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

[phins_jazy]

so am I reading this right that there will be no wanna get away fares listed tomorrow?

 

[Huff]

QUESTION: Has anyone found a good way to monitor Southwest fares? Even after you buy? I've typically checked every so often and gotten lucky, but anyone found a good rhythm/rhyme of when to check SWA site to see if fares have decreased so they can ask for a price adjustment? I still can't believe SWA does this, but it's part of the reason they are the ONLY airline I will fly!Thanks for insight, friends!

SWA does not allow anyone else to list their airfare in automated search engines. Kayak does list SWA's available flights for your schedule but you must click on the link to transfer to SWA's website to view the price. Generally SWA changes their prices on Tuesdays. Sometimes sales are released on Sundays. For any given flight there are a set number of seats at each of several price categories. When the lowest is filled the price you see will be the next highest category. If someone cancels it may cause a lower priced ticket to become available at any moment regardless of the typical price change schedule as mentioned above.

 

[hippsmom]

Are fares generally cheapest on the day of release? Or is there another "best" time? I am hoping to pay with points. Thanks!

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

Southwest website is now updated to include dates up to and including Jan. 4th 2017. Get 'em while they're hot people!!!

 

[PerfessorZ]

First, I'm less than 200 pts from qualifying for companion pass. Then I lost out on 5,400 pts (total) because my fare changed between the time I started filling out all the travel info & the time I finished.

Glad at least to have my vacation flight booked, though.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

I needed 5 one-way tickets (will have to book return after the next release date) using two rapid reward accounts. I was able to book 2 WGA tickets with each account. The 5th ticket was to be paid in cash.

When I went in to buy the 5th ticket, there are no more WGA fares.

How long does it usually take for them to load more WGA fares?

Nevermind - somehow I was looking for 3 tickets - unavailable - when I changed it to 1 ticket, I was able to get it for a WGA fee. Glad I got up early, they are all sold out now.

 

[Iowamomof4]

Ugh... I didn't get up until 6:45 eastern but the prices are not good. Well, the return trip isn't as bad as the flight down, but I'm going to have to wait. If prices stay this high, we'll just have to drive.

 

[mom2elle]

I needed to book 6 flights from PHL to MCO on NYE. Seems like only 5 WGA tickets were loaded. We needed to buy in 2 transactions (one with points, one via credit card). We were able to grab 4 of the WGA fares with points, and then when we got all the way to the end of the cc transaction for the remaining 2 flights, I got the message that the flight was no longer available. There were no more WGA fares available at all for the flight; so I booked my DH and DS on a flight that leaves 1.5 hours earlier. Hopefully WGA fares will open up on the other flight and I can rebook but if not, we'll just fly separately and meet up at MCO.
(Paid $125 for the WGA fares and just under 7500 points).

 

[ah10is]

Flights are booked for December trip! Yah!!! But was a little disappointed with prices from Maine to Orlando! On par with all the other airlines! I had bought 5000 points the other day with it's 50% bonus points sale. So that was $165. Needed most of those points too to buy our tickets down...it ended up being less than one ticket because of the bonus points so I guess it was a good buy for me. 10206 points per person! Yikes!!!! Then for our return flights I used the SW G.C. I earned doing Perk & Swagbucks and the rest went on the old SW credit card. So if you count the cost of the points, early bird fees, taxes and balance of the flight after using the G.C. I paid $355.80 total for our 2 round trip tickets with early bird on both of them from Maine to Orlando!

 

[hippsmom]

What a stressful day! Prices and times are horrible. Finally picked out the best of the worst just to have something booked. And now every thing I am getting just shows my information. I paid taxes and fees for the 4 of us. Please tell me they booked the 4!!

 

[rileyz]

Prices were terrible for us. $255 for just one way! Ugh, didn't have enough points for any ticket.

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

What a stressful day! Prices and times are horrible. Finally picked out the best of the worst just to have something booked. And now every thing I am getting just shows my information. I paid taxes and fees for the 4 of us. Please tell me they booked the 4!!

I booked for 4 people this morning around 6:30. My confirmation emails were showing all 4 people and full dollar amount of all 4 tickets. If I understand your post correctly it seems this is not the case for you. If your unsure, I would recommend calling SW and speaking to a live person to correct any errors

 

[PerfessorZ]

What a stressful day! Prices and times are horrible. Finally picked out the best of the worst just to have something booked. And now every thing I am getting just shows my information. I paid taxes and fees for the 4 of us. Please tell me they booked the 4!!

I booked for 4 people this morning around 6:30. My confirmation emails were showing all 4 people and full dollar amount of all 4 tickets. If I understand your post correctly it seems this is not the case for you. If your unsure, I would recommend calling SW and speaking to a live person to correct any errors

My confirmation email showed all 4 tickets I bought, but man was it ever long. It repeated check-in information 8 times between each ticket. So the email was 95% "fluff" and only 5% relevant info and you had to dig to find each person.

Not sure if that's the case for you, OP, or not, but if your confirmation is like mine, maybe double-check that email to make sure everyone isn't buried in there somewhere.

 

[hippsmom]

My confirmation email showed all 4 tickets I bought, but man was it ever long. It repeated check-in information 8 times between each ticket. So the email was 95% "fluff" and only 5% relevant info and you had to dig to find each person.

Not sure if that's the case for you, OP, or not, but if your confirmation is like mine, maybe double-check that email to make sure everyone isn't buried in there somewhere.

So I called Southwest and was told I would get a confirmation email for everyone booked and if I just booked today it may take some time to show up. BUT as of right now she can only see me. She wants me to verify the amount that I paid for taxes and fees. Um ok, I will give a little while longer but then I'm calling back. Totally freaked out because the WGA fares are now showing unavailable.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

I needed to book 6 flights from PHL to MCO on NYE. Seems like only 5 WGA tickets were loaded. We needed to buy in 2 transactions (one with points, one via credit card). We were able to grab 4 of the WGA fares with points, and then when we got all the way to the end of the cc transaction for the remaining 2 flights, I got the message that the flight was no longer available. There were no more WGA fares available at all for the flight; so I booked my DH and DS on a flight that leaves 1.5 hours earlier. Hopefully WGA fares will open up on the other flight and I can rebook but if not, we'll just fly separately and meet up at MCO.
(Paid $125 for the WGA fares and just under 7500 points).

Those prices are great. STL to MCO on 12/30, I paid 12,038 points for 4 tickets and $189 for the cash ticket.

 

[inky dinky doo]

Thanks to all of your good advice, all 10 travelers flying with me to WDW on New Year's were able to grab one-way WGA tickets for $122.98 a piece (flying from Columbus, OH). Talk about celebrating!!! But, whew! It sure was stressful! Now, we wait for July 7 to do all this again for our return flights.

 

[hippsmom]

What are the advantages to booking one way flights instead of a round trip flight?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

What are the advantages to booking one way flights instead of a round trip flight?

All Information taken from Flyer Talk: (lots of detail info here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/sout...st-travel-one-way-rather-than-round-trip.html)

By the Way: these guys are the experts on Southwest. Also - many of these reasons apply to frequent flyers and may not apply to a casual vacationers situation.

nsx says:
"1. If a better fare becomes available in one direction but the fare increased in the other direction it's easy to use Change Reservation or rebook the half that went down. There's no risk of disturbing the good fare on the other half of your trip.

2. If one seat opens at a discount fare you can grab it for one passenger using Change Reservation or rebooking.

3. Points post after each direction rather than only after your return trip.

4. Smaller ticketless fund amounts make it less likely that you will commingle a large amount of new funds with a small early-expiring ticketless fund amount. That would result in early expiration for all your new funds.

5. If you decide to replace one direction of a paid ticket with a standard award booking, or vice versa, it's much easier to do.

6. If you cancel a multi-person booking the ticketless funds on the record locator are separated into invisible buckets, one for each name. This complication does not arise if you originally gave each person his own reservation. Don't underestimate the hassle of dealing with multiple names on one canceled reservation. It even drives our venerable ftnoob nuts.

7. All of the above allow you to change what you need to change without phoning Southwest. Once a phone agent modifies a reservation, that reservation cannot be further modified online. You are locked into phone call mode. Online, the reservation can only be canceled and reboooked.



The main reason to book a round trip and to put multiple people on a reservation is that you have a discount code whose value multiplies by the number of people in the booking and which requires a round trip purchase. On-line check-in is faster if all passengers are on the same reservation, which can be a one-way reservation for that purpose."

FindAWay says:
"Additional Reasons/Details for One-Way Bookings over Round-Trip:

1. Canceling/Changing the outbound one-way without affecting the return or the return without much effort.
2. Booking multiple options early (at lower fares) for either outbound or return until travel plans are firmed-up (whereupon one can cancel the redundant not-to-be-used one-ways).

Reasons/Details Why One Might Prefer Round-Trip over One-Way Bookings:

1. Promo Codes (as nsx notes) - This is the only reason I ever book round-trip itineraries.
2. September 11th Security Fees - IIRC, if a round-trip has 5 (or more) segments, the security fees are capped at $10 (whereas one might pay $12.50 or more for the same trip if using one-way bookings).
3. Irregular Operations (WX, MX, Etc.) - If you have a trip where your return would be affected by a problem with the outbound (e.g., a short trip where there is a weather advisory affecting the outbound), it is easier to deal with if it were booked as a round-trip (however, some have reported not having much of a problem if booked as one-ways)."

Expert 7700 says:
"-If you have a companion pass, your companion may want to fly just the origin or just the return flight. Current system limits the companion to the EXACT same itinerary as your ticket.

-If you are traveling with an lap child, after checking in for the origin, your return flight gets tagged internally +INF, which can cause the same difficulty as a customer service phone change: future changes to flight dates/times require a phone call. This internal tag doesn't save any time, and doesn't avoid the requirement of showing proof of age in person at the airport.

-Funds from cancelled flight segments get applied differently when you use them. Funds from completely canceled tickets (like from a one way) are applied first, before partial funds (like from a price drop or a missed origin or return flight).

-Ability to cancel just your origin segment if your plans change without making a phone call. This can help the airline resell your unneeded seat. This will be even more of an advantage once Southwest implements the no show fee.

-If you establish a regular pattern of one way flights, you are less likely to draw security scrutiny even when buying last minute one ways. (note: I have not seen an SSSS boarding pass in years, but when booking last minute for others, they can sometimes not check in online, and instead get a note saying that restrictions, rules, etc, do not allow for a boarding pass number to be printed online, and you must check in at the airport).

-You are only allowed 2 active boarding passes, per PNR #, at a time. On a same-day turn with a connection on the outbound or return, you are restricted from getting your other boarding passes until you have used up one of the segments. Booking all fights as one ways avoids this hassle."

 

[hippsmom]

Thanks for the info above! I have another question maybe someone can help me with. If I change my flight will I lose my ebci and have to repurchase it? Or the taxes and fees?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Thanks for the info above! I have another question maybe someone can help me with. If I change my flight will I lose my ebci and have to repurchase it? Or the taxes and fees?

a CHANGE should not affect your EBCI in any way and you will not incur any additional taxes or fees.

If you CANCEL and REBOOK then you will lose EBCI.

The only cost to change would be if the price of the new flight is higher than your original flight. If it was lower you'd end up with a credit that could be used in the future (1 year from original purchase date of flight).