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

[zilp]

There have been a couple posts about this. People tried to book exactly when the flights opened reported there were no Wanna Get Away flights at all. It's the same situation from MCO to Hartford. The theory is SW may be holding those flights for later release. It's anybody's guess.

After I refreshed the page a few times, a few flights did show availability. Most still say "unavailable", so I think I may have missed my window of decent flights. ugh, so mad at myself for missing opening day flights!

 

[Erica Ladd]

Anyone have experience checking bags at ATL? I rarely check bags and I’m wondering if they have curbside bag check or maybe a special line for A list?

 

[Kaufeegurl]

ugh, somehow forgot all about checking SW for opening day flights . Trying to book PVD-MCO during April MA vacation week. Got ok prices (low $200's) for return to PVD later in week. Every single flight is sold out for Friday/Saturday/Sunday for PVD-MCO, am I missing something or are they really all sold out??

They are not sold out. SW does not release the Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away+ fares for a popular travel time (Thanksgiving, Christmas, school vacations). They wait to see how many Business Select and Anytime fares they can sell at higher prices. We experienced this booking our Thanksgiving timeframe flight to MCO. We ponied up points to make sure we had a flight and about 8 weeks later, the lower fare categories were added and we made the change. I always watch the fares for my booked trips, and have actually rebooked that flight 2 more times as fares dropped significantly. This tactic has been confirmed by a relative who used to work for SW

 

[zilp]

They are not sold out. SW does not release the Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away+ fares for a popular travel time (Thanksgiving, Christmas, school vacations). They wait to see how many Business Select and Anytime fares they can sell at higher prices. We experienced this booking our Thanksgiving timeframe flight to MCO. We ponied up points to make sure we had a flight and about 8 weeks later, the lower fare categories were added and we made the change. I always watch the fares for my booked trips, and have actually rebooked that flight 2 more times as fares dropped significantly. This tactic has been confirmed by a relative who used to work for SW

Thank you so much for your reply. I feel a bit better now. I will definitely keep looking at airfare and hope that something decent pops up soon

 

[motherof5]

Only a hour is difficult in case of delays.

 

[nekonekoneko]

They are not sold out. SW does not release the Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away+ fares for a popular travel time (Thanksgiving, Christmas, school vacations). They wait to see how many Business Select and Anytime fares they can sell at higher prices. We experienced this booking our Thanksgiving timeframe flight to MCO. We ponied up points to make sure we had a flight and about 8 weeks later, the lower fare categories were added and we made the change. I always watch the fares for my booked trips, and have actually rebooked that flight 2 more times as fares dropped significantly. This tactic has been confirmed by a relative who used to work for SW

There was an article that I read (that I can't find now) where they said that Southwest knows how busy fare release day is, now. So they won't necessarily offer the cheapest fare on those days. The airline wait for the dust to settle a bit, see how much was sold at their release price, and then drop the fares if a flight didn't sell as well as they hoped. If a flight did sell like they wanted, then they'll hold prices firm, or maybe raise them a bit.

 

[Disneytam]

There have been a couple posts about this. People tried to book exactly when the flights opened reported there were no Wanna Get Away flights at all. It's the same situation from MCO to Hartford. The theory is SW may be holding those flights for later release. It's anybody's guess.

This happened to us when we tried to book a flight on Thanksgiving Day. A few weeks later Southwest posted the Wanna Get Away flights at absolutely ridiculous prices. We kept checking and after a few days those prices were cut in half. You just have to check often and at sometimes crazy times.

 

[EACarlson]

I booked flights for a work trip at the end of January yesterday and noticed something different. All of the points prices were the same regardless of timing, number of stops or cash price. Has anyone else noticed this and I'm just late to the realization?

 

[focusondisney]

I booked flights for a work trip at the end of January yesterday and noticed something different. All of the points prices were the same regardless of timing, number of stops or cash price. Has anyone else noticed this and I'm just late to the realization?

We’re flying to MCO from/ to Buffalo January 22-28. I just checked, point prices are normal… they vary from 6K + for a layover flight to 50K for BS on an afternoon nonstop. You must have caught a glitch.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I booked flights for a work trip at the end of January yesterday and noticed something different. All of the points prices were the same regardless of timing, number of stops or cash price. Has anyone else noticed this and I'm just late to the realization?

No, have never seen that. Agree with PP sounds like a strange glitch.

 

[nekonekoneko]

I booked flights for a work trip at the end of January yesterday and noticed something different. All of the points prices were the same regardless of timing, number of stops or cash price. Has anyone else noticed this and I'm just late to the realization?

My flight home from Disney is doing that. Every flight is exactly the same price, from first thing to last out. And that's been from the time the flights were released to yesterday, which was the last time I checked.

 

[rangerxenos]

Don't forget to keep checking fares for your trip, price for my flight home in December has dropped twice in the last week, $39 now. More credits for next year's trip!

 

[Wood Nymph]

We always fly Southwest to Orlando, and I constantly watch for prices to go down. As I result, I have gotten a lot of travel credits listed as separate transaction numbers for the same confirmation number. SWA adds a four-digit number to the original confirmation number every time you change the ticket price. For example, I have $70 in travel credits from one flight, but they are broken down into four separate amounts. And I have a different flight with a $31 credit. SWA only allows three forms of payment per flight which means I would probably have to take three flights to use up these credits.

Does anyone know if SWA will combine the credits if you contact them? The only other suggestion I have heard is to book a dummy flight using as many credits as possible and then cancel the flight. The new number would combine some of the credits. It is a tedious process but would solve the problem.

 

[Lsdolphin]

We always fly Southwest to Orlando, and I constantly watch for prices to go down. As I result, I have gotten a lot of travel credits listed as separate transaction numbers for the same confirmation number. SWA adds a four-digit number to the original confirmation number every time you change the ticket price. For example, I have $70 in travel credits from one flight, but they are broken down into four separate amounts. And I have a different flight with a $31 credit. SWA only allows three forms of payment per flight which means I would probably have to take three flights to use up these credits.

Does anyone know if SWA will combine the credits if you contact them? The only other suggestion I have heard is to book a dummy flight using as many credits as possible and then cancel the flight. The new number would combine some of the credits. It is a tedious process but would solve the problem.

Actually I did call SWA in Sept to ask about just this! I had accumulated 4 travel funds from one flight where the price kept dropping. they refused to combine the Travel funds even though it was the same flights each travel fund had the extra 4 numbers...so I guess they probably want to make it more difficult to actually use your travel funds. They made sure to remind me that travel funds no longer expire...so now I’m waiting for air fares to drop before booking my flights and hoping the fares don’t just increase instead! I have been booking one-way flights as I thought it was better to it that way.

 

[jcarwash]

We always fly Southwest to Orlando, and I constantly watch for prices to go down. As I result, I have gotten a lot of travel credits listed as separate transaction numbers for the same confirmation number. SWA adds a four-digit number to the original confirmation number every time you change the ticket price. For example, I have $70 in travel credits from one flight, but they are broken down into four separate amounts. And I have a different flight with a $31 credit. SWA only allows three forms of payment per flight which means I would probably have to take three flights to use up these credits.

Does anyone know if SWA will combine the credits if you contact them? The only other suggestion I have heard is to book a dummy flight using as many credits as possible and then cancel the flight. The new number would combine some of the credits. It is a tedious process but would solve the problem.

If I understand your question correctly...I also had a long list of travel fund entries all tied to the same confirmation number. Last week when I purchased tickets, I entered the "master" confirmation number as one form of payment and it applied as many of the "entries" (with those extra four digit numbers on them) as possible to pay for the ticket. I have two "entries" left after that transaction. I was pleasantly surprised it worked that way.

 

[CarlyMur09]

We always fly Southwest to Orlando, and I constantly watch for prices to go down. As I result, I have gotten a lot of travel credits listed as separate transaction numbers for the same confirmation number. SWA adds a four-digit number to the original confirmation number every time you change the ticket price. For example, I have $70 in travel credits from one flight, but they are broken down into four separate amounts. And I have a different flight with a $31 credit. SWA only allows three forms of payment per flight which means I would probably have to take three flights to use up these credits.

Does anyone know if SWA will combine the credits if you contact them? The only other suggestion I have heard is to book a dummy flight using as many credits as possible and then cancel the flight. The new number would combine some of the credits. It is a tedious process but would solve the problem.

I had that issue during the summer as well. What I did to get around that was I used the trick of modifying my flight to a higher cost flight, using the extra travel funds as I could, then once they were all used up, modified back to the original flight and I had one travel fund left at that point. I did need to add a little more, but I figured they weren’t expiring anymore so I wasn’t concerned with losing that value.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

so I guess they probably want to make it more difficult to actually use your travel funds.

I doubt that's necessarily the case. But I do think it helps when people make changes for minor adjustments. Like $10 here, $20 here, then $5 here, etc.

If they wanted to make it very difficult to use your travel funds they would block you from making adjustments to get the travel funds in the first place after a certain amount of times adjusting. But they don't care how many times you rebook to get reduced fare (points or cash). Remember both are a net loss for the airline so I don't mind it not being a free for all.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Actually I did call SWA in Sept to ask about just this! I had accumulated 4 travel funds from one flight where the price kept dropping. they refused to combine the Travel funds

Thanks for the info. I always book one-way flights, too, because it is easier to use up the travel credits that way.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

We just flew Southwest in and out of MCO last weekend. We haven't flown Southwest out of MCO in quite a while.
Not a fan of their new gate system at MCO. Well, I say new, it was new to us.
We've already reduced our Southwest trips, just because we've been favoring flying out of our local airport when possible.
If they are dropping the numbered gates then I'm not sure I like it at all.
It made for a huge mess boarding, passengers had no where to stand but in the aisle and it was all but blocked. It just did not seem more efficient. I mean, I liked the numbered signs. You knew where to stand and it avoided the free for all bottle neck that you get with legacy airlines that I actually don't like.
Am I alone is not caring for it? What was wrong with the numbered signs? And just how are you supposed to know what order you go in with out them? All they did was call A1-15, A15-30, etc. No getting in order. I mean, that's their entire system, right? Is that going away?

 

[Mrs.AMC]

If I understand your question correctly...I also had a long list of travel fund entries all tied to the same confirmation number. Last week when I purchased tickets, I entered the "master" confirmation number as one form of payment and it applied as many of the "entries" (with those extra four digit numbers on them) as possible to pay for the ticket. I have two "entries" left after that transaction. I was pleasantly surprised it worked that way.

My last credits worked this way also. No longer do you have to enter each individually. It "added" them all up and applied everything as if it was one big credit.