Anyone ever booked a flight on SW but got on an earlier one while at the airport?

[antkim]

I booked an 11:25 a.m. for next Wed. My husband just found out that he does not have to work the night before so we could have left earlier! Since I have a great ding fare I do not want to rebook to the earlier flight HOWEVER I was wondering if we were at the airport in time for the 10:00 flight and they had seats available, would they allow us to take the earlier flight? I know we did this one time coming home from Tampa but the fares were the same so that was not a factor...wondering if since I have a low ding fare would that hinder us getting on an earlier flight?

Thanks!

 

[NotUrsula]

SWA charges if you wish to do this. You would have to pay the difference between the fare you paid and the full unrestricted refundable walk-up fare.

They do this because part of the way that the pricing structure works is that less-popular flights are sold more cheaply, so they would have serious passenger-shuffling problems if travelers routinely bought the cheaper ticket and then showed up early so that they could snag a seat on a more expensive flight.

As they do not charge for ordinary advance flight changes, you might want to see what kind of a sale fare you can find for the flight you *do* want -- if you find one you can live with you can switch the reservation.

 

[CarolA]

I would not count on getting on the earlier flight. SW's offical standing is that they do not allow standby without upgrading to the full fare price for that day. On rare occasions you will hear of a gate agent making an exception if they know the next flight is oversold, but... I have never gotten that lucky.

 

[antkim]

O.K. thanks guys! I just was not sure what my chances were! I think I will just kill dh now....lol! I had the earlier flight or even the night before 3 weeks ago with a ding fare and he said he could not do it!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!

 

[dsneygirl]

A lot depends on the staff member you are dealing with. We once got on an earlier flight out of Las Vegas to LAX (they have like 10 flights/day) We were standby with C boarding passes but got on and the employee did not charge us. Asking nicely can't hurt but I agree don't count on it.

 

[antkim]

SW just came out with a Ding fare for Tues night! I booked it and will get credit for another flight because I will not be using the Wed flight (the ding fare was not available for my return flight on Monday so I called SW. Agent told me to book new fare and when I do not show for Wed flight I will get credit. Return flight will stay as it was booked!) I LOVE SW!!!