really nice, so it makes it a lot easier, but I hope SWA adjusts the system. I had to book the roundtrip (add companion) which took 40 min, then figure out how to make sure the roundtrip I booked to get to companion gets linked appropriately so neither gets cancelled. What an adventure! (And probably a hassle for customer service.) ... View more

There's that one guy who would sit in a saved seat just to prove he can.  ... View more

It depends on a lot of thing.  Since you have small kid you would be able to boarding in B group after A group which maximum 60 people in front of you. You may be get lucky getting A group and the chance sitting together very high if you check in exactly 24 hours before the flight.   Based on my experience if your flight is very early in the morning, you have the chance getting A group. If your flight is late on the day, the chance is very slim since someone has the early flight and connected with your flight they would check in for both flight at earlier than yours.   I found most of the time you would be able to sit together since you depart before B group unless a lot of older people in the flight or the plane has a lot people connect through your departure so they already get good seats.   In general, people who fly SW are very nice so your chance is very high.  ... View more