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

[disneylover81]

We got our boarding positions for our last minute flights…. I booked our flights Tuesday evening 5/16/23 for a Thursday evening 5/18/23 flight. We got A21 & A25. Purchased Anytime tickets.

 

[disneylover81]

Ugh! Our flight tonight is delayed 2 hours and they have not delayed the second leg as of now. Called SWA, she thinks they might delay it and will hold the doors as long as they can. I hope they will wait for us. This is why I hate taking the last flight out.

 

[disneylover81]

This is the current situation.. do y’all think ATL will wait for us or leave us stranded overnight?

 

[easyas123]

What time is your connection scheduled to take off?

 

[SirDuff]

Honestly, seems unlikely (unless your second flight is delayed). You're landing almost 30 minutes after your next flight's scheduled departure. Add time to taxi to gate, get off the plane, and get to the other gate and you're not at the next gate until at least 45 minutes after the departure time.

 

[disneylover81]

Honestly, seems unlikely (unless your second flight is delayed). You're landing almost 30 minutes after your next flight's scheduled departure. Add time to taxi to gate, get off the plane, and get to the other gate and you're not at the next gate until at least 45 minutes after the departure time.

Well the first person I talked to said they’d try to hold the plane for us, but in the end they didn’t. They booked us all on a flight at 7:00 am in the morning and then we had to find ourselves a hotel for tonight ($200 out of my pocket). It’s 12:30 am and we just got to the hotel and will have to be back at the airport by 5:00 am. So our first night of the graduation trip didn’t go as planned. Hopefully DVC will return my points for tonight’s room since we weren’t able to make it to MCO tonight.

 

[EACarlson]

Well the first person I talked to said they’d try to hold the plane for us, but in the end they didn’t. They booked us all on a flight at 7:00 am in the morning and then we had to find ourselves a hotel for tonight ($200 out of my pocket). It’s 12:30 am and we just got to the hotel and will have to be back at the airport by 5:00 am. So our first night of the graduation trip didn’t go as planned. Hopefully DVC will return my points for tonight’s room since we weren’t able to make it to MCO tonight.

How did you pay for the flights? If you paid any portion with a credit card you may be able to get the credit card company to pay for your hotel, depending on the card. This is why I always pay the taxes and fees on my points trips with the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

 

[SirDuff]

Well the first person I talked to said they’d try to hold the plane for us, but in the end they didn’t. They booked us all on a flight at 7:00 am in the morning and then we had to find ourselves a hotel for tonight ($200 out of my pocket). It’s 12:30 am and we just got to the hotel and will have to be back at the airport by 5:00 am. So our first night of the graduation trip didn’t go as planned. Hopefully DVC will return my points for tonight’s room since we weren’t able to make it to MCO tonight.

Did SW explain why they weren't paying for the hotel? What reason did they give for the delay?

 

[EACarlson]

Did SW explain why they weren't paying for the hotel? What reason did they give for the delay?

Weather in Denver cause the plane to divert to Amarillo. A plane swap got the flight going from DEN to MEM, but delayed. No compensation due.

 

[SirDuff]

Ah, yes, with weather they owe you nothing, sadly if you're in the US (I'm Europe based and though they don't compensate for weather (i.e. they don't give you cash), they do have to give you hotel and food vouchers (at least, they have for me and pretty sure that it is a rule).

 

[Llama mama]

Trip update:
So I don’t completely understand EarlyBird. I purchase my tickets as soon as they are released , usually lately before 7am. I always purchase early bird for everyone in our party. So for this recent trip I booked 2 one way sets of tickets immediately at release.
I received A24-26. On the trip down and was speaking to the woman in front of us who had A22-23. We were talking about EarlyBird purchases and she said she just booked this trip 3 weeks ago. I said I booked at release drop date which was 6 months ago and purchased Early Bird also.
So my confusion comes it at how are they getting a better Slot when booking so late?
I also had a conversation on our way home . We received A33-A35.
Almost identical conversation, A31-32 had just booked their tickets a few weeks ago, versus our 6 month. So why do you think later purchases are getting better boarding slots.
I totally get all A slots are good. I am just curious to how the system works and distributes .

 

[wegotodisney]

Trip update:
So I don’t completely understand EarlyBird. I purchase my tickets as soon as they are released , usually lately before 7am. I always purchase early bird for everyone in our party. So for this recent trip I booked 2 one way sets of tickets immediately at release.
I received A24-26. On the trip down and was speaking to the woman in front of us who had A22-23. We were talking about EarlyBird purchases and she said she just booked this trip 3 weeks ago. I said I booked at release drop date which was 6 months ago and purchased Early Bird also.
So my confusion comes it at how are they getting a better Slot when booking so late?
I also had a conversation on our way home . We received A33-A35.
Almost identical conversation, A31-32 had just booked their tickets a few weeks ago, versus our 6 month. So why do you think later purchases are getting better boarding slots.
I totally get all A slots are good. I am just curious to how the system works and distributes .

Were they booked for the same rate category that you were? I don't imagine you asked them that, but I'm pretty sure that the people who book in the more expensive categories get priority for early bird boarding placement.

 

[BillFromCT]

Were they booked for the same rate category that you were? I don't imagine you asked them that, but I'm pretty sure that the people who book in the more expensive categories get priority for early bird boarding placement.

That is true. Wanna Get Away Early Bird comes last in the 36 hour assignments. First comes Anytime, then Wanna Get Away Plus, then Wanna Get Away.

 

[disneylover81]

That is true. Wanna Get Away Early Bird comes last in the 36 hour assignments. First comes Anytime, then Wanna Get Away Plus, then Wanna Get Away.

That’s exactly how it works. I bought anytime tickets 2 days before our flight this week and we had A16 & A17.

 

[disneylover81]

How did you pay for the flights? If you paid any portion with a credit card you may be able to get the credit card company to pay for your hotel, depending on the card. This is why I always pay the taxes and fees on my points trips with the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

I paid with my SWA BIZ card. You are right, I should have used my CSP. I knew better, but it was all planned in such a rush I wasn't thinking.

 

[disneylover81]

I submitted a reimbursement request from SWA for all of my incurred expenses from last week when we got delayed and stranded in ATL. I added the hotel in ATL, DVC room points that we lost because we weren’t able to make it the first night, upgraded SWA tickets cost, an airport meal, plus 17k RR points that I spent and didn’t benefit from on the changed flight. I’m just waiting on a response now.

ETA: I heard back. They are reimbursing me for the hotel in ATL and the upgraded tickets I paid for, plus $300 in LUV vouchers. I’d rather had gotten my airline miles back, but we will use the LUV vouchers just the same.

 

[georgina]

For all the complaining about SW seat choices, I much prefer it to what just happened to us on American. DH and I are on different reservations because there was one ticket at a lower price. I was keeping track of flight changes and seat assignment changes, but the last one somehow snuck by us and now we have two 5 hour flights next week with one of us on an aisle and the other in a middle seat elsewhere between 2 random people.

 

[SirDuff]

For all the complaining about SW seat choices, I much prefer it to what just happened to us on American. DH and I are on different reservations because there was one ticket at a lower price. I was keeping track of flight changes and seat assignment changes, but the last one somehow snuck by us and now we have two 5 hour flights next week with one of us on an aisle and the other in a middle seat elsewhere between 2 random people.

In the future, you can call and link your reservations (so that you are changed together).

For this flight, I'd (kindly and without expectation) ask if the person in the aisle beside the one of you with the middle seat would move to the aisle seat that you have (hopefully the aisle seat is in front or very nearby) the middle seat. They might be flying with the person in the other aisle seat (or be particular about the row that they sit in), but otherwise would likely be willing to move. The person in the window might prefer your aisle seat to their window, but better to try a like-for-like trade first.

 

[georgina]

In the future, you can call and link your reservations (so that you are changed together).

For this flight, I'd (kindly and without expectation) ask if the person in the aisle beside the one of you with the middle seat would move to the aisle seat that you have (hopefully the aisle seat is in front or very nearby) the middle seat. They might be flying with the person in the other aisle seat (or be particular about the row that they sit in), but otherwise would likely be willing to move. The person in the window might prefer your aisle seat to their window, but better to try a like-for-like trade first.

The first change they made was back in November or December. I called and changed both reservations to better times, explained to the agent the one was for DH, but I guess they weren't specifically linked then. The January change did not cause any seat changes, but there was another one in March that I missed. I am in the aisle seat across from the bathroom, not the best location, but will see if the person in the middle seat next to me is traveling alone and might switch to another middle seat.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The first change they made was back in November or December. I called and changed both reservations to better times, explained to the agent the one was for DH, but I guess they weren't specifically linked then. The January change did not cause any seat changes, but there was another one in March that I missed. I am in the aisle seat across from the bathroom, not the best location, but will see if the person in the middle seat next to me is traveling alone and might switch to another middle seat.

Does American charge different rates depending on the location of the plane as far as selecting your seats?

I wouldn't ask a person to switch seats unless you're 100% positive it's an upgrade in both plane location and costs that the passenger would have had to pay to get that seat. People are even more sensitive to even the attempt by a passenger to ask to switch seats these days.

Have you tried to call American to see if there are two seats next to each other not yet assigned?

Just to give our situation we have a flight from Chicago to Paris to Venice and then Athens to Heathrow and Heathrow to Chicago. We just paid for the Athens to Heathrow last night and 100% selected these seats for specific reasons. In Economy there were like 4 different price ranges depending on the location of the plane and once you're on the plane you would have zero idea which row was $28 to pick vs $36 vs $45, exit row was $67. This was with British Airways.