I can never use my Southwest RR's????

[pinkerbell]

I recently got a SW Visa for the RR's earnings -
I recnetly wanted to book a flight and there were NO flights i could use my rewards for during the 4 day span on each end of the trip. I called and was told "if you book early there is no problme using them all flight have RR seats" also that bookig midweek was better/

Flights were released today and as soon as I saw them (checked regulalry) I looked for flights on numerous days and although they had some seat available, they were on the most awful flights - multiple connections, LONG travel times, etc???? I am traveling on a Monday & Wednesday

Not a single nonstop from bdl (hartford) to mco (orlando)
they have those flights, but I cannot use my RR's for them.

I would be interested to get expereince from others who are Rapid Rewards members... I now have 2 round trip flights and will prbably not use them since I am traveling with a 4 and 6 YO and traveling for over 6 hrs for a 2 1/2 hr flight is not a REWARD it's a punishment

 

[Lewisc]

You can trade in two reward tickets for one freedoom award. Freedom awards have a few blackout dates but otherwise almost every seat is available. Sometimes SW releases inventory closer to your travel date. You could book a bad routing and hope to change to a better flight closer to your travel date.

 

[Disneyhappy]

I never book RR tickets on the dates the flights open up as the availablity is always limited. I have always found availabilty closer to the time of travel between 4 months to 2 weeks out, even at Thanksgiving. I can't guarantee the flight you want will open but the odds are definitely in your favor.

 

[pinkerbell]

Thanks, this is clearly NOT what the rep told me last week, but will wait it out a bit based on the previous posts
thanks

I would still be interested in people thoughts on the Rapid Reward Program.

 

[Manda]

We use RR awards several times a year and have almost never had any issues finding the flights we want. I've got a Las Vegas flight booked for next week that was slightly problematic, but I was booking for the big spring break/holiday week and only about 8 weeks or so out. Even then, I originally booked the flights I could get and then watched and waited, and better flights popped up and I rebooked. I've always been able to get exactly the flights I wanted to MCO though. Just stay on it - the availability will fluctuate frequently.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I just recently earned my first RR flight and was able to use it this morning to book a roundtrip from Columbus to Orlando. Every flight but one on my chosen days were available for RR. The one flight that wasn't available wasn't even a non-stop, it had a layover. Our flight down is on Friday, 8/13 and we are flying back on Saturday, 8/21.

 

[disneyfanUSA]

I just signed up for a SW Visa to get a free flight. How do you know which flights you can use the rewards for? You are making me nervous - maybe I shouldn't have done this....

 

[DVC-Don]

Just booked for our late October trip with RR and both flights (down and back) had RR availibility.

 

[pinkerbell]

I just signed up for a SW Visa to get a free flight. How do you know which flights you can use the rewards for? You are making me nervous - maybe I shouldn't have done this....

I have decided to stop using my card - not that it wont be good for you, but it is not good for us. We only fly once maybe twice a yr and the cons for us are

1) we got our first award just after booking a flight, if you only fly once a year, be aware you need to complete your travel by the date the reward was awarded or u loose the reward. We booked a non planned trip and used them, but just rebooking with the reward and not scheduling another flight would net the same result - $$$ we couldnt use before it expired (again 1 yr)

2) I tried to book for April and there was literally NOTHING avaiable for a 4 or 5 day period of time - going and returning - I cant be more flexible than that... It's not like flights arent open, they are, I just cant use my reward, again, not such a good deal I was told it was because of school vacation - well now I'm looking to Setp and Oct and same problem - and it's not school vaction

3) The Rewards are only issued when the statement closes so if you are 1 point away and want to book a flight, you need to wait a month to get the other point for the reward and may risk loosing the flight (this is my current situation, I like booking as soon as flight come out, for me I have gotten the best deals this way without checking every day - something I dont have time for)

4) we spend a minumum of $5,000 per month on our credit card once we book our next flight (I will book by the end of the month for Sept) we should stop using it because the gap between when we fly (in sept) and the 5,000 per month will only go towards rewards that will probably expire before we fly again in the following Sept. I think $16000 gets a round trip flight - if we spend that in the next three months - we will get a flight in June so we will have to complete our next trip by June - but wont fly again until the following Sept and possibly again for the next three months of spending.

5) The first time I booked flights with rewards, I switched them for a flight I paid for and needed to book each one seperately, this was a problem when checking in since I travel with a 4 and 6 yr old and we all had much different boarding pass numbers -

6- I was hoping to use the rewards on more expensive flights, but they are only good for the cheapest flights I have researched (our flights usually cost 100 each way), I can get a card with better dividends than that since I cant use the rewards on the flights that cost more.

these are all things that may not be an issue for you, but I dont have the time or patience for all the extra work the rewards system has caused me.


The problem is we just dont fly enough to benefit from this program, but other have stated it works for them and I hope it works for you too!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Get a copy of the current issue of Conde Nast Traveler. There's an article about getting the most out of your miles, including various tips. While they don't discuss Southwest or the other low cost airlines (no alliances), the tips themselves will be helpful to the OP.

 

[helenk]

I have had great success using my RRs, I have booked several trips from PHL to MCO and a trip from PHL to LAX. I have a tripped booked with Airtran for September but on a whim checked my trip dates with my RRs and my dates are wide open, all flights were available.
Hopefully I will be as lucky when I use them for my trip in December.

 

[platamama]

We're using RR credits for 2 tickets to/from DEN to MCO, which I'm excited about because those RT fares have been $320-$350 each every time I've checked, so that is a big part of our travel budget taken care of. I did have to change our flight out to one day earlier just because I didn't want to get in on a Saturday night at 8:30p at MCO, so that was a hiccup in my grand scheme but not too bad. It would cost less to stay one extra night at POR than a RT ticket in our case. On the way out we're flying nonstop (had my choice of times for this leg), and on the way back there is one layover but we don't leave the plane (I only had this one flight time to choose from).

We do fly more than once a year and I think that is a very valid point, Pinkerbell. If you're very attentive perhaps you could split your spending on the SW Visa with other credit cards so you could time your RR reward to mature at the time you'd need for your Sept. trip. But that is definitely more work. In my case I'd consider it worth it for $350 but YMMV. I know I don't want to "waste" my RR on a DEN - LAX since that flight normally costs <$200 for me. I think DEN is a hub for SWA so perhaps availability is greater?

I think I read also that for a $50 fee you can extend the RR for one year. Again, depending on what flights are available and what they normally cost, this may or may not be worth it, especially since you have to account for the $59 annual fee also.

I'm hoping that the free flight DH got with opening his SW Visa will allow us to change DD's flight to a free one too! But it will take 6-8 weeks to post to his account so I'm not sure we'll get it in time or if there will be flights available by then to match our flights. So we've purchased a ticket already for her, and if we can use the free flight, we'll save the $ toward a future flight (again, useful to us since we fly more than once a year).

 

[disneyag]

We've been part of the RR program for over 10 years. We've flown to Orlando, Denver, Las Vegas, all over California, the East Coast, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City and have always found availability.

 

[Kanga1]

We're using RR credits for 2 tickets to/from DEN to MCO, which I'm excited about because those RT fares have been $320-$350 each every time I've checked, so that is a big part of our travel budget taken care of. I did have to change our flight out to one day earlier just because I didn't want to get in on a Saturday night at 8:30p at MCO, so that was a hiccup in my grand scheme but not too bad. It would cost less to stay one extra night at POR than a RT ticket in our case. On the way out we're flying nonstop (had my choice of times for this leg), and on the way back there is one layover but we don't leave the plane (I only had this one flight time to choose from).

We do fly more than once a year and I think that is a very valid point, Pinkerbell. If you're very attentive perhaps you could split your spending on the SW Visa with other credit cards so you could time your RR reward to mature at the time you'd need for your Sept. trip. But that is definitely more work. In my case I'd consider it worth it for $350 but YMMV. I know I don't want to "waste" my RR on a DEN - LAX since that flight normally costs <$200 for me. I think DEN is a hub for SWA so perhaps availability is greater?

I think I read also that for a $50 fee you can extend the RR for one year. Again, depending on what flights are available and what they normally cost, this may or may not be worth it, especially since you have to account for the $59 annual fee also.

I'm hoping that the free flight DH got with opening his SW Visa will allow us to change DD's flight to a free one too! But it will take 6-8 weeks to post to his account so I'm not sure we'll get it in time or if there will be flights available by then to match our flights. So we've purchased a ticket already for her, and if we can use the free flight, we'll save the $ toward a future flight (again, useful to us since we fly more than once a year).

I have a RR R/T ticket from opening a Visa account as well. If you use the free ticket for your DD's paid one, won't that just give you credits and not a refund? And won't those credits expire the same time your RR flight would? I really don't understand all of this.

 

[platamama]

I have a RR R/T ticket from opening a Visa account as well. If you use the free ticket for your DD's paid one, won't that just give you credits and not a refund? And won't those credits expire the same time your RR flight would? I really don't understand all of this.

Yes, you're right, I would get credits not a refund. But we're planning on flying the month after our WDW trip to visit family, so I have a plan in mind for those credits. The way I paid for DD ticket was a mixture of cash and leftover SW credits from previous tickets I bought. Some of those SW credits expire in July so I gotta use 'em or lose 'em. And the part I paid in cash would expire a year from when I booked her ticket. It does get to be confusing keeping track of all the credits and when they expire and their confirmation #s, but it beats paying a $100 change fee each time (for me anyway) that other airlines charge.