Southwest - extending Ticketless Travel Funds?
Ginny Favers
Sandi, maybe it was you, but someone once mentioned here that they were
able to extend the expiration date on their Southwest Airlines
Ticketless Travel Funds. I have funds that expire 7/10 that I'd like to
use for a flight on 7/21.
I don't see anywhere on their website that this is possible, but it's
worth a try. Do you call or have to write them or what?
--
~Amanda
aka Ginny Favers, TDC Rescued Princess of Chickapin Hill
“I met the love of my life on the Seven Seas Lagoon”
Trip Reports at http://ginnyfavers.googlepages.com
bar...@gmail.com
> Hi everyone,
For $50 they will extend it 6 months. I called them.
Barbara
cinder...@yahoo.com
>
> Sandi, maybe it was you, but someone once mentioned here that they were
> able to extend the expiration date on their Southwest Airlines
> Ticketless Travel Funds. I have funds that expire 7/10 that I'd like to
> use for a flight on 7/21.
>
> I don't see anywhere on their website that this is possible, but it's
> worth a try. Do you call or have to write them or what?
They extended six months for me at no charge.
Brian
wrote:
>They extended six months for me at no charge.
6 months to make reservations or actually fly?
Rob Steere
news:8umup4d5ko5lmq0lv...@4ax.com...
>
> 6 months to make reservations or actually fly?
>
Southwest's credits have to traveled with before the expiration date. So if
they extend it 6 months, it'd extend your available travel dates.
Other airlines follow different rules on using credits.
-Rob
Brian
Sandi Femino
Ginny Favers <ginny...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> Sandi, maybe it was you, but someone once mentioned here that they were
> able to extend the expiration date on their Southwest Airlines
> Ticketless Travel Funds. I have funds that expire 7/10 that I'd like to
> use for a flight on 7/21.
>
> I don't see anywhere on their website that this is possible, but it's
> worth a try. Do you call or have to write them or what?
It was me, and it was back in @006 I think. I called them and asked
about the possibility of extending and they did, no problem and no
charge.
Gosh, your dates are so close, I hope they do it for you!
--
Ginny Favers
seeing, they may ask to charge $50 PER number, so we'd pay $100 to use
our $167... not a good deal. That's ok, I'll try on Monday, and if they
insist on charging me, I'll just give the codes to my parents as a freebie.
Rudeney
>
> Southwest's credits have to traveled with before the expiration date. So if
> they extend it 6 months, it'd extend your available travel dates.
"Real" airlines sell refundable tickets that are worth cash instead of
credits, too. Cash never expires. Well, at least not for now. ;-)
--
- RODNEY
Next WDW Vacation?
Who knows...
cinder...@yahoo.com
> >They extended six months for me at no charge.
>
> 6 months to make reservations or actually fly?
To make reservations.
cinder...@yahoo.com
> "Real" airlines sell refundable tickets that are worth cash instead of
> credits, too. Cash never expires. Well, at least not for now. ;-)
Southwest sells refundable tickets too but the prices are through the
roof.
Paul Lalli
> Rob Steere wrote:
>
> > Southwest's credits have to traveled with before the expiration date. So if
> > they extend it 6 months, it'd extend your available travel dates.
>
> "Real" airlines sell refundable tickets that are worth cash instead of
> credits, too. Cash never expires. Well, at least not for now. ;-)
Uh, right. Only if "refundable" means "after paying absurd fees to
call the customer center, then pay more fees to talk to a human being,
then pay more fees to actually cancel the reservation". You're not
getting your money back. You're getting some small subset of your
money back. Southwest's ticket funds are fully reusable, with no
change or cancellation fees, no phone fees, no customer service fees,
no bag fees, etc etc etc.
Sandi Femino
Rudeney <rud...@mickeypics.com> wrote:
> Rob Steere wrote:
> >
> > Southwest's credits have to traveled with before the expiration date. So if
> > they extend it 6 months, it'd extend your available travel dates.
>
> "Real" airlines sell refundable tickets that are worth cash instead of
> credits, too. Cash never expires. Well, at least not for now. ;-)
to give Southwest their due, they also sell a fully refundable ticket,
albeit at a higher cost, more in line with other airlines.
Other airlines also charge a fee, usually at least $50 for any change in
flight, and a change fee to collect any difference from a lower fare.
Both of these are free at Southwest.
Other airlines also charge a fee, even for the first checked bag,
Southwest offers 2 50 pound bags checked free, a boon when you are a
flying a 20 something daughter home cross country 2 or 3 times a year!
And as a college student, she enrolled in their double Rapid Rewards
program which has earned her free flights much faster.
All of the above are reasons why we use Southwest whenever possible!
I know you don't like them, Rodney, but we have had very good
experiences with them.
--
Rudeney
My two biggest problems with SWA is that no matter what you do, you are
flying "standby" and they do not adhere to the "rules", which makes
their tickets worthless for travel on any other airline. I've been
stranded twice by them and had to pay $700+ to get home on another
airline. I swore I'd not do it again.
To contrast that, I've had Delta foot the $700 bill to fly me home on US
Air because they had equipment delays. And that was on a $200
non-refundable ticket.
Paul Lalli
>
> My two biggest problems with SWA is that no matter what you do, you are
> flying "standby"
I've seen you say this before and still don't understand why you make
that claim. In what way are you "standby" on Southwest any more than
you are on one of the legacies? Do you think that because you don't
choose your seat until you're on the plane that makes you less of a
"real" passenger somehow? I don't get it. You can be bumped off the
flight on any airline, regardless of checkin confirmation and seat
selection.
> and they do not adhere to the "rules", which makes
> their tickets worthless for travel on any other airline.
This one I agree with, and it's annoying that they won't transfer your
ticket to another airline, but not participating in that agreement is
one of the ways they can offer cheaper tickets, and it's never
affected me personally, so I'm okay with it.
> To contrast that, I've had Delta foot the $700 bill to fly me home on US
> Air because they had equipment delays. And that was on a $200
> non-refundable ticket.
And to contrast that, I've been stranded by USAir after they cancelled
my flight with 0 notice (I was even already checked in online), and
spent a lovely evening in the airport because they couldn't find
another airline to stick me on that day. Oh and they ended up putting
me on a Delta flight the next day, which didn't have the E+ seats I'd
purchased more for on USAir, for which it took me three phonecalls to
Delta, USair and finally my credit card to get that charge reimbursed.
I'll take Southwest any day over messes like that.
Paul Lalli
Rudeney
> On Feb 23, 11:15 am, Rudeney <rude...@mickeypics.com> wrote:
>> My two biggest problems with SWA is that no matter what you do, you are
>> flying "standby"
>
> I've seen you say this before and still don't understand why you make
> that claim. In what way are you "standby" on Southwest any more than
> you are on one of the legacies? Do you think that because you don't
> choose your seat until you're on the plane that makes you less of a
> "real" passenger somehow? I don't get it. You can be bumped off the
> flight on any airline, regardless of checkin confirmation and seat
> selection.
Rule-compliant airlines sell three types of tickets: assigned seats,
confirmed seats, and standby. As long as you carry a confirmed or
assigned seat ticket and you show up on time, the airline is obligated
to get you to your destination. If the airline cannot do so due to
their own fault (equipment or crew problems), then they are obligated to
compensate you and/or get you to your destination on another airline
that can, even if it means they have to pay hundreds or thousands of
dollars to that other airline. If you fly "standby", then *you* are
taking the risk and the airline has no obligations to you except to get
you on a future flight (or refund your ticket if it was a refundable fare).
The compliant airlines know how many assigned and confirmed seats they
can sell for a given flight. Once a flight becomes oversold, or even at
risk of being oversold, the airline must sell the remaining tickets as
standby. They are obligated to let standby passengers know that there
is risk in the purchase of the ticket.
In the case of SWA, you are taking the risk. They can (and often do)
oversell flights without ever mentioning it to the passengers buying
tickets. The real problem they have is with connecting and stop-over
flights. You might be the first person to check-in at the 24-hour mark
and get "A16", yet when you get ready to board, there could be 15 people
ahead of you who paid to get A1-A15, and then some of the other A's
might get ahead of you in the corral. Now, if there are only 17 seats
available on the plane, you have a chance of being bumped. And when
that happens, SWA offers you no compensation - no cash, no hotel room,
no transport on another airline. At best, they offer you another
standby seat on another flight.
>> and they do not adhere to the "rules", which makes
>> their tickets worthless for travel on any other airline.
>
> This one I agree with, and it's annoying that they won't transfer your
> ticket to another airline, but not participating in that agreement is
> one of the ways they can offer cheaper tickets, and it's never
> affected me personally, so I'm okay with it.
The way they offer cheaper tickets is by trying to fill every seat on
every flight. They do this by overbooking. Think about it. You are
booking your "big WDW family vacation" months in advance and need
flights. You call Delta and they have one seat available and the other
three are standby only. You call SWA, and they offer to sell you four
seats. Little do you realize that they are already 20 seats overbooked,
whereas Delta was only 3.
>> To contrast that, I've had Delta foot the $700 bill to fly me home on US
>> Air because they had equipment delays. And that was on a $200
>> non-refundable ticket.
>
> And to contrast that, I've been stranded by USAir after they cancelled
> my flight with 0 notice (I was even already checked in online), and
> spent a lovely evening in the airport because they couldn't find
> another airline to stick me on that day. Oh and they ended up putting
> me on a Delta flight the next day, which didn't have the E+ seats I'd
> purchased more for on USAir, for which it took me three phonecalls to
> Delta, USair and finally my credit card to get that charge reimbursed.
>
> I'll take Southwest any day over messes like that.
If your flight is canceled due to local weather or an airline closure
that is beyond the control of the airline, they they are under no
obligations to do anything for you but get you on the next open seat on
the next flight to your destination. However, if the cancellation is
the airlines fault, which can even be weather at another airport
preventing equipment from getting to your departure point, then thy are
obligated to get you on another airline or compensate you for hotel,
meal and ground transportation costs related to the delay.
As for seat classes, There is first, business and coach. Those classes
of seats some airlines offer that have a few inches of extra legroom or
exit row seating, etc. do not "crosswalk" through the "rules". If you
pay for a confirmed or assigned first class seat, then you either have
to be given ta first class seat or refunded the difference.
Paul Lalli
> Paul Lalli wrote:
> > On Feb 23, 11:15 am, Rudeney <rude...@mickeypics.com> wrote:
> >> My two biggest problems with SWA is that no matter what you do, you are
> >> flying "standby"
>
> > I've seen you say this before and still don't understand why you make
> > that claim. In what way are you "standby" on Southwest any more than
> > you are on one of the legacies? Do you think that because you don't
> > choose your seat until you're on the plane that makes you less of a
> > "real" passenger somehow? I don't get it. You can be bumped off the
> > flight on any airline, regardless of checkin confirmation and seat
> > selection.
>
> Rule-compliant airlines sell three types of tickets: assigned seats,
> confirmed seats, and standby.
Just out of curiousity, by what definition is this a "rule"? Surely
it's not an actual law, as I doubt SWA is in violation of the law
every moment of every day. So it sounds more like an agreements
amongst certain airlines. Is that correct?
> In the case of SWA, you are taking the risk. They can (and often do)
> oversell flights without ever mentioning it to the passengers buying
> tickets.
I would love to see statistics on oversold flights, but my 45 minutes
of Googling returned nothing. I'm not doubting you, I would love to
see some actual numbers.
> The real problem they have is with connecting and stop-over
> flights. You might be the first person to check-in at the 24-hour mark
> and get "A16", yet when you get ready to board, there could be 15 people
> ahead of you who paid to get A1-A15, and then some of the other A's
> might get ahead of you in the corral. Now, if there are only 17 seats
> available on the plane, you have a chance of being bumped. And when
> that happens, SWA offers you no compensation - no cash, no hotel room,
> no transport on another airline. At best, they offer you another
> standby seat on another flight.
That is simply not true. If you're bumped involuntarily, you are
compensated. From their own Customer Service Commitment (http://
southwest.com/about_swa/customer_service_commitment/
customer_service_commitment.pdf) :
===========
Involuntary Denied Boarding (Being “Bumped”)
If we do not receive enough volunteers to accommodate all Customers
who have purchased travel and have met our checkin time, any remaining
Customer(s) will be involuntarily denied boarding. We will confirm you
on the next Southwest Airlines flight to your destination with seats
available. If your alternative flight(s) is scheduled to arrive at
your destination or stopover point within two hours of your originally
scheduled flight(s), we will accept your ticket at no additional
charge, and you will be compensated. We will immediately issue a check
or, if you prefer, a travel voucher in an amount equal to the face
value of your remaining one-way flight coupon(s). The maximum amount
of involuntary denied boarding compensation is $400 under these
circumstances.
If your alternate flight(s) is scheduled to arrive at your destination
or stopover point more than two hours later than your originally
scheduled flight(s), your compensation will increase to an amount
equal to twice your remaining one-way flight coupon(s). In these
cases, the maximum amount of denied boarding compensation increases to
$800.
==========
> >> and they do not adhere to the "rules", which makes
> >> their tickets worthless for travel on any other airline.
>
> > This one I agree with, and it's annoying that they won't transfer your
> > ticket to another airline, but not participating in that agreement is
> > one of the ways they can offer cheaper tickets, and it's never
> > affected me personally, so I'm okay with it.
>
> The way they offer cheaper tickets is by trying to fill every seat on
> every flight. They do this by overbooking. Think about it. You are
> booking your "big WDW family vacation" months in advance and need
> flights. You call Delta and they have one seat available and the other
> three are standby only. You call SWA, and they offer to sell you four
> seats. Little do you realize that they are already 20 seats overbooked,
> whereas Delta was only 3.
<shrug> I understand what you're saying and I can understand why
that'd be a turnoff to you. But they don't IDB until they cannot get
any volunteers (which I've never seen happen) and they start IDB based
on checkin time, starting with the last one to check in. I always
checkin at exactly T-24 anyway, so the chances of me getting IDB'd are
slim. And in about 20 SW flights in the past 2-3 years, it's never
come close to happening. That includes directs and connecting
flights.
Regardless, thank you for explaining your position. I understand
everything you said. But none of it is enough to make me choose any
airline other than Southwest if I can at all help it.
Paul Lalli
Sandi Femino
Rudeney <rud...@mickeypics.com> wrote:
Are you saying your ticket was worthless since the flight was full?
I don't think that is the case now.
In all our flights with them, we twice have seen them have to bump, but
they have asked for volunteers and got more than they needed.
Once was out of Denver and once was out of Baltimore.
> To contrast that, I've had Delta foot the $700 bill to fly me home on US
> Air because they had equipment delays. And that was on a $200
> non-refundable ticket.
--
Paul Lalli
> In article <gnui2a$av...@rudeney.motzarella.org>,
> > My two biggest problems with SWA is that no matter what you do, you are
> > flying "standby" and they do not adhere to the "rules", which makes
> > their tickets worthless for travel on any other airline. I've been
> > stranded twice by them and had to pay $700+ to get home on another
> > airline. I swore I'd not do it again.
>
> Are you saying your ticket was worthless since the flight was full?
No, he's saying it's worthless *on another airline*. That is,
Southwest will force you to wait for the next *Southwest* flight with
an available seat to your destination. Most other carriers will get
you on another flight with another carrier if they have to.
Paul Lalli
Rudeney
> On Feb 23, 12:36 pm, Rudeney <rude...@mickeypics.com> wrote:
>> Paul Lalli wrote:
>>> On Feb 23, 11:15 am, Rudeney <rude...@mickeypics.com> wrote:
>>>> My two biggest problems with SWA is that no matter what you do, you are
>>>> flying "standby"
>>> I've seen you say this before and still don't understand why you make
>>> that claim. In what way are you "standby" on Southwest any more than
>>> you are on one of the legacies? Do you think that because you don't
>>> choose your seat until you're on the plane that makes you less of a
>>> "real" passenger somehow? I don't get it. You can be bumped off the
>>> flight on any airline, regardless of checkin confirmation and seat
>>> selection.
>> Rule-compliant airlines sell three types of tickets: assigned seats,
>> confirmed seats, and standby.
>
> Just out of curiousity, by what definition is this a "rule"? Surely
> it's not an actual law, as I doubt SWA is in violation of the law
> every moment of every day. So it sounds more like an agreements
> amongst certain airlines. Is that correct?
Yes, that's right, it's a "code-share rule", and airlines that choose to
code share must abide by them. SWA chooses not to code share so they do
not abide by the rules. Other airlines like Jet Blue also choose not to
code share.
>> In the case of SWA, you are taking the risk. They can (and often do)
>> oversell flights without ever mentioning it to the passengers buying
>> tickets.
>
> I would love to see statistics on oversold flights, but my 45 minutes
> of Googling returned nothing. I'm not doubting you, I would love to
> see some actual numbers.
About five years ago, I was at a conference where the VP of HR of SWA
spoke. I was seated at his table for lunch and I asked some questions
about this. He admitted that in the past SWA would grossly overbook
flights, often by more than 200% (i.e. selling more than twice as many
tickets as they had seats). They did this based on the habits of their
target customers, who tended not to be schedule-oriented business
professionals, but casual travelers who were more prone to missing
flights. He did tell me that they had since adjusted their overbooking
policy, but that they factor in a certain percentage of "bumped"
passengers.
The problem is, when you buy your ticket, you don't know if you are
going to be bumped or not. You won't find that out until after check-in
or even during boarding. By then, it may be too late to adjust your
travel plans. Couple that with SWA's limited scheduling and you can
have a real problem. At least with a code-share airline, as long as you
have a confirmed seat, they are required to do something to try to get
you where you are going, and that means you know have access to the full
schedule of flights from all code share airlines.
Yes, that's their policy. However, they have this little caveat called
"claiming your reservation". You won't be compensated unless you are
bumped *after* you claim your reservation. According to their terms,
"Your reservation is claimed when you check in for your flight at the
Skycap Podium, Ticket Counter, E-Ticket Check-In kiosks, departure gate,
or online at southwest.com." 99% of "bumps" are handled as you try to
claim your reservation. And that's where they say, "Sorry, no refund,
no compensation, but we'll try to put you on another flight". Also,
read their terms - in no cases do they compensate you for lodging, meals
or ground transportation. So, if you go to "claim your reservation" and
find that they cannot accommodate you on the flight, and it;s the last
flight of the day, it's your problem to find a place to stay until the
next day's flight. This has happened to me twice, although it was
before their newer policy of less overbooking.
>>>> and they do not adhere to the "rules", which makes
>>>> their tickets worthless for travel on any other airline.
>>> This one I agree with, and it's annoying that they won't transfer your
>>> ticket to another airline, but not participating in that agreement is
>>> one of the ways they can offer cheaper tickets, and it's never
>>> affected me personally, so I'm okay with it.
>> The way they offer cheaper tickets is by trying to fill every seat on
>> every flight. They do this by overbooking. Think about it. You are
>> booking your "big WDW family vacation" months in advance and need
>> flights. You call Delta and they have one seat available and the other
>> three are standby only. You call SWA, and they offer to sell you four
>> seats. Little do you realize that they are already 20 seats overbooked,
>> whereas Delta was only 3.
>
> <shrug> I understand what you're saying and I can understand why
> that'd be a turnoff to you. But they don't IDB until they cannot get
> any volunteers (which I've never seen happen) and they start IDB based
> on checkin time, starting with the last one to check in. I always
> checkin at exactly T-24 anyway, so the chances of me getting IDB'd are
> slim. And in about 20 SW flights in the past 2-3 years, it's never
> come close to happening. That includes directs and connecting
> flights.
Still, keep in mind that even though you have checked-in, you can still
not make a flight because of equipment problems, and because of their
sparse schedules in some cities, it may delay your travel by a day.
> Regardless, thank you for explaining your position. I understand
> everything you said. But none of it is enough to make me choose any
> airline other than Southwest if I can at all help it.
The one good thing I will say about SWA is that their employees tend to
be more friendly than other airlines. Still, for my needs, I prefer to
have the peace of mind in knowing what seat I have and that if something
goes wrong, I have other no-cost options for my travel. Now, if it were
between $1,200 on a code-share airline and $120 on SWA, I might choose
the latter, but that's not been the case for me. In fact, the biggest
difference I've found has been around $200. In fact, my last few
Orlando flights were actually cheaper on Delta than SWA. But of course
that varies by market and schedule.
Rudeney
>
> Are you saying your ticket was worthless since the flight was full?
> I don't think that is the case now.
SWA tickets are never worthless because SWA will honor them for another
flight.
> In all our flights with them, we twice have seen them have to bump, but
> they have asked for volunteers and got more than they needed.
> Once was out of Denver and once was out of Baltimore.
Twice I've been "bumped" on SWA. Once I was in Louisville on my way to
B'ham. This was in the days before online check-in. I presented myself
at the counter well over an hour ahead of departure and was told the
flight was "booked". Apparently, the flight was coming from Chicago,
stopping in L'ville, then B'ham on its way to New Orleans for Mardi Gras
and none of the Chicago passengers were deplaning in L'ville. It was
the last flight of the night and I was unable to get a hotel room nearby
. I ended up paying Delta (well, my cusotmer paid Delta) $700 to get me
home.
Another time, I was leaving B'ham and had an "A" boarding card. They
called for pre-boarding and nearly every passenger was traveling with an
elderly person or a child. The plan was full before the "regular"
passengers were called. I had an appointment to make so I, again, went
to Delta. This situations were so bad, one company I worked for (that
had 60,000+ employees worldwide) prohibited us from using SWA. They
said it didn't save us enough money to pay for the hassles of missed
appointments and lost productivity.
I know things are slightly better now, but like I mentioned to Paul, I
haven't seen too much of a price difference between SWA and competitive
code-share airlines. If I'm traveling on my own for pleasure, I'd
probably consider SWA if it were drastically less expensive, but I'd go
in knowing that I was flying "standby".
Sandi Femino
Rudeney <rud...@mickeypics.com> wrote:
> Twice I've been "bumped" on SWA. Once I was in Louisville on my way to
> B'ham. This was in the days before online check-in. I presented myself
> at the counter well over an hour ahead of departure and was told the
> flight was "booked". Apparently, the flight was coming from Chicago,
> stopping in L'ville, then B'ham on its way to New Orleans for Mardi Gras
> and none of the Chicago passengers were deplaning in L'ville. It was
> the last flight of the night and I was unable to get a hotel room nearby
> . I ended up paying Delta (well, my cusotmer paid Delta) $700 to get me
> home.
>
> Another time, I was leaving B'ham and had an "A" boarding card. They
> called for pre-boarding and nearly every passenger was traveling with an
> elderly person or a child. The plan was full before the "regular"
> passengers were called. I had an appointment to make so I, again, went
> to Delta. This situations were so bad, one company I worked for (that
> had 60,000+ employees worldwide) prohibited us from using SWA. They
> said it didn't save us enough money to pay for the hassles of missed
> appointments and lost productivity.
>
> I know things are slightly better now, but like I mentioned to Paul, I
> haven't seen too much of a price difference between SWA and competitive
> code-share airlines. If I'm traveling on my own for pleasure, I'd
> probably consider SWA if it were drastically less expensive, but I'd go
> in knowing that I was flying "standby".
I can certainly understand having those bad experiences and refusing to
deal with them again, and our travel is for leisure, not business, so
that makes a big difference too.
From the Boston market, Delta is often very competitive with SW.
In fact Southwest just announced they will fly out of Logan starting in
the fall. Hooray for competition, even though I very much prefer
Providence for easier access, cheaper parking and more reasonable hotel
costs if we decide to stay the night before our flight.
Both airports are about 75 miles from Cape Cod.
--
Laura Gilbreath
>haven't seen too much of a price difference between SWA and competitive
>code-share airlines. If I'm traveling on my own for pleasure, I'd
>probably consider SWA if it were drastically less expensive, but I'd go
>in knowing that I was flying "standby".
I always check Southwest's fares when I book - and 90% of the time for
me it's cheaper to book on Continental or Delta than it is on Southwest.
Even with the bag fees. AND I get a reserved seat. So they just
don't end up being cheaper for me - and I also don't have to deal
with the hassle of checking in exactly 24 hours in advance and all
of that.
Laura
**************************************************************************
Email: lgil at lgil dot net or remove "REMOVETHIS" from "Reply to" address.
Visit Tigger's Vacation Page:
http://www.travelswithtigger.com