“very low-key threatening, kind of '“We’re watching you, kid!””
I HIGHLY doubt this. One thrown-away return ticket isn’t remarkable. Heck, I just threw away a return ticket in Feb. I got sick on my trip and wanted to push my return flight back a day. I called, and the change fee was more expensive than simply buying a “fresh” one-way, so I simply bought the “fresh” one way and didn’t show for my original return. The consensus on FlyerTalk is that this is just not problematic in the least for the occasional casual traveler. Anyway, the airlines are not going to send you any “we are watching you” letters for one-offs. They don’t have the time or energy to chase that.
“You book the cheapest non-refundable economy fare. These usually have very high change fees or prohibit any changes. Then, if one needs to cancel the flight you upgrade the basic economy to full fare economy and pay the difference. The full fare ticket it refundable in case you cancel. You wait a certain amount of time (48 hours) then cancel the new full fare flight”
Unless this is FlyerTalk-approved, I’m not buying it! it seems like a loophole they’d easily close.
One thing to note is that this only applies if the new flight is the same “class” of fare. I’ve tried to change “Wanna Get Away” tickets at the gate a few times and they wanted the difference between “Wanna Get Away” and a regular refundable ticket to put me on an earlier flight even when I was 30-60 minutes early and standing at the gate for said flight. We’re talking $200-$300 or so.
It’s just this year they seem to have tightened up. In the past they’ve never tried to ding me with a change fee when I’ve shown up early and asked to go standby on an earlier flight (I fly with SWA once or twice a month). In a funny bit of karma on my last trip, I declined to pay the $300 charge and sat around the airport for 3 hours waiting for my original flight. But my flight turned out to be overbooked so SWA was paying people to give up their seats. They could’ve had my seat if they’d let me switch to the earlier flight (which was undersold).
"One thing to note is that this only applies if the new flight is the same “class” of fare. I’ve tried to change “Wanna Get Away” tickets at the gate a few times and they wanted the difference between “Wanna Get Away” and a regular refundable ticket "
Exactly. They’re not stupid. They’re not REALLY giving you unlimited flight changes.
Thanks for the clarification on Southwest’s change policy. Yes, we changed once when we hit bad traffic and knew there was no way we’d get to the airport in time. I did not realize it was so short. They really do do it right!
Regarding changing to same class, I think thought it depends on what tickets they have left. Could it be there were no WannaGetAway fare tickets left for the flight you want to change to?
You may doubt how I perceived the tone of the travel follow-up email and that is fine.
I doubt the timing of the email, subsequent to the scenario I detailed, was a mere random send. It could have been automatically generated to be sure, but only after the airline’s system registered the particular activity outside of the scheduled, ticketed plans.
His mileage plan information, and the rules upon which accruing miles and status depend probably necessarily produced a ‘ting’ in the radar, and out the letter went.
The “I HIGHLY doubt this,” response reminds me of the response of a parent of my daughter’s classmate when I apprised a parent group of a potential problem which could arise regarding my child before our children traveled together internationally. My daughter’s name is an ancient name and it can cause bells to go off, particularly so in the years immediately following 9/11.
I told the group of parents that my daughter is often pulled out of line and held for ‘special’ screening, and was once even pulled out of line (in your fair metro, Chicago) and told the rest of the family could continue on the next leg of our journey but she would have to remain there at the gate and would be denied travel. She was seven years old.
No need to doubt the response I had to that insane directive by a boarding gate agent. No need to doubt how quickly that agent understood that if she didn’t get a supervisor to that gate before the plane took off, and if she did not remove her hand from my child’s shoulder what was going to happen next.
The airline or TSA had placed a special, signifying hole punch through her ticket, one on which my daughter had traveled for the first leg, but one which (we were later told) indicated to the gate agent that she was not to board another flight. We found out that her name, an ancient name, placed her “in the shadow” of the no-fly list, particularly in the years following 9/11 when our nation’s security measures were still being ratcheted up. We were told what to do about this, and the steps to take once we arrived home - all of us, child in tow.
The parent (white American) who took exception to the veracity of this information responded in exactly the same way you did to my prior post, stating that as it had never happened to her kids, with their Persian names, she HIGHLY doubted that it would happen to mine.
W2e, first, sorry that your child had to be treated like that. But the two stories are not the same: if the first case, you personally had to defend your child from being mistreated and were there. In the second case, you really do not know what triggered that email, you are only making a guess.
+1 for Southwest. One year we had to change flights 6 times and lost no money. Another tip for overseas travel is to fly from Canada if you are within driving distance. Fares are typically $3-500 cheaper RT and parking is reasonable off airport.
I agree that SW had probably sold out their “wanna get away” cheap fares so a switch could be expensive at the airport. SW prices jump within 2 weeks of a flight too so make any changes before then if you possibly can.
My D once slept through her alarm and missed her flight. While she was en route, I called SW but I couldn’t cancel her ticket and make another reservation because I wasn’t sure when she would get to the airport. It was a holiday too. The agent told me that if you show up within 2 hours of your missed flight, you can fly standby for free on a later flight as long as they can fit you in. I’m not sure if there’s a time limit to this, for example if it extends to the next day if you can’t fit on any flight on the same day.
I have made a change on SouthWest to a same day flight and broke even. I suspect it depends on things like the popularity of the route and seat availability.
@BunsenBurner : “In the second case, you really do not know what triggered that email, you are only making a guess.”
I know I am guessing about the second, but it seems a reasoned guess to me, one not easily able to be discounted. All the pieces seem to fit, particularly as I think the email could indeed be computer generated, though simply selectively (randomly?) issued.
Other ideas as to why the particular confluence of events may be have happened outside of the context in which I placed them would be welcome…
As to the similarity of the situations, I think it was the precise wording that sent me back. Yes, there are differences in the scenarios.
And I’m telling you, as a very frequent flyer who’s been around the block quite a few times, one instance of dropping a return ticket does not even remotely register with the airlines such that they’d need to “warn” you. Don’t believe me, ask it on Flyertalk.
Moreover, for the people they’ve “busted” for this (people who repeatedly do hidden-city ticketing on a given route), they don’t beat around the bush. They tell them exactly why they are revoking their frequent flyer account.
If you have a route that is A-B-C and then D-E-F, how would the airline even know if you got off at B if you checked no baggage? How could they then cancel the rest of your flights if they didn’t know?
Also, if you were flying A-B-C and getting off (quasi legally) at B, couldn’t you check a bag directly to B if you went to the porter guy outside rather than the desk clerk inside? Just wondering…
Last year I was flying SW from Ohio to BWI to CT. I was supposed to have a three hour layover at BWI. When I got off the plane at BWI, I noticed a plane to CT departing at the gate across the way. It was leaving late for some reason. I went up to the counter and politely asked if there were any empty seats on the boarding plane. Yes…and they gave me a boarding pass for the flight. Woohoo. No wait…and no change fee at all.
I think I just hit it lucky…plane was boarding already…and there were empty seats!