SW Rapid Rewards = FRUSTERATING!!

[Angela0917]

I've been trying to use my rapid rewards to book our flights to Disney for a few weeks now and I am getting SO frusterated. Every time the price drops some so that I should be able to use my points to book our flights, I click on it and it says Oops! We are unable to secure the price you selected, and then it bumps the price up so that it's just over what our points are! Why does it keep doing this? Do the points not go by the current prices? I know it's 60 points per $1, the current price is $136 each way. I need 3 round trip tickets, so that is $816, which would equal 48,960 points. We have 50,044 points. So this should cover the flights, right? Am I missing something? I'm getting so frusterated! I've been trying for weeks and it does the same thing every single time!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Probably it is the three tickets....

They may have just one or two tickets at the price you want. So when you put in three it bumps you up to the next fare class where they have three tickets.

You might try buying one at a time, but the risk there is that you won't get all 3 tickets with the awards you have.

 

[drinkme]

I've been trying to use my rapid rewards to book our flights to Disney for a few weeks now and I am getting SO frusterated. Every time the price drops some so that I should be able to use my points to book our flights, I click on it and it says Oops! We are unable to secure the price you selected, and then it bumps the price up so that it's just over what our points are! Why does it keep doing this? Do the points not go by the current prices? I know it's 60 points per $1, the current price is $136 each way. I need 3 round trip tickets, so that is $816, which would equal 48,960 points. We have 50,044 points. So this should cover the flights, right? Am I missing something? I'm getting so frusterated! I've been trying for weeks and it does the same thing every single time!

There are a few threads about this. Call SWA and book it over the phone.

 

[Angela0917]

Probably it is the three tickets....

They may have just one or two tickets at the price you want. So when you put in three it bumps you up to the next fare class where they have three tickets.

You might try buying one at a time, but the risk there is that you won't get all 3 tickets with the awards you have.

I thought that may be the problem, so I tried with 1 flight and it did the same thing. And then if I go in like I'm going to pay with a credit card, it has all 3 flights available at the lower price!

There are a few threads about this. Call SWA and book it over the phone.

Thanks!

 

[LoveToDisney]

SWA has GOT TO FIX THIS ERROR on their website!!!! I agree it is so frustrating! What a nightmare it will be when the Spring Break dates open and anyone wanting to reserve with points will NOT be able to use the website!

 

[krb2g]

We have been using SW frequent flier miles for a while, but we were unable to use them this trip. According to the people we talked to when we tried to book, when SW switched from miles to points, they got rid of blackout dates. You can use points on any flight. BUT once the first one or two seats are used, the points cost to fly free goes up dramatically. So the odds of all six of us using rewards points to get a free flight just went way down. I was extremely loyal to SW for domestic flights, but now I'm rethinking. For our next trip we're flying AirTran.

 

[Angela0917]

SWA has GOT TO FIX THIS ERROR on their website!!!! I agree it is so frustrating! What a nightmare it will be when the Spring Break dates open and anyone wanting to reserve with points will NOT be able to use the website!

After I posted this I started researching the problem, and I found then we people call to book their flight it takes them about an hour and a half to book! Eek! So I'm going to hope that my son will cooperate for that long so I can make the call. Ugh, this makes me angry.

We have been using SW frequent flier miles for a while, but we were unable to use them this trip. According to the people we talked to when we tried to book, when SW switched from miles to points, they got rid of blackout dates. You can use points on any flight. BUT once the first one or two seats are used, the points cost to fly free goes up dramatically. So the odds of all six of us using rewards points to get a free flight just went way down. I was extremely loyal to SW for domestic flights, but now I'm rethinking. For our next trip we're flying AirTran.

If that's how it's going to be then it should at least give you the right amount of points when your searching instead of showing lower points, then when you go to book it raises the points. Ugh. I'm so frusterated with this.

 

[krb2g]

If that's how it's going to be then it should at least give you the right amount of points when your searching instead of showing lower points, then when you go to book it raises the points. Ugh. I'm so frusterated with this.

The part that makes me the most frustrated is that SW has started running commercials about how their Rapid Rewards program frees you from red tape. Sure, if you're only trying to get one or two flights. But the commercial shows a family flying! Before they changed their program, we flew SW to FL free twice as a family, and this time (after a full year of banking points), we couldn't get it to work. Very frustrating!

 

[LoveToDisney]

We have been using SW frequent flier miles for a while, but we were unable to use them this trip. According to the people we talked to when we tried to book, when SW switched from miles to points, they got rid of blackout dates. You can use points on any flight. BUT once the first one or two seats are used, the points cost to fly free goes up dramatically. So the odds of all six of us using rewards points to get a free flight just went way down......

This is totally wrong IF you can get all six for the SAME DOLLAR AMOUNT. If you can get the same class of fare for all six with dollars, then those same seats are also available to buy with points. When I was first talking with the mgr at SWA, he tried to tell me the class of fare wasn't available and that's why the points JUMPed. When he got online and looked at what I was seeing, it was CLEAR that the lower cost seats were available to purchase with dollars, it was ONLY when it was switched to points, selected and then moved to the next page that the error occurred. It is DEFINITELY a software issue. If they don't get this fixed, they are losing SWA customers because it is insane.

 

[Angela0917]

Just to follow up, I did call and was able to book the flights at the points listed. The customer service rep said it's a glitch in the system and she gets numerous calls a day. Very nice lady!

 

[Diegosmom]

Interesting to know. I just booked a 1 way for just me with points and it went smoothly...I will say I had tons of trouble with my 2 free tix I earned last year (oct then dec) It took 7 round trips flights before I could use these tix...meaning that I would keep trying and seats would be unavailable for day I wanted to fly so I would book a 1 way and it took 7 RT flights before I got all 4 legs booked and not for the best times either