Southwest Rapid Rewards - Last minute RR 1.0 Availability

I didn't think this fit in the "reward check" sticky...

My question is a basic one - I haven't flown a revenue WN flight since the 1.0 to 2.0 change, and I'm down to my last RR. I (and my CP) are traveling to LAS from MCI in July, and availability is there from 24-30, thus we're booked those dates.

We'd really like to leave LAS on Sunday (29th) but nothing available that day. In the days before 2.0, this was not concerning, we'd wait until the last week or so and availability would always open up.

Thus, my question - does 1.0 reward availability open up at last minute still or should we count on coming back on Monday (as we're currently booked)?

(In short, if 1.0 seats don't generally open up, I don't need to keep checking on changing it (daily)... )

Thanks!

We'd really like to leave LAS on Sunday (29th) but nothing available that day. In the days before 2.0, this was not concerning, we'd wait until the last week or so and availability would always open up.

Watch the preceding weeks. If you see 8 seats open right up to one hour before flight time, that flight is a candidate for award availability. If you don't see 8 seats open then Southwest will probably prefer to try to sell the seats. Just an idea to try since I have no inside info.

Watch the preceding weeks. If you see 8 seats open right up to one hour before flight time, that flight is a candidate for award availability. If you don't see 8 seats open then Southwest will probably prefer to try to sell the seats. Just an idea to try since I have no inside info.

Are you saying to search for 8 seats and see if a previously sold-out flight starts showing availability?

Or are you saying something about the availability as shown in expertflyer?

Are you saying to search for 8 seats and see if a previously sold-out flight starts showing availability?

No. I'm saying if the flight EVER gets to the point that fewer than 8 seats are for sale, the chances are low that Southwest would allocate an award seat. I've seen it happen, but your chances in that case are not good.

No. I'm saying if the flight EVER gets to the point that fewer than 8 seats are for sale, the chances are low that Southwest would allocate an award seat. I've seen it happen, but your chances in that case are not good.

Ah. Sorry. I've been playing around with the flight availability in expertflyer so it was on my mind. It seems to show either 0 or 8 for a given booking class on Southwest. And I read too quickly and thought you said "if you see 8 seats open up".

To answer the original question -- yes, award availability opens up, and as nsx was saying it's route/flight dependent. As one example, I've been compulsively watching the award availability for a trip this weekend. I'm pretty sure originally a few weeks ago, Friday was not open at all, but many of the flights became available over time and there were quite a few open in the past couple of days. I've even been seeing award availability on some flights that had less than 8 anytime seats available -- sometimes as few as one or two. The flight I ended up keeping is a nonstop tomorrow morning; I booked the award ticket <24 hrs before the flight and now it's showing completely sold out.

I think your chances are probably good but it's still good advice to watch the preceding weeks to see how it behaves. For example, what is the award availability like for this Sunday and next?

So it's just as it used to be, just have to watch it through to the 'last minute' and flights with space will open to award bookings...

(In short, yes, keep checking... ;) )

Thanks!

I didn't think this fit in the "reward check" sticky...

My question is a basic one - I haven't flown a revenue WN flight since the 1.0 to 2.0 change, and I'm down to my last RR. I (and my CP) are traveling to LAS from MCI in July, and availability is there from 24-30, thus we're booked those dates.

We'd really like to leave LAS on Sunday (29th) but nothing available that day. In the days before 2.0, this was not concerning, we'd wait until the last week or so and availability would always open up.

Thus, my question - does 1.0 reward availability open up at last minute still or should we count on coming back on Monday (as we're currently booked)?

(In short, if 1.0 seats don't generally open up, I don't need to keep checking on changing it (daily)... )

Thanks!
If RR 1.0 had changed directly to RR 2.0, you wouldn't be having this question. RR 1.0 (where "blackout date" rewards were all there were) allowed changes anytime to any plane with seats available, as long as it wasn't for a "blackout date".

RR 1.0 change already once before (you can call it RR 1.1 or RR 1.5, but it makes no sense IMHO to still call it RR 1.0) to where there were types of awards, the restricted kind yuu're talking about (with no "blackout dates" per se but WN's whim about what flights you could or couldn't use it on), and then you can trade 2 of those for 1 "blackout date" award.

It was this second verison of RR (1.1 or 1.5 or whatever) that was replaced with RR 2.0.

(RR was never officially numbered before RR 2.0 came along, thus the whole confusion about what to call each pre-2.0 version of RR. But given that there were two eras of rewards prior to RR 2.0, I don't think you can call them both the same.)

If RR 1.0 had changed directly to RR 2.0, you wouldn't be having this question. RR 1.0 (where "blackout date" rewards were all there were) allowed changes anytime to any plane with seats available, as long as it wasn't for a "blackout date".

RR 1.0 change already once before (you can call it RR 1.1 or RR 1.5, but it makes no sense IMHO to still call it RR 1.0) to where there were types of awards, the restricted kind yuu're talking about (with no "blackout dates" per se but WN's whim about what flights you could or couldn't use it on), and then you can trade 2 of those for 1 "blackout date" award.

It was this second verison of RR (1.1 or 1.5 or whatever) that was replaced with RR 2.0.

(RR was never officially numbered before RR 2.0 came along, thus the whole confusion about what to call each pre-2.0 version of RR. But given that there were two eras of rewards prior to RR 2.0, I don't think you can call them both the same.)


So... :confused: well... um... thanks for the history.?.

I'm not sure that has anything (or any impact) at all to do with my question or the answers to it... and since I'll not have any further RR after this transaction, I'll not be making the mistake of not labeling the RR version improperly, so again... um... thanks! ^ :)

Ah. Sorry. I've been playing around with the flight availability in expertflyer so it was on my mind. It seems to show either 0 or 8 for a given booking class on Southwest. And I read too quickly and thought you said "if you see 8 seats open up".

To answer the original question -- yes, award availability opens up, and as nsx was saying it's route/flight dependent. As one example, I've been compulsively watching the award availability for a trip this weekend. I'm pretty sure originally a few weeks ago, Friday was not open at all, but many of the flights became available over time and there were quite a few open in the past couple of days. I've even been seeing award availability on some flights that had less than 8 anytime seats available -- sometimes as few as one or two. The flight I ended up keeping is a nonstop tomorrow morning; I booked the award ticket <24 hrs before the flight and now it's showing completely sold out.

I think your chances are probably good but it's still good advice to watch the preceding weeks to see how it behaves. For example, what is the award availability like for this Sunday and next?
I see the following classes in EF: R S W Y L B Q H M T N K O

Which map to BS, A, WGA, Standard Award, Freedom Award?

I can't determine a mapping to EF based on the ticket availability at southwest.com.

Thanks.

I see the following classes in EF: R S W Y L B Q H M T N K O

Which map to BS, A, WGA, Standard Award, Freedom Award?

I can't determine a mapping to EF based on the ticket availability at southwest.com.

Thanks.

I'm not really the right person to ask, I was just messing around with the free trial account. There was a screen that showed the fare classes. I think Y was anytime and B was BS, but I didn't really understand the other ones. My trial lapsed so I can't get back into it.

I see the following classes in EF: R S W Y L B Q H M T N K O

Which map to BS, A, WGA, Standard Award, Freedom Award?

I can't determine a mapping to EF based on the ticket availability at southwest.com.

Yes, Y is Anytime, but most of those codes are WGA fare classes. (WGA is an aggregation of many fare classes.) Some of us still miss the full fare matrix the web site used to display:

http://i.imgur.com/j9psy.png (http://i.imgur.com/AfycO.png)

Click the picture to view the full size version (http://i.imgur.com/AfycO.png).

Yes, Y is Anytime, but most of those codes are WGA fare classes. (WGA is an aggregation of many fare classes.)
Do points awards go into a separate bucket so that they can tell them apart, or do they look the same as a paid purchase from a fare code standpoint?

(Obviously Standard/Freedom awards must go into a separate bucket, because (a) they can tell them apart if they need to rebook you, and (b) they have completely different availability.)

There is no difference in fare class between dollars and points bookings. Freedom Awards and Standard Awards each have their own fare class (two different buckets).