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

[CookieandOatmeal]

Southwest recently posted on social media:


So, I suppose it’s a good idea to keep an eye on upcoming trips, for any unexpected changes.

My 4pm nonstop flight home during April school vacation has all 3 fares marked as "Unavailable". I hope that is not a sign that they will get rid of it. The next nonstop doesn't get home until after midnight which would suck with a 2 year old!

 

[sophy1996]

I've not ever had that happened. Wonder if there were some issues that made the family miss the connection that SWA was trying to make up for? Only reason I can think of as it wouldn't be standard procedure for SWA FA's to actually hold seats themselves.

I’ve seen that happen several times. Once the last three rows or so on both sides of the plane were held, leaving those already there to go back to middle seats. Doesn’t seem quite fair.

 

[Doug7856]

Wow. I have never had a C boarding pass if I remember to check in at T-24. When I have forgotten I have seen an occassional C boarding pass. Everyone must have bought EBCI.

On a recent trip, I checked in at exactly T-24 and we got C-14 and C-15. I was shocked. Ended up using two of our credits for A1-15 at the counter 2 hours early and we got A13 and A14. Seems the EBCI is very widely purchased now.

 

[EACarlson]

On a recent trip, I checked in at exactly T-24 and we got C-14 and C-15. I was shocked. Ended up using two of our credits for A1-15 at the counter 2 hours early and we got A13 and A14. Seems the EBCI is very widely purchased now.

Not just EBCI but SW gave out a lot of A-List status last year. All of those folks get their boarding assignment before even EBCI. I think it depends entirely on the route though. I flew MKE-MCO and back last month, I had A31 with EBCI bought two weeks before on the way down and A56 on the way back.

 

[Doug7856]

Not just EBCI but SW gave out a lot of A-List status last year. All of those folks get their boarding assignment before even EBCI. I think it depends entirely on the route though. I flew MKE-MCO and back last month, I had A31 with EBCI bought two weeks before on the way down and A56 on the way back.

I hadn't thought about the A-List status. It was a learning moment for me on the importance to me of boarding group and number.

 

[MinnieMSue]

Not just EBCI but SW gave out a lot of A-List status last year. All of those folks get their boarding assignment before even EBCI. I think it depends entirely on the route though. I flew MKE-MCO and back last month, I had A31 with EBCI bought two weeks before on the way down and A56 on the way back.

them giving out all those A list statuses has really hurt our boarding position in the last year with early bird. We usually are still A at least but we went from an average of a20 to a 40 or so. Still good but I bet would be much further back without early bird. We also usually buy tickets soon after flights become available.

 

[tlg588]

On a recent trip, I checked in at exactly T-24 and we got C-14 and C-15. I was shocked. Ended up using two of our credits for A1-15 at the counter 2 hours early and we got A13 and A14. Seems the EBCI is very widely purchased now.

I think this happens sometimes when I have a direct flight and others have a connection to my direct flight. Their 24 hour time starts before mine. Maybe a combination of this and the other things that have been mentioned.

 

[jo-jo]

We got a "we've changed your flight". I didn't panic, since they've done it before and the changes was 10 mins or so. I was wrong. Our Saturday 3:30 pm nonstop, went to 9:45 am with a change of planes in Nashville. Taking our 2 1/2 hour trip to 5 1/2 hours. The only other non stop of the day was at 7 am, which means getting up at 4. Not going to happen.

We switched to a Friday evening 7:30 flight . I didn't know if I could get that flight because it was showing no get away fares....the next level up was $5XX a ticket, about 3 times what we paid. But it went through.

So I'm happy we got the flight, not happy we lose a day.

 

[DisTXMom]

We got a "we've changed your flight". I didn't panic, since they've done it before and the changes was 10 mins or so. I was wrong. Our Saturday 3:30 pm nonstop, went to 9:45 am with a change of planes in Nashville. Taking our 2 1/2 hour trip to 5 1/2 hours. The only other non stop of the day was at 7 am, which means getting up at 4. Not going to happen.

We switched to a Friday evening 7:30 flight . I didn't know if I could get that flight because it was showing no get away fares....the next level up was $5XX a ticket, about 3 times what we paid. But it went through.

So I'm happy we got the flight, not happy we lose a day.

Can you share your date range? We are traveling mid March and curious if those notices have gone out yet.

 

[jo-jo]

Can you share your date range? We are traveling mid March and curious if those notices have gone out yet.

First week in April.

 

[MarBee]

Is anyone familiar with flying Southwest at STL? Just got an email that our flight from PHL to DAL has changed its itinerary. There is a layover/plane change in our trip. We have a 40 minute timeframe to change planes once we land in STL. Does this seem like enough time? I’ve only flown direct on SW previously and have never been in STL.

 

[Gitelfor]

Is anyone familiar with flying Southwest at STL? Just got an email that our flight from PHL to DAL has changed its itinerary. There is a layover/plane change in our trip. We have a 40 minute timeframe to change planes once we land in STL. Does this seem like enough time? I’ve only flown direct on SW previously and have never been in STL.

One factor to consider is time of year and weather-related delays which could occur during the winter. Another factor is time of day. As there can be a domino effect for delayed flights, departures scheduled for later in the day have a slightly greater chance of running behind schedule.

Have you checked the website for on time performance stats for the originating and connecting flights? When searching for a new booking for your itinerary, those stats should be available to review.

Southwest is located in Terminal 2, with all of its 17 gates being on the E Concourse
(E4, E6, E8, E10, E12, E14, E16, E18, E20, E22, E24, E31, E33, E34, E36, E38, E40).

 

[Gitelfor]

If you have been involuntarily rebooked due to upcoming schedule adjustments, from a nonstop or direct flight to connecting, look at Southwest’s schedule for your travel date. There are instances where Southwest rebooks customers to a less desirable flight(s), when only the flight number is changed, with the nonstop previously booked still available - just under a different flight number.

 

[jo-jo]

If you have been involuntarily rebooked due to upcoming schedule adjustments, from a nonstop or direct flight to connecting, look at Southwest’s schedule for your travel date. There are instances where Southwest rebooks customers to a less desirable flight(s), when only the flight number is changed, with the nonstop previously booked still available - just under a different flight number.

I looked, the only non stop is the 7 am flight .

Our afternoon flight is gone completely. They have an evening flight but that was unavailable for all levels forever.

 

[Redart59]

I received an email yesterday that our direct flight leaving Mco at 8:55 PM (a two hour and minute flight) had been moved to a connecting flight leaving at 3:50 and is a 9 hour flight.

my only option is a direct flight leaving at 1:05PM. This “option” sucks as we will will have to wake up early on the morning to pack and our last Last in Florida is shot.
going to check other airlines to see if there is a better option.

 

[hsmamato2]

Is anyone familiar with flying Southwest at STL? Just got an email that our flight from PHL to DAL has changed its itinerary. There is a layover/plane change in our trip. We have a 40 minute timeframe to change planes once we land in STL. Does this seem like enough time? I’ve only flown direct on SW previously and have never been in STL.

I've done STL many times. IMHO unless you have a problem getting around it'll be tight but shouldn't be a problem,as all the gates are right near each other... (barring flight delay issues)

 

[hsmamato2]

I received an email yesterday that our direct flight leaving Mco at 8:55 PM (a two hour and minute flight) had been moved to a connecting flight leaving at 3:50 and is a 9 hour flight.

my only option is a direct flight leaving at 1:05PM. This “option” sucks as we will will have to wake up early on the morning to pack and our last Last in Florida is shot.
going to check other airlines to see if there is a better option.

This is what I'm seeing across the board with SWA,it's pretty disappointing,all the difficult schedules they have now. What used to be a great airline with lots of easy times to fly has clearly become something to be conquered If I still want to use them (which I do,I have points and a CP) but it's different from what it used to be. Our last flight out of MCO left at 7 am..... we just sucked it up and made it part of the plans.

 

[dez1978]

Is anyone familiar with flying Southwest at STL? Just got an email that our flight from PHL to DAL has changed its itinerary. There is a layover/plane change in our trip. We have a 40 minute timeframe to change planes once we land in STL. Does this seem like enough time? I’ve only flown direct on SW previously and have never been in STL.

Stl is my normal airport. You should be fine as long as your 1st plane lands on time.

 

[BlackTea]

We have been flying Southwest for many years, but recently saw some strange things on their site.

We are in an area we could fly out from Buffalo, Cleveland or Pittsburgh. For the past 6 weeks that I have been checking, Mid-April flight to Orlando, just one way, almost never dropped below $500. While in the old times, there were so many options below $200. Eventually this forced me to book one flight from Columbus, $99 one way. Then yesterday I also got an email saying the flight was changed, they shifted us to a later time, but when I took a look, Columbus is now the same as other 3 airports, more than half flights unavailable, the rest are all >$500.

Something must be going on...not sure anybody has more information about this. I understand flights around Good Friday week would be more expensive, but last year it only cost us <$800 for family of 4, now we have to consider $4000?

 

[jo-jo]

We have been flying Southwest for many years, but recently saw some strange things on their site.

We are in an area we could fly out from Buffalo, Cleveland or Pittsburgh. For the past 6 weeks that I have been checking, Mid-April flight to Orlando, just one way, almost never dropped below $500. While in the old times, there were so many options below $200. Eventually this forced me to book one flight from Columbus, $99 one way. Then yesterday I also got an email saying the flight was changed, they shifted us to a later time, but when I took a look, Columbus is now the same as other 3 airports, more than half flights unavailable, the rest are all >$500.

Something must be going on...not sure anybody has more information about this. I understand flights around Good Friday week would be more expensive, but last year it only cost us <$800 for family of 4, now we have to consider $4000?

Yeah, we were thrilled with SW came to our airport years ago. And we liked having a year to use cancelled tickets etc. but to change a 2 hr flight to a 5-9 hour flight , to go from 8 pm flight to a 8 am flight and act like "good news, we changed your flight for you, oh happy day", is pretty sad.

I dropped a day off our trip. I was looking to extend a day but 6 weeks out, DVC is pretty slim picking and the flight times would get us home even later and we are depending on DS for getting us from Airport. Nothing like getting home at 1 am and having to get up for work the next day. We wouldn't do that to DS.