Another DING question

[PrincessJasmine08]

I have never flown Southwest before and this is all a little confusing! I already missed my first ding and now after speaking to someone at Southwest it doesn't look like I can book this one either. We are flying December 26 and January 8 from Columbus, Ohio to Orlando. The ding fare is for January 8. When it popped up this morning I called to try to switch our fare on the 8th to the $64 ding fare and was told I couldn't because she would have to cancel the entire trip and re-book it. She couldn't do this because December 26th is completely sold out. I guess my question is why can't I just cancel the 8th and then use the credit from that to book the ding for that day?

Am I missing something or am I just out of luck with this Ding? Thanks for any help!

 

[pamjb]

That's why it is better to book 2 oneway fares, rather than 1 roundtrip. I have done this 4 times this year without any problems. And I have been able to take advantage of the Dings! that come out for one leg or the other.

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

That's why it is better to book 2 oneway fares, rather than 1 roundtrip. I have done this 4 times this year without any problems. And I have been able to take advantage of the Dings! that come out for one leg or the other.

Okay, as I said, this is my first time flying Southwest and I guess I am missing something. When you fly them you need to book each leg seperately in order to take advantage of the Ding? Too bad I didn't know that ahead of time!

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

Some times of the year you wouldn't have had a problem, you just could have cancelled the R/T and rebooked 2 one-ways with the DING. The fact that it was 12/26 I think was the main problem. That really sucks.

The whole DING, cancel and rebook thing is crazy, but once you have the hang of it, it is great to get the bargain. It is a little depressing that I check my computer every hour until a DING pops up though.

At my house: "Okay hon, we can go shopping now, this DING is not what I wanted. But it ends at 7:45, so we HAVE to be back by then!"

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

Some times of the year you wouldn't have had a problem, you just could have cancelled the R/T and rebooked 2 one-ways with the DING. The fact that it was 12/26 I think was the main problem. That really sucks.

The whole DING, cancel and rebook thing is crazy, but once you have the hang of it, it is great to get the bargain. It is a little depressing that I check my computer every hour until a DING pops up though.

At my house: "Okay hon, we can go shopping now, this DING is not what I wanted. But it ends at 7:45, so we HAVE to be back by then!"

That is too funny! I guess now I know how it works, so I can do better next time. I was able to take advantage of the systemwide sale, so I got a pretty significant credit from that which is good.

So, just to clarify....it is NOT possible to cancel just one leg of a roundtrip flight?

 

[robinb]

It took me a while to learn the two one-way trips trick. It had to be explained to me in simple terms, LOL! I just re-booked myself on the last Ding!. We're now leaving at 7:45 AM instead of 6:00 AM. Another hour of sleep is a good thing .

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

It took me a while to learn the two one-way trips trick. It had to be explained to me in simple terms, LOL! I just re-booked myself on the last Ding!. We're now leaving at 7:45 AM instead of 6:00 AM. Another hour of sleep is a good thing .

I require simple terms as well! It makes sense now, though.

 

[jjarman]

But what if one leg of my flight is fully refundable? I bought it over the phone from SWA and was told then that the outgoing flight was fully refundable and that if a Ding! came up for that leg I could get the better rate for that part of the flight.

 

[robinb]

But what if one leg of my flight is fully refundable? I bought it over the phone from SWA and was told then that the outgoing flight was fully refundable and that if a Ding! came up for that leg I could get the better rate for that part of the flight.

Then I assume that you could refund that leg and book the Ding! fare one way.

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

But what if one leg of my flight is fully refundable? I bought it over the phone from SWA and was told then that the outgoing flight was fully refundable and that if a Ding! came up for that leg I could get the better rate for that part of the flight.

Yes, I think it would work then. Both of my fares were internet specials. I think with a fully refundable fare you can pretty much do whatever you want.

 

[disneyldwjr]

But what if one leg of my flight is fully refundable? I bought it over the phone from SWA and was told then that the outgoing flight was fully refundable and that if a Ding! came up for that leg I could get the better rate for that part of the flight.

The rate tier is not what is important. What is important in this thread is that you cannot cancel one part of a round trip fare for a Ding. The entire trip needs to be cancelled. The OP, unfortunately, found herself in the position of having one part of her trip booked solid.

IF in your case, a Ding came up for one part of your flight, you still have to cancel the entire reservation and rebook it. Your advantage, you get all your money back and can rebook at a lower fare without having a credit floating for a year from the original booking date. This is, assuming, you booked round trip in the first place and on one way fare for each way.

 

[disneyldwjr]

Yes, I think it would work then. Both of my fares were internet specials. I think with a fully refundable fare you can pretty much do whatever you want.

No, actually, the only thing a fully refundable does is get your money back if you cancel. You still cannot cancel one part of your flight, you have to cancel the entire reservation to get a DING, unless, as you learned, you book it as one way.
BTW, and OT, that is a cute pup. Is it a PEKE?

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

No, actually, the only thing a fully refundable does is get your money back if you cancel. You still cannot cancel one part of your flight, you have to cancel the entire reservation to get a DING, unless, as you learned, you book it as one way.
BTW, and OT, that is a cute pup. Is it a PEKE?

Thank you!!! She is a Shih Tzu.

 

[Rpsemont]

So, just to clarify....it is NOT possible to cancel just one leg of a roundtrip flight?

I don't know if you CAN cancel one leg of a roundtrip flight, but sometimes you CAN change it to the DING fare. Go into the travel center area and click on change air reservation. Put in your info and and check the appropriate box to change travel (don't worry, if it's not going to work, it give you an opportunity to back out). Then check just the Jan 8. In some cases, it will say you must change the whole itinerary, but sometimes it lets you change just one way. If it let's you change the one, sometimes the DINGS will show up as options and sometimes they don't. Without working through it, it's hard to know what will happen.
But the lesson for the future is, try to always remember to book OW itineraries.

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

I don't know if you CAN cancel one leg of a roundtrip flight, but sometimes you CAN change it to the DING fare. Go into the travel center area and click on change air reservation. Put in your info and and check the appropriate box to change travel (don't worry, if it's not going to work, it give you an opportunity to back out). Then check just the Jan 8. In some cases, it will say you must change the whole itinerary, but sometimes it lets you change just one way. If it let's you change the one, sometimes the DINGS will show up as options and sometimes they don't. Without working through it, it's hard to know what will happen.
But the lesson for the future is, try to always remember to book OW itineraries.

The DING is already expired at this point, but I learned my lesson for next time.

 

[mareed]

That is too funny! I guess now I know how it works, so I can do better next time. I was able to take advantage of the systemwide sale, so I got a pretty significant credit from that which is good.

So, just to clarify....it is NOT possible to cancel just one leg of a roundtrip flight?

You cannot cancel one leg of a roundtrip flight ahead of time, but if you just don't show up for the flight, the one-way will automatically cancel and be available as funds to use in the future. So, if you knew you'd be able to use the funds after the date of the flight, but within 1 year of the date you made the original reservation, you could have just booked the Ding for one-way and then after the flight had credit to use for the future. I hope this makes sense. Southwest is really amazingly flexible in this regard!

Of course, it is better to book one-way in the future to take advantage of possible Ding specials. It's also better to book your group on reservations of 1-2 people instead of everyone (say a family of 4) on one in case 1-2 seats are available at a lower price in the future, but not enough for everyone.

We fly Southwest about 4 times a year and have lots of experience with cancelling & rebooking!