If you only want EarlyBird on one flight I would suggest booking your trip as two one ways. That helps with other issues too, but not relevant to this conversation. You can then easily add EarlyBird to the one flight that you want and leave standard check-in on the other flight. If you put all four people on the same reservation (paying for them all in one transaction) then one check-in gets all four people checked in. If this is how you want to book it just select 4 passengers when searching for flights and then fill in all the passengers info when completing the booking. Hope that answers all your questions, --TheMiddleSeat
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@gsking wrote: Confused...we already get a combination of paid flight credit and spending credit. That's what the 125,000 point value is. Or you can get there with 100 paid flights, regardless of the point value. You're still describing a situation that requires earning either 100% of the points required OR 100% of the flights required. How you earn the points is irrelevant. In my opinion a combination option that allowed for something such as only 50 flights AND 70,000 points earned would be a nice alternative. --TheMiddleSeat
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@jksobonya wrote: Who takes off their shoes on an airplane??? --Jessica Only acceptable if wearing socks and shoes go back on if you get up from your seat. --TheMiddleSeat
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@sueadtjax wrote: This is a frequent issue on the ATLANTA TO JACKSONVILLE run. My suggestion would be to take the beverage order before take off as you customarily are sitting on a non-active tarp waitinf to get onto a runway in Atlanta or just offer small bottled water. I'm pretty sure flight attendants are directed to sit down and buckle up as soon as possible after push back. I don't think providing drink service is considered vital enough to outweigh the safety risk. Bringing your own beverage on board is a great alternative. --TheMiddleSeat
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@sueadtjax wrote: I find the increase from $110,000 to $125,000 spend an unusually high jump. Perhaps a more acceptable compromise would be a combination of PAID flights and annaul spend. The change is from 110,000 points to 125,000 points, and is not an increase of $15,000 dollars. Strictly speaking of earning points through flying, a flyer earns a minimum of 6 points per dollar on a Wanna Get Away fare, up to 12 points per dollar on a Business Select fare. Add in the additional points per dollar earned if the flight was purchased on a Southwest credit card and the points add up pretty quickly. Then factor in the multitude of additional ways to earn Rapid Rewards points and the additional 15,000 points can be obtained rather easily. Yes, the system is currently either points earned or flights flown and not a combination of the two which would be a nice option. --TheMiddleSeat
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@dfwskier wrote: @markholmes22 wrote: Eventually there will be no reason to fly Southwest exclusively. Really? I would fly SW just to avoid the fees charged by other airlines -- saves me thousands of $/year. Bags fly free. Generally lower prices. Free drinks and snacks. Friendly service. Easy to earn free flights. None of those count? --TheMiddleSeat
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Buy one get one free airline tickets should be a hard status to get. In my opinion it had become too easy to acquire a Companion Pass with all the credit card bonuses and sign-up offers. As @dfwskier mentions, it wouldn't surprise me if Chase increased their bonuses so there's no impact to the cardholder, but Southwest makes more money from Chase who buys the points from Southwest. --TheMiddleSeat
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Yes, all Rapid Rewards points currently in your account will never expire. --TheMiddleSeat
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10-17-2019
11:33 AM
10-17-2019
11:33 AM
If you're continuing to earn A-List or A-List Preferred status every year, what's the difference between what you are doing now and having it as a lifetime status? Sure, at some point you'll probably stop traveling as much and lose the status and also won't necessarily need the status because you're flying less. With a status as easy to achieve as A-List is I just don't see the need for a lifetime status except for people to claim superiority over others. While you pointed out the "negative" changes to the Rapid Rewards program, you omitted the fact that Rapid Rewards points will now no longer expire or require activity to remain active. That's a great positive change. Lastly, having a lifetime status doesn't prevent other airlines from devaluing that status, something the legacy carriers all continue to do while Southwest has added benefits such as the same day free standby. --TheMiddleSeat
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In this era when airlines are cutting back perks or even eliminating them I don't think upping the points required to earn Companion Pass is too bad of a change if it means the perk continues to exist. Yes, it could be improved, but could also be eliminated. --TheMiddleSeat
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10-17-2019
11:19 AM
10-17-2019
11:19 AM
@KelbyTansey is this information available yet? --TheMiddleSeat
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There's currently no way to view points from multiple accounts in one view or to pool them, but that doesn't mean you can't use them for different people. A Rapid Rewards account holder can redeem their points for flights for anyone. So in a family example Mom could redeem points for her ticket and the ticket for one child while Dad uses his points for his ticket and another child. Going into more detail, if dad only had enough points for his own roundtrip and half the points required for the child's roundtrip, he could book all flights as one way, buying route A-B for himself and child, and the return B-A for just himself. Then Mom can use her points to book the remaining B-A for the child. It's pooling without officially being called pooling. If you are a few points short you can always buy them, but that's never the cheapest option. Hope that helps, --TheMiddleSeat
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@bec102896 wrote: I wonder if the extra government fees we will have to pay for same day standby will include the segment fees and passenger usage fee (like if I go from a non stop to a flight with a connection) or does that mainly just affect international travel taxes? I read it as the extra fees that would be incurred if switching from a nonstop to a flight between the same city pair with a connection. This could be either domestic or international. I also found this specific mention interesting: "If an A-List or A-List Preferred Member is traveling on a multiple-Passenger reservation, same-day standby and priority standby will not be provided for non-A-List or non-A-List Preferred Members in the same reservation." I don't recall it being so clearly spelled out before which led to the gate agent making a decision to allow it or not. Perhaps it will be strictly enforced now? Overall, I believe these are positive, sensible changes. --TheMiddleSeat
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If "just bought" is less than 24 hours ago cancel the ticket, get a refund NOT travel funds, then rebook. Hopefully you didn't use an ex boyfriend's last name. --TheMiddleSeat
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@chgoflyer I wish you had been able to hear the presentation from one of Southwest's Chief Pilots at Southwest last week, it was super informative and VERY reassuring. --TheMiddleSeat
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I'm not totally familiar with the process, but my understanding is your status is reflected on your dashboard. Maybe you can check there to ensure the status matches what the email says? Good luck! --TheMiddleSeat
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Fingers crossed the Max returns to service sooner than later. --TheMiddleSeat
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You should also know Southwest is discontinuing the senior fare as of December 11, 2019. As @dfwskier mentioned the Wanna Get Away fare is usually much cheaper so unless you absolutely need full refundability it doesn't make much sense to buy the senior fare if a Wanna Get Away fare is available. --TheMiddleSeat
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Reports I've read indicate Chase is sending out coupons after major milestones such as 5 or 10 years of being a cardholder. The annual anniversary coupons are no longer sent out. --TheMiddleSeat
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Regarding temperatures, you may actually find the plane to be too hot at times. My experience is the evening flights tend to have the heat cranked up so I'm shedding layers and scrambling to put them back on when getting off the plane. Morning flights, especially first flight of the day could be very cold to begin with, although there is a minimum temperature maintained overnight to keep the instruments working properly. --TheMiddleSeat
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Without a seat directly in front of you there's more room for your knees. To me that's the only positive difference between the bulkhead seats and every other seat. Personally, I really dislike sitting in the first row for a few reasons: -There's no tray table in front of you, it comes out of the arm rest which I find gets in the way. -No space to store a bag under the seat in front of you. Everything must go in the overheard bin which may not be accessible during the flight. -Less legroom. Sounds odd, but I prefer to stretch my legs straight out under the seat in front of me. If I try to stretch out in the first row I hit the wall and can't fully extend. -Highly unlikely you'll have an empty middle seat (unless you love the middle seat as I do). You're almost guaranteed to have a full row as people seem to sacrifice personal space to get a spot in the first row. Go back a few rows and you may have a whole row to yourself, or at least an empty middle seat. -Less shoulder space. Many people don't realize the cabin actually narrows inward in the first few rows of the plane. Since the aisle width remains constant throughout the plane that means the shoulder space on the window seats in those front rows is actually less than seats further back. You can see this curve of the plane if you are further back. -More traffic. While there's no forming a line for the bathroom in the front, there's still lots of people walking by and lots of noise in the galley. If you're trying to sleep it's more difficult up front. So, in my opinion you're not missing anything. --TheMiddleSeat
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@Dave37 maybe you should provide more details about your problem as I suggested before. --TheMiddleSeat
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@byrdbrain591 gotcha.... You can read more about the entertainment options and see how to connect in 4 steps on this site: https://www.southwest.com/wifi/#get-connected You'll definitely want to download the Southwest app onto your device before you go on the trip. It's all pretty simple, but shout if you have any questions. --TheMiddleSeat
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@byrdbrain591 are you just curious? Planning a trip and thinking about options? I think live TV is very popular during football season and I was just watching playoff baseball earlier this week. Often I'll bring my tablet with downloaded Netflix and Amazon Prime Video shows as an alternative and I do love when I can get a good nap in. --TheMiddleSeat
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Good info, thanks for sharing! --TheMiddleSeat
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I believe in the days before the mandatory 24 cancelation window existed you could put a reservation on hold over the phone then complete the purchase later at the ticket counter, which would line up with what this customer was trying to do. That is no longer an option so much of the discussion is now irrelevant. Cash, and all other forms of payment, is accepted at the airport counter, but the purchase must be completed in one transaction/interaction. --TheMiddleSeat
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Ouch, that would be very unfortunate if you're only given the one chance to take the call. Have you been able to get back in touch with the recruiter? Hope you can get back in the queue! --TheMiddleSeat
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10-09-2019
09:18 AM
10-09-2019
09:18 AM
While it doesn't appear anyone had any tips for you, are you able to provide tips for others who might be in a similar situation? --TheMiddleSeat
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Fingers crossed you received good news. If not, keep trying. --TheMiddleSeat
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