Southwest - New Rules for Ticketless Travel Funds Coming January 28, 2011

[bookwormde]

I have the option to drive or fly, so as the prices go up and SW chips away at what made of special people like me are the first to "walk" and I love SW but as value decreses I will drive.

bookwormde

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I doubt it---that's why I'm betting on "boil the frog". There was a hue and cry when ECBI was instituted, but it hasn't seemed to drive anyone away. As long as SW still is providing value to customers, they'll keep flying.

Considering 99% of the customers on SW (or pretty much any airline) are more price loyal the service/feature loyal, you would be very correct.

 

[goofy4tink]

You first.

Well lookie at who showed up...thought you had fallen off the face of the earth!! Good to see you here again.

In any case....SW isn't stupid. There's a reason they have been so successful. I can actually understand why they are doing this. Their system has been pretty liberal up to now...it has allowed for all sorts of 'abuses'..and I use that term very loosely. People only did what was allowable...but perhaps not in the spirit of SW's intentions. So, SW has closed that 'loophole'.

Here's the thing...no airline, not one single one, has to allow us to book, then find a cheaper fare, so cancel and rebook, giving us a credit for the difference....and a credit that could have been used by pretty much anybody. I always wondered about that.
For heaven's sake people.....careful what you are wishing for. Pretty soon the airlines that do allow you to cancel and rebook, and then get a credit for the difference, will start charging you a huge fee to rebook...which will take away any 'credits'. I never understood the airlines allowing you to cancel and rebook and then give a credit...after all, they don't automatically charge you when the fare increases.
I say, book when you are comfortable with the fare, and if it goes down, oh well...more often it will go up, so good for you for booking when you did.

 

[Brian Noble]

Considering 99% of the customers on SW (or pretty much any airline) are more price loyal the service/feature loyal, you would be very correct.

They have to go slowly though. Over the past few years, they've been repositioning their brand from a value-oriented carrier to a feature-inclusive one. So, they've actually invested in creating feature-loyal customers. That leaves them in a difficult position, and moving to charging for features they've included previously might be harder than it would be for, e.g. Spirit. But with ECBI and now this change, it seems as though they are willing to try.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I never did understand why people saw EBCI as a price gouge. People can still get the same level of service without it. It's an optional service which was never offered before that people can now purchase. For some of us, it actually makes SWA a bit MORE attractive since we no longer have to play the T-24 game (while it was kind of fun, it was also stressful).

I was surprised when I first realized that the credits were able to be used by anybody. When I first learned of the credits I figured they had to be used for a purchase with the lead person from the credit on the new reservation. I was extremely happy when I found out that this wasn't true but I was already a happy customer before I realized it.

What DID frustrate me was when they began splitting up the credits in the first place. At one time, if there were 4 people on an itinerary and the price went down, you'd only have 1 credit from the price change. If there were multiple fare drops, you'd still only have 1 credit tied to the confirmation number. When they changed that so that each and every change resulted in separate credits and split up by person, that made it much more difficult to use the credits since you could only use a maximum of 3 credit per purchase assuming the 3 credits didn't equal the total for the new purchase (which they rarely do with the break-out of the credits). We had to start splitting up our purchase which I don't like (I know some people do it as a matter of standard practice but I like the single confirmation number for our whole party for each direction).

I'm the purchaser for flights for other family members to come visit us and for joint vacations so if there's a credit, I'd really like to be able to use it since it was me who paid in the first place. I guess that won't be happening any longer. Sigh.... It won't stop me from using SWA if they've got the best price and itinerary (I'll pay a bit more for a better itinerary on JB because they don't change as often as other airlines) and really, that was always the reason I went with SWA anyway. I'd pay what I was comfortable with and credits were bonus. Of course the credits also helped make their flights a bit cheaper and a good 3/4 of our flights are for the same people anyway so the credits will continue to be usable for us, but we won't get to use them for or from the flights for my step kids and their families who we don't fly nearly as often.

 

[DebbieB]

well we could all start calling southwest to complain about the policy change if enuff folks call and threaten to fly jet blu or airtran from now on the sqeeky wheel just might get oiled

Their new policy is the same as the rest of the airline industry. Southwest barely made a profit in the first quarter of 2010. If they don't do bag fees like the other airlines, they have to find different ways to make money.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

I've been a little busy! Nothing compels the otherwise non-litigious like a crappy economy.

We are making our annual trek to WDW for the start of F&W this fall. Any chance you'll be there? Would love to see you (or any CLOT member) again!

Well lookie at who showed up...thought you had fallen off the face of the earth!! Good to see you here again.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I've been a little busy! Nothing compels the otherwise non-litigious like a crappy economy.

We are making our annual trek to WDW for the start of F&W this fall. Any chance you'll be there? Would love to see you (or any CLOT member) again!

Not I - but I'm considering Las Vegas in December, if that's not inconvenient?

 

[Tara]

well we could all start calling southwest to complain about the policy change if enuff folks call and threaten to fly jet blu or airtran from now on the sqeeky wheel just might get oiled

Why would I (or anyone) want to spend time calling to complain about a perfectly reasonable policy?

 

[piglet33]

What DID frustrate me was when they began splitting up the credits in the first place. At one time, if there were 4 people on an itinerary and the price went down, you'd only have 1 credit from the price change. If there were multiple fare drops, you'd still only have 1 credit tied to the confirmation number. When they changed that so that each and every change resulted in separate credits and split up by person, that made it much more difficult to use the credits since you could only use a maximum of 3 credit per purchase assuming the 3 credits didn't equal the total for the new purchase (which they rarely do with the break-out of the credits). We had to start splitting up our purchase which I don't like (I know some people do it as a matter of standard practice but I like the single confirmation number for our whole party for each direction).

I don't like this either. Right now I have 6 $5 credits for the three of us for our October trip on one ressie and 3 $10 credits on the flight home. I thought I had $60 to use for next year, but nope. I usually book our flights one way in case of price changes and because I only need to buy EBCI on our inbound flight. Now it looks like in order for me to use the full $30 on our outbound, I have to split us up. I'm not liking that much since it will make it harder when getting our boarding passes.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Oooooh, you'll have to let me know more as the date approaches. LAS is an easy destination! I sure hope most of it is still there. I heard Duds went recently so it makes me wonder.

Not I - but I'm considering Las Vegas in December, if that's not inconvenient?

 

[DebbieB]

I don't like this either. Right now I have 6 $5 credits for the three of us for our October trip on one ressie and 3 $10 credits on the flight home. I thought I had $60 to use for next year, but nope. I usually book our flights one way in case of price changes and because I only need to buy EBCI on our inbound flight. Now it looks like in order for me to use the full $30 on our outbound, I have to split us up. I'm not liking that much since it will make it harder when getting our boarding passes.

Keep in mind that on many airlines in order to get a credit for a drop in fare, you have to pay their change fee, which is $150 on some. Southwest is still far more liberal than most other airlines.

 

[Anjelica]

My only issue with this change is the amount of tracking I will have to do to know which family member has which credit. Right now I keep the confirmation # and the amount of travel funds for that confirmation #.

We've never flown SW without our immediate family so applying the credit to the particular family member is generally not going to be an issue - just a pain in the butt for me to keep track of...

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

If you already keep the confirmation # and the amount of funds... seems all you'd have to do is write the family member's name next to them. Adding the expiration date might also be helpful.

My only issue with this change is the amount of tracking I will have to do to know which family member has which credit. Right now I keep the confirmation # and the amount of travel funds for that confirmation #.

We've never flown SW without our immediate family so applying the credit to the particular family member is generally not going to be an issue - just a pain in the butt for me to keep track of...

 

[Anjelica]

If you already keep the confirmation # and the amount of funds... seems all you'd have to do is write the family member's name next to them. Adding the expiration date might also be helpful.

Right now I keep the total sum of lets say one confirmation # that has 3-4 family members on it. Now I need to make sure I split it out appropriately across each member. I really wonder how that will work if you have mulitple people on the same Confirmation number.

For example how I do it now:

QXXXX - $9.00 - 03/23/11
QXXXX - $34.13 - 03/23/11
QXXXX- $138.00 - 05/09/11


It's not the end of the world - just another thing for me to keep track of.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Right now if you've got 4 people on a confirmation # and a credit for $60 then that means 4 individual credits of $15. SWA already stores your credit this way with each person's name attached to the individual parts of the credit.

 

[Anjelica]

Right now if you've got 4 people on a confirmation # and a credit for $60 then that means 4 individual credits of $15. SWA already stores your credit this way with each person's name attached to the individual parts of the credit.

I didn't know they already store the credit with each person's name attached. I was just imagining putting in the confirmation # and trying to figure out how they would know that xx goes to yy person. For some reason I kept thinking they were going to have to go with say a sub-confirmation # that is assigned to each person but it doesn't sound like it.

 

[piglet33]

Right now if you've got 4 people on a confirmation # and a credit for $60 then that means 4 individual credits of $15. SWA already stores your credit this way with each person's name attached to the individual parts of the credit.

So does this mean that as of January, I would be able to use all 6 of my $5 credits since there are two for each of us? This whole thing is so confusing with the limits of credits that can be used.

 

[SamSam]

If there has been abuse I understand Southwest's change of policey, but this stinks for me. I'm usually in charge of booking flights for other family members and for friends when they travel with us. Most of them wouldn't be able to use the credits because they don't fly often enough, so I generally give them cash and use the credits when I fly.
Not anymore.

 

[kaytieeldr]

So does this mean that as of January, I would be able to use all 6 of my $5 credits since there are two for each of us? This whole thing is so confusing with the limits of credits that can be used.

No, it means as of the effective date in the title of this thread, you WON'T. Each person's credit can be used ONLY by that person.

If there has been abuse I understand Southwest's change of policey, but this stinks for me

There very likely has been abuse. People were constantly selling/auctioning Southwest credits on Ebay, or selling them on Craigslist. That was never Southwest's intent or expectation when they allowed Ticketless Travel Funds to be transferable. They're simply closing another loophole.

Their airline, their rules.

And you still CAN use your family's/friends' TTFs. Simply do it now, before the new rules go into effect.