Southwest Will Not Honor Website-Advertised Rate Reduction

[dobsonp34]

I booked a flight from MHT to ABQ for 8/9/2024 using points. The web site currently shows that I can re-book that flight and get 637 points refunded. It's been showing this for several days.

I re-booked it a couple days ago only to discover it re-booked at the same rate. Southwest refunded all the points and then charged my account the same number of points. The transaction appeared to be successful, I got the confirmation email, etc. No indication that the transaction did nothing.

I tried again today and the same thing happened. I called and submitted a complaint. They refuse to acknowledge any of it. They just keep telling me the fare for that flight is unchanged even though the website shows the discount. Super frustrating.

I want Southwest to honor what their web site is STILL SHOWING.

Here is the screen shot:

See flight 2996? Southwest WILL NOT HONOR the advertised rate on that flight. They tell me all the other flights are accurate but NOT that one. Really? I am so fed up with this BS.

[SoCalFlyer97 · Accepted solution]

Hello-

Sorry to hear you're having trouble re-pricing your flight. This forum is customer-to-customer; thus we won't be able to directly review your bookings nor what is causing the system to not re-price your changed flight. I ran into a similar price drop scenario last fall and had no problem re-pricing the booking (from originally -11,707 points to -10,936). Not sure what is causing your fare difference to not process properly. I would doublecheck the following one more time:

1. Do a fresh price check of the dates/origin destination pairs again via Southwest's website but run it as if you're booking a new flight and document/screenshot the total points quoted (Hopefully the lower fare is still there when you check!). In my case I was quoted 10,936 points. Don't run this price check via the "Change Flight" module as this module will show the difference in fare.

2. Compare the points you were quoted with the total points that were debited on your last re-priced booking (This is in the "Your Change is Confirmed" email; scroll to the bottom of the email and confirm the points paid matches the points that were quoted on the website. Note that this will not show in the original "You're going to..." confirmation email.

If you don't have access to these emails, you can always log into your Rapid Rewards account and view the transaction history to verify from there.

3. If the points match, transaction should be good and you should be all set. If the points on the website are still quoting lower than what you paid for on the last transaction (ie. You still paid the original higher fare than what is now quoted on the website), try running the Change Flight module once more.

4. If that still fails and you still paid the higher amount, it's possible there may be a serious glitch in the booking system related to your reservation. I would then try totally scrapping the original booking (i.e.: Cancel Flight) and do a fresh booking under a brand new confirmation number to see if you can lock in the lower pricing...Thank goodness that Southwest charges zero fees to cancel and rebook flights.

If this workaround works, I suspect that the issue was a major glitch which should be emailed directly to Southwest Customer Relations so their IT team can review and repair this.

Give this a try and let us know if this does the trick. 

[DancingDavidE]

---

@SoCalFlyer97 wrote:

4. If that still fails and you still paid the higher amount, it's possible there may be a serious glitch in the booking system related to your reservation. I would then try totally scrapping the original booking (i.e.: Cancel Flight) and do a fresh booking under a brand new confirmation number to see if you can lock in the lower pricing...Thank goodness that Southwest charges zero fees to cancel and rebook flights.

---

Since points are refundable this would be a great option as long as OP didn't purchase EBCI.

[bballflyer]

Was the time on your flight adjusted after you purchased it and you are eligible for a free itinerary change?  If that was the case when you go to change it it will not give a reduce price you have to cancel and rebook to get the lower price; however since your screen shot actually shows a negative amount I am guessing this is not the situation because it would show zero amount;