Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

[pooch]

This is the main reason I moved my trip to November. Flying is gonna be risky enough without adding a couple hours in an airport to the mix.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Running into an interesting dilemma. Since the vouchers go to the person, both my husband and I have vouchers under our RR accounts. I thought we both needed RR accounts and made them awhile back but maybe that was the wrong move? I didn't think I could find his vouchers under mine and claim the points. Maybe I messed something up but I'm realizing now I'll have to pay like $230 to transfer or book separate tickets when we do our trip but we NEED to be seated together so it looks like the transfer fee may have to happen

When we have different BG numbers due to purchasing tickets separately, we line up with the higher number. E.g. if we get B2 and B40, we both line up together in the B40 spot

 

[MinnieMSue]

When we have different BG numbers due to purchasing tickets separately, we line up with the higher number. E.g. if we get B2 and B40, we both line up together in the B40 spot

yes this is correct people cannot board together at the lower number - they must at the highest number of they have nonsequential numbers.

 

[TLSnell1981]

This is the main reason I moved my trip to November. Flying is gonna be risky enough without adding a couple hours in an airport to the mix.

There is no guarantee they won't drop the nonstops for later this year. We are also contending with expiring season passes.

 

[focusondisney]

Non stops changed to layovers. What a headache. This trip has already changed twice. Is the third time charmed?

Hope you have better luck than we did. After they moved our flights for the third time, they cancelled our whole itinerary. There are still flights available on our dates, but when our nonstop flight down was changed for the 2nd time, they just cancelled us. I didn’t fight it because realistically we would need to cancel anyway.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Hope you have better luck than we did. After they moved our flights for the third time, they cancelled our whole itinerary. There are still flights available on our dates, but when our nonstop flight down was changed for the 2nd time, they just cancelled us. I didn’t fight it because realistically we would need to cancel anyway.

I’m curious, if Southwest cancels your flights completely, do they reimburse your original form if payment or do they still issue you a travel credit even though it was they who cancelled you rather than rerouting?

 

[shoreward]

I’m curious, if Southwest cancels your flights completely, do they reimburse your original form if payment or do they still issue you a travel credit even though it was they who cancelled you rather than rerouting?

If Southwest cancels your flight, you have the right to request a refund to your original form of payment. However, EBCI is not included; they will issue a LUV Voucher for the reimbursement of those charges, if you request it.

 

[focusondisney]

I’m curious, if Southwest cancels your flights completely, do they reimburse your original form if payment or do they still issue you a travel credit even though it was they who cancelled you rather than rerouting?

If Southwest cancels your flight, you have the right to request a refund to your original form of payment. However, EBCI is not included; they will issue a LUV Voucher for the reimbursement of those charges, if you request it.

I actually noticed the cancelled itinerary before they notified me. We were booked with points, so I knew I would get those back. I called said I wanted a refund of my fees & the EBCI. The agent told me he would refund the fees no problem, but the EBCI was nonrefundable & they usually give a LUV voucher. I said that was not acceptable. I understood if I was the one that canceled, I wouldn’t get that money back. But SW cancelled my whole itinerary & I wanted a refund. It was a bit of back & forth with him saying he “would try his best” but didn’t know if he would be able to, because of the computer programming. While I nicely but firmly said I would not accept a voucher, I already have plenty of SW funds that need to be used & I didn’t want anymore. And since it was SW who cancelled & not me, I am aware I am entitled to a full refund and that would include my EBCI fees.

He did work on it for a few minutes. After a bit he had some difficulty & put me on hold for about 15-20 minutes. When he cam back, he said the funds had somehow been tied up, “behind a wall” & he had to get IT to free them up so he could access them. He did indeed refund both the fees & the $100 in EBCI funds. No vouchers, full refunds. Two days later I finally got an email notice from SW that my itinerary was cancelled. And separate emails acknowledging refunds. I got a separate email for each $25 EBCI fee. These seemed like automated emails generated due to the cancellation & not related to the agent’s actions.

Anyway, long story to say I did get everything refunded, including the EBCI. And there is absolute no reason for SW to not refund that. After all, they sold me a service & did not provide it. They aren’t entitled to keep my money. And a luv voucher is not a full refund.


edit: this is the email re my EBCI funds

 

[Girlworthfightingfor]

I have vouchers for my family, including 4 kids (ages 5-14). If I want to convert the vouchers to point, I need to make each of us a reward account, correct? (Right now I’m the only one one with an account.) Then I would need to book each person’s flight separately to use the points. However, a 5 year old can’t fly by themselves, so how can I book a ticket for them without also booking an adult on the same ticket? Am I not understanding this correctly?

 

[MarBee]

I have vouchers for my family, including 4 kids (ages 5-14). If I want to convert the vouchers to point, I need to make each of us a reward account, correct? (Right now I’m the only one one with an account.) Then I would need to book each person’s flight separately to use the points. However, a 5 year old can’t fly by themselves, so how can I book a ticket for them without also booking an adult on the same ticket? Am I not understanding this correctly?

Unless this is a recent change, you can book flights for people on other people’s points. I book flights for my husband all the time on my points.
But if you are booking a “solo” reservation for a minor, I believe you must call to do so and explain that they’re not actually an unaccompanied minor.
Hope this helps!

 

[pooch]

There is no guarantee they won't drop the nonstops for later this year. We are also contending with expiring season passes.

Nope, no guarantee at all but a better chance than having them restored for September. If it happens in November, we will have another decision to make.

 

[Girlworthfightingfor]

Unless this is a recent change, you can book flights for people on other people’s points. I book flights for my husband all the time on my points.
But if you are booking a “solo” reservation for a minor, I believe you must call to do so and explain that they’re not actually an unaccompanied minor.
Hope this helps!

If I want to book a big trip for all of us next summer using these points, can I pull points from everyone’s Rapid Rewards account onto one reservation? I usually book everyone’s flights using my rewards account and points but now it seems like we’ll each have to have our own account and points.

 

[pooch]

No points cannot be “pooled” into one reservation. Each one will have to be made separately unless there’s enough to cover in any one account.

 

[cmarsh31]

I have vouchers for my family, including 4 kids (ages 5-14). If I want to convert the vouchers to point, I need to make each of us a reward account, correct? (Right now I’m the only one one with an account.) Then I would need to book each person’s flight separately to use the points. However, a 5 year old can’t fly by themselves, so how can I book a ticket for them without also booking an adult on the same ticket? Am I not understanding this correctly?

It's actually easy. You just book an adult ticket first, then when you book the minor's ticket it says it has to be linked to an adult, enter the name and confirmation number where requested, and they're linked. Only issue is that if you need to change or cancel either ticket, you have to call in to do it over the phone. I do it all the time for my kids. Luckily one turned 15 finally, so it's just my youngest now.

 

[Girlworthfightingfor]

Wow! Thanks for that information!

 

[Carla1183]

Just got an email from southwest offering to turn my qualifying travel funds into points. Its not a ton, just over $100 from cancelling/rebooking flights earlier this year. Is there a reason not to do this?

 

[pooch]

The only reason I can come up with is if you won't (ever) have enough points to actually book a flight. Ror example, my DD has a RR account but there are no points in it. I always book her flights using my points. If I put her travel funds into her account, it'll give her about 2700 points but since she doesn't really accumulate points, they will be essentially worthless as they aren't enough for a flight and you can't use a second form of payment with points. So I will keep hers as travel funds with the 9/7/22 expiration date and use them as a partial payment on a future flight.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Is it just me or, does the exchange from travel funds into points seem very high in our favour?

I have just $9.85 in travel funds yet it says if I convert it into travel funds I will earn 768 points!

But, if I were to purchase a brand new fare and spend $119 I would only earn 627 points for that entire flight price of $119 if I took the flight. Just doesn't make sense to me but I'm going to quickly convert my little bit of travel funds for my DD and I into RR points as I know we'll use them someday and already have enough for a free flight or two now.

UPDATE: Before I do this, can others please confirm that RR no longer have an expiry date? I just want to ensure that if I transfer my Travel Funds into RR point that my entire points bank doesn't suddenly have an expiry date of Sep 7, 2022. Can anyone who has done this please advise if your RR points now have an expiry date or, can they be used indefinitely?

UPDATE #2: I just read an email sent from Southwest and can confirm that Rapid Rewards point do not expire! Off the change my travel funds into RR points!!

 

[rlduvall]

Is it just me or, does the exchange from travel funds into points seem very high in our favour?

I have just $9.85 in travel funds yet it says if I convert it into travel funds I will earn 768 points!

No - we are actually getting less value. Normally, the average value of a RR point is 1.5 cents (.015), but with the conversion it is 1.2 cents (.012). I'm still going to do it because working with points instead of travel funds is a breeze.

What you earn from a flight in points is not the same as the value of points when you use them to purchase airfare.

For example: I purchased an $85. ticket using 5,460 points. BUT, if I bought the ticket with "cash" I would only earn 423 RR points.

 

[pooch]

My take too. Points are just more flexible to use. Worth the small difference in conversion not to have to keep track of travel funds.