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Everything you need to know about Southwest and Rapid Rewards

This Wiki FAQ contains virtually all known tips and tricks about flying Southwest and maximizing benefits from Rapid Rewards.

FTers who read this Wiki become "instant elite" on Southwest. You see, elite status on Southwest in conferred by knowledge, not mileage. If you know the system, you can get a great seat virtually every time. You will also find Southwest's new boarding process with its letters and numbers more civilized than that of any other airline's coach class.

[edit] The Rapid Rewards Program

[edit] Overview of the Rapid Rewards Program

  • Rapid Rewards began on June 22, 1987 as The Company Club, a simple program awarding a free round trip after you collected 16 stamps on a paper card. Provided that you didn't accidentally run that card through the washing machine or otherwise misplace it. If you managed to collect 100 stamps in a year, you earned a Companion Pass allowing you to take a designated person with you for free on all your Southwest flights.
  • On April 25, 1996 Southwest renamed the program Rapid Rewards, sending out plastic membership cards to everyone who had redeemed awards under the Company Club program. Those members are the only ones with numbers starting with 0000001. Electronic tracking of flight credits was a major improvement over paper cards and stamps.
  • Rapid Rewards has retained this 16 credits = one free round trip formula since the beginning. But they have often given more than one credit for each one-way trip. Long-haul flyers will find today's Rapid Rewards program uncompetitive, but Southwest makes more money on short-haul tickets and perhaps they feel no need to encourage long-haul purchases.
  • For retroactive credit after signup, use the Add Past Flight Credit page on Southwest's web site (you must first log in). You can request credit for travel completed within the past 24 months. If you are missing any confirmation numbers, a Southwest reservations agent may be able to find them for you. The more information you can provide (especially any credit card numbers used to pay for the flights) the more successful the search is likely to be. Before the "Add Past Flight Credit" functionality was added to the web site it was necessary to submit requests for retroactive credit by mail.
  • Award tickets are usable for two independent one-way trips. The traveler can be anyone, and it does not need to be the same person for both halves. For example, you can use one award for two people on a one-way trip. Or you can book a one-way trip now and save the other half of the award to use months later.
  • For many years, award tickets were unrestricted except for a handful of blackout dates, mostly around Thanksgiving and Christmas. But all awards earned since mid-February 2006 are subject to capacity controls.
  • Through 2006, Rapid Rewards was a perennial winner of Freddie Awards including a near-monopoly on Best Customer Service and Best Award Redemption.
  • Rapid Rewards works differently than mileage-based programs, and flying on Southwest differs from flying on a legacy carrier. The differences are sometimes subtle and sometimes not. Reading this Wiki is your ticket to a more rewarding flying and earning experience on Southwest.

[edit] Award travel to Hawai'i

[edit] Award travel on ATA

  • As described at http://www.southwest.com/rapid_rewards/ata.html, ATA has shut down as of April 3, 2008 and you can no longer earn or redeem Rapid Rewards awards for travel on ATA. You cannot transfer your ATA points to Rapid Rewards, because those points no longer exist.

[edit] What bonus credits are available? What types of changes void the online booking bonus?

  • All purchase bonuses apply equally regardless of whether you use new funds or recycled ticketless funds.
  • Most bonuses post after you fly, but signup bonuses can be immediate and the MySouthwest bonus posts after you make a reservation.
  • For all promotions that mention round trips, two unrelated one-way flights will count the same as one round trip. The RR computer will actually sort this for you. As an example, in the Fall 2007 "Fly 2 R/T, Get 1 Free" (>1250 mi O/W) promotion, people who flew four one-ways >1250 miles back and forth using the same city pairs received the bonus, even if they had unrelated Southwest trips in between.

What types of changes void the online booking bonus?

  • If you make a reservation that qualifies for the bonus, any changes which preserve the original record locator should preserve your bonus. The record locator appears on your boarding stub, allowing you can check it. All changes made at the airport on the day of flight appear to retain the record locator and the bonus credit.

Non-Targeted Promotions

You can depend on any new non-targeted (available to everyone) promotions being promptly announced on Flyertalk. We have seen several types of non-targeted promotions:

  1. Signup bonus
  2. Signups from new cities
    • When Southwest begins service to a new city, they often give existing members who live in that area some bonus credits. The Dulles opening promotion was different and even more generous. New members who signed up using a special link by January 31, 2007 instantly received 8 credits and double credit through January 31. A similar SFO promotion ended October 31, 2007.
  3. Online booking bonuses
    • The southwest.com online booking bonus promotion started in 1997, offering double credit for all trips purchased over the Internet. This promotion was continued for many years, but it was reduced from 1.0 to 0.5 extra credits each way for 2004 and the first 3 months of 2005. Then Southwest quietly allowed it to expire, much to the consternation of FlyerTalkers. Double credit for all online purchases was an unsustainably generous example of dot-com mania, but it was great while it lasted.
    • Southwest occasionally offers a short-term online booking bonus such as double credit for the anniversary of Southwest's founding in June. These bonuses are unpredictable and are apparently intended to promote goodwill rather than generate extra bookings.
  4. SWABIZ bonus
    • Travel booked any time at swabiz.com and flown from November 20 to December 31, 2006 earned double credit, meaning 1 extra credit in each direction. This was a temporary revival of an ongoing bonus that ended quietly on March 31, 2005. How do I join SWABIZ?
  5. College student bonus
    • If you specify that you are a college student between ages 18 and 23 when you first join Rapid Rewards, you will get one extra credit for each one-way trip. Some have reportedly phoned Rapid Rewards to activate this promotion when they turned 18, but others have reported being told it was not possible.
  6. Gay Pride Month bonus
  7. Philadelphia full fare = free trip
    • Simply enroll in Rapid Rewards at http://www.southwest.com/rrenroll/phl and purchase 1 roundtrip from Philadelphia International Airport at our Refundable Anytime fare on southwest.com and travel between June 15 and July 15, 2007. You'll get a free roundtrip ticket valid to any of the over 62 destinations we serve nationwide.
  8. California full fare triple credit
    • Book a Refundable Anytime Fare for yourself at southwest.com or swabiz.com for travel within the state of California. Fly between May 17 and June 17, 2007, and we'll give you triple credit! That's 6 credits per roundtrip instead of the usual 2, which means you could be flying free after just 3 roundtrips!
  9. MySouthwest
    • From October 14 to November 15, 2005, Southwest offered 1 credit per ticket purchased while logged in to MySouthwest at southwest.com, up to 3 bonus credits per member. This promotion was unusual in that the bonus was given to the holder of the logged-in account rather than to the traveler. This was a great way to boost one of your relatives' accounts over the award threshold. The bonus was earned by the purchase and posted a few weeks later, sometimes before the purchased trip was flown. Flight credit for the trip was treated completely separately from the MySouthwest bonus. This bonus reappeared in Autumn 2006 as a targeted promotion.
  10. Major sports championships
    • If your mailing address is in a city that wins a baseball, football, or basketball championship, you might get a few bonus credits right afterwards. It's unlikely that address-changing carpetbaggers can benefit from this unless they plan far ahead and get lucky.
  11. Car rental bonuses
    • There is almost always some sort of bonus credit available for qualifying car rentals, sometimes even triple or quadruple the normal 0.5 credit for certain multi-day rentals. Look here for a list of current offers, complied and maintained by FT member crhptic.
  12. Rapid Rewards Visa
  13. Hilton HHonors
    • Hilton HHonors allows members to exchange 10,000 HHonors points for one Rapid Rewards credit. Both Amex and Citi offer credit cards offering 15,000 HHonors points after the first purchase, in addition to points for regular purchases (and other bonuses for Amex cardholders).
  14. Choice Visa
    • In summer 2006, the Choice Privileges rewards program offered 24,000 points to sign up for a new Choice Visa card. This card earns 2 points per dollar spent, and 5000 points are redeemable for 2 Rapid Rewards credit. Spending $500 on the promotional offer netted a cool 10 Rapid Rewards credits. Furthermore, users have reported that you can enter the Rapid Rewards number of another family member in your online profile, allowing you to top off a child's account, for example. Choice Visa points expire at the end of the calendar year 2 years after they are earned.
  15. Diners Club
    • FT member Beckles has discovered that laundering your Diners Club points through the Choice Rewards program provides a better conversion rate. 1,250 DC Club Rewards Points = 3,000 Choice Privileges points. Since 2,500 Choice Privileges Points = 1 Southwest Rapid Rewards credit, this works out to 1,041.67 Diners Club Club Rewards Points per Southwest Rapid Rewards credit, which is a much better deal than transferring straight from Diners Club to Southwest Rapid Rewards! This works out to be even better points-wise than the regular promo 25% off promo that Diners Club usually has every fall, plus you get credit for trasferring 16 credits instead of the 12 credits that promo typically gives towards earning a Companion Pass. If you are not in a rush, this is an excellent option to consider. [As of February 2008, the Diners Club to Choice conversion is 1,250 DC Club Rewards points = 2,400 Choice Privileges points]
  16. Visa
    • During the fourth quarter of 2004, there was a Visa card promotion to get an extra 0.5 credit each way when the credit card in the reservation was a Visa card of any kind. In case such a promotion ever returns, you may want to favor Visa over MasterCard for your SWA purchases. Prior purchases typically qualify for the bonus if you fly within the bonus period. Also note that SWA Signature Visa card purchases at southwest.com earn purchase points at double the normal rate ($600 per credit rather than $1200). This double rate is not available for the cheaper ($39 annual fee) Classic Visa card.
  17. SWABIZ new company bonus
    • Until early 2007, Southwest often gave double credit for up to a full year when your company first joined SWABIZ. This bonus is reportedly no longer offered. How do I join SWABIZ?]
  18. Limited duration market-specific promotions
    • Southwest frequently offers bonus credit or bonus awards for flights booked online in markets that need a traffic boost. Here are two recent examples:
      1. Purchase any 3 roundtrips online and fly within the state of California between January 3 and February 28, 2007 and you earn a bonus roundtrip award (good nationwide) on top of the normal credits.
      2. Book online by March 8, 2007 and fly to or from California between February 8 and April 4, 2007 and you earn an extra credit each way.
    • If you know the promotion code, you may be able to register for one of these non-targeted promotions using a correctly edited version of a URL that looks like:
    http://www.southwest.com/cgi-bin/nsFormTool?ACTION=FILE&Form_Name=OptIn_Promo&first_name=Nick&rr_number=123456789&promo_code=AB123
    Just copy the entire URL, substitute your first name, partial account number (9 digits long, leaving off the final digit), and the promo code, and paste it as a single line into the address field of your browser.

Targeted Promotions

Targeted promotions have appeared a couple of times per year since the demise of the non-targeted online booking bonus. FlyerTalkers have been unable to identify any rhyme or reason behind the selection of Rapid Rewards members for targeted promotions. However some FlyerTalkers have reported that Rapid Rewards has a policy not to target you for a promotion if you have recently been targeted for another promotion.

Some targeted promotions appear after you login to MySouthwest, in the My Offers section that replaces the umbrella chair at the upper right corner of your account summary screen. Here are two examples reported by FT members:

  • "Just purchase 3 roundtrips for yourself on southwest.com and fly between November 9, 2006 and February 20, 2007, and the next roundtrip is on us! How's that for rapid?"
  • "Get triple credit on any flights you book for yourself at southwest.com and fly between November 9, 2006 and February 20, 2007. That's 6 credits per roundtrip instead of the usual 2, which means you could be flying free after just 3 roundtrips!"

Other targeted promotions are delivered by email or regular mail. Here are some recent examples:

  • Southwest Signature Visa card holders received a mailer with a single-use 20% off code. Booking had to be between January 25 and February 10, 2007, for travel between January 25 and March 8, 2007. It was of limited use, since the offer excluded Promotional, Internet One-Way, and Senior Fares. (Also, DING! fares do not allow use of any promotion codes.)
  • Over recent years, FT members have reported receiving "Buy 3, Get 1 Free", "Buy 5, Get 1 Free" and even "Buy 1, Get 1 Free" targeted promotions in the mail. If you receive one of these, consider yourself very lucky.

[edit] How can I reach Rapid Rewards by telephone? Is there an elite number?

  • On Southwest, everyone is elite. :) There is a voice response system for Rapid Rewards at 1-800-445-5764. The voice response system is useful if you are on the road without Internet access, or if you want to check the number of credits you have accumulated toward your initial or renewal Companion Pass. This latter feature was not available online until early 2007, but now it is, and the online display is superb.
  • If you need to talk to a human at Rapid Rewards, the 800 number no longer works. You have to phone 1-214-792-4223 and press 2 at the prompt for Customer Relations and Rapid Rewards. For Refunds, call the same 1-214-792-4223, and press 1 at the prompt.
  • If you need to phone SWA reservations, call 1-800-248-4377. This is the Rapid Rewards priority phone number. That puts your call in line ahead of everyone who calls 1-800-IFLYSWA. You will get a real human being real fast. Southwest long ago made a corporate decision not to use voice response systems that so many us find annoying.

[edit] When do credits expire?

  • Discontinuation of the online booking bonus at southwest.com at the end of March 2005 made it much more difficult for the occasional traveler to earn 16 credits before the oldest ones expire. Therefore Southwest extended the expiration time to 24 months, effective August 10, 2005. Any unexpired credits in your account at that time got an additional 12 months of life. Unfortunately, Southwest coupled this enhancement with the announcement of capacity controls, a major devaluation.
  • Put another way, the 16th RR credit must be earned within 24 months of the first. The clock starts ticking when the first credit is earned, or when the first credit is earned after a Rapid Reward award is issued. The date of RR award issuance does not start the clock. A new member can thus delay the start date of the earning period by delaying when the first RR credit "hits" the system. For example, if you are new to Rapid Rewards it may not make sense to join Rapid Rewards until the day of your flight (or sometime after your first flight)—unless there is a generous new member signup bonus that will expire before the day of your flight.

On the other hand, if a credit or partial credit was earned before a RR is issued, but shows up afterward (thus it was not counted for the RR award), the clock is re-started to when it was actually earned. This might happen when an errant .5 credit earned at a RR partner shows up in a member's account long after it was earned. The net effect is to apparently shorten the earning period for the next Rapid Reward award. This is less of a crunch now than it was when the earning period was one year.

[edit] When do awards expire? How can I recover an expired award?

  • Awards are good for one year from the date of issue. The reservation system will not allow you to use an award for a travel date later than the expiration date of the award.
  • When you log in to MySouthwest, there is now an option at the left to "Reissue Awards". For a $50 fee, an award near or past expiration can be reissued with a new expiry date 12 months after the date of reissuance. All reissued standard awards have capacity controls, the same as any other newly minted standard award. (Freedom Awards, whether reissued or newly converted from a pair of standard awards, are subject to blackout dates but not to capacity controls.)
  • http://southwest.com/rapid_rewards/rr_program_faq.html#award_tickets currently (as of July 2008) states: "Yes, an Award may be reissued for a $50 fee. We will only consider reissuing Awards that have been expired less than 24 months. Members can request an Award reissue and pay for the fee(s) by credit card: 
   * online through the MySouthwest(r) section of southwest.com
   * through our toll-free Rapid Rewards number, 1-800-445-5764
   * at any Southwest Airlines Ticket Counter

The URL cited above goes on to state that: "Awards that are reissued through these channels will be processed immediately. So once the request is processed, the new Award will be available for use. All reissued Standard Awards will be reissuied (sic) as Standard Awards, and Freedom Awards will be reissued as Freedom Awards. Reissued Awards will be validfor (sic) 12 months from the date of reissue. Only requests from the original Member who earned the Award will be considered. Credit cards are the only form of payment that will be accepted for Award reissues. Cash, checks, money orders, Ticketless Travel Funds, Southwest LUV Vouchers, and southwestgiftcards™ will not be accepted."

  • There may still be a mail option to reissue an expired award. http://southwest.com/rapid_rewards/rr_program_faq.html#award_tickets used to state (note that, as of November 2007, this is no longer displayed anywhere on the Southwest website): "An Award may be extended for a $50 fee. You can simply mail the expired Award and a check or money order for the appropriate amount to: 
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards 
P.O. Box 972739 
Dallas, TX 75397-2739
  • It will take up to 30 days from the date we receive your request for Rapid Rewards Customer Service to process the new Award, which will be valid for 12 months from the date of reissue and will be deposited in your account with the new expiration date. All paper Award Tickets will be reissued as Ticketless Awards. Please note that extension requests will only be accepted from the Member who originally qualified for the Award. Extension requests from anyone other than the Member who originally qualified for the Award will be denied."
  • If your award is expiring soon and you want to save the $50 fee, you may be able to trade it on Coupon Connection for someone else's award that expires later. If the other person is about to burn his just-earned award, why not burn your about-to-expire award instead?
  • If an award expired more than two years ago, the Rapid Rewards people might not be able to find it for you in their system. But if you have the ticket number for the expired award, they probably will be able to issue you a new award.

[edit] Can I use expired drink coupons?

  • One book of drink coupons is mailed out for each award you earn, provided that you are over 21 and that this preference is specified in your member profile.
  • Drink coupons issued before March 2007 have expiration dates printed on them, but they were and are never enforced. Furthermore old drink coupons are redeemable at the old (higher) value.

[edit] Earning Rewards credits without flying

[edit] My Rapid Rewards account is just short of 16 credits. How can I top it off? What is the deadline for doing so? How quickly can I expect my flight credit to post?

  • Car rentals earn you 0.5 credit each, as do hotel stays. Sometimes a promotion posted on Flyertalk will double or triple this. The rental car promo thread is here, but we don't have a generic hotel bonus thread. For hotels, search the Rapid Rewards forum for the name of your preferred brand. But even without a promotion (and they are relatively rare), the 0.5 credit is a much better value than the small number of miles you could earn in another airline's program.
  • American Express Membership Rewards once let you transfer 1500 MR points for one Rapid Rewards Credit. Prior to January 1, 2005, the rate was 1250 MR points per credit.
  • Diners Club allows you to redeem N times 3000 points for N Rapid Rewards credits, increased from the old level of 2000 points as of April 1, 2005. You can redeem these for your own account or anyone else's. Ask on Coupon Connection: trading or selling Diners Club credits does not violate Rapid Rewards rules. Diners Club also has run a promotion each fall in which you can redeem 36,000 points for one Rapid Rewards free ticket. You also get 12 credits (not 16) toward Companion Pass qualification.
  • If you have more time to do the transfer, FT member Beckles has discovered that laundering your Diners Club points through the Choice Rewards program provides a better conversion rate. 1,250 DC Club Rewards Points = 3,000 Choice Privileges points. Since 2,500 Choice Privileges Points = 1 Southwest Rapid Rewards credit, this works out to 1,041.67 Diners Club Club Rewards Points per Southwest Rapid Rewards credit, which is a much better deal than transferring straight from Diners Club to Southwest Rapid Rewards! This works out to be even better points-wise than the regular promo 25% off promo that Diners Club usually has every fall, plus you get credit for transferring 16 credits instead of the 12 credits that promo typically gives towards earning a Companion Pass. [As of February 2008, the Diners Club to Choice conversion is 1,250 DC Club Rewards points = 2,400 Choice Privileges points]
  • You can redeem 5000 Choice Privileges points for 2 Rapid Rewards credits, and there is no limit on total redemptions. As of December 14, 2007, you will need to have a Choice credit card or a recent points-earning stay to qualify for this redemption, which must be done telephone.
  • As of December 1, 2007, you can transfer Amtrak Guest Rewards points to Choice Privileges at the favorable rate of 15,000 Choice points per 5,000 Amtrak points, up to a maximum of 25,000 Amtrak points per calendar year. (From mid-October 2007 until November 30, 2007, the conversion rate was an amazing of 25,000 Choice points per 5,000 Amtrak points. This lead to a rush of conversions, and Amtrak Guest Rewards changed the rate without notice on December 1, 2007. This was AGR’s third no-notice change, something that most loyalty programs avoid.) As of May 1, 2008, you need to have Amtrak elite status or an Amtrak credit card that you have used to purchase at least $200 of Amtrak travel in the last year in order to make this transfer. The Amtrak credit card, however, is free and you can get 5000 to 8000 points for signing up for it. If you have no Amtrak points, note that Continental Airlines will let you redeem 5000 One Pass miles for 5000 Amtrak points, and there are no limits. All it takes is a phone call. Yes, converting One Pass lead into Rapid Rewards gold via Amtrak and Choice takes more transfers than a Southwest flight to Dallas under the Wright Amendment, but it works. For now, anyway. Expect the conversion from Amtrak to Choice to take several weeks; these conversions are heavily scrutinized. So make sure the account names match!
  • Getting the Rapid Rewards Visa card earns you at least 4 credits. Temporary offers for 8 or even 16 credits for new cardmembers are frequently available, and you can add several more credits with balance transfers within the first 90 days. The Rapid Rewards Visa page promotes the $59 Signature Visa, but the $39 Classic Visa is still available at this writing if you call and ask for it, and you still get the first use credits. The bonus is credited to your Rapid Rewards account effective on or shortly after the closing date of the statement that includes your first purchase or balance transfer. In particular, you don't have to wait until the statement after you pay the fee. Note that the extra $20 for the Signature Visa card gives you double points accrual for purchases at southwest.com and with preferred partners, plus two bonus credits each year on your anniversary (when you are billed for the annual fee). These extras make the Signature card a better deal for most people.
  • You can double dip with Visa cards, getting credits for a Classic Visa and more credits for a Signature Visa. This is a good value if you need those credits to top off an account. You can double dip further by adding the Rapid Rewards Business Visa or Business Signature Visa.
  • Purchases made with the Rapid Rewards Visa earn one credit per 1,200 "points" (officially called "Reward Dollars"). If your points balance is close to 1,200 and you need one or more credits soon, consider shifting spending to the current statement period. For example you could prepay bills or purchase gift cards.
  • Many hotel programs will allow you to redeem points in exchange for Rapid Rewards Credit. For example, Hilton HHonors allows you to redeem 10,000 of their points for one Rapid Rewards credit. Marriott Rewards and Intercontinental Priority Club will allow you to redeem 10,000 points for 2 Rapid Rewards Credit as of this writing. This is often a poor value compared to the other hotel awards, (which until December 31, 2006 included a Rapid Rewards ticket and even a Companion Pass for HHonors), but the option is available.
  • Unlike other Rewards programs, Southwest does not allow you to purchase credits directly to top off your account if you are a couple credits away.
  • All credits expire two years after they are earned, first-in, first-out. If your 16th credit earning activity occurs prior to expiration of a credit, and if you would have qualified for an award had the activity posted immediately, the system will retroactively restore the expired credit and issue you an award. You won’t need to phone Southwest. The activity date, not the posting date, determines whether you have earned the award. For a Diners Club transfer and other transfers, the activity date is typically the same as the request date.
  • Typically flight credits will appear in your account 3 to 7 days after your flight. If you phone Rapid Rewards and they decide to manually add a missing credit, your account will show the change immediately. SWA will recognize any flights that you did not receive credit for up to a year back. Just print it out and fax a copy to customer service.
  • If you want to speed up the posting of credit for a flight, FT member 21A has discovered that you can use the "Add Past Flight Credit" link on Southwest.com, even if less than 24 hours have passed since you took the flight.
  • Conversely, if you want to slow down the posting of credit for a flight, you can simply leave the Rapid Rewards number field blank when making the reservation, or phone reservations to have them remove it if it was previously entered. Then, up to 24 months later, request retroactive credit when you are ready for the credits to post. Why would you want to do this? To obtain an award that expires later, perhaps because you are planning for a vacation that is more than a year away, or to delay the issuance of a first Companion Pass. See this FlyerTalk thread for more information.

[edit] Who earns the credits: the purchaser or the traveler? Can I combine credits from my family members?

  • Except for the occasional MySouthwest bonus, the traveler earns the credits, not the purchaser. For example, if your family of eight flies to Orlando and back, you will not earn a free trip. Southwest does not have family accounts, à la British Airways. You cannot combine family credits to earn an award. As a practical matter, infrequent fliers cannot earn awards on Southwest unless they earn points from credit card use.

[edit] What features does SWABIZ offer? How can I join?

  • SWABIZ (www.swabiz.com) provides small businesses and other organizations enhanced travel management and reporting tools and access to the same low fares as southwest.com. The designated Travel Manager can view itineraries and fares, but not credit card information, unless the traveler has used a company credit card account created by the Travel Manager. Bonus credit may be available for a limited time after your organization signs up, or you may get another incentive for booking trips during your first few months.
  • DING! fares are not compatible with SWABIZ. DING! bookings can therefore not be made via swabiz.com, and DING! reservations will not appear on SWABIZ travel reports.
  • If you want to join SWABIZ, you need to convince your regional representative that your business entity can generate sufficient bookings to be worthwhile. Some representatives reportedly require you to have a minimum number of travelers; others appear to accommodate single travelers whose Rapid Rewards records show extensive travel. See the lower right corner of www.swabiz.com for information on how to contact your regional rep.

[edit] Can I still get an old-style paper award ticket? I want to sell it to someone I don't know on eBay.

  • As of October 1, 2004, you can no longer have an electronic award be converted to a paper award and mailed to you. Moreover, whether an award is paper or electronic, the Rapid Rewards people can easily check the last names of who has been flying on your awards. If you earn 20 awards and they are used by 20 different people flying 20 different routes... well, you do the math. Also, awards sold to ticket brokers are often used to fly people who have entered the US illegally from the southwest to the northeastern US. You probably don't want your Rapid Rewards account to be associated with such flights.
  • If you want to sell a ticket on eBay, the job is now much more cumbersome than with a paper ticket, which was as easy to transfer as a bus token. The recipient of the award must make the initial reservation, but anyone knowing the record locator can make a change to it. If the ticket is cancelled by someone who knows the record locator or if the flight is cancelled, the award is returned to the account of the original recipient. While these awards can be transacted on eBay for about $300, be aware of the risks involved. eBay can and will cough up personal user information (name/address/phone #) to any company that requests it, even if they have not done a transaction with you. Furthermore, eBay will cancel your listing if you use any of several secret keywords that indicate you are going to arrange travel for the buyer.
  • Mr. Mileage was served with a cease and desist letter from SWA to stop the sale of Rapid Rewards. SWA then sued them and they finally stopped. Rumor has it that they were booking well over 100 tickets a day for large sized immigration attorneys. The ticket sales are indeed watched by SWA. 90% of broker sales are used to move illegal workers to different states. Don’t sell awards to ticket brokers!
  • In summary, you can assume any sale of award tickets in an online forum accessible to the public can be and will be observed by Southwest. Sales to a mileage broker will be detected when Southwest gets its hands on the broker's business records through legal action. Private sales can be detected if the buyer says the wrong thing to a Southwest employee. If Southwest figures out who you are, you will get a polite but firm warning letter. Presumably if you keep selling your account will be closed, but nobody on FT has admitted that this happened to him.

[edit] Where can I find the official Rapid Rewards rules?

[edit] The Companion Pass (CP)

[edit] What is a Companion Pass?

  • The Companion Pass (CP) allows you, the Companion Pass Holder, to bring your Designated Companion along with you for free, paying only the Security Fee. It doesn't matter what kind of ticket you are traveling on.

[edit] Do I need 100 flight credits to earn a Companion Pass?

  • You can earn a Companion Pass by accumulating 100 credits from any source (including Diners Club, Amex Membership Rewards, or Choice Privileges transfers) within any one-year period (not calendar year). You can speed the issuance of your CP by not waiting until SWA mails you a notification postcard. As soon as you have the 100 credits, the web site will allow you to designate a companion after you log in to your Rapid Rewards account. You will then receive the CP card within about a week.

[edit] Can I use the Companion Pass in conjunction with a free ticket?

  • The Companion Pass allows you to bring the designated person along with you for free (paying only the Security Fee), even if you are traveling on a free ticket! For some people, this essentially doubles the value of their free tickets. Think of it as a 100% bonus for reaching this elite level.

[edit] Can I change my Designated Companion?

  • You may change your Designated Companion up to 3 times per year, a process that currently requires mailing in your old Companion Pass.
  • The reservation system will only permit you to make a Companion Pass reservation for the current Designated Companion, so if you are planning to change your Designated Companion from X to Y and back to X, you can make the advance reservation for X before you start this change process.
  • This might have you wondering whether you can book Companion Pass travel for X, change your Designated Companion to Y, and have X get a free trip without switching your Designated Companion Pass to X. The short answer is No, and it's unlikely that anyone would risk losing his Companion Pass by trying this scam.
  • You may be able to speed up changing your companion by faxing RR a copy of your cut-up CP along with a letter requesting a different companion name. Here is an example from FT member ejmelton:
    • Two of the three most important ladies in my life (Mrs. And Ms.) wanted to go with me on two different trips during October. (I guess that I didn't go anywhere that Mom wanted to go.) As a result, I had to change companions twice during the month.
      • Saturday September 10. Finished trip with Mrs.
      • Sunday September 11 Called SWA Rapid Rewards to get mailing address (not P.O.Box)
      • Monday September 12 Sent existing CP card and letter via UPS
      • Tuesday September 13 (10:29 am) SWA received Mrs.' CP card
      • Wednesday I checked SWA web site each afternoon for CP name change
      • Friday September 16 CP name change on Internet. Made Ms' Reservation
      • Friday September 23 New CP card arrived snail mail
      • Sunday October 2 Finished trip with Ms.
      • Monday October 3 Sent CP card and letter via UPS. Begged for speed (see below) and included return UPS label
      • Tuesday October 4 (10:29 am) SWA received Ms' CP card (UPS is consistent!)
      • Wednesday I checked SWA web site each afternoon for CP name change
      • Friday October 7 CP name change on Internet
      • Tuesday October 11 New CP card arrived snail mail
      • Friday October 14 Left with my new CP, Mrs.
    • While I would not recommend this maneuver and will always try to give SWA the three weeks that is suggested, it's great to know that they can turn these requests around so effectively. BTW, even though we changed the CP companion, reservations made under the original companion were not affected.

[edit] If I can't make good use of a Companion Pass, can I trade it for something else?

  • Prior to 2005, SWA would typically provide an alternative to the CP on request. (PM FT member nsx for details if you are curious, but it's moot now.) Current SWA policy is not to provide an alternative to the CP. You can ask, but the answer is virtually guaranteed to be "no".

[edit] Over what time period is a Companion Pass valid?

  • The CP is valid for 13 months. They give you the whole month of the issuance and the whole month of the expiration as well. For example, if they issue it in April 2003 it expires May 1, 2004. If you are renewing a companion pass the expiration month moves by one month forward every year.

[edit] Over what time period are credits counted for renewal of my Companion Pass?

  • This is probably the single most confusing aspect of Rapid Rewards. But if you phone 800 445-5764 and select the Companion Pass info option, or if you check your Companion Pass status after logging in to MySouthwest, the system will tell you how many credits you have toward renewal and what the renewal deadline is.
  • Your first CP is effective for 13+ months. For example, if it is issued on January 10, 2006, it will expire at the end of February 2007. This is done to allow time for snail mailing the plastic card, so that you will still have 12 months of use of the pass.
  • Your first renewal period starts not immediately on pass issue, but when you earn you next RR credit. For example, let's say you fly again on January 15. You then have until January 14, 2007 to earn your 100 credits for renewal. Assuming that you do so, your new CP will be issued in February 2007. It will be valid from the March 1, 2007 to the March 31, 2008. You can see that your CP issue date moves one month later each year. There is no overlap between the CP validity periods, so you will never have two valid CPs at the same time.
  • Here's where it starts getting tricky. Your second renewal qualification period does not begin right after you earn your second 100 credits. Rather it is tied to the validity period of your CP. In the example, your CP will be up for renewal in first week of February 2008. To renew, you will need to have 100 credits in the 12 months beginning with your first flight on or after February 1, 2007. If you qualify, your new CP will be valid from April 1, 2008 to April 30, 2009. Your third renewal qualification period will be March 2008 through February 2009 (or later, if you don't fly in March 2008).

Here, from FT member expert 7700, is an example timeline using a hypothetical CP expiration date of 9/30/07:

  • Last year’s companion pass issued 8/1/06. Next credit earned 8/5/06. This sets your 1 year qualification period as 8/5/06-8/5/07 for your next CP.
  • 2nd year CP expires 9/30/07.
  • 9/1/07 "Companion Pass earned" will show up on Southwest.com if you earned 100+ credits from 8/5/06-8/5/07
  • 9/3/07 You can designate a new companion name (or reuse same name). This is when your slate is wiped to zero towards your next CP.
  • 9/10/07 New companion card will come via mail. You can book flights online using the old companion name for flights thru 9/30, and also can book flight dates 10/1 and later on the new companion name. SWA will auto-fill in your companion names based on the date chosen.
  • 9/3/07 1st credit that posts will start the new 1yr earning period and count towards your 100 credits needed for your next CP.

Refer to the phone number listed above for automated earnings info to verify your credit count and "must earn by" date for your next CP, especially since any info on this forum may change and is not guaranteed to stay accurate.

  • Because the requalification period for does not begin immediately after you earn your second 100 credits, there is an interval of weeks or months during which credits you accumulate are useless for the purpose of CP requalification. You may want to play close attention to this gap when timing major purchases on a Southwest Visa credit card. For example, if you have 90 credits toward your CP and you spend $48,000 on the Southwest Visa card in one month, only 10 of your 40 credits will count toward the CP. The other 30 will be wasted, although they will of course earn you regular awards. Although most times the gap only bites you on second and subsequent renewals, this credit card scenario causes the same trouble even when you are earning your very first CP. The renewal period starts the next day, after your 40 credits posted.
  • FT member Dan B points out that you are unable to reserve flights for a new CP before it is issued (or is it before the CP's effective date?). You may be able to make a placeholder reservation using a spare RR award or a refundable fare, and have it converted to CP later by telephone. This has been reported to work.

[edit] How will I receive my first Companion Pass?

After 100 credits have posted to your account within a year, you will receive an email within the next two days with a link to allow you to designate a companion. Once the companion is designated you can book Companion Pass flights for that companion online even before receiving the card, however, the CP card may be requested at the airport. Per Southwest, you should ask reservations to make a reservation note that you have not yet received the CP card in case they ask.

[edit] Capacity-Controlled Awards

[edit] What are Capacity Controls?

  • Capacity controls are limitations on the use of award seats similar to the limitations imposed on the availability of low fares on peak-demand flights. In 2005, Southwest decided that it could no longer afford to make every seat available for award travel, even with a dozen or so "blackout" dates such as the day before Thanksgiving excluded from award travel. Some flights to leisure destinations at peak vacation times were being filled primarily by award travelers.
  • Beginning February 10, 2006, all Awards issued have no blackout dates but are subject to capacity controls. As of mid-February 2007, the old awards without capacity controls are history.
  • Standby travel is allowed on a capacity controlled award only if you have a confirmed award reservation for the same city pair on the same date. That is to say, you have standby flexibility equivalent to a full-fare passenger once you manage to get an award seat on the correct date.
  • Companion Pass reservations are not considered awards and are therefore not subject to capacity controls. If the CP Holder has a seat, paid or not, the Designated Companion can take the last available seat in the airplane.

[edit] Freedom Awards: Can I use double the number of awards to avoid capacity controls?

  • Yes. As on November 8th, 2007, two Rapids Rewards Standard Awards can be traded in for a Freedom Award, which has no seat restrictions, but has 9 "blackout" days around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
  • You cannot convert one standard award to a one-way Freedom Award.
  • Once you have converted two standard awards to a Freedom Award, you cannot convert the Freedom Award back into two standard awards if you decide you don’t need the Freedom Award. If a standard award seat opens up after you booked the trip using a Freedom Award, you may want to change to a standard award, let the Freedom Award expire, and pay $50 later to reinstate the Freedom Award when you need it.

[edit] How can I determine whether award seats will be available for a vacation I am planning beyond the current schedule horizon?

  • Is your vacation in Las Vegas? It might as well be, because you pretty much have to gamble on this one. If you check availability the minute the schedule opens up you might snag a couple of token award seats allocated for a peak city pair on a peak date. Otherwise you will need to be flexible with your dates. This lack of availability to make firm vacation plans more than 5 months ahead is a significant weakness of Rapid Rewards.
  • Editorial comment: Southwest appears to have an excellent grasp of the revenue loss from award tickets used for peak flights that are bound to sell out. However Southwest appears not to understand that a loyalty program worthy of the name requires certain features. One of these is the ability to use awards for a family vacation with sufficient advance planning. Although the current capacity controls are not as tight on average as those at other airlines, redeeming an award for a family vacation on a peak date when the schedule first opens can be much easier on a legacy carrier than it is on Southwest. The fact that Southwest awards expire rather than being banked as miles are adds insult to injury if the annual family vacation is the only legitimate use for miles. Members then are tempted to sell their awards to last minute travelers, costing Southwest more revenue than the family trip ever would have.

[edit] How can I maximize my chance of getting the award seats I want?

  • You really need date flexibility, unless you know from past experience that flights tend not to fill up on your preferred dates and times. Availability of DING! fares and other deep discounts indicate flights that are likely to have good award availability. You will need to avoid Fridays to Las Vegas and Sunday returns from Las Vegas. Ditto for Orlando. The day before Thanksgiving and the Sunday and Monday after Thanksgiving will be nearly impossible to obtain using an award. The days of carefree award travel, booking any date you want (except for the pre-announced blackout dates) and changing it at will, are, alas, over.
  • Be sure to re-check award availability starting about 10 days from your travel date. For Christmas 2007 the availability a week before travel was surprisingly good, much better than it had been in early December.
  • You can use "non-scheduled routing" for Award travel when you do not see availability on the scheduled routes. You can do this using no more than 2 flight numbers (but unlimited stops). Example: You want Sacramento (SMF) to Baltimore (BWI), but there are no Award seats on the regular routing. You can use the Web to book Depart SMF, Arrive LAX, Return BWI using same date on the Reservation Screen. You will then get two selection grids for SMF-LAX and LAX-BWI. Select any pair of single-flight options that meet the connection time minimum (varies by airport) and maximum (always 4 hours). You will be charged only 1/2 of Award (each Award has 2 "coupons," A and B, each good for one-way travel) as long as you use only 2 flight numbers—even if you stop 2 times from LAX to BWI. (If your routing has 3 or more flight numbers, a connection longer than 4 hours, or is a routing the booking system doesn't like (e.g., due to excessive backtracking) you will be charged both halves of your Award for the two parts of your flight.) For example, suppose the normal "regular routing" connection arrives at LAX at 1PM and the normal routing leaves LAX at 2PM, but that there are no Award seats on the 2PM flight. You can book the second leg that leaves LAX at 3:30pm if Awards seats are open on that "non-scheduled routing" connection.

[edit] Can I standby on an award?

  • When you can't find a capacity-controlled seat, it's logical to ask whether you can go to the airport and standby for an open seat. The answer appears to be that you need an award reservation that the airport people can use as the basis for your travel. That normally means a reservation for the current date.
    1. If you show up at the airport with an award reservation for the current date and go to the gate, you will probably be allowed to switch to the first flight to your destination that has bookable seats, even if there are no award seats open. That is to say, an award reservation for the same date will likely be treated on that date as equivalent to a full paid fare.
    2. If you show up at the airport with no award reservation or an award reservation for a different date, the airport people will not be able to help you without making phone calls to Southwest's internal Help Desk. Your fate will then depend on your particular circumstances and perhaps on what kind of day all those people helping you are having. Don't expect even a 50% chance of success unless your story is really compelling.
  • Why wouldn't Southwest allow standby on awards? After all, why not fill a seat that would otherwise go out empty? Simple. Just as for standby on a paid ticket, Southwest is thinking ahead. If standby travel were permitted on awards without any reservation, families would show up at the airport the day before Thanksgiving and jam the terminal, waiting in vain for seats to Grandma's house. That would be a recipe for customer service disasters all around.

[edit] What if I can't get seats and my award expires?

See http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Southwest_Rapid_Rewards#When_do_awards_expire?_How_can_I_recover_an_expired_award?

[edit] Buying Tickets and Getting the Best Fare

[edit] When will the schedule horizon be extended?

  • Over the years, this has been probably the single most frequently asked question on the Southwest forum. You can see what other people have guessed in the Official Schedule Extension Prediction Thread. As of late April 2007, Southwest will be pre-announcing the "tentative, planned date of the next schedule extension" at the top of their Travel Center page, and the telephone reservations agents will also be able to provide this information. This policy change was announced at blogsouthwest.com. This has reduced the need for us to guess about schedule extensions, even as it spoiled our fun guessing game. :)
  • The schedule is usually extended on a Thursday morning, around 10 AM Central Time. The February 8, 2007 extension was later than any in memory, and the delay was the subject of considerable discussion. On that blog Bill Owen, Southwest's lead scheduler, explained the situation in some detail, even revealing why the schedule tends to open on Thursday mornings. In summary, the schedulers wanted to optimize the May 2007 schedule for summer winds aloft rather than having that optimization take effect in June or July. They decided in November 2006 to delay the summer release until this optimization was complete.
  • Given the amount of criticism engendered by the delay, Bill Owen has set forth a new policy that "We will consider 120 days of bookable inventory as our minimum when getting our schedule ready for peak travel periods, such as summer or the Holiday Season. I can't promise that we will never go under this minimum for those heavy demand periods again, but I can promise that we will do everything in our power to make sure you always have more than 120 days of available flights to choose from. I can promise that it will take something almost cataclysmic to prevent that from happening. For other, less heavy travel periods, we will try to keep a minimum of 100 days of inventory available for your booking pleasure. On the other end of the booking window, we're going to push the maximum available inventory from 180 days to between 190 and 200 days of inventory-and once again, we'll pay particular attention to making peak travel periods available for booking as far in advance as possible." Because of this change in managing the schedule horizon, future schedule extensions are not likely to follow the pattern of recent years.
  • Years ago, knowing when the schedule was going to open up would often improve your chances of obtaining a discount fare at a peak travel time such as Thanksgiving. Since about 2004 Southwest had been stingy with discount fares from the moment the schedule opens. More discount seats are sometimes allocated between 12 and 8 weeks before the date of travel if the flight is not selling out as quickly as Southwest expected.
  • Other airlines may allocate a token amount of low-fare inventory to sell the day the schedule first opens, but Southwest does not, except for award seats. If Southwest wants to sell any low-fare seats on a given flight, it allocates plenty of them, so you don't need to rush the door like it's a Black Friday sale at Best Buy. For award seats, it really does help to get in there right away.

Recent schedule extension history:

  • Mar 13, 2003 - open to Sep 8, 2003
  • May 14, 2003 - open to Oct 24, 2003
  • June 26, 2003 - open to Dec 13, 2003
  • July 24, 2003 - open to Jan 16, 2004
  • Sep 19, 2003 - open to Mar 6, 2004
  • Oct 16, 2003 - open to April 2, 2004
  • Dec 11, 2003 - open to May 8, 2004
  • Jan 13, 2004 - open to Jun 11, 2004
  • Feb 13, 2004 - open to Aug 7, 2004
  • Mar 25, 2004 - open to Sep 13, 2004
  • May 5, 2004 - open to Oct 29, 2004
  • July 15, 2004 - open to Dec 11, 2004
  • July 29, 2004 - open to Jan 14, 2005
  • Sept 23, 2004 - open to Mar 3, 2005
  • Oct 22, 2004 - open to April 1, 2005
  • Dec 9, 2004 - open to Jun 6, 2005
  • Feb 18, 2005 - open to Aug 3, 2005
  • Mar 17, 2005 - open to Sept 12, 2005
  • May 12, 2005 - open to Oct 28, 2005
  • July 15, 2005 - open to Dec 12, 2005
  • Aug 18, 2005 - open to Jan 9, 2006
  • Sept 26, 2005 - open to Feb 3, 2006, horizon shrink likely due to Hurricane Katrina and MSY replanning
  • Oct 27, 2005 - open to Mar 31, 2006
  • Dec 20, 2005 - open to Jun 9, 2006
  • Feb 23, 2006 - open to Aug 3, 2006
  • Apr 19, 2006 - open to Sep 12, 2006
  • May 26, 2006 - open to Oct 27, 2006
  • Jul 13, 2006 - open to Dec 10, 2006
  • Aug 17, 2006 - open to Jan 9, 2007
  • Sep 21, 2006 - open to Mar 9, 2007
  • Nov 16, 2006 - open to May 10, 2007
  • Feb 8, 2007 - open to Aug 24, 2007
  • Apr 26, 2007 - open to Nov 2, 2007
  • Jun 27, 2007 - open to Jan 11, 2008
  • Aug 27, 2007 - open to Mar 7, 2008
  • Nov 8, 2007 - open to May 9, 2008
  • Jan 9, 2007 - open to August 3, 2008
  • Jan 31, 2007 - open to August 22, 2008 (stealth extension, reservations page did not show the extension until February 1, 2008)
  • Apr 18, 2008 - open to October 30, 2008
  • Jun 26, 2008 - open to January 9, 2009
  • Aug 21, 2008 - open to March 6, 2009


[edit] How can I get a "promotion code"? What are they good for?

  • Promotion codes are entered on the front Reservation page where you specify origin, destination, and dates. They typically give you a 10% or greater discount if you satisfy the parameters of the promotion. Most (all?) promotion codes issued since early 2004 can only be used once or twice; others allow unlimited use. Promotion codes are rarely issued, and they are typically snail mailed to targeted Rapid Rewards members. If you are a very frequent flier on Southwest, you are unlikely to be targeted for a promotion. If there is a current promotion code that is not member-specific or limited-use, you will likely find it posted on Flyertalk. If you receive one and are sure you will not use it, FTers would appreciate your posting it unless the offer prohibits this.
  • Only one general-use promotion code has been seen since 2003.
  • In June, 2008, Southwest offered a $25 discount for a future round trip flight to customers who used Visa to purchase a southwestgiftcard of $100 or more. The codes were distributed by Email on July 18, 2008. Each $25 coupon code saves about $26.88 per passenger ($25 plus the 7.5% Federal excise tax). Because up to eight passengers can travel on one PNR, a single code could be worth about $215. Restrictions on use of the codes, however, are significant (and apparently a bit more significant than was publicly disclosed by Southwest), according to at least one report on FlyerTalk.


[edit] What is the fee to change or cancel a reservation?

  • There are no such fees. Southwest does not penalize you for canceling or no-showing a flight. If you bought a refundable fare with a credit card, you can ask for the entire amount to be refunded to your credit card. If you bought a non-refundable fare online using a credit card, it is fully refundable if you cancel it within 24 hours of purchase. Otherwise the price is re-usable but not refundable. But buying a refundable fare using these non-refundable funds does not make them refundable; it only confuses the computer system into not being able to tell you that they are not refundable.
  • If you cancel a flight after checking in or after Southwest assigns you a boarding pass number because of your A-list status, you will need to delete the boarding pass before proceeding to cancel the reservation.
  • FT members have asked Southwest about change fees, and the answer has consistently been that change fees are not being planned. Indeed, such fees would undercut a major attraction of Southwest for high-yield business travelers.

[edit] What are the rules for re-use of funds? Can I re-use funds when making online purchases?

  • Until July 24, 2007, you could use funds from up to four reservations on a single purchase. Now the new limit is two, reportedly due to a desire to conform to international standards for future interlining. If you have many record locators each containing a small amount of funds, you can consolidate your funds in stages. Use one of the small amounts plus one larger amount to purchase a new reservation, repeat several times, then cancel these reservations and apply them to another purchase. However you should try to avoid commingling early-expiring funds with later-expiring funds.
  • Here's an example of how you can rebook 4 passengers at a lower fare and consolidate the leftover funds.
    1. Begin rebooking passenger A. When you get to the screen with the payment information, open another browser window. Use that new window to cancel the old reservation for passenger A. Within 2 seconds the funds should be available to apply to the new reservation in the first browser window.
    2. You now have $X left over on the original confirmation number for passenger A. Apply those funds on passenger B's reservation, then go to the second browser window and cancel the old reservation for passenger B. Now apply the funds from passenger B's old reservation to passenger B's new reservation. You now have $2X left over on the original confirmation number for passenger B.
    3. Repeat paragraph 2 for passenger C, then for passenger D.
    4. You now have $4X on the original confirmation number for passenger D. You may use these funds for anyone at all, or even for more than one person.
  • You can use this same method when rebooking a series of flights for yourself. Work with the earliest-expiring funds first, and with the earliest flight dates first. That minimizes the chance of having funds expire unused.
  • If you expect to re-use funds late at night before a fare sale ends, be aware that the funds re-use system goes down every night for about two hours starting at about 10:30 PM Pacific Time. This glitch catches even the most experienced users from time to time. Another reason to get your reservations done before 10:30 PM is that sometimes a sale will end an hour early, even if it was supposed to last until midnight Pacific Time.

[edit] Why and when do funds expire?

  • Ticketless funds expire one year from the original purchase date. Travel must be completed by the expiration date.
  • If your ticketless funds expire, that includes both the refundable and non-refundable part. A phone call before the expiration date will at least get you a refund of the refundable part. You cannot do this online.
  • As to why the funds expire, Southwest says that this is the trade-off for having no change fees. Expiration dates are a major nuisance, but they certainly beat having to pay change fees.
  • Also note that the Southwest system will sometimes "archive" Ticketless Travel Fund PNRs with "low" balances even before their actual expiration date. The exact cutoff amount for low-balance archiving is not known, but it might occur if the balance is below $10 and is likely to occur for balances below $5.00. If a low-balance PNR has been archived you will not be able to apply it to a new reservation without manual intervention. Telephone CSRs will be able to see that you have a valid PNR and possibly see the balance on it, but will probably be mystified as to why you (and they) cannot apply the balance. A lengthy wait on hold could ensue while the CSR calls in a supervisor for assistance, so explaining the archiving issue to the CSR at the outset could prove to be a time-saver. The CSR will need to enter a request for the funds to be retrieved from archives, after which you will be able to apply the funds as usual. (The expiration date will not change.) Fortunately, the retrieval of the funds from archives can be completed in a matter of minutes, once the issue has been properly identified.

[edit] Why do I have to worry about commingling funds with different expiration dates? How can I efficiently combine small amounts from several ticketless funds?

  • Avoiding expiration of funds is a major annoyance. When you combine funds, whether you are re-using multiple amounts or whether you are re-using one amount and adding funds, you need to be careful about funds expiration. Southwest's computer system can only carry a single expiration date for all the funds.
  • Southwest has made an uncharacteristically aggressive business decision to retain the earliest funds expiration date. This means, for example, that you probably don't want to combine your $2 credit which expires in one month with $96 of new funds unless you are certain you are going to fly this trip. If you don't fly, the whole $98 will expire in one month! For this reason, you should consider keeping a spreadsheet of reservations with one column for the funds expiration date. You can check your funds expiration date by entering the record locator in the View and Apply Ticketless Funds page at southwest.com.
  • If you specify two sources of ticketless funds when purchasing a reservation, the first source is completely used before the second is tapped.
  • Here's how to combine nonrefundable funds efficiently, as figured out by FT member Beckles:
  1. Identify two locators whose funds expire on the same date or close enough that you don’t care about the difference.
  2. Use those funds plus a credit card to purchase any refundable fare.
  3. Cancel that reservation immediately, being sure to click the circle to Request a refund of the refundable balance, because this is not the default choice.
  4. The locator for your newly canceled reservation will now contain the combined nonrefundable funds. The refund will post to your credit card within 24 to 48 hours, about a day after the charge.
  5. Repeat this process until you have combined all the funds expiring on a given date.
  6. Some people may be uncomfortable with putting (or be unable to put) all these charges on their credit card and relying on the refunds being posted quickly and accurately. At the same time, Southwest may not appreciate the extra credit card fees and excessive activity of this type could push them toward a policy change. To avoid these issues you can book a relatively inexpensive itinerary using two PNRs, then use the Change Air Reservation option to add funds from two additional PNRs to a more expensive reservation. You can repeat this change process numerous times, perhaps indefinitely, building up to more and more expensive itineraries at each step. This mind-exploding technique is explained in this Flyertalk thread. One person managed to combine 9 record locators into a single reservation!
  7. If you combined two funds with different expiration dates, the new locator will carry the earlier of the two dates. Only do this if the dates are close together, the amount of the newer funds is small, or you are absolutely sure you will "consume" the funds by the earliest Ticketless Travel Funds expiry date.

[edit] What if my ticketless funds have expired?

  • If your ticketless funds have expired, you can write to Customer Relations and request a travel credit. They typically will charge you $50 to send you (by US mail) a "LUV Voucher" with a new expiration date.
  • Editorial comment: Given this policy, one might think Southwest might as well simply retain the latest, rather than the earliest, expiration date of funds being combined. Such a policy, however, would make it difficult for Southwest to recognize revenue from expired funds in their financial statements. See page 25 of the 2006 Form 10-K (page 44 of the "annual report"(pdf)) for explanation. Although the effect on revenue would appear small, the effect on the bottom line could be quite substantial.
  • As of July 2007, Southwest charges $50 to extend your expired ticketless funds. The fee reportedly applies per ticket so it may be wise to consolidate all expiring funds into a single new reservation before calling to extend the expiry date. You need to call them within a week of the expiration date.

[edit] Does no-showing a flight cancel your return reservation or incur any other penalty?

  • No. On Southwest, unlike other airlines, you can no-show the outbound half and still keep your return reservation. Furthermore, if you purchased a round-trip fare, you will be able to fully re-use the funds from the unused outbound half of your trip after you complete the return. Southwest has very few fares which require round trip purchase, so there usually is no need to book a round-trip when you only plan to fly one direction. After your travel dates have passed any segments that you no-showed remain usable for purchasing future travel. If you want the fastest re-usability of funds, book one-ways instead of round trips.
  • If you want to promptly re-use all the funds from a reservation, cancel the reservation before the day of travel. If you wait until less than one hour before departure (and especially if you have checked in and then not phoned to remove yourself from the flight), your funds may be locked unless you phone Southwest to cancel the reservation and release them.

[edit] How can I find what dates have the lowest fares?

  • The reservation process at southwest.com passes through several pages: Plan Trip, Select Flight, Price, Purchase, and Booked. This path is shown in an orange and gray line near the top of each page, with the current step highlighted in red. On the Select Flight Page just below the "Modify Your Search" box is a GIF format image file that links to the "Southwest Shortcut to Low Fares". (A similar image will appear in the "Wanna Get Away" column if your search is for travel less than seven days away.) Click on the Shortcut graphic and you will see a color-coded month for the outbound flight and another color-coded month for the return. The colors indicate which fares are available on which dates, but the times may not correspond to the time of day you selected on the Plan Trip page. You can scroll through different months if you would like to find availability of low fares.
  • Note that the "Shortcut to Low Fares" is not necessarily a shortcut to the lowest fares. Southwest sometimes offers lower fares on non-stop flights (especially on routes with new non-stop service) and the full-month search command executed by the reservation system does not handle this situation well. For details, see this informative post by SWAVictor on FlyerTalk.
  • The Shortcut to Low Fares, renamed Southwest SeatFinder, works the same way to show availability over a month at a time when you are booking award travel. FlyerTalk posters have frequently reported inaccurate results using SeatFinder. According to SWAVictor's post mentioned above, however, the SeatFinder results should be accurate, but in some cases the availability reported on the calendar is on flights that are not "published, scheduled service," and such flights will not be listed on the "Select Flight" page shown after you choose your travel dates. In such cases if you act quickly and somebody doesn't beat you to it, you may be able to grab an award seat by calling Southwest's reservations line.
  • Southwest's customers are more likely to be spending our own money than customers of other airlines, so we typically want to pay the lowest possible fare. Most fares are available either one-way or round-trip. Unfortunately, the November 8, 2007 changes to the online fare display also eliminated your ability to click on the fare basis code to read the rules for the fare, including whether or not it requires a round-trip purchase.
  • On February 28, 2005, Southwest introduced DING!, a real-time fare sale notification application for Windows computers.
  • Internet Specials are typically released early Tuesday morning and expire at midnight Pacific Time Thursday. You can sign up for email notification of these sales, but those emails tend to be tardy. If you want to be the early bird you should check your favorite origin-destination pair early Tuesday morning. Some Internet Specials run Friday through Monday.
  • System-wide sales tend to last a month or so, replacing Internet Specials for the duration. These typically provide the lowest cross-country fares. These sales are often accompanied by sales in specific markets, e.g., intra-California, Florida, or Chicago.
  • Featured destinations are sometimes accompanied by attractive fares to that destination, but not always. If your connecting city is a Featured Destination or has extensive Internet Special fares, you can often build yourself a two-step trip at the same or lower price than a conventional routing. This allows you to double your Rapid Rewards earnings on the trip. There’s a risk that you may be required to pay more (the difference from full fare) if your inbound flight is delayed too much. Ambitious mileage runners sometimes book three-step trips and fly up to 10 segments per day, but if you can handle that you hardly need this FAQ.
  • As long as you do not break minimum connection time rules, you can check a bag through to your destination on a two-step itinerary for which there is no published service. You will not be able to print a boarding pass for step 2 at your step 1 origin, but you can do so at the step 2 gate with no problem. Of course you could also print one from your computer if you are using online check-in.
  • Another reason to book a two-step is that WN's software will not sell you an unpublished connection. You have to standby or buy the two segments separately. You can't even book an unpublished routing on a RR ticket (except as described here) unless no published routing exists between those cities. This is annoying, but the reason is to keep costs (agents' time spent building unpublished trips) down. It also simplifies baggage handling and reduces misdirected bags (probably the main reason to limit published connections).
  • If your outbound flight date is too soon to qualify for the best fare but the return flight would qualify, consider booking the outbound as a one-way at the high fare or using a Rapid Rewards award (one half of an award per traveler for the one way). Book the return as a round-trip if necessary to get the low fare (which it usually is not). After you fly the return, cancel the remaining segment and you will have a travel credit you can use later.
  • In case you were worried about getting caught breaking the rules, read this. The Customer Service Commitment document posted at southwest.com states "SWA does not prohibit or penalize what is commonly known as 'hidden city' ticketing, nor does it prohibit or penalize what is commonly known as 'back to back' ticketing. 'Hidden city' and 'back to back' reservations and tickets are authorized for travel on SWA." The two-step and similar variants are perfectly OK to 'fess up to on Southwest.
  • The number of seats in the lowest fare bucket may be less than the number of people in your party, so even if not traveling alone it is usually best to do your initial search specifying only one passenger. If the fare per person goes up when you repeat the search specifying multiple travelers, you may need to split your group up onto multiple reservations. Adjust the passenger count as many times as needed to find the point at which the fare quote changes. Book the lowest fare for as many passengers as you can then book the other passengers at the higher fare. If the lower fare opens up later, you can change that reservation with no penalty.
  • A more sophisticated strategy is to open two or more browsers (e.g,. Firefox and Internet Explorer) at the same time, either on the same computer or different computers. Check availability and select as many seats as you can at the low fare on each browser. Fill in all the billing information but do not click the "I Want to Purchase This Air Travel" button. When you have completed this on all the browsers, click the "I Want to Purchase This Air Travel" button on each browser within a few seconds of each other. If you are lucky, you will get more low fare seats than you could otherwise. Please post your results on the Southwest forum at flyertalk.com.
  • DING! fares sometimes show availability only for one person, but FT member L Dude 7 was able to book one ticket then another at the same fare. And DING! still showed availability of a single seat. So availability may not be as limited as it appears at first.
  • If you buy a nonrefundable ticket online and change your mind within 24 hours (exactly 24 hours, not one calendar day), you can phone Southwest to get a refund, or you can request a full refund online. This is a Southwest policy to mitigate Internet glitches. Most major airlines have the same or a similar policy.

[edit] Can I use hidden city and back-to-back tickets?

  • Southwest explicitly permits hidden city and back-to-back tickets. See page 5 of Southwest's Customer Service Commitment: "Hidden city" and "back to back" reservations and tickets are authorized for travel on Southwest Airlines. It is important to note that your luggage will be checked to the final destination as shown in your reservation record.
  • For example, if there is a great fare to Columbus and you want to get off at an intermediate stop or plane change, you can do that without penalty but your checked luggage will end up in Columbus.
  • If you want to skip the first leg and board a later leg, that will not work, according to more than one Southwest employee: If you try to board in a thru city, the Agent will have to exchange the ticket, requiring an upgrade to full