Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

[Mrs~Incredible]

Does anyone know when the calendar will open past early November? I'm looking for Thanksgiving tickets and don't want to miss the cheapest fares.

Agree. It’s driving me crazy that we don’t even know the date of the next fare release yet... I check every day!!

 

[emsstacey]

Is southwest still allowing the red banner changes on flights?

 

[Erica Ladd]

If I cancel flights I booked with points do they refund the $$ amount I paid? Is it to the original form of payment or does it become a TF?

I also booked a CP - when I cancel it same question about the $$. And how does one cancel a CP? Is it obvious? I haven't looked yet!

 

[MarBee]

If I cancel flights I booked with points do they refund the $$ amount I paid? Is it to the original form of payment or does it become a TF?

I also booked a CP - when I cancel it same question about the $$. And how does one cancel a CP? Is it obvious? I haven't looked yet!

Yes. You’ll get your $5.60 back. You can either opt to have them hold it for future use or credit it back to your card. I’d recommend returning it to your card. Same goes with your CP ticket. Cancel that one first- it’s fairly easy on the app/web site, although I have had to call once or twice in the past.

 

[Gitelfor]

Is southwest still allowing the red banner changes on flights?

You need to view your reservations, to see if any are currently affected. Southwest recently changed their banner messages from a blanket two week period, to specific dates, only. Once the banner appears, you have 3 days to opt in to change any flight showing the banner.

 

[Erica Ladd]

If I book one of the hotels through southwest that has the banner for rapid rewards points plus properties do those points count towards my A List status???

 

[Gitelfor]

If I book one of the hotels through southwest that has the banner for rapid rewards points plus properties do those points count towards my A List status???

The simple answer is no. Only revenue flights and the 1,500 bonus RR points earned per $10,000 charged to your Rapid Rewards/Chase credit card count as tier qualifying points toward A-List status. Points earned through partners do not count.

A Member who has a Rapid Rewards® Priority Card, a Rapid Rewards Premier Card, Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card, or Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Cards from Chase will earn 1,500 tier qualifying points for every $10,000 in eligible net purchases on that card, up to 15,000 tier qualifying points per year.

 

[Erica Ladd]

Thanks so much. I’m glad I asked. I’m looking at trying to get A List by one way flights. Points always count but I will plan accordingly!!!

 

[FBandA]

Question about changing flights. I have always flown non stop out of Philadelphia. I have a flight at 1:30 that gets me to Orlando at 4:10. There is a flight at 5:45 am with a change over in Atlanta that will get me into Orlando around 10:20 there is an hour for us to get off the plane and get to next plane. Is this enough time for someone who has never had any experience in Atlanta airport or experience with changing flights. The flight is cheaper also. Just wanting opinions. Thanks

 

[mfly]

Question about changing flights. I have always flown non stop out of Philadelphia. I have a flight at 1:30 that gets me to Orlando at 4:10. There is a flight at 5:45 am with a change over in Atlanta that will get me into Orlando around 10:20 there is an hour for us to get off the plane and get to next plane. Is this enough time for someone who has never had any experience in Atlanta airport or experience with changing flights. The flight is cheaper also. Just wanting opinions. Thanks

I have flown in/out of ATL many, many times. I would be completely comfortable with an hour. Honestly, I’d be comfortable with a half hour (or less). I think you’ll be fine.

If the flights are in the same terminal, you’ll just walk between gates. If they’re in separate terminals, you’ll just take the escalator down to the plane train and take the train to the new terminal. The train runs constantly and is very efficient - even the terminals furthest apart would only take 10 minutes at most on the train.

 

[Gitelfor]

Question about changing flights. I have always flown non stop out of Philadelphia. I have a flight at 1:30 that gets me to Orlando at 4:10. There is a flight at 5:45 am with a change over in Atlanta that will get me into Orlando around 10:20 there is an hour for us to get off the plane and get to next plane. Is this enough time for someone who has never had any experience in Atlanta airport or experience with changing flights. The flight is cheaper also. Just wanting opinions. Thanks

Southwest gates are lined up in a row, on the same concourse. Assuming your flight arrives in ATL on schedule, one hour will be plenty of time to connect to your next flight.

From Southwest:

TERMINAL AND GATE
Concourse C
Gates C: 1-7,9,10,12-17,20-22

ATL Southwest concourse

 

[Gitelfor]

Get up to 75% bonus RR points when purchasing points, during this limited time offer.



Purchasing points usually is not a good value; however, if you have to top off an account or really want to book with points but need more, the 75% bonus offer is better than usual. With the 6% devaluation of points last week, this might help lessen the impact a bit.

 

[leebee]

Does anyone know when the calendar will open past early November? I'm looking for Thanksgiving tickets and don't want to miss the cheapest fares.

Agree. It’s driving me crazy that we don’t even know the date of the next fare release yet... I check every day!!

THIS!! DD is trying to plan her honeymoon, with a return date of Nov 6th; SW is only "open" through Nov 5th!!

 

[pfeifer1990]

What is Southwest Rapid Rewards? Is it worth getting if you fly once a year?

 

[Avery&Todd]

Just a heads up lesson I learned with SW yesterday....starting off with we LOVE SW and it's our airline of choice...especially to Vegas and WDW...

so I have flights booked for DH and I to Vegas next month - since I originally booked the flights SW (with points) prices have dropped so I've rebooked them several times and one time they had to cancel/rebook DH's flights since he's my Companion Pass and therefore his Conf. # changed. Well, on my profile his cancelled flight was still showing as my companion booking and then his new flight was added a just a connected reservation but NOT Companion - so I had them go in and fix that - and they did that by cancelling DH's flight again and the new one finally showed as his one and only flight and as a Companion.

So I checked the point value on those flights again the other day and they dropped again on the outbound flight so I DM'd SW as I usually do on FB and they rebooked and gave me back 2,200 pts - winner!

and I checked yesterday and they were lower again so I DM'd SW on FB and they refunded 1,500 more points - and then made the comment that DH's outbound flights wasn't connected to mine anymore - WHAT?? Oh yes - the previous time I had them rebook/return my points they cancelled DH's outbound flight to do that and then never rebooked him so DH only had a return flight from Vegas home but no flight to get him TO VEGAS!!!???

So, Taylour with SW helped me by cancelling DH's flight (for the 3rd time now) and then rebooked it - HOWEVER, his previous confirmation is still showing linked to my flight but when you click on it, it comes up as "this trip has been cancelled" but when I search for his flight using his confirmation #/name I can find it and it's "associated" with my flight...

so how long do I give the SW system time for the most recently cancelled flight for DH's Companion pass ticket to drop off and the new one show up in its place? I did this yesterday morning - so just over 24 hrs by now..

phew...

 

[Gary2T]

What is Southwest Rapid Rewards? Is it worth getting if you fly once a year?

Rapid Rewards is Southwest's frequent flyer program. It doesn't cost anything to join, so why not. You earn points for flights that you take and paid cash for on Southwest. Points can be redeemed for flights if you have enough of them.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Does anyone know when the calendar will open past early November? I'm looking for Thanksgiving tickets and don't want to miss the cheapest fares.

For those of you wanting to book fall trips:

On April 22, 2021, we will open our schedule for sale through November 06, 2021. (Date is subject to change; please check back frequently.)

I'm not sure if this is helpful but for this last release, the date was originally updated about 7 weeks before tickets were supposed to go on sale but then changed back 3 weeks so it was about 4 weeks before the new release date.

Historically the next release date (per below) was May 28, 2020 and May 30, 2019. IF they're following a similar release date schedule we will hopefully learn the next release date soon and ticket may go on sale in late May or early June.

That being said, the last release was about 3 weeks later than historically released:

Actual release dates for tickets from late August - early November:
April 1, 2021
March 12, 2020
March 15, 2019

FYI - Southwest extended their schedule this morning for flights through November 1, 2021.

Also, Here is my usual Historical Southwest Release Dates (for planning purposes) comment. (prettier formatting seen HERE)

Release Date | Travel Through
next release: TBD | TBD**
4/1/21 | November 1, 2021
12/10/20 | August 16, 2021
8/13/20 | April 11th, 2021
5/28/20 | January 4th, 2021
3/12/20 | October 30th, 2020
12/11/19 | August 10th, 2020
10/30/19 | June 6th, 2020
9/26/19 | April 13th, 2020
8/15/19 | March 6th, 2020
5/30/19 | January 5th, 2020
3/15/19 | November 2nd, 2019
1/31/19 | October 1st, 2019
11/15/18 | August 5th, 2019
9/27/18 | June 8th, 2019
** FYI this is subject to change and isn't always available on release day

The chart above shows approx. the last 2 year's worth of releases. Earlier data can be seen here in one of my prior posts. This information could be useful to approximate when your travel time may become available for upcoming releases, however they don't always follow the exact same pattern (as you can see above).
For those that care about "release timing" it can vary, but here are the recent "go live" of previous releases including today:

Release Date | Time (eastern)
4/1/20 | 9:10am
12/10/20 | 7:15am
8/13/20 | 9:15am
5/28/20 | 9:06am
3/12/20 | 9:40am
12/11/19 | 9:10am
10/30/19 | 7:15am
9/26/19 | 7:30am
8/15/19 | 10:41am
5/30/19 | 9:20am

 

[mickey916]

Question: I have flight credits from my canceled May 2020 flight. I originally paid cash for the four of us for roundtrip flights. As the pandemic first started to happen and people got nervous about flying, my flights cost decreased three times and I rebooked and got credits. Then, ultimately I had to cancel and got credit for the balance. So, now we have the total amount of that original flight broken down into four credits. I see online that you can only use "three forms of payment" and one credit is considered a payment. So, my assumption is I can only use two credits and probably a credit card per reservation which means I leave two credits unused. If I book a one way flight instead of round trip, can I use two credits and credit card for each way and thereby use all my credits?

 

[Fangorn]

Question: I have flight credits from my canceled May 2020 flight. I originally paid cash for the four of us for roundtrip flights. As the pandemic first started to happen and people got nervous about flying, my flights cost decreased three times and I rebooked and got credits. Then, ultimately I had to cancel and got credit for the balance. So, now we have the total amount of that original flight broken down into four credits. I see online that you can only use "three forms of payment" and one credit is considered a payment. So, my assumption is I can only use two credits and probably a credit card per reservation which means I leave two credits unused. If I book a one way flight instead of round trip, can I use two credits and credit card for each way and thereby use all my credits?

Yes.

Steve

 

[mickey916]

Yes.

Steve

Thank you!