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

I know this is first world problems but DH and I booked a trip to the Sandals Bahamas resort for Oct 2020 - and I know flights aren't out for that time period now, but they are for our same dates this year. I looked at flight times coming and going to see what the travel dates would look like and they seemed reasonable.

Now when I look for flights from RDU to Nassau in mid-October I see flights there but NO flights from Nassau to RDU on any Saturday. And even stranger, after October there are NO departing flights out of Nassau to RDU...

:confused3:confused3

I guess I don't have to panic quite yet since I have a year and a half but just wondering if they're stopping ALL flights out - and how do you have flights into an airport, but no flights OUT of an airport?

:eek:
They currently only have flights open (for everywhere - unless international is different?) through November 2nd, which is why you aren’t seeing anything available past October.
 
Are toddlers required to have a car seat when flying southwest? I see that they recommend having a seat for infants instead of doing a lap seat, but can’t tell what the policy is for toddlers.
 
Set up your account (you can give yourself an alias name for your Twitter handle, even use a longer variation of your DIS name). Then go to www.twitter.com/southwestair. Make sure that you are logged in to your Twitter account and "Follow" Southwest on Twitter. Then post a general message about your concern.
You will shortly see a reply, probably asking you to send them a direct (private) message - they may provide a link. Otherwise, you should see a place on the page to DM them. Have the original confirmation number available for them to look it up.

Thank you very much for the instructions. I appreciate it.
 


Not required by Southwest. That is all I will say as this is a very controversial topic.
Thanks. I can see how the topic could quickly become controversial.

I’d love if someone would PM me their personal experiences flying with toddlers, whether or not they used a car seat, if they used a car seat - how they determined if theirs would work on the plane - or if they used some other type of child restraint made for airplanes.
 
How do you find out when SW is going to open the next set of dates? We are traveling mid November.

“We are currently accepting air reservations through November 2, 2019. On May 23, 2019 we will open our schedule for sale through January 5, 2020. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently.”
 


How do you find out when SW is going to open the next set of dates? We are traveling mid November.
Go to southwest page. Go to the bottom and under the Flying Southwest section click on flight schedules. This will tell you, and make sure to check regularly. This last release the date changed from opening Monday to last Friday.
 
I have a question about using points. I will be booking in May for our November trip. I’m not sure if I have enough points for round trip fare for four of us out of Albuquerque. Can I pay with points and cash? What are my options? Thanks!
 
I have a question about using points. I will be booking in May for our November trip. I’m not sure if I have enough points for round trip fare for four of us out of Albuquerque. Can I pay with points and cash? What are my options? Thanks!
You can use points for one flight and cash for the other. If you only will be slightly short of points, they can be purchased, but they are not a good value. Since you have a couple of months before booking, other options include signing up for the Chase Southwest VISA credit card, as well as earning points thru the Southwest shopping portal or thru Southwest partners when booking rental cars or hotels thru Southwest’s site.

https://www.southwest.com/rapidrewards/how-to-earn?clk=GSUBNAV-RR-EARN
 
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You can use points for one flight and cash for the other. If you only will be slightly short of points, they can be purchased, but they are not a good value. Since you have a couple of months before booking, other options include signing up for the Chase Southwest VISA credit card, as well as earning points thru the Southwest shopping portal or thru Southwest partners when booking rental cars or hotels thru Southwest’s site.


Thank you! I do have the SW Visa. I’ll have to check out the shopping portal.

If I have enough points for all of our flights out and then for only one or two to fly back, can I pay in both cash and points in one transaction? I don’t know why I’m worrying about this, it probably isn’t as complicated as it feels to me right now.

Also, sometimes I get emails to buy points on sale, is that a good deal?
 
Thank you! I do have the SW Visa. I’ll have to check out the shopping portal.

If I have enough points for all of our flights out and then for only one or two to fly back, can I pay in both cash and points in one transaction? I don’t know why I’m worrying about this, it probably isn’t as complicated as it feels to me right now.

Also, sometimes I get emails to buy points on sale, is that a good deal?
You can’t combine tickets purchased with cash with tickets purchased with points under a single confirmation number. They must be two separate transactions.

Points purchased are not usually a good deal, unless you just need to top off your account. Make sure you are signed up to receive Southwest emails with special offers. You can usually purchase Southwest gift cards at a discount, which would help a bit on the cash portion. Unfortunately, you can’t use SW gift cards to purchase points.
There was recently a 30% bonus on RR points purchase, so watch for similar offers, if you prefer buying tix with points. Again, it is not the best value, plus you won’t earn any points for the flight.

Also, remember to check for lower fare available for perhaps one or two, but not all of your party.
 
How do you find out when SW is going to open the next set of dates? We are traveling mid November.
I post this chart after every single release. If you ever want to find it just do a search on this thread for the word RELEASE with my username :)

It will help you approximate when your dates may come available. Then just regularly check these pages to see officially what Southwest has announced:

FYI - Southwest extended their schedule this morning for flights through November 2nd, 2019.

Here is my usual Historical Southwest Release Dates (for planning purposes) comment:
  • NEXT RELEASE: 5/23/19 - travel through January 5, 2020
  • 3/15/19 - travel through November 2nd, 2019
  • 1/31/19 - travel through October 1st, 2019
  • 11/15/18 - travel through August 5th, 2019
  • 9/27/18 - travel through June 8th, 2019
  • 8/30/18 - travel through April 7th, 2019
  • 6/28/18 - travel through March 6th, 2019
  • 5/31/18 - travel through January 6th, 2019
  • 3/8/18 - travel through November 3rd, 2018
  • 2/15/18 - travel through October 1st, 2018
  • 11/2/17 - travel through August 6th, 2018
  • 8/28/17 - travel through June 1st, 2018
  • 7/27/17 - travel through April 6th, 2018
  • 6/22/17 - travel through March 7th, 2018
  • 5/18/17 - travel through January 7th, 2018
*The next release may be of particular interest since it covers the holiday season!

This chart could be useful to approximate when your travel time may become available for upcoming releases, however they don't always follow the exact same pattern (as you can see above).
 
“We are currently accepting air reservations through November 2, 2019. On May 23, 2019 we will open our schedule for sale through January 5, 2020. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently.”

I looked for 15 minutes and couldn't find that! Thank you :)
 
They currently only have flights open (for everywhere - unless international is different?) through November 2nd, which is why you aren’t seeing anything available past October.

Right, but where they were flights out of Nassau on Saturdays in October, there are none, it just says "unavailable" when you look at the low-fair calendar, and for the first Saturday in November it shows "unavailable" as well..it's like they are no longer flying out of Nassau on Saturdays - even though you can fly into Nassau on Saturday..
 
Right, but where they were flights out of Nassau on Saturdays in October, there are none, it just says "unavailable" when you look at the low-fair calendar, and for the first Saturday in November it shows "unavailable" as well..it's like they are no longer flying out of Nassau on Saturdays - even though you can fly into Nassau on Saturday..
I would call SW. I don’t think anyone here can answer those questions.
 
Does anyone on here every sell their LUV Vouchers? If so, where do you do this that you have had success.
Thank you.
 
Right, but where they were flights out of Nassau on Saturdays in October, there are none, it just says "unavailable" when you look at the low-fair calendar, and for the first Saturday in November it shows "unavailable" as well..it's like they are no longer flying out of Nassau on Saturdays - even though you can fly into Nassau on Saturday..
If it's operating like anything else it means they aren't flying from Nassau to RDU on Saturdays. They fly that route every day of the month in October but Saturdays.

My guess is connections no longer work on Saturdays along with a seasonal shift in flight times/routes.

Take a look at the LOW FARE CALENDAR prior to your October dates and you will notice that there are seasonal routes from Nassau to RDU.
  • March you're good
  • April you're good (except the last Saturday)
  • May you're good
  • June starting the 10th it doesn't fly home Monday-Friday and only flies on the weekend
  • July is the same exact story as June but it's the entire month it's that way of not flying M-F and only flies on the weekend
  • August starts back up a normal schedule starting Tuesday the 6th and is available again 7 days a week (except the last weekend of the month)
  • September you're good (except the 1st of the month)
  • October they stop flying on Saturdays but fly the rest of the week

It's seasonal route adjustments along with connection time adjustments. Flying to a place doesn't have any bearing on flying back to your home destination.

Now November 2nd is a Saturday and presently November 2nd is the last day you can book right now. When the next release opens up and you can see more months I would check again to see if Saturdays, well actually if any one specific day of the week, is Unavailable in November and beyond and I'm going to guess it's because they can't make the connections work and/or they switched into a new seasonal flight time/route.

Your short answer if you're still wanting to book with SWA for your trip is to come home on a different day of the week other than Saturday.

BTW this isn't a SWA only issue. We've experienced it elsewhere too.

ETA: Your trip isn't until 2020 BUT I would expect seasonal routes/connection differences to continue unless SWA announces otherwise for your desired destination and home airport. Just when those seasonal routes/connection differences fall (as in the days of the week and months they exist) can change.
 
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If it's operating like anything else it means they aren't flying from Nassau to RDU on Saturdays. They fly that route every day of the month in October but Saturdays.

My guess is connections no longer work on Saturdays along with a seasonal shift in flight times/routes.

Take a look at the LOW FARE CALENDAR prior to your October dates and you will notice that there are seasonal routes from Nassau to RDU.
  • March you're good
  • April you're good (except the last Saturday)
  • May you're good
  • June starting the 10th it doesn't fly home Monday-Friday and only flies on the weekend
  • July is the same exact story as June but it's the entire month it's that way of not flying M-F and only flies on the weekend
  • August starts back up a normal schedule starting Tuesday the 6th and is available again 7 days a week (except the last weekend of the month)
  • September you're good (except the 1st of the month)
  • October they stop flying on Saturdays but fly the rest of the week

It's seasonal route adjustments along with connection time adjustments. Flying to a place doesn't have any bearing on flying back to your home destination.

Now November 2nd is a Saturday and presently November 2nd is the last day you can book right now. When the next release opens up and you can see more months I would check again to see if Saturdays, well actually if any one specific day of the week, is Unavailable in November and beyond and I'm going to guess it's because they can't make the connections work and/or they switched into a new seasonal flight time/route.

Your short answer if you're still wanting to book with SWA for your trip is to come home on a different day of the week other than Saturday.

BTW this isn't a SWA only issue. We've experienced it elsewhere too.

ETA: Your trip isn't until 2020 BUT I would expect seasonal routes/connection differences to continue unless SWA announces otherwise for your desired destination and home airport. Just when those seasonal routes/connection differences fall (as in the days of the week and months they exist) can change.

I totally get the seasonal flights not leaving from Nassau but I'm totally confused about is I am able to fly INTO Nassau on a Saturday, but I can't fly OUT of Nassau on a Saturday...which makes NO sense..

We'd be flying from RDU to NAS and vice versa...

I told DH that if they keep up that same schedule that we'd just need to stay another night and come back on Sunday!

HA!
 
I totally get the seasonal flights not leaving from Nassau but I'm totally confused about is I am able to fly INTO Nassau on a Saturday, but I can't fly OUT of Nassau on a Saturday...which makes NO sense..

We'd be flying from RDU to NAS and vice versa...

I told DH that if they keep up that same schedule that we'd just need to stay another night and come back on Sunday!

HA!
It's all about how the airlines do flights.

For instance on Sunday October 6th the connections are BWI before you can go to RDU. If you put in BWI instead of RDU all your Saturdays become available. If you selected Friday October 4th the connection is FLL. If you input FLL your Saturdays also open up. SWA has determined that for different parts of the year to position their flight times to where they don't work to get home to your airport (RDU).

To give another airline example if right now I wanted to go to St. Lucia (where I honeymooned at) with Delta I cannot fly back home Tuesdays or Wednesdays in September, for October I cannot fly back home on Tuesdays.

Even with flights that don't require stops (meaning they are non-stop flights) it's common for airlines to do seasonal routes for some of their destinations.

I know it's frustrating though. It's happened to me before.
 

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