Update, 1/3/23: Multiple DansDeals readers report receiving Southwest codes good for 25K miles per cancelled passenger. That’s a goodwill gesture on top of any claims for expenses incurred. What do you think of this compensation amount?
The email subject is “A message from Southwest CEO Bob Jordan” so be sure to open it!
“Dear Valued Southwest® Customer,
On behalf of Southwest, I want to let you know we’re so sorry.
Our Purpose has always been to connect our Customers to what’s important in their lives. And this holiday season, as you made plans with us to do just that, we fell short. For that, please accept my personal apology.
Southwest experienced a unique combination of events that started with severe weather at our busiest airports and transitioned into other operational challenges that stretched our People, processes, tools, and technology. This caused unprecedented wide-scale cancellations and ultimately impacted your trip.
I know that no amount of apologies can undo your experience. For those who have requested refunds, reimbursements and/or are waiting to be reunited with lost bag(s), those processes are being handled with great urgency and we appreciate your patience. Additionally, please accept this gesture of goodwill of 25,000 Rapid Rewards® bonus points.
These points equate to a base fare redemption value of over $300*. Rapid Rewards points have no blackout dates, can be used on any available seat, and never expire. Rapid Rewards points can be used for future travel, and/or on items like gift cards or merchandise.
I am so grateful for you and want to thank you in advance for trusting us as we work to restore confidence and deliver on our promise to you, our Customer.
Sincerely,
Bob Jordan
Chief Executive Officer”
Update, 12/27/22: Southwest wound up cancelling 71% and delaying another 18% of their flights yesterday. They have already cancelled 62% of today’s flights and 61% of tomorrow’s flights.
Last night the DOT said they were concerned about Southwest’s cancellation rates.
The @USDOT needs to decide when a cancellation or delay is due to weather and when it's controllable or else airlines will always blame weather.@SouthwestAir is blaming this fiasco on weather that only seems to affect their own planes, as other airlines are operating normally. https://t.co/N9VIdG9IVS
— DansDeals (@DansDeals) December 27, 2022
That appears to have prompted Southwest to own the situation. The airline is now promising that they “will honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation.”
You can email Southwest here to request a refund for your expenses.
Of course, what makes a request “reasonable” will make or break things here. Alternate flight options and hotels can be incredibly expensive this time of year. If Southwest denies you a refund request, be sure to file a DOT complaint.
Bizarrely, Southwest is still not offering refunds to anyone unless their flight is cancelled. The airline ought to offer this as a courtesy due to their operations and to free up space to accommodate passengers with cancelled flights.
The DOT is holding a virtual public meeting on airline ticket refunds and consumer protections on January 12th. The public can leave comments to be discussed at the meeting by clicking on “Comment” here. I left this comment yesterday for the DOT and you should do so as well.
I previously wrote about the problems with the DOT proposed refund changes here and commented here.
Originally posted on 12/26/22:
Southwest Airlines is an absolute mess right now and it’s only getting worse.
Yesterday, the airline cancelled a whopping 42% of their flights and delayed another 48% of their flights. Just 10% of their flights operated on schedule.
No other US airlines performed nearly as poorly yesterday:
Things were even worse today, with an unheard of, 70% of Southwest’s flights cancelled and another 16% delayed.
Tomorrow isn’t looking better either. The airline has already cancelled 60% of their flights and more are sure to come. Combined with full flights, that means a massive number of stranded travelers that won’t be able to be accommodated for many days.
My brother-in-law’s Southwest flight today was cancelled for “weather” reasons. That gets Southwest off the hook for having to pay for any expenses. How convenient.
The airline’s media response also points to extreme weather as the culprit.
Somehow the weather seems to be only majorly affecting Southwest. American, which has recovered nicely from their operational woes of late, has cancelled less than 0.5% of their flights over the same time period.
Worse yet, Southwest doesn’t have any interline agreements with other airlines, so it can be days until there’s space for you to get rebooked.
So sorry, try again in 4 days. And good luck trying to reach anyone at Southwest on the phone!
Here is the video of the intercom announcement.
Speaker says staffing issues have led to the cancelation of 90% of Sky Harbor Southwest flights. They say they cannot get anyone out for the next 4 days. https://t.co/eULewj44Zm pic.twitter.com/fnlay8sBw5— Michael Doudna (@MichaelDoudna) December 26, 2022
Yes, weather can delay flights. But airlines can mitigate those effects on operations and recover after a storm. Southwest has failed to do that in a truly epic way this week.
Blaming these cancellations on weather, and not on their own failure to operate, is insulting. Airlines love pulling the weather card whenever they cancel flights. But hey, at least they didn’t try to shift the blame to the FAA this time.
I have flown on American when the pilot has said that the flight is cancelled due to mechanical reasons, only to have American later claim it was due to weather reasons. That makes them instantly absolved of all liability to compensate passengers for their expenses. Luckily I recorded their employees telling me that it was cancelled for mechanical reasons and American did wind up covering our overnight expenses due to the recording.
The DOT is holding a public meeting on ticket refunds and passenger rights on January 12th. Hopefully we’ll see some real changes, but I’m skeptical. As I wrote previously, the DOT continues to miss the bigger picture. And as long as airlines are the ones deciding which delays and cancellations are controllable, nothing meaningful is going to change at all.
I wrote a comment for the DOT previously on the docket here, and will comment again, asking the DOT to rule on when weather is a valid factor for a delay or cancellation as airlines abuse the weather excuse. You can comment on the docket here.
Has your flight been delayed or cancelled over the past week?
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119 Comments On "[Had A Cancelled Flight? Check Your Email For 25K Bonus Miles Per Ticket!] Southwest’s Operations Are In Shambles Due To Weather That Only Affects Southwest Planes"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
I flew from Florida to Aruba yesterday (12/25). Got an email the night before saying it was cancelled and no flights were available for two days. Luckily I have Diamond status on Delta and they found a flight for me but an hour earlier. Was also delayed an hour as well. But we made it!
I think it’s because the way Southwest operates as an airline, mostly direct flights from city to city as to where other major airlines operate within a hub and spoke system. The hub and spoke system allows these airlines in extreme conditions or when they please to hold flights at their hub until delayed flights from their spokes arrive.
United canceled my flight Sna to Pdx Sunday through sfo. After some effort changed they helped me to to go out of lax to sfo and connect since only sna first leg canceled. I firmly believe they canceled for planes or personnel at sna because Orange County is a small airport. Not weather. They did same with return flight coming Wednesday and want to send me back through Denver out of the way. I have a backup booked on southwest via Oakland! Ha. We’ll see what happens.
Flew ORD-BWI yesterday. Flight was delayed 3.5 hours due to not having a crew available.
Update: SW sent $100 vouchers for each ticket purchased. Did not have to ask for them.
Pipe burst in their terminal in St Louis and their computers were down for at least an hour there. No flights out of St louis.
I flew from DTW to STL (and had been trying to fly to PHX). We waited in the terminal for ten hours before they cancelled. SWA made no announcements, just kept pushing the departure time 6 minutes later every 6 minutes. They didn’t even rebook us. We rented a car and are driving back to Detroit from St. Louis.
Think this will result in a class action suit? They did give us $200 flight vouchers (per passenger) but I’d be terrified to fly Southwest ever again. We’re keeping track of expenses (e.g. hotels, food, and rental car) in the hopes they will reimburse.
Our Southwest flight was canceled “due to staffing shortages caused by weather”. After 11(!) hours on hold, we rebooked our flight for Thursday and got 300$ in Southwest credit per passenger.
Let’s see what happens on Thursday.
US Department of Transportation tweeted:
“USDOT is concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service. The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan.”
Yup, responded,
https://twitter.com/DansDeals/status/1607574506217816069
@Dan, I have a trip booked for tomorrow that wa cancelled.
10 kids going to winter camp and this is wreaking havoc on everything.
Is there no recourse right now for the costs incurred?
What credit card did you use for your flights?
Sapphire preferred
Flight from BWI to MSP was cancelled while everyone was at the gate today. Exactly 46 minutes before departure. Spent all day trying to get in touch with customer service as the line in BWI was hours long. After numerous attempts to get in touch, phone call finally went through. Nearly two hours on hold, was told next flight available is 12/31. No compensation for anything nor vouchers through SWA bc it was “weather” related. Very disappointed in SWA to say the least.
At the gate, southwest staff was saying they had no crew. This heroic woman (swa employee) ran through the terminal, found a flight attendant once, a pilot twice, only to wait for southwest HQ to approve the flight roster. Every time she waited, the pilots timed out of their flying eligibility. Swa hq didn’t let a staffed flight fly because they direct even respond to the operations team. Flight 346
Wow
Flew ATL-BWI yesterday. Flight was delayed about 1.5hrs but B”H we knew about it before we left the house so we were able to get to the airport with perfect timing, but everyone I know who was supposed to fly today got canceled and wasn’t rebooked til at least Wednesday if at all!
Funny in BWI Southwest phones were down, only option was to go to the airport and wait 3 hours in line, finally when they rebooked, gave me a $250 voucher per person, got home a few hours later, when I checked the flight status of the new flight canceled as well. I hope my CSR will cover some of my costs.
My flight from MDW to LGA on Wednesday, 12/21 was delayed a little over an hour. My return flight, on 12/25, was originally delayed, and delayed again, from 9:15pm to 1:45am – only to be canceled at about 1:15am. The line to rebook was hours long, and there were no flights available till after Thursday. We Lyfted to Philly and got on an American flight early the next morning. Between the flight and Lyfts, I ended up paying about $1,100. Hopefully I’ll get at least some of it back from SW.
A friend of mine on the same flight – family of 7 – waited hours on the line to rebook. They booked him on a flight from Philly at 10:40 that night and provided him with a car service to get there – only to have that flight canceled on him. He’s still stuck last I heard.
What credit card did you use for your flights?
Capital One quicksilver one
Family traveled this afternoon BWI-MDW. 2.5 hours total delay, though much of it came in increments of a few minutes of delay at a time. After boarding, sat on the plane for 1 hour before take-off. Of note, customer service and bag checj kines were atrocious, thankfully we had only carry-on.
Spent 8+ hours today waiting for a 6:35am flight from Oakland to Vegas (no weather issues there)
The gate agents kept saying that they were missing crew and that they were on hold for hours trying to reach southwest scheduling dept…
When a supervisor came she said it was weather (only for the gate agents to continue saying that it was the crew shortages).
Instead of delaying it or canceling it they just kept us there and telling us not to leave since they might leave any time, until 3pm before finally canceling (while all other (later) Vegas flights were already cancelled) …
All other flights to vegas besides the 5am one were cancelled.
If I had to guess I would think more than 65% of southwest flights out of Oakland were cancelled today (many of them to the west coast).
Would the DOT even be able to help in this case? Or is it only for the future?
Always worth writing to the DOT!
@dan, should we submit DoT complaints with our stories?
Sons flight was cancelled (young traveler) at 525pm for a 530pm flight. Everyone was at the gate. All other flights canceled. Can’t change on app. App says call or go to ticket counter. He waited for almost 2 hours in line while I was on hold. Finally 3rd in line and gate agent says he’s locked out of the system bc someone is hacking it.
They offered 200 vouchers. First available rebook is the 31st ( 5 days later but it’s shabbos so Sunday).
They ran out of hotel vouchers. So many more details. I could write a non trip report
Awful 🙁
Flew yesterday from NAS – MIA , and MIA-ORD .
All flights took off on time and landed at the destination early.
Looks like JetBlue was the least affected airline. A few cancelled flights, but their delayed flights are pretty much the same as usual.
Daughter and 2 kids were set to fly STL to MSP today, 12/26. Got a text at 6:30 am saying it was cancelled. Said to reschedule. Computer locked me out of being able to do that. Called and after waiting 3 hours on the AList Preferred line, I hung up. Finally able to try and rebook online a few minutes later but no flights out until Saturday. Not okay. Single mother can not miss a week of work. Went back into her account a few minutes later and her flight is no longer even listed there so I can not change it if I wanted to. And the miles used for the 3 tickets have not been put back into my account. Crazy. I was fortunate to snag the last 3 seats on a Delta flight tomorrow, Tuesday, afternoon. Cost me 106,000 Delta miles. Hated to loose them for this as I only had 130,000 miles, but thankful that I have learned so much from you, Dan, and had the miles available. I sent them an email and asked for $300 vouchers for each of the 3 passengers. We shall see how they respond.
Well done grabbing those Delta tickets. Hopefully Southwest sends out come LUV after all this.
Had a sw flight 10pm for my wife myself and 2 children, got delayed 1.5 hours(they announced aircraft issue) then we finally all boarded. After 20 minutes pilot says his time expired and they are looking for a new pilot. We waited on plane almost 2 hours till they canceled on us. Then they didn’t unload the luggage for another 1.5 hours (and they didn’t give me my stroller at the plane that I needed for my tired children at 2am, it came out with the luggage). Then I rebooked on the next day sw, only for that flight to get canceled too. Ended up booking last minute on another airline for a lot more $
My southwest flight was just canceled
So apparently if you book two one way tickets, your credit card insurance doesn’t cover for delays and cancelations. My sons ticket back to Yeshiva was cancelled, on Southwest. The first flight I can find is on AA, next week Monday. I will need to book a completely new flight. Any way to get southwest to pay for the AA flight?
Is this one way thing true?
Depends on the card.
Chase Sapphire Reserve?
One-way is fine with that.
Our flight from BWI to MCO was cancelled this morning at 11 am. It stated we are rebooking, but no rebooking occurred. Says I needed to call and couldn’t rebook on my own. The phones were busy the five attempts I made. Social media didn’t help much either. Since I spent $2k on discovery cove tickets without another time to return we booked a rental and drove (budget rental car line was 2 hours for someone who had a reservation and pre checked in).
Left at 6:30 from BWI and we are 50 min from Grand Cypress. The biggest question will my return flight on Dec 30 be cancelled? (Likely)
Snow sticks much better to blue planes. Duh.
bwi to mia cancelled 12/26; we booked to see my father who just had surgery. Certainly no weather issues in either place. At least it was outbound and booked on points.
Biggest issue is nonrefundable sixT rental booked on priceline (only booked because nothing else was available). couldn’t access booking on SixT website. SixT phone number flatly said they would not answer. chatted with Priceline CS. They said they could not help in anyway.
Sent email requesting to cancel 6 hours before pickup time; to get the 150 left over after the 200 cancellation fee. no response.
Paid fees with VentureX, I wonder if they will cover 200 fee and/or let me do chargeback on the 150 if SixT claims I am a no-show.
I am such a fan of SWA. they have been the cheapest nonspirit/frontier airline for my routes. I have doubled down with them; liquidating 100k UR points for a few flights because I like the 1.4-1.5 value floor vs. hoping to find the right combination of avianca/turkish to shoot for 2/3+.
shame…
https://theaircurrent.com/airlines/southwest-post-mortem-meltdown-burnout/
I have a flight for Thursday to Baltimore that southwest canceled early this morning “do to weather”. Funny as my weather app is showing sunny and warm
If all their planes/crews are stuck in DC or JFK I could see how this would domino to other canceled flights outside the storm area
Every airline has hubs there, but none of them melted down.
After 2+ hours on hold still no answer, this is after many attempts to actually get on hold as opposed to getting hung up on automatically…. So frustrating…
I called chase and asked if trip cancellation will kick in, but I was told that since the email from southwest offered a rebooking it was not eligible for trip cancellation. I told them that the next available rebooking was in days from my flight, but they said it doesn’t matter and that trip cancellation is only when the airline cancels and does not offer to rebook.
Southwest is now saying this: If you have been impacted by a flight cancellation or significant flight delay between December 24, 2022, and January 2, 2023, you may submit receipts for consideration via Email Us on Southwest.com. We will honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation.
https://www.southwest.com/traveldisruption/?irgwc=1&clickid=3ATylkUiZxyNWLTy9cXXF1SzUkAzwTVUvydoxE0
Dan – my flight with southwest was cancelled yesterday and the one they put me on today has also been cancelled. And now Southwest is showing no availability the next few days for my route. Im thinking of buying a flight on Priceline with another airline and go with that if Southwest availability doesn’t open up. My question is: does Priceline still have that awesome 24hr free cancellation policy? Thanks,
Moshe
Yes.
isn’t this only if the flight is not within 7 days?
Priceline/Orbitz don’t have that restriction.
Thanks, Dan.
@Dan, if one books a flight using airline miles but pays fees/taxes with a credit card (e.g., Chase Sapphire Reserve), is the flight still covered by the credit card insurance? …thanks…
Yes.
@dan if I booked with southwest credit from a previously canceled flight, will the credit card still cover?
No
My flight PHL to STL tonight got canceled. Looks like I might drive thru the night. Will SW compensate me for my rental? Very nice if they give vouchers but can’t pay my the rental with it….
Flights were booked with Chase points via CSP card.
Need some suggestions?
Southwest should pay you back for your rental as per their update.
Just saw that Dan. Thanks for keeping this post updated.
Hi my flight got canceled yesterday right before I was heading to the airport me and my wife and three kids I ended up booking later that night with avios the last five seats available back to my destination my question is how do I get reimbursed for miles if they offer compensation
I would email them a receipt and request a value of 1.5 cents per mile redeemed, plus the taxes.
Or send them the paid cost of the flight and ask for that.
Meaning sending them a screenshot of how much the price was at time of booking, meaning it’s in the past so I’m not sure how to prove that
Or just show them whatever shows up right now?
Thank you very much for your response
Has that worked before with southwest?
This is an unprecedented situation with the DOT breathing down their necks.
Thanks!
Paid 38k AA miles x2 would be a refund request of $1140 credit?
Wonder if that will be considered “reasonable…”
No way to know. Best thing to do would be to show the paid cost of the flight.
How do you do that if it’s in the past?
Spirit cancelled our Miami – Detroit flight a half hour before scheduled departure Sunday night, stranding our family 11. They put us on a flight 2 days later. We booked the flights with sapphire reserve. The Chase CC benefits representatives i spoke with were foreign and not very knowledgeable. Anyone see any obstacles in being reimbursed for hotels, food Etc?
I have been able to get refunded by Chase in those situations where an airline refuses to cover the expenses.
My flight TUS-LAS for canceled, need to get to LAS to fly into JFK. Considering driving/uber to PHX and catching a flight into LAS. Will I get reimbursed for new flight, cost of uber as well?
They should.
Flight from Okc to Denver canceled 2 days in a row. Not because of weather but no employees. The second time the workers were in the break room. When asked if they were coming out to work, “I’m not clocked in” was the response. Completely unacceptable. Workers told us it’s because there are no pilots, they were protesting because of their contract. Sadly if this is true, Southwest should have foreseen. They provide a public service that affects people nationwide and as a public service employee, we aren’t allowed to walk off the job because of contract issues. Shameful to all of Southwest. If this bankrupts the company then every one of them will have brought it on themselves.
The added expense this burdens its customers with, is unforgivable. I still have a flight on 12/31/22 now we are at their mercy.
I have booked one way on United altitude reserve for my southwest flight tomorrow from HI to SFO? Do you think they will cover the delay expenses?
if I paid the taxes for the southwest points flight with my amex platinum will that help me with any of the expenses?
Thanks!
If you are flying with SWA now this thread great information: https://www.reddit.com/r/SouthwestAirlines/comments/zw32yt/psa_from_a_swa_employee_since_the_company_wont
Hi Dan,
Off topic but travel related and I’d appreciate your insight. Reserved a car rental (Honda CRV) for Israel via Hertz (presidential circle) and had a letter from Amex showing CDW and theft coverage. At the counter they denied me that and forced me to purchase their own. I ended up paying extra to get the better coverage otherwise I was told each scratch would trigger a possible $1k deductible!!!). Best course of action to get a refund (about $150 extra for the 3 day rental)? Tried sending Hertz a message on Twitter, but they responded I should call their international desk, that didn’t get me much further.
Also off topic, but for that you need this deal:
https://www.dansdeals.com/shopping-deals/12-bottles-herzog-selection-rose-brut-champagne-just-119-88-shipped-kosherwine-50-off-code/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SouthwestAirlines/comments/zw32yt/psa_from_a_swa_employee_since_the_company_wont/
Fly frontier!
My daughter was booked 12/25 MDW to LGA. Flight was canceled. She was re scheduled twice by the airline same day and both flights canceled. She re scheduled online for the next day. Flight canceled. She could no longer get rebook herself so she waited 4 hours in line at rebooking centre and barley moved as their system kept crashing. I ended up buying her a new ticket with miles for Wednesday morning. Flight canceled. Earliest flight She can get on now is Sunday morning. Meanwhile her bags are somewhere in LGA but you can’t get thru to a representative to confirm that 100%.
(There’s no way to check it online). Hopefully they are still there by the time she gets there on Sunday. A compete nightmare.
As I was waiting for my bwi- tpa cancellation at the gate, after a fll and Miami cancellation, I heard a boarding announcement to wpb. Ran over to see if room for standby. Flight looked full but the staff declared that a couple in bound flights didn’t make it so there was space Agent worked for 15 min while the boarded flight waited, to add a few of us standbys. The system could not register the no shows so it could not show the available seats and could not allow us on…. Heartbreaking what’s going on at bwi. Hours and hours wait for basically nothing…
Den, Did you ever got refunded or compensated by filing a DOT claim?
Many times.
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/news/airline-news/informal-dot-complaint-not-helping-dansdeals-reader-won-case-airline-formal-dot-complaint/
Even in a case where the airline compensated but really not enough accordingly?
Posted here last night. I sent Southwest an email last night. Just heard back from them. They refunded the miles I used for the three cancelled flights. I looked and they are back in my account. They also issued 3 separate vouchers for $300 each as there were three of us and that is what I spent to secure three flights on Delta. A very quick response. I was surprised.
Do you know which option you chose? There are alot of options to choose from, and I am wondering if some option create a quicker response than others.
Since it was last night, the new web page wasn’t yet up. I just went on the web site where you could send an email and I chose the ‘cancelled flight’ option.
Have a scheduled flight for Sunday am on SW. what’s the probability it’ll be cancelled? 60/40? Trying to determine if need to book alternative flights and risk the $ if not cancelled.
Hi Dan,
i received an email from Southwest with a promo code to receive 25,000 points. This code can only be used one time specific to my account.
Part of the Email below.
Subject: A message from Southwest CEO Bob Jordan
How to claim your 25,000 Rapid Rewards bonus points:
Rapid Rewards points may be deposited into your own account or into a family or friend’s Rapid Rewards account.
1. Be prepared with your Rapid Rewards number and full name associated with the account. Not a Member? Sign up for free here, it only takes a few minutes. Once you’ve created an account, you will easily be able to claim your points with the following steps.
2. Visit the Southwest Rapid Rewards Points site.
3. Input the code(s) above in the Award Code field area.
4. Input up to 5 codes at a time per Rapid Rewards account. Click Submit. If you have more than 5 codes, simply repeat the process
5. Enter the Rapid Rewards Number, First and Last Name, and email address of the account in which you want to deposit the points. Click Submit.
6. Visit My Account to check your points balance. Please be advised, your points may take up to 72 hours to appear in your account once you’ve submitted your claim.
7. All points codes must be claimed prior to expiration on 3/31/2023.
If you need further travel disruption assistance:
Request a reimbursement, refund, rebook a flight, or find answers to frequently asked questions here.
Submit your baggage report here.
I never got email for cancelled flights.
Did you file for a refund and expenses?
yup. waiting on that as well.
Received today. Good start.
Glad they are clear in the note this doesn’t replace other refund request. We will see if they go above and beyond there and that would reset the relationship on my book. I spent double miles about 40k united one way to get back to so cal from Pdx etc. replacing their flight. I sent email asking for $550 for those, or so. We’ll see.
I also received the email for the 25,000 points from the CEO today. I had a flight booked for 12/26, but I cancelled due to the mess at the airport. The link takes you to a website other than Southwest with a message that “Due to high volume, there will be a 10 minute wait” or something like that. I exited out. I was afraid it was a scam email. Did anyone have a link that took them directly to Southwest?
See a direct link below. The link they provided on the email is very glitchy. On this below link choose the option “Claim Partner Points”
Note – there is a wait currently (27 minutes) even with the proper link
https://www.southwest.com/rapidrewards/points-center?clk=GSUBNAV-RR-BUYPOINTS
That worked, thank you!
Had a LAX-PHX flight on points for 26-29 that was canceled. So far no email with this 25K bonus. I never flew WN in my life.
Update!
Got my 2 X 25K vouchers today. So it will come even on award reservation.
Have not been successful yet in getting to a place to input the code on the screen, even after waiting on the points.com site
it works now
Hi Dan, I submitted a request for reimbursement for $351 and it was approved, but they still charged me for the flight and offered a $200 southwest voucher per passenger. I would much rather 25,000 miles per ticket than a $200 voucher. Did anyone else who got the 25k email today also already get their reimbursement claim processed before receiving the email?
Outbound flight canceled. 3 passengers. no sign of the email yet. I cancelled my return right away. it would be a shame if we miss out on another 75k points because I cancelled.
My biggest issue is a SixT reservation done through priceline. there was no way to cancel by phone or website so I emailed. Customer service is playing dumb and acting like I was a no show.
Priceline should be more upfront about the difficulties of cancelling through certain providers.
didn’t get any email..what to I do?
Someone I know called southwest because they didn’t get the 25k mile email. They said it will take around a week for all the emails to go out. So sit tight and wait to call in a week if you didn’t get it yet.
Countdown for massive point devaluation in t minus x….
@Dan why is southwest saying that 25,000 points is worth only $300 – a 1.25 cent valuation?
The million dollar question: Do these points count toward a companion pass?
No. It’s in the fine print
Go mine, expires end of March though.
“7. All points codes must be claimed prior to expiration on 3/31/2023. ”
I read that as the code redemption period expires at the end of March but the points remain valid past then.
Can the points be gifted? Or must they go directly into the recipients account
did anyone use the points and see if their status towards companion changed? I know it is not suppose to work towards companion pass as per the fine print, but you maybe they have a glitch in our favor 🙂
Just got my email for three cancelled flights. Took just 5 minutes to follow the link and input the codes. Next email said points would post within 24 hours. I will gladly accept 75,000 extra points.
Anyone able to get 25,000 x2 for one person’s trips- there and back that were canceled under one itinerary? Thanks
After getting the Southwest CEO email and the goodwill points today, I read on the Points Guy (the only other points and travel blog I follow besides DansDeals) that one of their staffers had gotten $250 credit vouchers per cancelled passenger prior to receiving the goodwill points email. I figured it couldn’t hurt to call Southwest and ask for that, too, and I’m happy to report that they gave that to me on top of the points! I had to wait on hold for over 2 hours, but for the $500 travel credit on top of 50K points for me and my wife, I think that’s well worth it. Wanted to share here in the hopes that others have similar success!
@Avi Can you give more details about your situation? Did you reschedule your SW flight after the original one was canceled? Just wondering if I should brave the hold for what was ended up as a 16 hour delay in arrival.
Son’s flight on 1/2 was canceled. We live 2.5 hours from the airport, so I was glad to get the cancellation email the previous day. The system rebooked him for a 5:10 am flight the next day, which we could not make. Ended up rebooking with an overnight in Denver — first leg on 1/2 and second leg on 1/3. I submitted the hotel for reimbursement and received the auto-reply acknowledging the email. I have not received the 25K points, but hopefully that will come. I assume they will use the email used when booking the flight. Unfortunately, he does not have a rapid rewards account, but we can definitely enroll him.
Ok my flight was on the 28th. I canceled my flight on 27th night and got southwest dollars back in my account ($158 trip amount). I had also submitted the refund request, since i booked a United flight instead for the 28th. I got the 25k points email and was able to redeem the code and get the points. But, now when i check my account $158 credit has disappeared. Also, if I search with my trip ID i cannot find the credit. Same thing happened to my wife, she booked with points and her points were refunded when we cancelled. Those points disappeared now after she redeemed the 25k points via email code. anybody else had a similar situation?
I had a cancelled flight on December 25th. To make a long story short, I spent over 7 hours on hold trying to rebook my flight. I spent another 3 hours at the airport a couple days later trying to get my luggage back. I did not receive the email offering 25K points so I called them about a month ago and they said to send an email through their contact us link. At the same time, they gave me a $250 voucher. I finally recently received a response with not very helpful information. I then called Southwest and they basically said it is too bad that I didn’t receive the email regarding the 25K points and I should have received it in my email address. They said I could send another email through the contact us link, which I have done, anyone else having a similar issue?