I hate Southwest!

[CraftyMommy]

I love Southwest! They have friendly staff at the airports and on the planes and they let me check in 2 bags for free and take a carry-on for free.

But I stinkin hate Southwest! I am trying to book 3 tickets. If I price out a single ticket it gives me one price. If I price out the same flights for 2 or 3 people they charge me $50 more per ticket.

Why are they punishing me for wanting to purchase my 3 tickets together on the same itinerary? We'll have to each check in for our flights separately. And we'll all get different boarding numbers.

I still love Southwest but right now I'm not liking it very much!

 

[starry_solo]

Maybe because the cheapest fare is only available for one of the tickets but not all?

 

[mac_tlc]

Buy one at the cheaper price, and the other two at the higher price.

Happens sometimes -- I always check their prices for fewer than the entire party -- just in case.

mac_tlc

 

[tjmw2727]

Yes, what the pp said - there are probably only one or two tickets left at the lower price. Try lowering the number by one until you get them at the lower price and then purchase. Then repeat until you have your tickets at the lowerst prices. You can then call if you like and make sure they link your itineraries to get a better chance at consecutive numbers. Don't wait to long or someone else will take that lower fare!!

Did this in August with 5 flying and 3 itineraries. Booked all the same day, all with EBCI and we had consecutive boarding numbers.

 

[Moparlar]

Yes, what the pp said - there are probably only one or two tickets left at the lower price. Try lowering the number by one until you get them at the lower price and then purchase. Then repeat until you have your tickets at the lowerst prices. You can then call if you like and make sure they link your itineraries to get a better chance at consecutive numbers. Don't wait to long or someone else will take that lower fare!!

Did this in August with 5 flying and 3 itineraries. Booked all the same day, all with EBCI and we had consecutive boarding numbers.

I have done this also to get some of the tickets at the lower price.. I always try 1 person first then the number of people traveling

Larry

 

[CraftyMommy]

I am aware that some of the cheaper fares are limited. It would only let me book 1 seat at the cheap fare. When I put in 2 or 3 passengers the price jumped. So, I purchased 1 seat for myself at the cheap fare.

I now had 2 additional seats I needed to purchase. I went in again and did a new search. It pulled up that same cheap price for 1 seat. If I wanted to book husband and son together, the price jumps again. So I had to purchase DH's seat by itself.

I now have to purchase my son's seat. Guess what? I do a search and it again gives me the cheap rate! Just for kicks, I switch it to 2 passengers and the price jumps.

I was able to purchase all 3 tickets by themselves, but if I wanted them together on the same itinerary that costs me $150.

I have never experienced something like this before. I called SWA and explained the situation. The rep told me there was nothing I could do about it. If I wanted to save $150 they had to be purchased separately. I said, "But we'll be sitting in the same seats on the plane no matter which way our tickets were ordered!" She said sometimes, it is rare, but it does happen where fares are only available to single riders. I never heard of such a thing. I've flown many, many times on SWA. I hung up and talked to another rep and she confirmed she was not able to link our reservations because we were all 3 considered single riders. If I wanted to have them linked it would cost $150 to do so. No thanks!

I'll check myself in first. I'll get on that plane and I'll hoard the other 2 seats in my row until my husband and son get on. And if they're going to make a 7 yr old board the plane without us, they'll have another thing coming.

 

[MEK]

You saved $150. I think you should be happy about that, even though you are being inconvenienced by having different itinerary numbers. Have your husband log in at the same time as you to print one of the boarding passes.

 

[wgeo]

I am aware that some of the cheaper fares are limited. It would only let me book 1 seat at the cheap fare. When I put in 2 or 3 passengers the price jumped. So, I purchased 1 seat for myself at the cheap fare.

I now had 2 additional seats I needed to purchase. I went in again and did a new search. It pulled up that same cheap price for 1 seat. If I wanted to book husband and son together, the price jumps again. So I had to purchase DH's seat by itself.

I now have to purchase my son's seat. Guess what? I do a search and it again gives me the cheap rate! Just for kicks, I switch it to 2 passengers and the price jumps.

I was able to purchase all 3 tickets by themselves, but if I wanted them together on the same itinerary that costs me $150.

I have never experienced something like this before. I called SWA and explained the situation. The rep told me there was nothing I could do about it. If I wanted to save $150 they had to be purchased separately. I said, "But we'll be sitting in the same seats on the plane no matter which way our tickets were ordered!" She said sometimes, it is rare, but it does happen where fares are only available to single riders. I never heard of such a thing. I've flown many, many times on SWA. I hung up and talked to another rep and she confirmed she was not able to link our reservations because we were all 3 considered single riders. If I wanted to have them linked it would cost $150 to do so. No thanks!

I'll check myself in first. I'll get on that plane and I'll hoard the other 2 seats in my row until my husband and son get on. And if they're going to make a 7 yr old board the plane without us, they'll have another thing coming.

Southwest isn't and won't MAKE you do anything. You have chosen to fly with them and therefore you have chosen to play by their rules, whether you like them or not. If you really don't want to use SW's system than you need to purchase tickets through a different airline. In regards to boarding the plane, yes you will have different numbers but you do not HAVE to board at that time. If you have B2 and your son has B10, you can simply let B3 - B9 board ahead of you and then you and your son can enter at the same time.

FWIW, we used points to purchase our tickets on SW and for whatever reason, even though I purchased it in one transaction, we all have separate confirmation numbers. I decided that trying to check in all 4 of us with separate numbers at the 24 hour mark would be stressful so I went with EBCI to make things easier.

 

[OKW Lover]

I'll check myself in first. I'll get on that plane and I'll hoard the other 2 seats in my row until my husband and son get on. And if they're going to make a 7 yr old board the plane without us, they'll have another thing coming.

Sounds like you're also not familiar with Southwest's rule about not being able to save seats. Please check on the Southwest site so you know what to expect.

 

[tjmw2727]

Wow that is really strange but I am glad you were able to book all three tickets at the cheaper flights.

If your truly worried then purchase EBCI, call and have your reservations linked and then you don't have to worry about checking in 3 people at T24 ~ you are still aheat $120.00!. Like I said above I did this and we were consecutive.

If you are separated you can all board together with the highest BP so there is no need to have a child board alone.

If you do decide to separate and seat save I would head toward the rear of the aircraft to avoid conflict as some FA's don't like it while others don't care.

I am aware that some of the cheaper fares are limited. It would only let me book 1 seat at the cheap fare. When I put in 2 or 3 passengers the price jumped. So, I purchased 1 seat for myself at the cheap fare.

I now had 2 additional seats I needed to purchase. I went in again and did a new search. It pulled up that same cheap price for 1 seat. If I wanted to book husband and son together, the price jumps again. So I had to purchase DH's seat by itself.

I now have to purchase my son's seat. Guess what? I do a search and it again gives me the cheap rate! Just for kicks, I switch it to 2 passengers and the price jumps.

I was able to purchase all 3 tickets by themselves, but if I wanted them together on the same itinerary that costs me $150.

I have never experienced something like this before. I called SWA and explained the situation. The rep told me there was nothing I could do about it. If I wanted to save $150 they had to be purchased separately. I said, "But we'll be sitting in the same seats on the plane no matter which way our tickets were ordered!" She said sometimes, it is rare, but it does happen where fares are only available to single riders. I never heard of such a thing. I've flown many, many times on SWA. I hung up and talked to another rep and she confirmed she was not able to link our reservations because we were all 3 considered single riders. If I wanted to have them linked it would cost $150 to do so. No thanks!

I'll check myself in first. I'll get on that plane and I'll hoard the other 2 seats in my row until my husband and son get on. And if they're going to make a 7 yr old board the plane without us, they'll have another thing coming.

 

[LidoDeck]

Sounds like you're also not familiar with Southwest's rule about not being able to save seats. Please check on the Southwest site so you know what to expect.

Southwest doesn't have a rule about saving seats.

 

[CraftyMommy]

According to Molly at the Customer Care number there is not a rule against saving seats. So we're all good. I'll get my way and we'll all sit together. I know how to get my way without making a big enough fuss to get kicked off the flight.

 

[dburg30]

 

[CraftyMommy]

Southwest isn't and won't MAKE you do anything. You have chosen to fly with them and therefore you have chosen to play by their rules, whether you like them or not. If you really don't want to use SW's system than you need to purchase tickets through a different airline. In regards to boarding the plane, yes you will have different numbers but you do not HAVE to board at that time. If you have B2 and your son has B10, you can simply let B3 - B9 board ahead of you and then you and your son can enter at the same time.

FWIW, we used points to purchase our tickets on SW and for whatever reason, even though I purchased it in one transaction, we all have separate confirmation numbers. I decided that trying to check in all 4 of us with separate numbers at the 24 hour mark would be stressful so I went with EBCI to make things easier.

Seriously? Do you think I'm a flippin idiot? I know they are not going to MAKE us get on the plane. Take one word choice and pick it apart why don't you? Next time I post I'll make sure I have a thesaurus nearby in case the grammar police are reading. I think some people come on here looking for innocent posts just to have a grand old time making them feel bad.

 

[bumbershoot]

If you have B2 and your son has B10, you can simply let B3 - B9 board ahead of you and then you and your son can enter at the same time.

Yep! That's really the best way to do it. IMO. And in my experience. The last time we did it, one of us had the end of As and the other had the beginning of B, so we just waited at the beginning of B. No biggie at all.


What the random CS rep (no matter how cool their name is) tells you is going to be trumped by what the flight attendant on that plane tells you. The FAs are the rule-makers on the plane (OK fine, the pilot is above the FAs), and if they notice you saving seats and it's an issue for some reason, quoting the CS rep won't help.


It's definitely odd that the same price kept coming up. But who knows what weirdness lurks in the heart of any given IT department? Maybe people were canceling their flights as you were making your reservations? Thereby giving up more in that price bucket? That's what I would have decided. Makes me happy, makes me think there's some really cool coincidence, and I don't get upset about it.


But as for having price buckets, they all do that. I booked 4 tickets for a trip in Feb, and ended up putting us onto two different flights entirely, because there were only 2 of the lowest fare on each flight. It's nice because with United and Alaska they state "only 1 available" or "only 4 available" or whatever.


ETA, if you don't get earlybird, open three browser windows or tabs, and get as far into the checkin screen as you can for each person. When the magic moment hits, go through the screens as quickly as possible and get everyone checked in as close to each other as possible. Or have two computers open, with one person working on one checkin and the other working on the other two. If your 7 year old is good with a computer and you have 3 computers, even better!

 

[francie57]

As a pp stated you saved $150, spend the $30 and buy the early boarding for each of you and you are still $120 ahead and you won't have to worry about checking everyone in at the 24 hr mark. You may be able to save seats but if someone that has a boarding number ahead of the rest of your party wants a seat you are saving you may have a problem. We just buy the early boarding so we don't have to worry about it.

 

[Princess on the Run]

Buy one at the cheaper price, and the other two at the higher price.

Happens sometimes -- I always check their prices for fewer than the entire party -- just in case.

mac_tlc

I totally forgot this trick when I just booked our tix for Febyesterday!!!!! I had been stalking fares hoping to do better and also knowing I would fly earlier this month and get enough points to book one of our tix with points. By the time I booked, it was $50 more than when I first looked ($21 more than it had been just a week earlier). I just checked and sure enough, I could have done 3 at the lower rate but not all 5. And even still, I could have done the free ticket (which I didn't have enough points for with the increase) and saved even more!!! DOH!!!!

And I know I can rebook and cancel and take the credit to use later, but I really don't feel like spending $900 now instead of 3-4 months from now just to save $63. Someone please bump this thread up in 3-4 months when I am booking my next trip!!! So used to flying alone that I forget these things when I book for the family.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Seriously? Do you think I'm a flippin idiot? I know they are not going to MAKE us get on the plane. Take one word choice and pick it apart why don't you? Next time I post I'll make sure I have a thesaurus nearby in case the grammar police are reading. I think some people come on here looking for innocent posts just to have a grand old time making them feel bad.

Rather than that, or getting unaccountably angry over a response to a statement you post, reconsider how the entire statement sounds - to readers, or in this case to other passengers or the business:

I'll check myself in first. I'll get on that plane and I'll hoard the other 2 seats in my row until my husband and son get on. And if they're going to make a 7 yr old board the plane without us, they'll have another thing coming.

Because bluntly? To me it sounds like a threat to the airline - the "they'll have another think coming" part.

Instead, work within THEIR guidelines. A number of people here have given you excellent advice: spend the $30 for Early Bird Check In, or all board with the highest number. Southwest doesn't have a rule about seat-saving. It's not prohibited but it's also not condoned. As someone else advised, if other passengers want the seats you're saving, you can't stop them.

 

[drinkme]

I noticed a couple of years ago about the single ticket being cheaper. So, I always book them separately if that's the cheapest way to go. It's never been an issue about boarding. As long as you check in online at the 24 hour mark you should all be somewhat close to each other. Just plan on sitting in the back. You will have plenty of seats open in the back.

Another thing that has happened to me twice: I would book the tickets separately, and twice I ended up having to pay MORE for the last ticket in my group. And then, like a 1/2 hour later, the website would show the price down again. I would then switch my ticket for the cheaper price expecting to just get a SWA credit to use in the future. I've been able to get a credit card REFUND for the price difference. Like I said, this has happened to me twice. So, maybe they have some kind of policy if the price drops within a certain time frame (like an hour or two), then you will get a credit card refund instead of just a credit to use in the future.

HTH!

 

[hsmamato2]

our fam flies free on credits,etc...we have 4 people,4 diff. check in numbers. Well worth the savings...IMHO