Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

[Doug7856]

Thanks for walking me through this. I got almost $200 back. I am really bad about asking for price adjustments, refunds, things like that. I usually just let it go. This was so easy!

This really is a strong point for Southwest. I don't think any other airlines is as simple to make changes.

 

[RedHead0186]

Thanks for walking me through this. I got almost $200 back. I am really bad about asking for price adjustments, refunds, things like that. I usually just let it go. This was so easy!

Oh gosh, it's so easy to do this on SW! I check all the time to see if my booked flights have gone down and will rebook in a heartbeat. I'm sure all the credit I've gotten back over the years has paid for a few flights.

 

[gmi3804]

SWA cancelled their service from HNL on our Aulani return until two weeks later. Fortunately, Aulani had availability for the new dates, so they changed my flights, same outbound and return times, new dates. I got our ORD-HNL round-trips for $375 each, convenient connection times too!

 

[disneylover81]

I totally get wanting to be in the A's even if you don't care where you sit, I mean we're like that too doesn't matter where we sit. I think it's about wanting to have more choices of where to sit that sort of feeling. Our flight to Vegas was actually a continuation flight of a prior flight so there were people on board when we boarded, the first non-stop this time around was nearly 9am compared to last year same time frame of being labor day and the first flight out was a 5am flight and we took that, was kinda cool being in Vegas as the sun was rising but very early too lol.

I think you might be right about just having seat options. I am all about convenience and will pay extra to not be bothered about something. My parents and siblings wonder where I come from because they will always buy the cheapest option available and tell me how "extra" I am. I don't care though because I work hard so that we can afford to go on nice vacations and I want to have the best experience from the start. When we took a big family trip to WDW in 2019, which was most of my family's first time there, they were all in sticker shock about the hotel prices and wanted to stay in the Value resorts. Well I had to let them know real quick, DH, DD and I would not be staying in a Value resort and we only do Deluxe. Well, my Lord, they all gave me such a hard time, I told them stay where they want, but we would not be joining them. So one by one, they all got on board with me and we stayed at Wilderness Lodge and they all loved it. And it wasn't but like $300 a night with the package we did, which was amazing I thought.

Guess I got off topic there . . . Back to SWA. Morning flights are the best to me, we used to have a nonstop 6:00 am flight from MEM to MCO daily, which we loved (except for getting up at 2 am). In July, the only nonstop was at 6:30 pm on our departure day, which was super late I thought. I just booked our flights for May 2024 Thursday and it departs at 10:35 am, so not very early or too late.

 

[Lsdolphin]

Does every person purchasing an Anytime fare at least 36 hours in advance receive a better boarding position than every person who purchases EBCI?

Example:
Person A purchases a Wanna Get Away+ fare and adds EBIC on the day fares are released.
Person B purchases an Anytime fare 3 days before the flight.
Will Person B always have a better boarding position than Person A?

Appears to be the case.

 

[tink_86]

Getting ready to book our flights for April 2024, MKE to MCO. Taking DD5 and DS2 and it will be their first time flying. I've never flown southwest but it seems to be the best nonstop option for us. Not being able to select my seat is stressing me out. I'm thinking of booking Anytime fares so we've got a better boarding number. Anytime is $74-ish more per ticket than the WGA fare per person per leg, that adds $600 to my flight costs... Is it worth the price difference for my family of 4? How easy is it to get $ refunded if the price drops?

 

[EACarlson]

Getting ready to book our flights for April 2024, MKE to MCO. Taking DD5 and DS2 and it will be their first time flying. I've never flown southwest but it seems to be the best nonstop option for us. Not being able to select my seat is stressing me out. I'm thinking of booking Anytime fares so we've got a better boarding number. Anytime is $74-ish more per ticket than the WGA fare per person per leg, that adds $600 to my flight costs... Is it worth the price difference for my family of 4? How easy is it to get $ refunded if the price drops?

I would not pay the extra when you have two small children. You qualify for family boarding between A and B groups. I've never seen them cancel Family Boarding to or from MKE and I fly it usually twice a year.

 

[Erica Ladd]

I’ve been waiting for prices to go down to FLL in March since flights were released and nothing is budging!! Hoping for some kind of price drop because tickets are expensive even for WGA fares!

 

[scrappinginontario]

I've done this exact thing to combine smaller credits into one larger one. (also confirming the same thing you're seeing - they were all from the same flight and the system saw the credits separately and I couldn't use them all until I combined) Are the credits for you and your daughter both from the same original reservation? If so you should be able to use 2 credits for each of you, so 4 total, the system automatically applied my daughter's credits in the same situation. If there are different reservation numbers for all 4 credits then I *think* should should still be able to use 4 but I can't say for certain from personal experience.

Thank you for your help! Over the period of about a week I was able to book and cancel 3 or 4 flights for my daughter and I. It was a bit tedious but our 8 travel funds each are now 3 with one for almost $100 each plus 2 tiny ones of under $2 each which I'll probably never use.

Thank you for your help with this!

 

[tink_86]

I would not pay the extra when you have two small children. You qualify for family boarding between A and B groups. I've never seen them cancel Family Boarding to or from MKE and I fly it usually twice a year.

Thanks for your advice! I went ahead and booked the WGA rate. So excited to have flights booked!

 

[RFD281]

Good afternoon, I have been trying to go back a few pages to look but have people been having luck booking EBCI with WGA flights or it’s really limited and are you forced to book the more expensive tier that includes it. I’m starting to look for flights in May and was curious how people were making out when booking their flights? Thanks

 

[disneylover81]

Good afternoon, I have been trying to go back a few pages to look but have people been having luck booking EBCI with WGA flights or it’s really limited and are you forced to book the more expensive tier that includes it. I’m starting to look for flights in May and was curious how people were making out when booking their flights? Thanks

I have started only booking Anytime fares since last year which includes EBCI and we have no trouble being in the A boarding group this way. I booked a WGA+ fare with EBCI for my son about a month before his flight and he got A group both ways. I would suggest doing that if you want to book WGA, as it was only a few more dollars to do WGA+ and it puts you ahead of all the WGA people. It seems getting WGA doesn’t hardly get anyone in the A group anymore.

 

[barb969]

)

 

[RFD281]

Thanks Disneylover I will definitely look into doing that. My main concern is that the EBCI wouldn’t even be available for purchase at those lower tiers So thanks for that reinsurance.

 

[kristenrice]

I'm travelling in a few weeks (Oct 17) and my dad is flying on the same flight. We booked on the same day, but I booked on points (WGA) and my dad paid cash. When I "view" my reservation, there is an option for me to upgrade it to WGA+, but when my dad checked his reservation, there is no such option. Any idea as to why that would be the case?

I would have done the upgrade if it was going to be the original difference in fare (whatever the points-equivalent of $40 is), but since the fare has almost doubled, it would be almost 8K points!

EDIT: I just checked it and now, there is NO option to upgrade to WGA+ or Anytime. The only option is the Business Select, for another 12K points. Is this any indication of how full the flight is? We are scheduled on the first flight out of GRR (to MDW) and then the third non-stop flight from MDW to MCO.

 

[Doug7856]

This article seems to indicate that Southwest is changing from a low cost airline. I think we're all experiencing this change as we see the escalation of fares. A shift from maximizing full planes to maximizing revenue with higher fares is a significant departure from the legacy of Southwest. Here's the article from The Street: Southwest Airlines makes a technology fix passengers will hate

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think we're all experiencing this change as we see the escalation of fares.

I'm seeing the opposite most especially in the Business Select and Anytime Fares. Those have gone down several hundred dollars per way in the last several years. So much of this is market dependent. What I have seen is the ultra low cost airlines (spirit, frontier, jet blue,etc) very much creep up in cost especially when you add up all the things. That segment in the airline industry used to be an escape from the price gouging people felt but now? Kinda the same.

 

[Doug7856]

I'm seeing the opposite most especially in the Business Select and Anytime Fares. Those have gone down several hundred dollars per way in the last several years. So much of this is market dependent. What I have seen is the ultra low cost airlines (spirit, frontier, jet blue,etc) very much creep up in cost especially when you add up all the things. That segment in the airline industry used to be an escape from the price gouging people felt but now? Kinda the same.

Interesting. I don’t often look at those fare classes. It seems to me the Wanna Getaway fares and their plus option are way up (from BWI). On opening day our spring flights to MIA are nearly $800 round trip — far higher than I’ve ever paid even during high demand periods. That’s a price more expected of a flight to the west cost.

Edited to add: I just looked at the Anytime fares for my flights and they are about $85 more. Considering the flexibility, that may be a worthwhile cost.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Interesting. I don’t often look at those fare classes. It seems to me the Wanna Getaway fares and their plus option are way up (from BWI). On opening day our spring flights to MIA are nearly $800 round trip — far higher than I’ve ever paid even during high demand periods. That’s a price more expected of a flight to the west cost.

Edited to add: I just looked at the Anytime fares for my flights and they are about $85 more. Considering the flexibility, that may be a worthwhile cost.

BWI seems to consistently be mentioned in this thread in recent times for pricing so I definitely can see where you're coming from. Plus there's been more connections made through BWI than it seems like in years past. $85 isn't bad really for a difference. I think adding WGA+ did mean SWA was looking at ways to get a bit more revenue without shaking things up too much since the price difference isn't all that much between that and WGA.

 

[Doug7856]

BWI seems to consistently be mentioned in this thread in recent times for pricing so I definitely can see where you're coming from. Plus there's been more connections made through BWI than it seems like in years past. $85 isn't bad really for a difference. I think adding WGA+ did mean SWA was looking at ways to get a bit more revenue without shaking things up too much since the price difference isn't all that much between that and WGA.

Southwest "owns" BWI and can now set fares without much competition.

The transition is interesting in that WGA+ is diminishing the value of WGA especially as they limit EB check in. I'm sure this was all part of the long range plan to devalue the lower fares and shift people to higher fares. Also, eliminating the WGA fares for highly traveled routes during popular times.