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A-List Tier Qualifying Points

rick_flys_sw
Explorer C

I am flying over New Years, leaving in 12/28/18 and returning 1/1/19 on a purchased flight.  Will the TQP be applied to 2018 or 2019 or divided?

7 REPLIES 7

Re: A-List Tier Qualifying Points

dfwskier
Aviator A

Hello.

 

By my experience, points are added to your account after the return portion of a RT has been completed. On a RT, I've never seen points allocated for the out bound and in bound seperately, just a total for the RT.

 

Thus I believe the points will be added in 2019 and all will count towards 2019 qualifying.

 

If anyone knows differently, please chime in.

Re: A-List Tier Qualifying Points

DancingDavidE
Aviator A
Solution

@dfwskier wrote:

Hello.

 

By my experience, points are added to your account after the return portion of a RT has been completed. On a RT, I've never seen points allocated for the out bound and in bound seperately, just a total for the RT.

 

Thus I believe the points will be added in 2019 and all will count towards 2019 qualifying.

 

If anyone knows differently, please chime in.


Agreed - mainly that if you qualify based on flights, then the wording says "flights during a year" and I think it would be retroactive. For points, I believe the qualification is always when points post, which would be at the completion of the trip.

 

If it was necessary to squeeze those points into 2018, change the flight to separate one-ways. (Hopefully the price hasn't gone up too much....but it would be worth a little out of pocket upgrade to keep A-list.)

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: A-List Tier Qualifying Points

elijahbrantley
Aviator A

I also agree that the flights/points will not post until after the whole trip.

 

You can split the trips to ensure you get the outbound points in 2018!  You can do that online by cancelling the return flight, holding the funds, and using the funds to rebook the return leg separately; the danger in this is that the price may have gone up.

 

You could also call SW and see if the agents could simply split the reservation for you.  Not sure if they can, but it is worth a shot.

 

In the future, I would recommend booking any flights that straddle a calendar year separately.  With SW, there is never any penalty to book separately!

-A List, Companion Pass holder

Re: A-List Tier Qualifying Points

bec102896
Aviator A

2 years a go I noticed my last flight of the year to reach A List was a RT reservation so I was curious if I needed to book individual reservations and asked Southwest on Facebook and the agent told me each flight would count in the correct year once it posts to my account. He told me the main thing is I would not get the A List status until the flight posts which would be after all travel is complete so he told me if I wanted my A List status for the flight in January I should book each flight separately if that makes sense as the account would not show A List yet. 

 

After travel was complete i checked and the December flight posted for the 2016 status and the January flight posted for the new year status. I did have to call to get the 25% bonus for the January flight but they were able to verify I am A List and got that fixed with no problem. 

 

Here was the little conversation with Southwest on Facebook from back in the day (2016) 

 

Hi I was curious if I book a RT flight departing in 2016 with a return in 2017 will both flights count in 2017 or will the 1 flight go back to 2016 qualifying period?

 

Great question, Blake! Once you complete travel each flight will count within their corresponding year. For example, your outbound flight will be counted for 2016, and your return will be counted for 2017. -Grayson

 

hope this helps

Blake 

Re: A-List Tier Qualifying Points

chgoflyer
Aviator A


@bec102896 wrote:

2 years a go I noticed my last flight of the year to reach A List was a RT reservation so I was curious if I needed to book individual reservations and asked Southwest on Facebook and the agent told me each flight would count in the correct year once it posts to my account. He told me the main thing is I would not get the A List status until the flight posts which would be after all travel is complete so he told me if I wanted my A List status for the flight in January I should book each flight separately if that makes sense as the account would not show A List yet. 

 

After travel was complete i checked and the December flight posted for the 2016 status and the January flight posted for the new year status. I did have to call to get the 25% bonus for the January flight but they were able to verify I am A List and got that fixed with no problem. 

 

Here was the little conversation with Southwest on Facebook from back in the day (2016) 

 

Hi I was curious if I book a RT flight departing in 2016 with a return in 2017 will both flights count in 2017 or will the 1 flight go back to 2016 qualifying period?

 

Great question, Blake! Once you complete travel each flight will count within their corresponding year. For example, your outbound flight will be counted for 2016, and your return will be counted for 2017. -Grayson

 

hope this helps

Blake 




 

 

I believe this is true when qualifying for A-List via flight segments. 

 

When qualifying based on points, it's as previous posters have noted: points are granted at the completion of an itinerary, and if that straddles 2 years, all points will post in the new year.

 

Perhaps a rep can drop in here and clarify definitively?

Re: A-List Tier Qualifying Points

LindseyD
Retired Community Manager

@chgoflyer, what you've said is correct. If the reservation straddles two years, the flights will be applied to the years to which they correspond. If they are on the same reservation, the TQP from the outbound flight will be retroactively applied after the return flight is completed. 

 

Re: A-List Tier Qualifying Points

chgoflyer
Aviator A

@LindseyD wrote:

@chgoflyer, what you've said is correct. If the reservation straddles two years, the flights will be applied to the years to which they correspond. If they are on the same reservation, the TQP from the outbound flight will be retroactively applied after the return flight is completed. 


 

Hey, Lindsey! Thanks for the info. But... that's actually not what I'm saying. I'm saying the opposite. 😉

 

For many years, people have used a "hack" to move points into the upcoming year, vs earning them in the current one. (A primary reason would be if you wanted TQPs or CPQPs in the new year vs the current one, for example.)

 

This involved booking a round trip with an outbound in the current year and the return in the following one.

 

Southwest's system grants points upon the completion of the full itinerary, and (previously at least) those points from both flights would then be earned in, and apply to, the new year.

 

I haven't actually used this "hack" myself for several years, but discussion about it other places on the web indicate people still do, and that the belief is that it still works.

 

It sounds like you're saying that this is no longer the case? And now, in this scenario, the points will count for qualification in the year the flight was taken?

 

Or, are you talking about qualification via flight segments, not points? (You mentioned "TQP" which leads me to believe you mean points.)