Southwest surprise - had to share.

[catrax]

Did you know that only 4 methods of payment are allowed on a reservation? That means that your family of 5 (or more) cannot use travel funds in order to book together on the same reservation. In terms of unused travel funds, the funds associated with each name count as 1 payment type.

Now my story of woe.

Tonight, I tried to change my reservation by one day. I just wanted to move it back a day. The site kept giving me "unknown errors" - silly little errors in red that don't tell you what you're doing wrong. So, I think, let me just cancel it and rebook it rather than changing it. Maybe that will solve the problem. NOPE! More problems. So, I call.

Awesome. The agent tells me she can help. She takes everyone's information. She then tells me she's ready to give me the confirmation numbers. What? Why multiple, I ask? Well, you see, I had to book everyone separately because you can only use 4 forms of payment on one reservation. But, then, why didn't you book 2 reservations instead of 5? It doesn't make sense for my DD5 to have her own reservation number. That's just how it is, I'm told. I said my main concern was my children being able to sit with one of us during the flight. By the time I check in 5 reservations, I would be deep in the C group and was nervous that my children might be split up from us. She said that I should buy the early bird check in, which we all know can be great or be a waste of money depending on your circumstances. Certainly, I wasn't handing over $60 more to Southwest at this point.

So, I ask for a supervisor to hash this out. When she got on the line, I should have taken her name. I'm not sure what the agent told her, but right away she was arguing with me. She accused me of lying about what my credits were and how I booked my original flights. I told her I could prove I wasn't. I asked her where on the Southwest site I could see their policy. She said it's not there because no one does what I did (cancel and try to rebook everyone together). I checked - the policy can be found, so shame on me for not reading EVERY PART OF THE WEBSITE before expecting that I could book my whole family together. Duh.

She was rude, she talked over me and interrupted me and put words in my mouth. When I tried to get her to take a pause so we could bring the conversation down a notch, I told her that I, too, am in customer service. I wasn't accusing her agent of doing something wrong, but I was unhappy and felt that my reservations were not handled properly. That's when she started arguing with me again, told me that the call wasn't going anywhere and that I should be happy that we are all on the same flight. She then yelled, "Go make a complaint on Southwest.com, I'm releasing this call!" and hung up. The end.

All I wanted from these people was to reduce the number of reservations from 5 to 2. If 4 payments can go on one reservations, then why couldn't we do a 3/2 split, or a 4/1 split? I couldn't make sense of it and I wanted it explained. So, I called back. I got Amanda. She was so thoughtful and sweet. She said she didn't understand why the last agent booked the way she did. She fixed my reservation in a quarter of the time it took the last agent to set the wrong ones up. What a relief. I told Amanda how much I appreciated her listening to me, helping me, and ensuring that I could go to sleep tonight without being angry.

In the end, it didn't have to be that way. I was just trying to shift my flights by one day. Now I've spent hours being stressed and angry. So, instead of lodging a complaint on Southwest.com, I sent a compliment for Amanda in hopes that she is commended for her positive behavior.

The take away should be that you should not ever cancel your flights with Southwest if you are only intending to change them. Call first and ask what your options are and what might be holding up your process. Int he end, one bad experience was cancelled out by a good one. Thanks, Amanda, wherever you are!

 

[dae3dae3]

It is good that you sent in a good report on the helpful person. You should also follow it up with the complaint. Don't be nasty or use loaded words to make it sound as bad as you possibly can so you come off as a nutjob. Just tell them what happened.

 

[catrax]

I did note what happened in my compliment mainly because I wanted to stress that Amanda handled the very same situation much better especially since. I was so much more upset by the time I got on the phone with her. She deserves to be recognized for quickly and easily diffusing a situation! She volunteered to check the reservations to see if any notations were made on them by the previous agent or supervisor and she said there weren't any. Who knows if that's the truth, but I thought it was interesting anyway.

 

[MaleficentRN]

Wow! That woman sounds crazy! I'm pretty sure they record those calls and I'd love to see the look on her supervisors face when they hear it!
You are correct. It is much easier to change your reservation than to cancel and try to rebook. It really only takes a couple of clicks on the website. I do it all the time.
When it comes to your children having different boarding numbers, you do not have to stand in the spot you are assigned if you choose to go further back in the boarding group. If you get B10 and your child gets C1, you and your child can stand together at C1.Even booking together doesn't guarantee that you'll get concurrent boarding numbers.
I'm glad Amanda helped you out. Have a great trip!

 

[dakotix]

I'm confused as to why you were trying to use more than 4 forms of payments? Are your children Adults trying to use their own credit cards or young children?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I'm confused as to why you were trying to use more than 4 forms of payments? Are your children Adults trying to use their own credit cards or young children?

It's a bit confusing, but looks like all 5 members of OP's family had travel funds she was trying to apply to one reservation (for the whole family).

I do admit that I don't understand why she booked 5 separate reservations. She could have booked herself and kids on one, then her husband on another. This would have made check in a lot easier. It's very unlikely, by the way, that checking in 5 separate reservations at 24 hours before the flight would get you in the C boarding group!

The agent handled this poorly, but I'm guessing OP wasn't exactly polite and calm either.

 

[lovin'fl]

I am thinking OP booked all 5 under 1 booking and then cancelled that and when she did they applied the credits to each person individually and told her she could only use 4 on one new booking so they then did 5 separate bookings which is what she was upset about (wanted 2 bookings at least to keep each kid with a parent). That is ridiculous of SW.

I booked a flight in May 2014 for Dec 2015. In Nov, I called to switch to a cheaper flight and had credit of a total of $180...also a family of 5. Was told I had 1 year to use that credit...that was all I was told. I called last month to use the credit and they told me it was gone. I said 'I got the credit in Nov and was told I had a year to use it' and they explained to me that I had a year from the initial booking (May 2014...had to book for a flight no later than May 2015). Wish I had known...but now I see that the $180 credit was likely divided by my 5 family members and I was only looking for a flight for DH and I so we would have only been given $36 each...which is silly since I paid for all 5 and 3 of which are minors.

Not flying SW anymore...hopping over to Jetblue (like having our own TVs on the flight anyway).

 

[catrax]

It's a bit confusing, but looks like all 5 members of OP's family had travel funds she was trying to apply to one reservation (for the whole family).

I do admit that I don't understand why she booked 5 separate reservations. She could have booked herself and kids on one, then her husband on another. This would have made check in a lot easier. It's very unlikely, by the way, that checking in 5 separate reservations at 24 hours before the flight would get you in the C boarding group!

The agent handled this poorly, but I'm guessing OP wasn't exactly polite and calm either.

I had one reservation for 5 of us which I canceled. Once you cancel, it breaks the reservation into 5 separate travel funds, so when I tried to rebook myself, even in two smaller groups online, it wouldn't work. I have done this stuff online for years with no problem, but yesterday there were issues which is why I decided to try a different tactic and cancel. The agent made the decision to book everyone separately without asking and I only found out when she started to rattle off the reservation numbers.

I have, on several occasions, gotten low. B or high C when checking in at exactly 24 hours in Advance. When you need to do 5 reservations the chances are even higher. It depends on when and from where you are traveling.

As for how calm I was, I can tell you that I was always respectful, even when things got heated. It wouldn't make much sense for me to be annoyed by someone's reaction to my treating them poorly.

 

[houseofduck]

Not to hijack this thread, but I have related questions. If you book with points for 5 people, do you have to have 5 separate reservations or can you do a 3/2 or 4/1 split?

So, for example, if I have all of the points in my account, can I book with only 2 reservations or do I need 5?

What happens if each person has the points in their own account? Can I still book 5 people with only 2 reservations?

 

[catrax]

My issue was a little different because I was using travel funds. Also, if you cancel or change reservations where you used points, the points just go back into the point pool.

This has been my experience.

 

[catrax]

Not sure about multiple point accounts, but I would guess that complicates things quite a bit.

 

[Snoozan]

Houseofduck - my experience has been when using RR points, everyone gets their own reservation#, even if booking at the same time. I have the points, but my DH and I always end up with separate reservation #'s when I use them.

 

[catrax]

Houseofduck - my experience has been when using RR points, everyone gets their own reservation#, even if booking at the same time. I have the points, but my DH and I always end up with separate reservation #'s when I use them.

Sorry about that, Houseofduck. I checked back in my records and found that, in fact, Snoozan is right. Everyone gets their own reservation number.

 

[Spunky946]

Not to hijack this thread, but I have related questions. If you book with points for 5 people, do you have to have 5 separate reservations or can you do a 3/2 or 4/1 split? So, for example, if I have all of the points in my account, can I book with only 2 reservations or do I need 5? What happens if each person has the points in their own account? Can I still book 5 people with only 2 reservations?

Our last flight we had enough points for two free points and we paid for two. There were four of us.


We had three separate numbers but when I checked us in on the ap we had b2 and b3 and like b 16 and b 24. Not too bad

 

[pooch]

When booking with points, each person gets a reservation # and must be checked in separately. It MAY be possible to get all on one # by calling SWA CS after the flights are booked but I have no experience with this. When I take the extended family to Wdw on points next year, I will be using EBCI to avoid the hassle. Since the flights will be free, paying $25 per person isn't a big deal.

 

[houseofduck]

Thank you for the information!

 

[hsmamato2]

OP I'm sorry this happened, but everything you mentioned is actually well known info. You have to know each airlines policies in order to avoid this sort of frustration-that initial call ,when the agent booked you under 5 #'s, was in actuality a big help to you. When you cancelledonline, you ran a real risk of losing your flight options altogether that you were looking for. (Things sell out in seconds sometimes) And those multiple #'s aren't that big of an issue, they are linked under your travel,so the conf. email sent to you should list all associated travel. I usually use points, and I always have a different number for each person, It's a complete non issue,even with kids. (FWIW, when checking it at 24 hrs, I always check my youngest kiddo in FIRST,so I know even if I'm a couple of numbers away, I can be right behind him in line.... enjoy your trip......

 

[Lovinallthingsdisney]

One additional thing that I discovered....I fully understood that travel funds are tied to the purchase date of your ticket. What I didn't know is that if you use travel funds to purchase a "new" ticket...unrelated to the first one...and that price goes down, the travel funds you get from the "new" ticket are still tied to the original purchase date....not the date you purchased the new ticket. I had funds from my December Disney trip (purchased in August) that I used to buy tickets to New Orleans in February. I was able to get a lower price on that flight and tried to use those funds to purchase flights to Disney this December. Unfortunately they expire in August. I talked to several customer service people but was told that is the way it works. At least now I know. I thought I would share in case anyone finds themselves in the same situation.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I had one reservation for 5 of us which I canceled. Once you cancel, it breaks the reservation into 5 separate travel funds, so when I tried to rebook myself, even in two smaller groups online, it wouldn't work. I have done this stuff online for years with no problem, but yesterday there were issues which is why I decided to try a different tactic and cancel. The agent made the decision to book everyone separately without asking and I only found out when she started to rattle off the reservation numbers.

I have, on several occasions, gotten low. B or high C when checking in at exactly 24 hours in Advance. When you need to do 5 reservations the chances are even higher. It depends on when and from where you are traveling.

As for how calm I was, I can tell you that I was always respectful, even when things got heated. It wouldn't make much sense for me to be annoyed by someone's reaction to my treating them poorly.

Thanks for the explanation. You might consider buying EBCI for a few of you, then save the middle seat.