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

[ultimatefans]

Southwest will be introducing a 4th fare class in Q2 2022, which will be between WGA and Anytime fares. The new fare class will include some enhancement(s) to WGA. I wonder if Southwest is starting to block some seats for the new fare class, in preparation for its release.

I wondered the same thing. The availability of WGA fares for spring-summer next year definitely doesn't follow normal patterns. WGA fares are rarely (if ever) sold out 6 months in advance for non-holiday weeks.

 

[MICKIMINI]

This is posted on the SWA Companion Pass info sheet online:

Points earned through spending using the Rapid Rewards Credit Card will count toward Companion Pass qualification based on when they are posted to your Rapid Rewards account and NOT based on spending date. The points post to your Rapid Rewards account after your statement closing date.

Credit card points posted to your Rapid Rewards account in 2021, including bonus points, will count toward qualifying for a 2022 Companion Pass.

Is this typical? I'm trying for CP 2022/2023. Thanks in advance for the any insight!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This is posted on the SWA Companion Pass info sheet online:

Points earned through spending using the Rapid Rewards Credit Card will count toward Companion Pass qualification based on when they are posted to your Rapid Rewards account and NOT based on spending date. The points post to your Rapid Rewards account after your statement closing date.

Credit card points posted to your Rapid Rewards account in 2021, including bonus points, will count toward qualifying for a 2022 Companion Pass.

Is this typical? I'm trying for CP 2022/2023. Thanks in advance for the any insight!

If you earned a CP in 2021 it will be good until December 31st 2022. If you're looking to get a CP for travel in 2023 you'd need to earn it in 2022.

 

[EACarlson]

This is posted on the SWA Companion Pass info sheet online:

Points earned through spending using the Rapid Rewards Credit Card will count toward Companion Pass qualification based on when they are posted to your Rapid Rewards account and NOT based on spending date. The points post to your Rapid Rewards account after your statement closing date.

Credit card points posted to your Rapid Rewards account in 2021, including bonus points, will count toward qualifying for a 2022 Companion Pass.

Is this typical? I'm trying for CP 2022/2023. Thanks in advance for the any insight!

It's somewhat confusing when you aren't used to it. When you earn Companion Pass you actually earn it for the following year. They give you the rest of the current year as a bonus. The best way to look at it is that you are earning the companion pass expiration date. So you want the 2023 companion pass which you can start earning towards on 1/1/22.

 

[MICKIMINI]

THANKS for the info! I've had a card for nearly a decade and most flights have been free. We were able to get a second card recently with the 125K CP bonus. We're hoping to go to Aulani in 2023 from MHT which will include several connections and a stay at LAX both ways, so we it will be a huge savings. I have the spend without even trying!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

SW seems to want out of routes that go to leisure/vacation destinations, instead favoring business travel routes.

I wouldn't pin this on SWA. Delta recently cut some routes (dropped 3 destinations entirely and adjusted 7 routes) and I just saw they cut 10 more routes today. Looks like for Delta Minneapolis and Salt Lake City were the most impacted.

Airlines adjust as needed. Not just in a pandemic of course though. But right now with staffing shortages they may need to make more or make ones that will upset X many customers but serve Y many customers in a better way.

I think SWA just got hit in the last few years with the MAX-8 issue as that has caused basically several years back to back including the pandemic of restructured routes.

But airlines in general favor business travel and they should because the business travelers are the ones flying the most. That said it's hard to necessarily say that an airline is cutting a particular route due to business travel routes rather than other factors. Things like passenger counts, fuel costs, other more favorable connections that pick up more passengers, etc. It's possible after looking at their schedules the non-stop options no longer were filling up enough to make them worth while (just thinking out loud).

When SWA left Newark it was just before the pandemic, they may have had every intention of doing what they said and life had to go and change it. If I do look at it they basically fly daily out of LGA to MCO. Also they do have 1 non-stop flight every day of the week at this moment but schedules change. I'm not going to look week by week to figure out when it changes but at some point they change from having a non-stop option to not sometime in 2022.

If you want to look at their intended schedule (as they change by necessity at times) you can go to this link: https://www.southwest.com/air/flight-schedules/index.html?clk=GFOOTER-FLY-FLTSCHEDULES

I'm not saying it doesn't suck because it does

 

[PS11]

Our flight this past weekend was canceled within an hour of boarding and SW gave us LUV vouchers to use with the expiration 12/20/22. Before this, we were planning a January 2023 trip to Disney. Is there any method, hack, etc to get this expiration extended?

 

[EACarlson]

Our flight this past weekend was canceled within an hour of boarding and SW gave us LUV vouchers to use with the expiration 12/20/22. Before this, we were planning a January 2023 trip to Disney. Is there any method, hack, etc to get this expiration extended?

Nothing I am aware of. Although LUV vouchers can be used to book for anyone, so if you have any family or close friends travelling on SW you could use the LUV vouchers to book their travel and have them pay you.

 

[focusondisney]

I wondered the same thing. The availability of WGA fares for spring-summer next year definitely doesn't follow normal patterns. WGA fares are rarely (if ever) sold out 6 months in advance for non-holiday weeks.

Over the years, I have seen WGA fares listed as sold out & then come back weeks later. Several years ago it happened a couple of times. This wasn’t at any particular time of the year, definitely not at a holiday time & just weeks after release. It wasn’t just one city. I remember that every city I checked showed WGA fares gone for several flights. Many posters complained about WGA fares being gone. And then, they just all came back.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Over the years, I have seen WGA fares listed as sold out & then come back weeks later. Several years ago it happened a couple of times. This wasn’t at any particular time of the year, definitely not at a holiday time & just weeks after release. It wasn’t just one city. I remember that every city I checked showed WGA fares gone for several flights. Many posters complained about WGA fares being gone. And then, they just all came back.

I just saw this with a local DISer, we all are going down for a wedding in Orlando and coming back on the same day (we're all going down at different dates though). The 11am non-stop option and another option with a stop showed unavailable for WGA but the 11am non-stop option is back open available. This is for middle of May.

I assume it's people booking, canceling or moving, or SWA adjusting how many in the fare class they'll have or any combination of that or something else I haven't thought of. But you're right it has happened over the years, seen it myself too.

 

[Kazi7]

I'm considering booking an Anytime fare (with $, not points) for the better refund policy if I cancel. If the fare goes down and I rebook for the lower rate, would my fare difference also refund to my original payment method (not give me a travel voucher)? I'm assuming "yes" but I don't have any experience with the Anytime fares.

 

[ultimatefans]

I'm considering booking an Anytime fare (with $, not points) for the better refund policy if I cancel. If the fare goes down and I rebook for the lower rate, would my fare difference also refund to my original payment method (not give me a travel voucher)? I'm assuming "yes" but I don't have any experience with the Anytime fares.

Yes, I just did this exact thing a couple of weeks ago. The difference was refunded to my credit card. I did have the choice to receive a travel fund or have the difference refunded to the original form of payment - I can't remember which one was the default so be sure to watch closely and make sure you select to receive a refund.

 

[Lvsdisney]

quick question. Is tampa a better airport than MCO? Like easier/quicker? We are flying into MCO but then spending the last part of our trip at clearwater beach so Tampa would be closer (right?) They have a flight that would work perfectly for us.

I'm not sure if anyone answered you, but YES, Tampa is much closer to Clearwater (it's right across the bay). We flew in/out of there in 2018 and I don't remember it being hard. It was the week before Easter so a busy travel week, and we didn't have to wait long for security. Of course, that could be vastly different now! But if you're in Clearwater, it'll be much easier to fly out of TPA versus driving an hour to MCO.

 

[dez1978]

I'm not sure if anyone answered you, but YES, Tampa is much closer to Clearwater (it's right across the bay). We flew in/out of there in 2018 and I don't remember it being hard. It was the week before Easter so a busy travel week, and we didn't have to wait long for security. Of course, that could be vastly different now! But if you're in Clearwater, it'll be much easier to fly out of TPA versus driving an hour to MCO.

Thank you! Thats what I was thinking. Does the Tampa airport have on site car rental returns? I'd have a rental I'd need to drop off.

 

[EACarlson]

Thank you! Thats what I was thinking. Does the Tampa airport have on site car rental returns? I'd have a rental I'd need to drop off.

It appears they do, not quite as convenient as MCO but not horrible like some places (DEN.) Another thing you have to be cognizant of if you do this is that there may be one way rental charges picking up from MCO and dropping off at TPA. I think I saw someone earlier this year quoted $200 to drop at the WDW CCC rather than returning to MCO.
https://blog.autoslash.com/tampa-international-airport-tpa-car-rental-guide/

 

[monarchsfan16]

Thank you! Thats what I was thinking. Does the Tampa airport have on site car rental returns? I'd have a rental I'd need to drop off.

Yes they do. It's actually a beautiful facility, connected to the airport by about a 5 minute tram ride ("sky train" or something like that). We flew in and out of TPA in April for a Clearwater trip and really liked the Tampa airport. Easy to navigate, very logically laid out, clean.

 

[dez1978]

It appears they do, not quite as convenient as MCO but not horrible like some places (DEN.) Another thing you have to be cognizant of if you do this is that there may be one way rental charges picking up from MCO and dropping off at TPA. I think I saw someone earlier this year quoted $200 to drop at the WDW CCC rather than returning to MCO.
https://blog.autoslash.com/tampa-international-airport-tpa-car-rental-guide/

Oh, well I should be good. We go to Denver frequently and I've never found it to be too horrible. Other than the last time when the shuttle to the rental car place didn't show up for almost an hour.

 

[Lvsdisney]

Thank you! Thats what I was thinking. Does the Tampa airport have on site car rental returns? I'd have a rental I'd need to drop off.

Yes they do! It's actually very easy to return a car there.

 

[Avery&Todd]

It's somewhat confusing when you aren't used to it. When you earn Companion Pass you actually earn it for the following year. They give you the rest of the current year as a bonus. The best way to look at it is that you are earning the companion pass expiration date. So you want the 2023 companion pass which you can start earning towards on 1/1/22.

 

[Avery&Todd]

It's somewhat confusing when you aren't used to it. When you earn Companion Pass you actually earn it for the following year. They give you the rest of the current year as a bonus. The best way to look at it is that you are earning the companion pass expiration date. So you want the 2023 companion pass which you can start earning towards on 1/1/22.

OK - so I have confused myself...even though I've had CP for the last 3 or 4 years....

In my SW RR account, I have just over 79k points but I know I need 125k points for CP. When it hits 1/1/22 do my earned points poof and I have to start all over again trying to earn the 125k or do I keep the current points and then those are applied towards my next CP?

AND, lets say I earn those 125k points in April, does that mean I'll have CP for the rest of 2022 AND 2023??

thanks!