12-18-2019
04:26 PM
12-18-2019
04:26 PM
@holimukei wrote: We're flying and over 70. We've done this before at another airport and while we were in B and C groups with pretty good numbers, the younger folks with later numbers ended up boarding before we did and taking either aisle or window seats (we like the same row, and one of each.) While the jet bridge is tied up with people stowing luggage, the sprint through the back means they have boarding priority. We bought early check in numbers but now find that that may be a waste of money. I've began to recognize it by what it is... faster loading for the airlines and AGE discrimination, prohibited here in California. Guess finding a good lawyer should be our next stop after we get back from Christmas... sad I've only heard of this at a couple of airports, if you were flying in California it may have been Burbank where I've observed this. I've heard of FLL having some gates that do this as well but not seen it in person there. You should try the customer relations phone number if you are interested to pursue with Southwest any further about your purchase of early bird or boarding position.
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12-18-2019
12:44 PM
12-18-2019
12:44 PM
@Alagirl wrote: I used this function on my phone for the first time today. Did this also contain my husbands boarding pass? His name is included as a passenger. So if I show the pass on my phone it takes care of him also? Are you on the same confirmation code? My recollection is fuzzy that this capability was added last year to allow multiple passengers on the same confirmation to work on the app. If separate confirmations then no, you would each login to your own rapid rewards account or else he can forward you his pass to add to your iOS wallet or android equivalent.
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Those churros sound amazing! @rachaelh wrote: Which airport should I fly info for Disneyland? Southwest Airlines flies to: LAX - Los Angeles (about an hour drive to Disneyland) Burbank (about an hour drive to Disneyland) Long Beach (about a 30-minute drive to Disneyland) Ontario (about a 45-minute drive to Disneyland) SNA - John Wayne / Orange County (about a 30-minute drive to Disneyland) San Diego (about a 2-hour drive to Disneyland) ...<snip> You should plan on anywhere from a 30-60 minute drive from the airport to Disneyland (and vice versa) regardless of the airport you book through. California traffic can be nasty! Make sure you give yourself lots of wiggle room (especially if you are driving in the afternoon). Have you been to Disneyland during the holidays? Do you have a favorite Disneyland travel tip? A ride that should not be missed or a favorite spot to grab a snack? Tell us in the comments! We flew to SNA and it was quite a bit easier to navigate, get a rental car, etc. than LAX - especially if returning a rental and depending on the time of day I'd plan for 60 to 90 minutes or more for LAX as well as Burbank which I've flown to for business is an easy airport but all the way across downtown from Disneyland. My wife also did make a Long Beach visit while I was at a conference and it was easy although she didn't go during rush hour. Great tips, thanks for posting!
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@hobovr wrote: Received the message below from SWASurprise&Delight@swasurpriseanddelight.com Is this a scam? Let's Get Connected! For choosing us, we are choosing you-to celebrate! Enjoy the free WiFi on your trip. Use the code below to access the onboard WiFi for your upcoming flight. Southwest has had this type of program and used the terminology before although I had only heard of Surprise and Delight given in person. I would lean towards "legit" based on the fact that there isn't any phishing link - you'll either get the code to work or it won't...there's no opportunity to collect your info other than any graphics that might be in the email or other embedded malware. Entering the code itself when you get onboard I think you may find this to be a legitimate bonus for flying Southwest, as long as you don't have to enter any personal info to claim the code why not try it?
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I think the rankings skew a bit towards the needs of business flyers, and I'm also disappointed that MDW doesn't seem to be getting credit for the new restaurants yet - maybe Yelp! isnt the best way to source that data. Anyway, here is the think in case anyone would like to discuss. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-best-and-worst-u-s-airports-of-2019-11573658675?mod=e2fb Depending if you have already read your quota of free WSJ articles already it should be free to read.
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@Biff215 wrote: I have travel funds from this past year. They total over $600 for the four of us, but they are split into four separate amounts for each of us due to a flight change and several price changes. Now we're not able to use all of the travel funds since Southwest limits you to three payment types per passenger, meaning I can only use two of the four credits per person. The website chooses the lower amounts automatically, meaning I lose out on a majority of the funds (about $200). Has anyone run into this before? They were unable to help me on the phone, I'm just trying to see if there is any hope of using these credits on one flight. Thanks in advance for any help! Brian The unofficial workaround is to book a flight that is the same value as two or three of the funds (or as close as you can find and throw in a little cash or forfeit a small amount of travel fund), cancel that flight into a new fund that will have the earliest expiration of the combined funds, and then use the consolidated fund plus cash to book your desired travel. You would have to do this separately for each person to have their own consolidated fund.
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@tinefaye77 wrote: Thank you for your feedback. Does it mean 50lbs each luggage? So I can check in 6 luggages for the 3 of us weighing 50lbs each luggage? Sample: I have 2 luggages which weighs 50lbs each (which makes it 100lbs). That is a total of 300lbs for each passenger for the 3 of us? Thanks again. No - up to 100 lbs per person in the form of up to two 50 lb bags each. If only one bag is checked by a passenger then the limit will be 50 lbs, that passenger doesn't get the unused allowance. To clarify a heavier bag than 50 lbs is allowed, but you must pay an overweight bag fee. The FREE limit is 1 or 2 bags per person, each bag weighs 50 lbs or less individually.
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@johnjam101 wrote: Any tips or ideas on getting from Sacramento Airport SMF to either Auburn Ca. or Nevada City/ Grass Valley, CA. ? Uber seems expensive. I don't have first-hand knowledge of this area, just poking around on Google - there does seem to be a public transit option to Auburn that takes 2+ hours. SuperShuttle shares rides can also be a more economical method for single travelers. The fee is per person, so by the time you have a couple travelers Uber or Lyft may be competitive. Anothet strategy I use sometimes is to take public transit as far as I can, and then Uber or Lyft from there to avoid congestion at the airport. My limited visits to SMF I didn't think it was that bad compared to MDW for instance. The Uber fee is what I have to pay more or less to get from my house to MDW and I live "in town" so $40-$50 doesn't seem prohibitive to me for that distance and time. I didn't scope any of these for Grass Valley though, just Auburn. Anyway: Cliff Notes version see if Super Shuttle can do it for $20 +/-
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@gbfinancial wrote: No where on the itineray I was given when I booked a flight did it say that my direct flight from Indianapolis to Dallas was going through Chicago. When a flight says non-stop.... I think @bec102896 nailed it referring to direct vs non-stop. The only other clarification may be that sometimes the schedule does change after booking and if that's the case you have one opportunity to call and reschedule to a non-stop flight if any suit your schedule. Southwest will have tried to match your timing as best they could including direct or connecting flights. It sounds like the issue may be direct vs non-stop though - check your booking confirmation and see if it is the same flight number as shown today.
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@Angie12 wrote: Non stop flights are sometimes more boring and more tireness thing if the travel is long but in the other case if the travel is not so long then it should be non stop flight and for best cheap flights you can find here on the website by finding great cheap flights sites. FYI Southwest does not sell flights on these third-party webpages.
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Just to clarify 50.1 lbs and you (might) pay...you may want to weigh them at home if you think you are close. They don't average them together, so two at 50.0 is better than one at 49 and one at 51 (pay). Time permitting you will have a chance to re-arrange or take some items into your carry on and re-weigh. I did this once for one time at PHX at 50.5 and one at 48.5 - spread it all out on the sidewalk and got two at 49.5 lbs FTW.
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@Tjbdab wrote: Help ! I am having trouble understanding the Companion Pass. I earned a pass when I got my Chase Rapid Rewards charge card after spending $3000...I am short a few thousand points. I was wondering if I could transfer points from my Chase Saphire Preferred card to get the points I need to get my companion pass. My statement date is Dec 15. Any help would be greatly appreciated...Thank you I don't think that transferring points is eligible. A few thousand points could be earned from Rocketmiles, or taking a RT points run that earns that much (Business Select to earn 6,000 points = $500 spend) - both of these options earn based on date of travel. Here is the full guide of what does and doesn't quality: https://www.southwest.com/html/rapidrewards/eoy-tier-communication.html
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@susanmanner wrote: I want to thank everyone for your input. I wanted to report that we had an AMAZING agent in MSP who took care of us. He did put HNL as the final destination and our bags arrived as expected. We purchased entry to the OAK Escape Lounge off Groupon. The purchase was for a 3 hr stay but it wasn’t busy and we were not asked to leave. It was well worth the purchase price. Glad to hear it worked out!
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12-09-2019
09:50 AM
12-09-2019
09:50 AM
@vscamp wrote: I spoke with Chase and they say they cannot or will not help. Is there any higher authority at Southwest that I might be able to make an appeal. We were so looking forward to our requalification for 2020. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Chase has to be the first try. If they can't/won't make additional changes then you should consider other options: 1) Rocketmiles would be one option to get some big points right away. It's a premium over other booking methods to get the points, but if in your example you thought CP was worth $1000 to you, it would be worth spending some extra on a hotel room to get the points this period. 2) review the end of year guide to see some other methods of earning points that accrue in the year is the activity and not according to the statement. 3) make a business select points run - depending on your location make a day trip one of the upcoming weekend days, the 12x points are very powerful if you are in range for a couple of one-way flights to close the gap - plus you get the points right away. Good luck!
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@ksbrg wrote: My wife and I are taking a day trip (9a-4p) to Chicago on Saturday. It's our first time to this city, so we need some recos on travel, food, museums, whatever! Christkindlmarket is open too in Daley Plaza, check out the Picasso and grab some gluewein and schnitzel. I should mention for the Art Institute in my other post there is a huge Warhol exhibit right now that is extremely popular, so you may need to look into tickets as opposed to walking up. The Bean. Architectural walking tour if it isn't too cold - I think the River version may be closed by December unfortunately which would be my no-brainer recommendation when you come back in warmer weather. You can visit one of several architectural exhibits though at the Cultural Center and also at the Architecture Center on Wacker.
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That's a tight window with so many things to choose from! Lunch sounds like a no-brainer but we'll need to narrow down what else you want to do. The Art Institute is one of the great museums in town that will have items you can't see elsewhere. Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, Field Museum, or even Musuem of Science and Industry are all good as well but you may have similar musuems available to you and with appeal to kids. Terzo Piano in the museum is great, but there are also numerous good places for lunch on Michigan Avenue nearby or into the loop. Orange Line can get you from MDW to the loop area if you'll be touristing there. I like both 875 N. Michigan (f/k/a John Hancock Center) observatory or lounge, and of course Willis Tower (f/k/a Sears Tower) has a great observatory as well. Willis is more convenient to the Orange Line. Anyway - narrow down the interest in a few attractions first and then we can talk restaurants.
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12-03-2019
10:10 AM
12-03-2019
10:10 AM
@Dahlken wrote: This is sad that an airline has become so greedy. I have a flight coming up that I just had the other party cancel on me. After I bought the tix. And you are refusing to even give me credit? You can bet that this will be the LAST time I, my family, my friends, my band, I'll even remind my enemies to avoid the ripoff policies of this airline and fly with ANY OTHER. Is this policy different in the other airlines? I'm honestly not sure about change of passengers. At least with change fees that may be as much as what you paid for the WGA fare - when you are reminding all those people make sure to remind them about change fees and baggage fees.
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Make sure everything you said here is included in the online report, and also if you have the serial number saved somewhere add that to the report as well, that seems to be a strong variable for those that have come back on the community to say that they retrieved their electronics items.
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11-27-2019
03:45 PM
11-27-2019
03:45 PM
@TheMiddleSeat wrote: You didn't specify the original date of purchase, but it does sound like it was several years ago. Without some exception to the rules those funds are expired, as you have found out. It's worth writing to Southwest about, but I wouldn't count on the funds being reinstated. Agree with @TheMiddleSeat I think you should have a "Plan B" where asking for travel funds to be extended may be a hard thing for most people you talk with to do., but one of those people may be able to offer you a LUV voucher to offset your experience although not necessarily the whole amount. I'd have something in mind that would make you feel better...$100 or $150 perhaps if not the whole $183. This allows them to keep the rules intact (funds are not extended) but offer a customer retention gesture. i wish you had gotten a better answer back in 2017, then you may have been able to call and ask for a refund submitting the documentation in advance since the timeline to fly was unknown and could be years. Good luck, and congratulations on your transplant. if customer relations is not able to help you I will second @dfwskier suggestion to write a letter.
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11-27-2019
08:14 AM
11-27-2019
08:14 AM
@dfwskier wrote: @bec102896 wrote: I usually go for the exit row window/aisle if they are taken I'll go back towards the last row because that's usually where I might find the 1 open middle seat because who wants to be in the very back if they can be in the middle of the plane. -Blake My experience is that on very full planes, rows 2, 3 and 4 are the rows likely to have empty middle seats. Why? Most late boarders follow the leader towards the back of the plane to find seats. When they find none, they start heading forward and are instructed to take the first available seat. So there are times that late boarders fill up middle seats from the back to the front of the plane. Some late boarders are astute enough to grab a middle seat up front. I've noticed fewer of them than those mentioned in the preceeding paragraph. Agree @dfwskier the front third of the plane is Southwest's "hidden first class" likely to have an open middle - IMO because the bin space fills up so those late boarders with carry-on keep heading to the back and once they find bin space they take the next available seat as they head forwards. On a moderately full plane then good chance for an open middle seat in the way back as well.
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11-23-2019
07:51 AM
11-23-2019
07:51 AM
@pfrangie wrote: Has anyone successfully pulled this off without being an elitist? By elitist I mean not just being a member and having a credit card. I didn't see this part before - in the past they had allowed more of this assuming you hadn't already checked luggage - if you checked luggage they want you to travel with it - but always with preference for the frequent flyers.
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11-23-2019
07:33 AM
11-23-2019
07:33 AM
@TheMiddleSeat wrote: Southwest offers free standby to its frequent flyers as a nice perk to reward them. If you view that as elitist then that's your opinion. Status has its benefits on all airlines, including how they handle standby and schedule changes. Every airline has a similar form of this @pfrangie with some variation as to how the fares are sold. For Southwest when there are only a few seats left they may save those for standby from the regulars and not allow a free change to them. If there were a large amount of empty seats they may let you on even though the rules say that the fare difference must be paid. Anyway - I hope you found O'Brycki's at BWI - I actually try for a longer layover at BWI when connecting there so I have time to eat some crab cakes. You may not have been in the mood after the international travel though.
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Be sure to mention the HNL destination since it is a known issue that there aren't bookings straight through from non west coast locations - that should help prompt the agent at MSP that they should try to help you out. The four hour thing also can be flexible, so even if you do have to recheck at OAK they may take them earlier but the 30 minutes messing around that way will eat into your long layover. Assuming all goes well and the luggage is checked through (verify the tags at MSP!) ) you can take the BART to an interesting part of Oakland or Berkeley to walk around. Getting back and forth to SF will use up more time but not impossible if you just have one or two things to see or eat.
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I recommend to check with TSA as well. They prefer not to have wrapped presents, particularly if anything was of a questionable shape or had lithium batteries they may have had to open the contents. I assume you had ID tag somewhere on the bag as well but if that falls off during an investigation TSA or Southwest wouldn't know where to send it. The next time you call make sure Southwest has a description of the contents in case the ID tag has been lost and your luggage can be identified by its description. Check the baggage office phone number as well in case the luggage does show up at DEN but isn't updated in the database.
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@Karame08 wrote: Hi there! This will be my first time traveling with Southwest. My husband, my two children and myself are flying to DAL. I was wondering if Southwest will allow two carseats in one carseat protective bag? I'm trying to avoid spending 40 dollars when I can just spend 20 lol. If they fit comfortably in the blue bag I don’t think it matters. We’ve placed multiple items in a bag before as long as it doesn’t make it too hard to handle should be fine. Car seat and click and ride for example, or car seat plus car seat base. If you find cheaper bags for sale elsewhere that is fine as well, you don’t have to use the Southwest bags. @Karame08 wrote: Also, I was wondering how people transport the carseats through the airport? I have a 3 year old And a 7 month old. We don’t - unless you need the car sears to transport kiddos in the airport or airplane we would check the blue bags (and everything else) at curbside before parking, then one parent and kiddos head into the airport and one adult parks the car and catches up. One caveat is that if you find the flight to have many open seats the gate agent may suggest you to bring the car seat on for the 7 month old even if the kid is a lap child. You can’t do this on full flights without buying a ticket for the child though. In that case you’d have to gate check. I have seen a wheeled fold up wireframe cart before that can be used to carry the car seat with kid in it, and i did find that our Graco snug ride fits onto a smarte carte as if it were made for this purpose.
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@SWDigits wrote: Here is the wording for family boarding: "General boarding starts with Business Select customers, who are guaranteed positions at the front of the A Group, followed by Rapid Rewards tier Members and the remaining Customers in the A Group, two adults with children age six and under, then groups B and C. Learn more about our boarding process." Source: https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/airport-experience/index.html I personally wouldn't pay for EarlyBird boarding if I were to fly on Southwest under a scenario where I qualified for family boarding. I think OP is saying that Family Boarding should be slotted after all Early Birds - some EBCI will get A-positions and go before families but others that end up with B-1 or later get slotted after families.
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11-16-2019
06:11 PM
11-16-2019
06:11 PM
@spacecoastbill wrote: Because airlines regularly allow employees of other airlines to fly at no cost. It is a reciprical agreement. i haven't heard of them having reciprocal agreement, they don't for passengers for sure. @spacecoastbill wrote: I was on a flight where there were several SWA FAs deadheading and I noticed a pilot from a regional carrier in the waiting area, they called her over and had her preboard with them. I haerd them talking about our desitnation and the other airline employee said she was going there to fly out. Like all other jobs, membership has its perks. The preboarding could be thrown in as a gesture, the ticket isn't the same.
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11-16-2019
05:56 PM
11-16-2019
05:56 PM
@Abcramer wrote: My luggage was lost when the baggage clerk in Fort Lauderdale Miss-tagged them and it went to Nashville while I headed to Chicago. They promised to flip it back to me when it arrived in Nashville and I would have my bag just after midnight. It is now 3am and I have nothing. The claim phone number doesn't answer and when I called reservations and was transferred to central baggage I'll I got was the I'm so sorry dance and there's no updates. Now I am on eternal hold for a supervisor that I am guessing will never come on the line. I guess the heart logo is just a picture on the side of a plane because I am getting no love during this ordeal. Did you wait at MDW or head on into town?
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@jwallace wrote: Hi all! This might be an item that's at the discretion of the checkin folks, but I figure I'd ask anyway. I've got an upcoming short flight with my 14mo old. The problem is I don't have the physical birth certificate on hand -- it's in the hands of the State Department while we're waiting on a passport for kiddo and I don't expect to see it back until a couple weeks after the flight. I do have a fairly good photo of the birth certificate on my phone -- heck I could even print it out. Is that apt to fly with the checkin counter folks? Obviously, I can print out any assorted medical records as well. Just trying to see if I can skip a stop at the local county office to buy another birth certificate. If the child will be traveling as a lap child you'll need proof of age (to show the kid is under 2) which they may accept a photo of the birth certificate, you can also use any recent medical records fell check up or immunization. The same would apply flying on a Child Fare. Using a Wanna Get Away fare would not need any ID although we always stashed a duplicate in the diaper bag anyway. My suggestion would be to print out the photo of the birth certificate if you go that route to have a paper copy instead of showing it on your phone for ease of passing it around to check in desk or TSA.
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