How to get SW credit and use it for Ding, the wrong way! (Long)

cwnhokie

DIS Veteran
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Feb 18, 2005
Messages
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I got my Ding fare and I posted on another thread the question of how to get rid of my old, higher fare and get the new Ding fare. Well, I went ahead and called SW to find out what to do because I was too nervous to wait for an answer here. (I got a ding for $34, I was practically shaking after months of checking!) The SW guy said I had to cancel the higher price fare and then the funds would be immediately available to purchase the ding, which I would then do online. I had the ding up on my computer while I was talking to him. He asked for the confirmation number of the old flight, I opened my email found the SW confirmation email and gave it to him. He said "you realize that once this is cancelled, it is cancelled, and there is no guarantee that the lower price fare will still be available" I said "I know, hurry up, so I can get it!"

Meanwhile both of my boys are hollaring at me abut something, I hang up with SW, I'm working as fast as my shaking hands will go, my disney fanatic neighbor calls to make sure I checked my ding. I said, "Yes, I'm trying to do it right now and I'm so nervous," He said, "ok, bye!" So I did it, saved $180! I called my MIL to tell her I saved on mine, but I couldn't get hers, it wasn't available. Then I told my DH the good new when he walked in the door. Then I called my BIL to tell him they had a good deal to cleveland, which is where they need to go now. He said, "ok, how do I cancel just the return part of the trip and not the whole thing and apply it to the new fare?" I got to thinking, "I don't know how I did that... I don't know if I did that...oh crap...I gotta go!"

Well after a while on the phone with SW I figured out that when the guy asked me for a confirmation number I just gave him the first one I found, which was for the departing flight, not the return flight. So I had no departing flight and 2 returning flights. And the departing flight was no longer available at the $79 rate, they could get me on the same flight for $125. So in a matter of 10 minutes I went from saving $179 to losing $4. Or they could put me on a 10:00AM flight that would go through nashville and cleveland and arrive in orlando at 3:40PM for $79, 5 hours on a plane with 2 small children. Well DH is yelling in the background at this point. I want to throw up and faint, for thinking I did something so great that turned into something so stupid. He said don't get off the phone until you get it fixed! I kept asking the lady why I couldn't get my same fare on the same plane. She said, "it's gone, once it's cancelled it's gone, I can't get it on my screen and you can't get in online." I said, "thank you very much, but can I talk to someone else?" She said, "They are not going to be able to do anything for you, it wasn't SW mistake, you gave them the wrong confirmation number" She was trying to be nice, but would not budge. Normally, I would have given up at this point, I am very timid and usually give up when people tell me to.

She did put me through to someone else, after being on hold for a long time, someone new answered and I told her my ordeal, almost in tears. (I pride myself on being the master travel planner and this was not supposed to happen, I made such a stupid mistake.) I finally pleaded, "There is nothing you can do to give me my seats back on the same plane for the same price that I just gave back 10 minutes ago!" She said, "10 minutes?" I said, "Well, I've been on hold for 10 mins, maybe 20 minutes." She said, "Hold on" Another 10 minutes on hold. She comes back, "It looks like we are going to be able to fix this for you!" :Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc
I am jumping up and down inside, but don't want to get too excited until it is all confirmed, I double checked everything to make sure I indeed had one flight down and one flight back. She said that the orginial customer service guy should have double checked the itinerery before he cancelled it, not just took my number and cancelled. She said to double check it next time, I said, don't worry! I probably will never make another plane reservation again. It's too nerveracking!

So it is fixed I have one flight down for $79 and one flight back for $34. I love Ding and I love SW!
 
So glad it worked out for you. It is nerve racking doing that. Next time, cancel the flight yourself on the internet. I like to be in control myself. I had to cancel my $79 flights and rebook the 34$ flights and I told everyone to leave the room and my hubby had the kids locked in the basement LOL while I did the switch. I do love the Dings too and I love that SW was accomodating to you. And I love these boards because I would not have known about Dings or booking both legs of the flights separately so I can take advantage of these dings!!

Have a great trip!
 
Thanks for posting your experience. I booked my flights Providence to MCO 5/1 to 5/4 as a RT. I was able to change my $59 flights to $49 flights. I did do it by calling SW and let them cancel my original flights and booked the ding online. I wasn't as nervous because the $59 flights were still available.

Is there any way to get that $60 savings on my credit card instead of just a credit toward a future flight?
 
I open the Southwest site in two windows - one to cancel the previous reservation, the other to book the Ding flight. I put everything in for the Ding flight up to the part where I have to say what I'm using to pay for the airfare. Then I go back to the other window, put through the cancellation of the old flight, return to the Ding window and select the ticketless travel funds. They appear in the account right after cancellation of the old flight.
 

Thanks for taking the time to explain in detail what NOT to do. Hopefully, I will remember that when my time comes! ;) I did learn that I need to book separate one ways instead of the round trip, which I probably would not have thought of.

I'm with you though, I love Southwest!!!
 
My friend just emailed me tonight to tell me she got her credit funds on SW back on her credit card. They orginally told her that after she took her trip she could call and request the refund to her credit cards. However she wasn't that patient to get back 240.00 so she wrote a letter requesting the money be returned to the card and when she got her next credit card statment it was there!.
 
cmbar-thanks! I may just wait til I fly in May. Maybe they will have their Aug schedule open by then. I will likely fly SW for my August trip and it will be nice to have part of the expense of 6 RT tickets paid for.
 
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