Southwest question

[sleepingbooty]

I know a lot of people have talked about how if you have a Southwest airfare, and the price goes down, or they put out a Ding fare for your flight, you can get refunded the difference from what you paid towards a ticket in the next year. How does this work? I already purchased tickets for the original 7 members of our party a while back, when it went to $79 each way. Since then, its been back up to $164 each way ever since with no Dings to Orlando yet during our time frame (late Setember). An 8th person is now joining us and I need to get him a ticket. If I go ahead and purchase it now and the high price, what do I need to do when the price goes down to get a credit?

[dmallan]

This happened to us a few years ago. I booked the flights from Buffalo for $79 each way and a month later they went down to $49 each way.
I think on the website you can go to "view or change your flight" and rebook the flight at the new fare.
They will then put the difference into a voucher that you have up to one year to use.

[sleepingbooty]

Well, I finally lucked out and got a Ding fare for my brother yesterday, so that's out of the way. But I'm still confused about how you go about getting a credit should prices go down. Can you call and have a SW agent do it for you? I'm kinda afraid to do it online - what if I cancel my current flights and the cheaper ones sell out before I finish rebooking? Yikes!

[mousetrapper]

I just booked my flights for Thanksgiving week, at a whopping $1750 for the four of us!! Ugh.

They are "refundable anytime" tickets, however, so I'm going to monitor fares and see if any cheaper ones come up.

I was worried that if I didn't book now, even if cheaper ones come up later, I wouldn't get the times I want. So, at least this way we're assured seats on the flights we want (albeit a lot poorer!).

So, although I can't answer your question, I will post if I find out how that would work if/when I see a lower fare and want to switch.

I did run into the refund credit situation before, however. I didn't even do anything; the credit just showed up on my itinerary confirmation closer to my trip. I let the credit lapse however, not realizing you have to take your trip (NOT just buy the tickets) within one year.

So if that happens this time, I'll be sure to use our credits!

[DisneyAggies]

Hi there!
I just did this yesterday. We purchased airfare for $119 online (OUCH!) a few weeks ago, and the ding fare came out yesterday for $84.

Here's the deal...IF YOU ARE BOOKING A DING FARE, you HAVE TO CALL SWA and have them cancel the tickets, then you can use the confirmation code to purchase your new airfare online. IF YOU ARE BOOKING THROUGH AN ADVERTISED FARE (NOT DING), you can change that online via the 'travel tools' section of the website.

Hope that makes sense...if not, feel free to ask me questions!

[Fortgoofy97]

It is a little tricky and nerve rattling at times, but I'll try to put it in simple terms.
- If you have an open ressie and the regular price drops(not a DING Fare) goto to Travel Center then change ressie - you will basically cancel and replace on the same screen
- if you have an open ressie and a DING Fare comes up at lower price you have to outright cancel the open ressie and then book a new ressie on the DING Fare - tricky and nerve rattling because if you have 7 ressie there has to be 7 open spots in DING - you can't cancel just a couple. If there are 7 spots open - open a second and third window at Southwest - on the second window pull up DING and start your ressie - go all the way to make pmt - apply travel funds - at this point on the third window pull up the DING fare again and check if the 7 fares are still available. If they are goto the first window cancel your ressie get the confirm number then over to the second window put the cancelled confirm # in for the ticketless funds and complete the DING ressie. It sounds tricky but if done right and you get everything set up before it goes quite smoothly. What I have been doing is creating a separate ressie for each person! That way if a DING comes up and I can only get 2 changed at least I saved some! Plus my DD think its great that they have there own ressie! Sounds like a lot of work but it gets easier each time you do it!! Hope this helps you can PM if you have specific questions.

[Mickeydream]

Ok,forgive me for sounding dumb, but what is a DING ticket? :confused: I have traveled a bit and a few flights were even on SWA and have never heard that term. We have booked our flights for our Nov 21-Dec 1 trip to WDW from Albany, NY on SWA. We were not able to get $99 tickets because we hesitated too long and in the end our tickets were $302.10 for each. We will continue to watch for lower fares and follow the instuctions in the previous posts.

[Beast_fanatic]

Ok,forgive me for sounding dumb, but what is a DING ticket? :confused: I have traveled a bit and a few flights were even on SWA and have never heard that term. We have booked our flights for our Nov 21-Dec 1 trip to WDW from Albany, NY on SWA. We were not able to get $99 tickets because we hesitated too long and in the end our tickets were $302.10 for each. We will continue to watch for lower fares and follow the instuctions in the previous posts.

Ding is a software program that you can download from Southwest's web-site that alerts you to certain specials.

[faline]

- if you have an open ressie and a DING Fare comes up at lower price you have to outright cancel the open ressie and then book a new ressie on the DING Fare - tricky and nerve rattling because if you have 7 ressie there has to be 7 open spots in DING - you can't cancel just a couple. If there are 7 spots open - open a second and third window at Southwest - on the second window pull up DING and start your ressie - go all the way to make pmt - apply travel funds - at this point on the third window pull up the DING fare again and check if the 7 fares are still available. If they are goto the first window cancel your ressie get the confirm number then over to the second window put the cancelled confirm # in for the ticketless funds and complete the DING ressie. It sounds tricky but if done right and you get everything set up before it goes quite smoothly.

Even with multiple windows open, you might not get this all done within the allotted time. I believe that Southwest allows 5 minutes to complete the transaction or you need to start over. If you have 7 people on the same reservation, I would think it would be easier to search for flight information for all 7 on the rebooked flight.

[sleepingbooty]

Yikes! I am getting butterflies just reading this. I don't know if I have the stomach for it - considering I have 8 flights. I got 7 of them for 179 RT and one of them for 169. Pretty good price already, so I don't know if I'll risk it. Thanks for the info!

[Bruegge]

I just booked my flights for Thanksgiving week, at a whopping $1750 for the four of us!! Ugh.

They are "refundable anytime" tickets, however, so I'm going to monitor fares and see if any cheaper ones come up.

I was worried that if I didn't book now, even if cheaper ones come up later, I wouldn't get the times I want. So, at least this way we're assured seats on the flights we want (albeit a lot poorer!).

So, although I can't answer your question, I will post if I find out how that would work if/when I see a lower fare and want to switch.

I did run into the refund credit situation before, however. I didn't even do anything; the credit just showed up on my itinerary confirmation closer to my trip. I let the credit lapse however, not realizing you have to take your trip (NOT just buy the tickets) within one year.

So if that happens this time, I'll be sure to use our credits!

I feel your pain...

$1600.00 from tucson AZ to orlando. Southwest was the ONLY airline/flight that can get you from Tucson (west time zone in the summer) to orlando before 5:00...

Ding came up and woulda saved a couple of hundred total but it's a 9:45 pm arrival... I hate playing the airline game...

Scott

[Mickeydream]

Ok, so I just installed the DING...now I just need to check it for lower fares periodially. Hopefully, we can get a lower rate than we booked a few weeks ago,$302.10 each from Albany, NY to MCO. From what I've read, it's a bit of a trick to rebook while making sure you don't lose out altogether. :confused:

[dolphinmickey9170]

Well, I finally lucked out and got a Ding fare for my brother yesterday, so that's out of the way. But I'm still confused about how you go about getting a credit should prices go down. Can you call and have a SW agent do it for you? I'm kinda afraid to do it online - what if I cancel my current flights and the cheaper ones sell out before I finish rebooking? Yikes!

When our flights went down, I called SW and the agent issued the credit voucher immediately and gave me the confirmation number to use for one year.

[diznedreamin]

Sorry guys, I'm still a little confused on the whole situation, or maybe just nervous that I will end up with no flight at all!:(

I booked our flight down and our returning flight separately. Both were for around $99.00 each way and there are 4 of us, the fares were "Internet One-Way"

Now if a "Ding" fare comes out for those dates and those flights (Dec.1-Dec.8, we have the first flight out and the last flight back, I want as much time in the World as possible!), I have to call SW, cancel my ressie, they will then give me a confirmation to which I apply online when purchasing the "Ding" fare? :confused:
Has anyone lost a flight completely while doing this?

Sorry if I seem a little nervous, but everytime my computer dings, and there are flights for my area, they are already gone in a matter of seconds! I just don't want to lose the flights that we already have.

Thanks in advance for all of your advice!:thumbsup:

[faline]

Now if a "Ding" fare comes out for those dates and those flights (Dec.1-Dec.8, we have the first flight out and the last flight back, I want as much time in the World as possible!), I have to call SW, cancel my ressie, they will then give me a confirmation to which I apply online when purchasing the "Ding" fare? :confused:
Has anyone lost a flight completely while doing this?

That's pretty much how it works. When you rebook your flight, you need to go to the area that says "Apply Travel Funds" (or something similar to that). Click on that and enter the confirmation number from the flight you canceled. That will apply your funds to the flight you are booking.

It is a rather nerve-racking process. I have done this several times now and it has worked out each time so far.

[RBrooksC]

I just want to remind everybody that when purchasing your SWA ticket at the discounted rate you lose your ability to switch flights at will.

For example, let's say that the day of your departure you are scheduled to leave MCO at 6 PM but due to rain you checked out at 11 and went to the airport to get an earlier flight. They only way you could fly revenue stand-by for the earlier flight is to pay the difference between the discounted ticket and the full fare ticket.

While this should dissuade you from purchasing the ticket at the best price possible, do not be shocked if they ask you to pay money to switch flights.