Flight Change Flexibility--SWA (Updated: New Question)

[madge]

Good morning!

I am very familiar with the re-booking process of ticketless travel through SWA. It is very easy, IMO.

If there is a fare drop on a Delta flight, is it just as easy? Is there a fee to rebook with a lower fare?

Thanks

New Question:
If you book the fully refundable fare on SWA, and find a cheaper fare, how is the money refunded? Credit on the credit card or flight credit?

thanks!

 

[CarolA]

Delta is not near as easy. They charge $50 for just about everything. Occasionally they will waive it for "cheaper" fares, but that is getting rare.

 

[madge]

thanks, Carol! That's what I thought the answer would be. Makes my decision to stick with SWA a little easier

 

[goofy4tink]

I just made a flight change last week with Song and the charge was only $25. That has been my experience for the past year or so. Heaven forbid I make a reservation and stick to it!!!! I always change one leg at least once.

 

[justplaingoofy]

Please don't quote me on this, but I believe on most airlines if there is a price drop, they will give you "credit, voucher" for the difference. Unless the difference is substancial enough to cancel (fee) and rebook.

We have flown on Delta and Southwest and hands down would fly Delta. One because if it is Song as new planes with a television at every seat.(awesome) plus they will give you a preassigned seat. Southwest we found is like cattle call. You get a number on check in and that is how you board in groups of 30. We received numbers 31 & 32 (second boarding group) and we got the last two seats together. It was pretty sad to see all these families have to split up for a 3hr flight.

 

[CarolA]

The problem is that the "credit" is actually subject to the change fee. In some instances airlines have waived that. However, as Delta gets closer and closer to bankruptcy they appear to be giving thier agents LESS flexiblity to waive these fees. SO I would not count on getting it.

Now I have to assume that your flight started someplace else since if seats 1-30 took up all the "empty" seats that would mean there were folks on board already. If your flight starts where you do, then even in group B you won't have trouble getting two seats together.

 

[justplaingoofy]

Our flight was out of Providence, RI. What we ran into was they had preboarding for people with mobility issues first, then they allowed anyone travelling with children under a certain age to preboard. Then group 1-30, then ours. We made sure to get to the airport to get an early number for boarding, but I think alot of the people that knew they could preboard got there later and got bigger numbers which didn't matter to them because they could board before everyone else? Not sure, all I know is for the same price (maybe $10 difference) we found it less stressful to get a preassigned seat and the tvs at the seats are a bonus!

 

[madge]

Song doesn't fly out of any of my airport choices (SDF, IND, CVG, BNA, or LEX)

 

[goofy4tink]

Song doesn't fly out of any of my airport choices (SDF, IND, CVG, BNA, or LEX)

I believe that Delta has the same change fee policy, but I could be wrong. And yes, you get charged that $25 change fee, and then get a credit voucher for the fare if it is cheaper. Say, the original flight was $100. You need to change to a different flight and that flight is now $75. It is a wash because you will pay the $25 charge. But, if the new flight was $50, you would get a credit voucher for $25. But, be aware...if that new flight is more money, and they usually are in my case, you have the $25 change fee plus the addtl fare.

 

[madge]

new question in 1st post.

 

[vicb]

I'm new to this whole SW thing, so what happens if the seating is full before your number is allowed to board? Do you get first rights on next flight or are you just out of luck?

 

[justplaingoofy]

I dont want to sound like a downer, but here is what happened with us.
In my experience, they didn't overbook anymore than any other airline. Once you check in they give you a boarding number according to the number you arrive. 1-30, 31-60, and so on... First they make an announcement for any persons that may require extra time boarding (wheelchairs,etc.) then they offered preboarding to people travelling with children under a certain age. (I think it was either 3 or 5yrs) (which was also most of our flight). Then they call our if you have numbers 1-30 to get in line, (not in order of 1,2,3,4, etc) just groups of 30. By the time we got to board we had 2nd boarding#31,32 we got the last two seats together. People that had a number could still get their flight, but they couldn't sit together.
That is what happened with our experience. Just seemed like cattlecall.

 

[CarolA]

If you a book a fully refundable ticket and subsequently get a "reduction" the credit will go to your credit card... (HOwever, pay attention the screen gives you an option to keep it as a SW credit and I have picked that by misstake at least once!LOL!)

SW is a cattle call.... but it's cheap and even if you don't fly them trust me Song or DL would charge a LOT more if SW wasn't at your airport.

 

[madge]

If you a book a fully refundable ticket and subsequently get a "reduction" the credit will go to your credit card... (HOwever, pay attention the screen gives you an option to keep it as a SW credit and I have picked that by misstake at least once!LOL!)

Thanks Carol, I was hopeful that was how it works!

SW is a cattle call.... but it's cheap and even if you don't fly them trust me Song or DL would charge a LOT more if SW wasn't at your airport.

I have very little experience with other airlines, and while SWA is a cattle call, we always get up and print the boarding passes to assure an "A" pass. We do have a child of preboarding age, but sometimes only my DH gets on early (with permission) to get the car seat situated. Having a preschooler on the plane too long before the flight actually takes off isn't always a good thing, LOL!

 

[SB in KY]

It is hard to beat SW's generous change policy....MUCH better than any of the legacy carriers....never a change fee.

I had a fairly small credit with Delta last year from a flight that went down in price (they assessed the change fee and I think I still had about $30 left over that they gave me a credit for)...but when I went to use the credit they told me I could not use it for fares booked on line....and of course the cheapest fares were only available on line....so it wound up going to waste (because the price diff in the on line cheapo fare and the fare available over the phone was more than the $30 credit)... not sure if that is the way it works at this point, but it was a pain in the neck at the time.

Conversely on SW I had tickets for the 4 of us from SDF to MCO for our trip in November that had been about $120/pp RT....last week I saw the great DING (thanks again Madge!!) and was able to rebook them at less than $90 pp/RT....it left me with about $130 credit in ticketless travel funds, however since I had paid for the original tickets with ticketless travel funds that expired 12/22/05 my $130 credit would expire then also. I do not have another trip planned to anyplace SW flies before then so I called their customer service and they will extend the TT funds for 6 months, no problem and she even suggested I wait and call back closer to their expiration date...since the 6 month extension begins at the time I request it, not when the funds expire....she said if I could not use the funds before they expire after the extension (no problem there actually!!) I can always request travel vouchers for the funds...not nearly as easy to use as TT funds, but still useful.

What a difference in attitude....I don't even mind the SW "cattle call" anymore...if we don't sit next to each other for 2 hours on the plane who cares??? (although in the last 20+ trips we have flown on SW that has only happened once) My kids are teens and suffer no emotional trauma if they cannot sit beside their mommy and daddy for a couple of hours, and although I really enjoy DH's company, 2 hours in seperate rows does not qualify as a life tragedy anymore!! (and yes, I would and have given my seat to families with younger kids that really do need to sit together...partly because I see the look of panic in the mom's eyes and partly because i would MUCH rather you sat next to your 3 year old for 2 hours than me!!)