Had Ding and lost it

[EllenJ]

What would you do?? I recently booked a ding fare for $64 from BDL to MCO in August. I had to add a day to my trip but it was ok. Today, a Ding came up for BDL to TPA. The dates and times were better than the MCO ones and I wouldnt have to take an extra day off from work.
So, I started my reservation, cancelled my MCO flight, added the ticketless funds, hit the final button and got an error.
I called the number on the screen and after 1 hour on the phone with the ticket agent and 2 managers, they basically told me that someone was quicker than me and took one of my seats.
I tried to rebook and could only get 2 of the 3 seats I need.
The fare for the 3rd seat is over double the ding fare.
The agent/managers hands were tied. They told me to call Customer Service on Monday but there were no guarantees that they could help me.
I can't get back my old ressies and I don't like the times for the others.
Would you book the Ding and the higher fare and hope CS will do something for me or just book the later time and/or date and forget about it?

 

[a1tinkfans]

Call Southwest Customer Service, NOT reservations on Monday....Perhaps they CAN help you out. They have helped me out in the past. I hope they can help you!!!
Good Luck!

 

[poohbear2]

This is my biggest fear.. Good-luck. I hope everything works out for you.

 

[kmjmom]

My hands always get shakey just thinking about this happening. So sorry it happened to you! I do hope you can get somewhere with customer relations. I just cancelled and rebooked two flights this afternoon Tampa to BDL for a $64 Ding. I actually saved $101! But as I was doing it I feared I would also get locked out, so I opened up the Ding window and filled in all of the info prior to cancelling my flight on a different tab window. Then all I had to do was swithc back and press the apply ticketless travel fund button and enter my confirmation number. Good luck to you.

 

[EllenJ]

My hands always get shakey just thinking about this happening. So sorry it happened to you! I do hope you can get somewhere with customer relations. I just cancelled and rebooked two flights this afternoon Tampa to BDL for a $64 Ding. I actually saved $101! But as I was doing it I feared I would also get locked out, so I opened up the Ding window and filled in all of the info prior to cancelling my flight on a different tab window. Then all I had to do was swithc back and press the apply ticketless travel fund button and enter my confirmation number. Good luck to you.

KMJ - LOL - maybe you got my flight... I did exactly the same as you. It must have been timing.

I decided to book a later flight using the Ding. I'm still going to call CS tomorrow and see what they say.

 

[roadtripper]

I had the heart clutching cancellation/rebook scenario yesterday, too, for the MHT/MCO Ding.

What calmed me down somewhat was that I had the customer service rep on the line at the same time. I chose my new Ding flights, and took the process all the way through 'til I had to apply ticketless travel funds or purchase the tickets.

The rep told me that once I had chosen my flights, the seats were held for me for a "limited time" while I booked the flight. When I said go, the customer service rep cancelled the original flight. I applied the confirmation number for the original flight (which was now my ticketless travel funds number) to the newly booked flights. It took a few tries for the system to recognize that I had cancelled the original flight, but I didn't lose any info I had punched into the screen. In the end, it all worked out, including carrying over a LUV voucher.

Hope this helps someone-- I was pretty stressed while I was doing it-- thinking my whole trip would be wiped out.

I hope customer service can help you-- they are good people! Please post and let us know how it turns out.

 

[kmjmom]

I sure hope not EllenJ! That would make me feel very sad. I would never want to do that to a fellow Disser! My flights were Sept and Oct from Tampa to BDL and back. My son is in college in Tampa and I try to book his flights ahead of time so we get the flights we want. I'm hoping to get the price of his Christmas flights down too. I booked them at $130 each way. Good luck with SW tomorrow!

 

[a1tinkfans]

Now that I think of it, when I was on with Customer Service about a change that I had to make, she also told me that once I picked flight on line, there was about a 4-5 minute window to get the seat. I actually had her help me go thru the process and saved some money,
But NO DING for us for this trip, ISP to mco for Sundays, LIVE AND LEARN!!!
(I really can't complain, two of the three tickets were Freebies with rapid rewards)
Gotta Love Southwest!! And LOVE LOVE LOVE DISNEY!!!

 

[EllenJ]

A1tink... I know that I was holding the ressie for only a minute or 2 while I cancelled the other flight. But who knows... At this point I think I resigned to sticking with the later flight.

KMJ...I guess it wasnt you. We are flying in late Aug. A last summer trip before my DD starts High School. No more taking her out of school for our Disney fixes.

 

[a1tinkfans]

What would you do?? I recently booked a ding fare for $64 from BDL to MCO in August. I had to add a day to my trip but it was ok. Today, a Ding came up for BDL to TPA. The dates and times were better than the MCO ones and I wouldnt have to take an extra day off from work.
So, I started my reservation, cancelled my MCO flight, added the ticketless funds, hit the final button and got an error.
I called the number on the screen and after 1 hour on the phone with the ticket agent and 2 managers, they basically told me that someone was quicker than me and took one of my seats.
I tried to rebook and could only get 2 of the 3 seats I need.
The fare for the 3rd seat is over double the ding fare.
The agent/managers hands were tied. They told me to call Customer Service on Monday but there were no guarantees that they could help me.
I can't get back my old ressies and I don't like the times for the others.
Would you book the Ding and the higher fare and hope CS will do something for me or just book the later time and/or date and forget about it?

HOW'D YOU MAKE OUT? DID you just take the later flight or try customer service??

 

[EllenJ]

I never got a chance to call SW yesterday. Good thing I didn't. I got the email with the specials and I changed my flight again. Now we are flying into MCO. We get in an hour later than the flight to TPA but we will get to WDW at the same time. Also, I'm saving $60 on my rental car by going in and out of MCO. It was worth the extra $5 per ticket it cost (Ding was $64).
Thanks for all the advice.
Ellen

 

[EllenJ]

PS...this time I made sure there were plenty of seats before I cancelled my old flight. I put in for 8 seats and they were available so I knew it would be unlikely that they would all sell out while I was rebooking.
Also, this time I used the change flight option. I felt safer. It seemed that it didnt cancel my old flight until I was completing the new sale.

 

[gigi1313]

Also, this time I used the change flight option. I felt safer. It seemed that it didnt cancel my old flight until I was completing the new sale.

correct... but you cannot use "change flight" option when using a DING! hence the risk...