Not happy with SW air right now

[thumperbug]

I have always sang the praises of Southwest but, today my mind has changed...at least in regards to their Rapids Rewards Visa.

I have flown SW for years so it made sense to get a SW card and earn free airline tickets.

So, I need 3 tickets for my Feb 09 trip to WDW. I already had 2 standard awards and earned my 3rd free one a few days ago just in time for Aug 21 when reservations would be accepted for Feb.

I had checked their list of blackout dates and my trip dates were not listed. Yay...but

today when I went to make my reservations....the second they opened them up....I discovered to my HORROR that they were only accepting FREEDOM awards, not STANDARD. The difference? Freedom awards are 2 standard rewards. So to use any of my rewards, I had to give up 2 free round trip awards to get 1 freedom award and had to pay for the other 2 tickets.

Oh and I couldn't change the dates I flew because of any the days I could have chosen were still not taking standard awards.

I've been using that card exclusively to get the airline tickets I need for the trip and in the end I feel scammed.

And I can't send an email to SW, they want an actual letter.

I did find in fine print somewhere that mentioned that not all flights would be available to use standard awards but they never gave a list or dates and to exclude an entire week because you know that some schools in the NE are closed that week and you want to make even more money????

The airport we fly from is only 20 mins away so it is convenient for us to fly there but I can tell you this, when Jetblue opens up their dates for Feb I will be looking to book them for my flight home. I know the cost will be a lot less and to me, it is worth the extra drive from the airport to my home to be able to save several hundred dollars and get a nice late flight and not lose half a day of my trip b/w the last SW flight that night is at 5pm.

I'm done. I still like to fly SW but in my opinion, they are just as bad as the other airlines in their way to get the most and give the least.

[Tink1]

The same thing happened to me with flightsd from PHL to Seattle around the 4th of July.

Keep watching because they DID open up and I got standard reward seats!

Nanci

[Meteora]

Unfortunately, judging by the state of the airline industry, perks like frequent flier miles and similar programs will soon be a thing of the past. I think all the airlines will make it more difficult to use these perks before discontinuing them entirely. I have, however, found some good deals on jetblue lately, so I'd say check them.

[ISLE39]

i just read your post and i saw you live on long island as i do. so i know you would be flying from islip and are contemplating jetblue from jfk or lga. here is my thoughts

i booked jetblue for my trip home next month when the fare hit 89$ the next day sw hit 89$ now normally i wouldnt care about the fare BUT then jetblue sent me my confirmation email that said 20 $ for the second bag fee and they now charge for blankets and pillows and they will be charging for sodas and drinks. and possibly they might start charging for the first bag soon enough. sw still charges zero.

i would look at how much extra it could cost your family for second bags per person and the extras plus the cost of gas to jfk and not to mention in feb with the snow is when jetblue is at its worst for on time (btw its the worst in the airline industry check out the article) good luck in your choice. i use my disney rewards card for the same reason u were using your sw card.

[thumperbug]

I am going to keep an eye on flights but decided when I am more calm (lol) I will call Sw to find out what they plan to do to accomodate me, the long standing customer.

It is just frustrating overall because I have read alot of posts of some of the things airlines have done to people with changing/cancelling flights, charging for this and that and I have always praised SW. I am going to go on faith that when I do call, something will be done to make me happy.....or at least a little less disappointed.

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Oh, well.
2) Just pay for the tickets.
3) Frequent Flier programs connected with affinity cards have rules changes.
4) You always need to keep up with the rules and read the small print.
5) You have to just go-with-the-flow.

NOTE: I still have over 300,000 miles in my frequent flier account, and constantly look for rules changes.

[DizneyRox]

One thing I'm not a fan of is Southwests FF programs. I've just never bothers since we travel at peak times, I figured we'll have nothing but headaches. I run with Ding!

[IamBelle]

jetblue sent me my confirmation email that said 20 $ for the second bag fee and they now charge for blankets and pillows and they will be charging for sodas and drinks. and possibly they might start charging for the first bag soon enough. sw still charges zero. .

when did they tell you this?? I booked my trip on jetblue, and they said they were not charging for food and drinks, in fact, they were giving two snacks instead of the usual one. They said they were only charging for pillows, blankets and the headsets to watch tv (but you can bring your own headsets if you wanted)

[thrillme]

I love SW but I've never had good luck with their FF programs.

I'm always just a little "off". :mad:

But they're so EASY to fly over other airlines I really just grin and bare it.