Southwest Visa cardholders: Is there a catch?

[ctinct]

If you want to fly 2012 November, I wouldn't charge my first purchase until less than one year before you want to fly. I got a SW Visa back in feb., and made my first purchase a while later. The certificates for that those flights are only good for a year.

Also, there are only certain flights that have free seats available, so if you are flying around the holiday, it may be harder to get a flight. But, don't despair if there are no flights available on the particular day you want. I watched flights for a while because I wasn't 100% certain where we were going to go. All of a sudden, the flights for the entire possible three weekend days we wanted to return were gone. I researches other airports, considered drastically shortening our trip, etc. Then, flights appeared again. I found the flights and dates were pretty fluid. I'm sure it must depend on capacity and how well the flight is selling.

One more thing-the website has some sort of glitch. There is a drop down box to enter the # of people you want to book, but I could never get it to work. I had to be sure there were two seats available for the flight I wanted, so I just called customer service. There's no fee for booking with a live person. We leave for our vacation in a few weeks.

 

[puffkin]

If you want to fly 2012 November, I wouldn't charge my first purchase until less than one year before you want to fly. I got a SW Visa back in feb., and made my first purchase a while later. The certificates for that those flights are only good for a year.

Also, there are only certain flights that have free seats available, so if you are flying around the holiday, it may be harder to get a flight. But, don't despair if there are no flights available on the particular day you want. I watched flights for a while because I wasn't 100% certain where we were going to go. All of a sudden, the flights for the entire possible three weekend days we wanted to return were gone. I researches other airports, considered drastically shortening our trip, etc. Then, flights appeared again. I found the flights and dates were pretty fluid. I'm sure it must depend on capacity and how well the flight is selling.

One more thing-the website has some sort of glitch. There is a drop down box to enter the # of people you want to book, but I could never get it to work. I had to be sure there were two seats available for the flight I wanted, so I just called customer service. There's no fee for booking with a live person. We leave for our vacation in a few weeks.

Did you get your SW Visa before the new points program went in place? Because now every fare has a points value to book, I don't think there are ever any blackouts. If there are seats available, you can book them with points at the equivalent of 60 pts = $1 in fare. So a $79 fare would be 4,740 and $400 fare would be 24,000 points.

I was told on the phone last night that the points never expire as long as you have qualifying activity on the card every 24 months.

 

[ctinct]

Did you get your SW Visa before the new points program went in place? Because now every fare has a points value to book, I don't think there are ever any blackouts. If there are seats available, you can book them with points at the equivalent of 60 pts = $1 in fare. So a $79 fare would be 4,740 and $400 fare would be 24,000 points.

I was told on the phone last night that the points never expire as long as you have qualifying activity on the card every 24 months.

Ahh, that's probably it. I think the program was just changing over. We didn't get points, just four awards reedemable for flights. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[hollypoast]

Ahh, that's probably it. I think the program was just changing over. We didn't get points, just four awards reedemable for flights. Thanks for clearing that up.

Whew... You had me worried there for a minute. I signed up now with the expectation of using the points/certificate in approx. 7 months when my dates are released. I would like to be all ready to book the day flights become available so I can get the flights I want.

Thanks again to everyone for you comments and feedback on Southwest!

 

[tkitty]

If you want to fly 2012 November, I wouldn't charge my first purchase until less than one year before you want to fly. I got a SW Visa back in feb., and made my first purchase a while later. The certificates for that those flights are only good for a year.

Glad you said this, I was wondering, since I am not flying till Oct. 2012, and just applied for the card. If I get it I'll be waiting to use it for the first time.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Glad you said this, I was wondering, since I am not flying till Oct. 2012, and just applied for the card. If I get it I'll be waiting to use it for the first time.

You don't have to worry about this now that Southwest has switched over to their new point system. They are giving people points instead of certificates and points don't expire as long as you have activity on your account every 24 months.

 

[3princes+1princess]

So, can I make flights for my kids with a the points since I want them all used on one trip? What if my husband gets one....can he make flights for our kids and NOT him....he won't be flying with us.

Thanks!

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Yep, you can use the points to purchase flights for anyone you want, even if you're not going on the trip with them.

 

[dznyacct]

Just want to post that today it was exactly 3 weeks since my first purchase on my SWA VISA. My 50,000 RR points appeared in my account this afternoon . Now to "patiently" wait for their May schedule to be released .

 

[nchulka]

I got my card the other day (don't have the points yet). I've been playing around on the website figuring out what kind of tix I can get. Since last night the point values keep changing. I will choose a flight that says it cost 4,500 points and when I go to add it to the cart it says sorry the price is now 10,200 points Flights that list as like 8,000 are now saying they are like 14,000! Anyone else having this problem??? This significantly changes the value of the rewards points!

 

[candy0730]

I got my card the other day (don't have the points yet). I've been playing around on the website figuring out what kind of tix I can get. Since last night the point values keep changing. I will choose a flight that says it cost 4,500 points and when I go to add it to the cart it says sorry the price is now 10,200 points Flights that list as like 8,000 are now saying they are like 14,000! Anyone else having this problem??? This significantly changes the value of the rewards points!

I played around with some flights (to different cities) and the points are also changing when I click select flight. I get the following message:

We are unable to secure the price for the flight you selected.
The next lowest available fare(s) for the flights you selected are listed below. If you accept the new price, please select Accept and Continue to proceed. If not, select Modify Flight(s) to make new fare and flight selections. We sincerely apologize about the inconvenience.
For additional information about pricing issues which may be the cause of this message, please see more information about our fare combinability rules.
If you continue to have difficulties, please contact a Southwest Airlines Customer Representative for assistance at 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792).

Seems odd that it is happening on every different flight I choose. When I leave it set to show the actual cost instead of points it does not change.

Hopefully it is just a glitch and they will correct it.

 

[nchulka]

I played around with some flights (to different cities) and the points are also changing when I click select flight. I get the following message:

We are unable to secure the price for the flight you selected.
The next lowest available fare(s) for the flights you selected are listed below. If you accept the new price, please select Accept and Continue to proceed. If not, select Modify Flight(s) to make new fare and flight selections. We sincerely apologize about the inconvenience.
For additional information about pricing issues which may be the cause of this message, please see more information about our fare combinability rules.
If you continue to have difficulties, please contact a Southwest Airlines Customer Representative for assistance at 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792).

Seems odd that it is happening on every different flight I choose. When I leave it set to show the actual cost instead of points it does not change.

Hopefully it is just a glitch and they will correct it.

Yep, that's exactly what I'm getting. I tried doing the dollars also and it didn't change. I sure hope they're not just upping how many points everything cost!!!

 

[griergirl2]

I am hoping it is just wacky right now. They would have a LOT of very very very mad customers if they changed the rules in the middle of the game! I checked as well and the flights all cost different dollar amounts but kept doing the change points thing to the same amount of points for every flight, despite price, so I am thinking the system is currently crazy.

 

[drinkme]

After reading the above posts, I went to Southwest.com and tried. I got the same bizarre message.

I chose the EXACT same flights yesterday, and it didn't give me that message. I didn't book yet because I'm waiting for confirmation on something. Anyway, I'm going to assume something is wrong with their website this morning.

Someone please post when the site is working properly!!

 

[ckgplus3]

So I got an email from Chase today and they are going to credit my account the 20,000 extra points

Anyone who recently applied while it was only 30,000 definitely should email Chase and see if they will give you the current promotion of 50,000 points

.

Thanks for the information!! I applied and received my card in early June. I sent an email to Chase tonite. The response stated that my email was sent to the appropriate department and I will receive a response in 4-5 days. Fingers crossed!!

 

[candy0730]

My MIL signed up when they were offering 20,000 points so I told her she might want to send a quick email. She did and received a response within 24 hours and was credited 10,000 additional points. Not as good as what others have received but certainly not bad since all it took was 5 minutes to send the email. Thanks for the tip!

 

[drinkme]

I played around with some flights (to different cities) and the points are also changing when I click select flight. I get the following message:

We are unable to secure the price for the flight you selected.
The next lowest available fare(s) for the flights you selected are listed below. If you accept the new price, please select Accept and Continue to proceed. If not, select Modify Flight(s) to make new fare and flight selections. We sincerely apologize about the inconvenience.
For additional information about pricing issues which may be the cause of this message, please see more information about our fare combinability rules.
If you continue to have difficulties, please contact a Southwest Airlines Customer Representative for assistance at 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792).

Seems odd that it is happening on every different flight I choose. When I leave it set to show the actual cost instead of points it does not change.

Hopefully it is just a glitch and they will correct it.

I'm still getting this message. I've been trying for the last several days. Anyone have any luck?

 

[dznyacct]

I'm still getting this message. I've been trying for the last several days. Anyone have any luck?

Same message for me too . I sure hope this is some glitch or else they are going to have some mighty unhappy customers . Luckily, I won't be able to book our May flights until (most likely) early November, so I'm hoping that it will be corrected by then. Has anyone called SWA to ask about this error message??

 

[candy0730]

Same message for me too . I sure hope this is some glitch or else they are going to have some mighty unhappy customers . Luckily, I won't be able to book our May flights until (most likely) early November, so I'm hoping that it will be corrected by then. Has anyone called SWA to ask about this error message??

My MIL called SW this morning because she was using points to book a flight. They were able to book the flight for her applying the correct number of points. It did take 30 minutes but it is done.

 

[dznyacct]

My MIL called SW this morning because she was using points to book a flight. They were able to book the flight for her applying the correct number of points. It did take 30 minutes but it is done.

Thanks for the reassurance that the points needed for a flight won't be almost twice as much as shown .