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

[Willow Ufgood]

Im trying to take notes from the SW website but have a question I couldnt find an answer to
so I wrote down all 4 of the fare options
Im looking into to the choice one
and says theres a standard seat included which Im pretty sure are the ones in the back of the plane
however would I have the option then to buy preferred seats or extra legroom
actually though would it even be worth it to upgrade just to be closer to the front if the seat size and legroom are same standard seat
I usually like to pick my seats
also can you see the price at that time
anyone already booked flight for the end of Jan
what were your deisicions based on
thanks

I have Choice for my April trip. It includes choosing a seat at the time of purchase. There's no extra charge for the standard seats which are behind the exit row in my plane.

It's possible to upgrade seats for an additional charge but I haven't done that yet because you lose what you paid for the seat upgrade if you make any changes to your flight. The price for each seat is visible before you purchase.

You might want to compare the price difference between Choice and Choice Extra if you want the extra legroom seats and have bags you will be checking. It might be worth the difference in fares.

 

[Dznypal]

Thanks for the advice about cost plus baggage I will for sure check the different fares including the baggage

 

[disneyjr77]

I'm hoping you guys can tell me if this is true. Yesterday, I had someone tell me that when there's a sale you don't get the sale price on both legs of your trip if you book a round trip flight. That you need to book two one way trips to be able to take advantage of the sale pricing for your whole trip. Were they correct? I always book round trip and with points and up until these changes have been able to take advantage of sales when they happen and get points back. I know now with all the changes, it's not as easy to change but I was just if I should start booking one way trips and not round.

 

[EACarlson]

Okay this, if true, is very concerning to me. It's said to be the reason why some people here have reported getting offers to switch their flights. SWA would be starting to use Volantio's revenue platform. And you better believe this is Elliott's work.

"Southwest will begin pitching passengers to switch off heavily-booked flights within a week of departure so that they can re-sell those seats at higher fares. The expectation is that this project may raise revenue by 20 basis points."

"Volantio’s platform assists airlines in identifying high-demand flights within a week of departure. It then helps airlines craft and deliver offers to passengers, working to balance demand. Passengers are offered flexibility to change their trip, and sometimes a reward (often a travel voucher, similar to a bump at the airport) to make that change. The airline is then able to sell that in-demand seat, typically at a higher fare."

SOOOOOO to those who were getting an e-mail about moving to another flight this seems very likely what is happening. It's not a no show situation, it's not even what information they had on their website because this isn't about overbooking, this isn't about operational constraints, this is purely an attempt to gain more money out of passengers and the goal isn't even to reduce the number of passengers on a flight but to take your seat and resell it to someone else for a higher fare.

The tagline is being considered a "win-win" but the post I read was like clearly it's not a win-win to the passenger as the terms require the passenger to forfeit monies and benefits paid towards EBCI and other things.

I thought they explained this in an investor day speech. Not everyone buys EBCI, advance seat assignments or other ancillaries. It can work out for those passengers, or if they booked a flight they weren't thrilled with and can change and get something back. The problem I'm seeing is that the offer just isn't enough to move the needle for most people. $20 in credit would only get me to change if I already really wanted to change. I bet as they learn more, and learn the spread that people will pay, those offers will come up.

 

[EACarlson]

I'm hoping you guys can tell me if this is true. Yesterday, I had someone tell me that when there's a sale you don't get the sale price on both legs of your trip if you book a round trip flight. That you need to book two one way trips to be able to take advantage of the sale pricing for your whole trip. Were they correct? I always book round trip and with points and up until these changes have been able to take advantage of sales when they happen and get points back. I know now with all the changes, it's not as easy to change but I was just if I should start booking one way trips and not round.

Not that I've seen any reports of. And if it were happening, it would be all over FlyerTalk.

 

[disneyjr77]

Not that I've seen any reports of. And if it were happening, it would be all over FlyerTalk.

It didn't make sense to me when I was told, because constantly checking for cheaper flights and getting points back was almost like a game to me and it wouldn't have been as fun if I wasn't able to get cheaper flights from my original booking

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I thought they explained this in an investor day speech. Not everyone buys EBCI, advance seat assignments or other ancillaries. It can work out for those passengers, or if they booked a flight they weren't thrilled with and can change and get something back. The problem I'm seeing is that the offer just isn't enough to move the needle for most people. $20 in credit would only get me to change if I already really wanted to change. I bet as they learn more, and learn the spread that people will pay, those offers will come up.

Yeah no lie I don't go in depth into investor day for any company so if this was stated I would have missed it, given what others had questions on they would have too. But if you can find the info on it it'd be nice to have that posted here.

From a PR-standpoint it's extremely bad from an airline that has completely demolished their image to the public and is being run by a particular private equity firm who doesn't care about the airline (their norm is to squeeze as much as they can with short-term profits and get the heck out of dodge when it goes south). It's more about looking at the entire picture of what SWA has become since Elliott forced their way in.

The person, IMO, who would most likely benefit from this are passengers who purchased the Basic fare, the ones who, nowadays that is since it was introduced, can't expect much at all from the airline. Those are the people who, by purchasing that fare, are more up for adjustments, on average, as they would be less likely to purchase seat assignment, etc. That is indeed what the product was designed for, those who in exchange for a cheaper ticket get less things.

Now maybe the posters who got the offer purchased Basic, but if they are targeting passengers who didn't purchase Basic it's even more icky and let's be real they want more money so they would be more likely to target the passenger who purchased a higher fare and then re-sell it for an even higher fare especially since they are starting to do it at about a week out from the flight.

One poster got a $90 offer, the other poster got $20 if I'm understanding their posts so they are already playing around with it. $90 wouldn't be worth it to me if I paid more than that for that particular flight than a different flight that day. It's not like they are offering to credit back a person the difference in fare if the new flight was less, it's just a flat dollar offer.

I do agree it can work out for someone who is potentially already wanting a different flight who didn't purchase the other stuff but otherwise it can be a slap in the face to the customer.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It didn't make sense to me when I was told, because constantly checking for cheaper flights and getting points back was almost like a game to me and it wouldn't have been as fun if I wasn't able to get cheaper flights from my original booking

I've seen where only one leg qualifies for the sale but not the other one which I'm sure many of us have had but I've not heard it either that a RT means you're just ineligible.

I do wonder though if they could structure their system in a way that other airlines do (because they so desperately want to be like other airlines) where a RT fare is calculated differently than a one-way. The way it has been for forever is that SWA didn't price it that way so some people would do one-ways if it meant easier changing within SWA's system to one leg (or they were waiting on a release date for their second leg) but there wasn't a penalty in booking RT nor was there a more favorable pricing in doing so.

I think we have to treat it like nothing has changed but at least to me I could see them doing so in the future.