Southwest change fare thingie is back

Walt Disney World
303

Funny, I am adding that as we speak!

304

Speaking of Early Bird, I always struggle with whether or not it is worth the money. We pay $160 for EB for a round trip. I am not a person who plans our trips 6-12 months in advance, so by the time I book our flights, I question how great our boarding position is in the queue. Last year, I screwed up and forgot to add EB to our departing flight, and yeah, we had to sit in the back, but there was no one in front or back of us, and we had the whole row to ourselves. I guess it is always better to be safe and get it, but dang, it’s expensive!

305

Three words: Southwest Credit Card

One of the versions (the one I have) gets you 4 free upgraded boardings per year.

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306

This is more than twice the cost of my SW card annual fee, just FYI

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307

Do you get free EB?

308

I get free A1-15 provided it’s available upon check-in at the gate. BETTER than EB

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309

:astonished: Why am I so clueless?

310

You’re not. You just didn’t know.

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311

I didn’t know either. We don’t fly often so I hadn’t looked into the SW card but it’s probably worth considering. I hate paying for EB too, but the first time we went to Disney we didn’t get it and ended up being split up. It wasn’t tragic, but added a level of stress to the trip that I didn’t enjoy. (Although side note: I ended up sitting next to an older gentleman who was a dairy farmer, and had the most delightful flight learning about cows and the dairy industry. Something I never would have been able to do if I’d sat with DH! LOL)

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312

I don’t fly a super ton either, but enough that I try to make my big purchases on my card (and pay it off if not immediately then very quickly) to earn the points which never expire.

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313

good grief how did i not know that?! apparently i NEVER read the fine print!

314

It’s not with ALL of the cards. Only certain ones. You’ll need to call to see if your card features this benefit, FYI

And, the way it works is you pay for the boarding upgrade at the gate counter USING YOUR SW CARD and then you are reimbursed the amount at the end of the billing cycle.

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315

That’s awesome! Thanks!

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316

wait, what? Here I am thinking I’m all that with using SW points and getting a free companion, and now you’re telling me that I still have more to learn? It’s like a full time job getting all the deals :slight_smile:

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317

My family’s 5/22-5/31 flights were already booked with the lowest possible points/cost using this trick about a month ago. Then, about two days ago, my MIL decided to join…our departing flight was up to $154 and the return flight was $497 (as there were no longer “wanna get away fares” available). I was able to book her a flight for 5/18-5/25 for $84 dollars each way (<5000 points) and then immediately changed it to the same flight as the rest of us have. I’m mentioning just because initially I did not think it would work for the return flight as there weren’t any “wanna get away” fares available for regular booking.

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318

Be careful! This is the same situation I was in. For the return flight, if I had tried to just book it as a new flight, it would not have been available. But I was able to book it because of the change fare thing. I was so happy! But then, a few days later, they booted us off of the flight. I couldn’t believe it. I think it was because of my low fare, I was among the first to get booted. Eventually though, they added another flight that day, and I was able to keep watching and change a few times and finally got my flight back.

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319

Thanks for the warning! I will definitely watch out for that.
Worst comes to worst, she’ll just take a different return flight on the same day—they have added two additional nonstop flights that day since the time I made my original booking for the rest of the family

320

In that case, you might be ok then! :crossed_fingers:

321

It’s baaaaaack

I have the red bar for my 6/14-6/23 flights. No changes to my own flights but they did drop a couple. I noticed the last few days that the fares were waaaay up, which I’ve seen happen before they do this.

Also maybe of note, these are flights I booked with ultra cheap late-May fares the last time the red bar was available.

322

Ok my flight just changed (3 hours earlier). I am just over 30 days out. Fingers crossed that they add in another flight so that we can spend our last day in the parks.

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