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

[disny_luvr]

Have they're been issues with flights from Pittsburgh to Orlando? We fly next Thurs. & I'll getting very nervous.

You can go on the Southwest website and check flight status for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That might give you an idea. We fly out of Baltimore, and today one of the nonstop flights from BWI to MCO was cancelled. I just went on and checked Pittsburgh. The 12:50 nonstop flight today was cancelled. It may give you an idea.

 

[Avery&Todd]

You can go on the Southwest website and check flight status for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That might give you an idea. We fly out of Baltimore, and today one of the nonstop flights from BWI to MCO was cancelled. I just went on and checked Pittsburgh. The 12:50 nonstop flight today was cancelled. It may give you an idea.

GENIUS!!
I didnt know this - thank you!

 

[EACarlson]

Not sure if anyone would know this answer, but I’ll try. I recently purchased tickets using gift cards. Given the issues with so many flights being cancelled, I want to make sure I purchase on my Chase Sapphire card because they provide trip protection should we have to stay over another night, etc.
If I purchase EBCI with my Chase Sapphire, would my tickets be protected by this?

If not, can anyone tell me the process of re-booking the flight with gift cards? I assume the money I used would be issued as a credit and then I could pay the extra part with my card (flights have gone up $10). I just didn’t know if the credits went back to our accounts instantly like they do with points, or if it took some time.

No, buying EBCI with your CSP or CSR would not trigger the delayed trip protection. If your flight is cancelled you will get Travel Funds which have to be used within one year of the original booking date. It is possible to get the funds refunded to a gift card but requires calling in to a different department. If your flight is cancelled it is still the responsibility of the carrier to get you to your destination. SW will re-route you on flights of your choosing if you call them up and there is room, in no way should you have to pay more if they cancel your flight and you are still going to the same place.

Double checking - flights bought with travel funds counts as revenue flights towards A list???

Correct.

 

[happ]

Not sure if anyone would know this answer, but I’ll try. I recently purchased tickets using gift cards. Given the issues with so many flights being cancelled, I want to make sure I purchase on my Chase Sapphire card because they provide trip protection should we have to stay over another night, etc.
If I purchase EBCI with my Chase Sapphire, would my tickets be protected by this?

If not, can anyone tell me the process of re-booking the flight with gift cards? I assume the money I used would be issued as a credit and then I could pay the extra part with my card (flights have gone up $10). I just didn’t know if the credits went back to our accounts instantly like they do with points, or if it took some time.

Be careful if you rebook with gift cards. I rebooked a flight last year and the gift card amount was returned as a luv voucher and then became travel funds when I had to cancel. Now I'm going to lose the funds because they're expiring, which really shouldn't be the case since gift cards don't expire.

 

[Gitelfor]

Be careful if you rebook with gift cards. I rebooked a flight last year and the gift card amount was returned as a luv voucher and then became travel funds when I had to cancel. Now I'm going to lose the funds because they're expiring, which really shouldn't be the case since gift cards don't expire.

Have you contacted Southwest Customer Relations about this? I believe I read that the system defaults to what you received, but that Southwest will make some kind of adjustment, upon request. I normally recommend contacting them thru social media, as those agents are with Customer Relations. However, the recent response time has been much slower, than normal; as long as you are not running out of time, it probably still is your best bet.

 

[ultimatefans]

You can go on the Southwest website and check flight status for yesterday, today, and tomorrow. That might give you an idea. We fly out of Baltimore, and today one of the nonstop flights from BWI to MCO was cancelled. I just went on and checked Pittsburgh. The 12:50 nonstop flight today was cancelled. It may give you an idea.

That's really helpful, thank you!! Someone also previously posted on here about this site: https://flightaware.com/ For flights today you can also track where the plane currently is.

The cancellations for today and tomorrow are likely weather related. Southwest has a travel alert on their website that anyone traveling to/from MCO today and tomorrow can reschedule within 14 days at no charge due to Tropical Storm Elsa (how appropriate). I have a friend that was supposed to travel home today but is now coming home Thursday instead due to flight cancellation. Two extra days at Disney - how awful for them. (I realize that would be an issue in many situations, but they're happy about the extra two days)

 

[cmarsh31]

Not into, but out of MCO. Booked a Southwest flight to Albany, NY to depart MCO 6/26. Southwest cancelled it 6/25 and no flights open until 6/28 (points were refunded and security fee credited to my credit card). Then booked with Jetblue for 6/27. Well, I get to the airport and that flight is delayed 2 hours, then cancelled. Rebooked Jetblue for 6/28 and that one got out on time.

JetBlue & Albany seem to be a particular disaster. I think I'm about 1 out of 6 or 8 flights that have actually been on time. I flew ALB to MCO SW on the 26th successfully, but my Aug MCO to ALB is JetBlue... we'll see how that goes...

 

[MarBee]

Be careful if you rebook with gift cards. I rebooked a flight last year and the gift card amount was returned as a luv voucher and then became travel funds when I had to cancel. Now I'm going to lose the funds because they're expiring, which really shouldn't be the case since gift cards don't expire.

No, buying EBCI with your CSP or CSR would not trigger the delayed trip protection. If your flight is cancelled you will get Travel Funds which have to be used within one year of the original booking date. It is possible to get the funds refunded to a gift card but requires calling in to a different department. If your flight is cancelled it is still the responsibility of the carrier to get you to your destination. SW will re-route you on flights of your choosing if you call them up and there is room, in no way should you have to pay more if they cancel your flight and you are still going to the same place.

Correct.

Thank you! I was thinking about cancelling myself now and then rebooking to pay partially with those funds and partially with my CSP. The price I booked at was $99 and the new price is $109. This way, if the flight is cancelled and delayed a day or 2, CSP will reimburse the cost of my hotel.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Something to keep in mind about cancelled flights that happen today and/or tomorrow is that they may be Elsa related. Tampa airport is closing at 5 PM today. At this time Orlando airport remains open.

 

[DebLovesPooh]

Our direct flight from MHT to MCO on a Friday night two weeks ago was cancelled when we were at the gate and lined up to board. No hotel or food vouchers. Had to drive 2.5 hours the next day to a different airport. Both of those new flights were delayed and we got in 3.5 hours later than the new itinerary, more than 24 hours after when the original flight had us arriving. No response from customer relations via social media. No reimbursement for the hotel or meals I had to pay for after the canceled flight.

 

[disny_luvr]

Our direct flight from MHT to MCO on a Friday night two weeks ago was cancelled when we were at the gate and lined up to board. No hotel or food vouchers. Had to drive 2.5 hours the next day to a different airport. Both of those new flights were delayed and we got in 3.5 hours later than the new itinerary, more than 24 hours after when the original flight had us arriving. No response from customer relations via social media. No reimbursement for the hotel or meals I had to pay for after the canceled flight.

That's awful! I'm sorry that happened to you.

 

[Brob2132]

Our direct flight from MHT to MCO on a Friday night two weeks ago was cancelled when we were at the gate and lined up to board. No hotel or food vouchers. Had to drive 2.5 hours the next day to a different airport. Both of those new flights were delayed and we got in 3.5 hours later than the new itinerary, more than 24 hours after when the original flight had us arriving. No response from customer relations via social media. No reimbursement for the hotel or meals I had to pay for after the canceled flight.

Was this weather related? SW(or any airline) will never give vouchers for weather given it’s beyond their control. It didn’t make me feel any better at the time, but it’s probably fair in hindsight.

 

[crazywig]

Our direct flight from MHT to MCO on a Friday night two weeks ago was cancelled when we were at the gate and lined up to board. No hotel or food vouchers. Had to drive 2.5 hours the next day to a different airport. Both of those new flights were delayed and we got in 3.5 hours later than the new itinerary, more than 24 hours after when the original flight had us arriving. No response from customer relations via social media. No reimbursement for the hotel or meals I had to pay for after the canceled flight.

Send an email via their website using the Complaint section. Describe your issue, you will prob get a $200 voucher. Give flight numbers, your RR# etc. I did this asking for my points back and got an email saying they will send a voucher. I still want my points and they are due me since they cancelled and we did not actually fly. I will call tomorrow. (the points i discussed in my original post were from my husband's account, some were booked on my account)

 

[DebLovesPooh]

Was this weather related? SW(or any airline) will never give vouchers for weather given it’s beyond their control. It didn’t make me feel any better at the time, but it’s probably fair in hindsight.

The incoming flight was canceled and that flight had our flight attendants. So we had no crew. I guess it might have been weather related that the Chicago flight was canceled, but then shouldn't they have known before we were ready to board that we wouldn't have flight attendants?

 

[DebLovesPooh]

Send an email via their website using the Complaint section. Describe your issue, you will prob get a $200 voucher. Give flight numbers, your RR# etc. I did this asking for my points back and got an email saying they will send a voucher. I still want my points and they are due me since they cancelled and we did not actually fly. I will call tomorrow.

I agree, your points should come back to you instead of a voucher. Did they offer a voucher for each person in your .party affected or just for you?

 

[DebLovesPooh]

That's awful! I'm sorry that happened to you.

Thank you so much! We ended up having a great trip, but I'm a little sour on SW now. Looking at United for our next set of flights.

 

[crazywig]

I agree, your points should come back to you instead of a voucher. Did they offer a voucher for each person in your .party affected or just for you?

Seems like just me. It's like it was an auto-response since the email did not even address my ask of my points back.

update: Just a follow up I did call this morning and had the points refunded to my account. So now we are set with all pts (my dh's account and mine) being returned plus allegedly the $200 voucher coming.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

Has anyone seen any red banners for November yet into MCO? I am thinking about scheduling the cheapest flights of each day with the hope that a red banner shows up. This could save us over 20,600 points on our trip.

I have already booked the flights we want (on opening day), but with each person costing over 22,000 points r/t, it would be nice to save a few points.

Edit - 7/9 - I booked the cheap flights using my RR points (originally booked on my DH's account). As of right now, they have cancelled my portion of the flight booked on my DH's account. I am currently on a 48 minute hold to speak with someone. Fingers crossed I can get it rebooked without the huge increase in points.

Edit 2 - 7/9 - After my 48 minute wait, I was told that they will cancel anything they feel is a duplicate booking, but as a one time courtesy they reinstated my reservation at the original cost. If they hadn't done that, my trip would have gone from 21,920 pts to 44,480 pts. She also told me that my DH's was in the queue to cancel at midnight, so good thing I called and even better that I waited. It was definitely worth 48 minutes for the 22,500 points for me, and the even bigger hassle if my DH's had been cancelled too!

 

[FCDub]

Thank you so much! We ended up having a great trip, but I'm a little sour on SW now. Looking at United for our next set of flights.

Every single airline has issues, so if you're looking to United for perfection, you won't find it. Just as many horror stories from people here about times they were left hanging.

 

[DebLovesPooh]

Every single airline has issues, so if you're looking to United for perfection, you won't find it. Just as many horror stories from people here about times they were left hanging.

I’m not looking for perfection. I never said I was. I’m active duty military and have traveled on many flights with some kind of problem. In fact, I anticipate there will be hiccups along the way. I wouldn’t have even commented on my experience except someone was looking for recent experiences so I was trying to be helpful.