Anyone else have problems using Hersheys SW Certificates?

[TinkerbellTracy]

I have just spent my whole last weekend trying to use my $600 worth of Southwest air Gift Certificates that I earned last year buying hershey bars!
First off, I live in Wichita, Kansas, and there is no service at our airport for Southwest. I knew that I would have to go to another airport to fly out but I didn't realize that I would have to drive 31/2 hours to cash in my certificates.
I was able to get a good rate online, then called Southwest and they put in on a 24 hr. hold until I could get a travel agent here in Wichita to ticket it for me--Southwest said this was easy for them to do--well, after spending an hour on the phone calling agencies I only found 4 that wanted to do it--and this was for a very steep price. The worst one wanted to charge me $25 per ticket( I wanted to buy 5 tickets)and 30% of the value of my gift cert.$305 dollars just to get my tickets for me!! This is more than the cost of one ticket!
I quickly realized that I would need to make the 3-4 hr. drive if I wanted to get the tickets, and I only had 8 more hrs to do this and I was supposed to be having a birthday party that eve for my daughter!!
I called Southwest back, and they were very upset that the agents were "double-dipping" me and said that they still pay them a commission too! They were nice enough to "extend" the hold and the sale for me to the next week (a 7 day hold) and me and the kids piled in the car and Drove to Oklahoma City and picked up our tickets(no problems using the certificates there!) and drove back. I know that it wasn't their fault but I wondered if anyone else has experienced anything similar. Or do any of the experts on this board know how I could have handled it differently???

 

[bfila]

I'm so sorry to hear that you had trouble using your vouchers. I live in OKC, so I went to the SWA ticket counter here at Will Rogers and, like you, was easily able to use my coupons for my September trip. They were also incredibly wonderful when the price dropped and refunded me $98 in vouchers.

Sounds like the travel agents in your area are a bit on the shady side...

 

[idontknow]

This isn't about the vouchers, but......

Our TA's here have charged $20 for paper tickets, and that was 4 years ago! (before e-tickets became so popular) So, if we found a great sale we had to add $20 per tickets for them to "print" the ticket out!!! (or $20 ontop of regular prices I could get from the airlines) I have not used a TA since because of this. I started calling the airlines on the phone and buying my tickets that way. It's too bad the TA's have lost my business. With as much as we fly down to Orlando a year, they could have made a killing off of us in their compensation from the airlines! LOL

 

[denisenh]

I can't say that I am an expert but I knew that I would have to go to a SWA counter to use my gift certificates. I don't remember how I knew that......it must have been on the advertisment for the "sweet deal" offer. I haven't used mine yet but I don't anticipate a problem. It does rot when things get goofed up for whatever reason though. I hope you packed a picnic lunch for your drive to the airport and made a day of it. Kids tend to like stuff like that. Southwest was kind to hold your tickets for you! Have a good trip!