SW idea to make purchase more quickly

[MarcyMouse]

I just saw that the flight release day for early April has been pushed back from Aug 26 to Sept 10! I will have to work that morning so I can't be hanging around my computer waiting.

What if I did this- I buy a different flight now, for my four family members, have all the info on passengers and payment all entered, etc.. Then on Sept 10th I just use the "change flight" option to my April flight? This way I won't have to enter all that info and can book an newly opened flight more quickly. Would this work?

I have been so burned in the past with Southwest- By the time I enter all the info, the credit card info, fix mistakes, etc. the flight I want has increased in price or even sold out. I am trying to prevent that from happening.

 

[Lewisc]

Don't buy it now. You'll be starting the clock on the expiration date for travel credits if you need to cancel or change your trip.

If you think it makes sense do it a day or two before the schedule is extended.

The system will let you book 4 tickets at the lowest fare bucket which has 4 seats available. Assume there are 2 seats available at $200 and 6 seats available at $300. Book 4 seats at once and you'll pay 1200. Book the seats 2 at a time and you'll pay 1000.

I have no idea if the time it takes the system to process a change is much (any) shorter then the time it takes you to enter your credit card information. You'll still have to enter credit card information if the new flight is a few dollars more then the flights you reserve. You'll have a credit you might not use if the fare is less. I guess the best option would be to book a fully refundable fare so you'll be able to get the excess refunded to your credit card. Book it a day or two before the schedule extends.

Southwest isn't the only airline. Why not check other airlines?

edited to add airlines, including Southwest, are reducing the number of flights to destinations which only sell out at discounted fares. I don't know what airport you use but it's possible the available flight times or required connections won't be satisfactory to you. Southwest is reducing the number of flights to MCO. Customers used to N/S service are now required to book a connecting flight. As a result fares may be higher then you're hoping to grab.

 

[NotUrsula]

It seems to me that your frustration is with the time it takes to type in all the relevant passenger info, correct? If so, the simple answer is to cut and paste it.

Pretend to buy several tickets and go as far as the screen where you fill out all that info, and complete the form. Open a word processor document and cut and paste in all of the entry info, in order. When it comes time to put it into the reservation, you can just open the document, quickly split screens and paste it in.

If you have not already put in all of your own info into your RR account, do it now, and save this itinerary as a frequent trip so that you won't have to take time to enter the flight search. Log into your account when you are ready to buy and the system will search the trip for you with one click; the only thing you will have to type is the dates.

Buying the itinerary and then "changing" it will cost you a lot more time if you are depending on using the money that you originally spent as credit to pay for the new flights. If you are fine with floating a large purchase on your CC you could buy a fully refundable fare the first time around; that would make the repurchase process easier because you wouldn't need to bank the original payments; you could just pay again and then cancel the first purchase for a full refund.

It would be a good thing if SWA allowed you to put in a list of travel companions and their RR numbers on saved frequent trips in your RR account, then let the passenger info autofill when you make a purchase. I think that some folks on FT have suggested this to them.

Also, if you are dealing with a situation where you must split the reservation because of fare bucket availability, it is faster to do that with two open reservation windows.

 

[mb187143]

one other thing to think about - and bear with me because this is a little tricksy - southwest will only accept 4 methods of payment per reservation, including credits (and each person has their own credit, regardless of who pays for the ticket).

So lets say you book for the 4 of you now, and when the flights come out in a few weeks, you want to re-book using the credits toward a flight that is a few dollars more than what you paid originally for your actual travel dates. You'd need to do two separate reservations at that point, because you cannot do 4 credits (one for each member of your party, issued in their own name) plus a credit card to pay the difference. So you may not end up saving yourself any time at all. Just something to think about, in the event that the flight prices for your actual date are slightly higher than what you book now if you were to do this.

 

[MarcyMouse]

Thanks for the input everyone! I am planning to use points, and plan to get four tickets down using my points, and four tickets return trip using husband's points. I remember the last time I tried for spring break tickets there was some problem with my submission, so I had to go back and retype all the info again, to discover the same problem. This happened three times in a row. I just was trying to brainstorm a way to avoid this. I think allowing people to save passenger info/birthdays and cc info, so it doesn't have to be manually entered when you buy tickets, would be a great feature for SW.

 

[NotUrsula]

...
I think allowing people to save passenger info/birthdays and cc info, so it doesn't have to be manually entered when you buy tickets, would be a great feature for SW.

Just to be clear, you CAN do so now, but only for the person whose account it is. So, in the case where you are trying to purchase for 4 people and two of them have credits, you COULD open two windows, each logged into that person's RR account. The software will fill in the account holder's info, so you would only have to type in the others for each window.

We do this sometimes when we have limited points and are going to be buying some tickets on points and some on cash. What we will do is book the adults on points and the kids on cash, since the kids only earn points via butt-in-seat miles, while the adults have other options. In that case, we book each leg on two itineraries, with one adult and one child on each one.

I still think that creating a cut-and-paste source document for your party is probably the simplest option for just speeding things up.

 

[katallo]

I just saw that the flight release day for early April has been pushed back from Aug 26 to Sept 10! I will have to work that morning so I can't be hanging around my computer waiting.

What if I did this- I buy a different flight now, for my four family members, have all the info on passengers and payment all entered, etc.. Then on Sept 10th I just use the "change flight" option to my April flight? This way I won't have to enter all that info and can book an newly opened flight more quickly. Would this work?

I have been so burned in the past with Southwest- By the time I enter all the info, the credit card info, fix mistakes, etc. the flight I want has increased in price or even sold out. I am trying to prevent that from happening.

Wouldn't it be great if SW chose to vary release days. They are always on Mondays.

 

[elfbo]

Not to thread steal, but have a question. If i buy tickets now for my party (using rewards points), and the price drops, and i get points back, the points will go under each person's name? instead of back to the account they were purchased from? What if the other people dont have rewards accounts with SW?

 

[DebbieB]

Not to thread steal, but have a question. If i buy tickets now for my party (using rewards points), and the price drops, and i get points back, the points will go under each person's name? instead of back to the account they were purchased from? What if the other people dont have rewards accounts with SW?

They will go back to your account.

 

[lauriegs]

how early do the flights become available that day? I haven't tried to book on opening day for SW before...

 

[MarcyMouse]

The time varies- sometimes early afternoon, sometimes as early as 6:00am EST. I don't think there is a definite time so you just have to be ready and waiting!

 

[NotUrsula]

Not to thread steal, but have a question. If i buy tickets now for my party (using rewards points), and the price drops, and i get points back, the points will go under each person's name? instead of back to the account they were purchased from? What if the other people dont have rewards accounts with SW?

No.

Refunded RR POINTS go back into the account of the person who earned those points.

However, refunded MONEY for anything other than a Fully Refundable Fare goes into the account of the person whose tush was supposed to have been in the seat. MONEY credits ("Ticketless Travel Funds", that is, refund cash value) are banked using the original Itinerary Confirmation number, NOT your RR account, so you don't have to have an RR account to accrue Ticketless Travel Funds in your own name.

 

[elfbo]

No.

Refunded RR POINTS go back into the account of the person who earned those points.

However, refunded MONEY for anything other than a Fully Refundable Fare goes into the account of the person whose tush was supposed to have been in the seat. MONEY credits ("Ticketless Travel Funds", that is, refund cash value) are banked using the original Itinerary Confirmation number, NOT your RR account, so you don't have to have an RR account to accrue Ticketless Travel Funds in your own name.

Thank you! That explains why i was confused.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

It's too bad SWA doesn't allow the buyer to store frequent travel companions like USAirways does. They make it so easy to click on dh's name/info and kids too.
I keep my parents stored there too for the times they travel with us though my mom has become pretty good about navigating the internet & buying online these days so she does it herself.

Maybe I'll send SWA an email to suggest that.