Dumb question regarding flight times and pricing
Jul 1, 2016, 6:54 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 103
Dumb question regarding flight times and pricing
I have a trip booked with Southwest. I booked with points a few months ago, now the same trip is 7k points less. Is it worth it to cancel and reschedule it? Also when looking at the times on the flight is it always my time or is it local time? I cant figure out how long the flights actually are. It says I have a 8hr flight from Baltimore to Puerta Vallarta, leaving bwi at 6am and arriving at PV at 1pm
Jul 1, 2016, 7:25 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: CMH, West Coast
Programs: AA Executive Platinum, oneworld emerald
Posts: 2,741
Yes, totally worth it to change to get your 7k back. You can, but don't even have to, cancel it; just change it to the same flights, new price.
Flight times are always local to wherever you are.
Flight times are always local to wherever you are.
Jul 1, 2016, 11:52 pm
#4
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA Gold. UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt (Lifetime Diamond downgraded to Explorist)
Posts: 6,776
Check the details of your trip. From a quick search of your situation I can figure you're connecting in Houston with about a 90 minute connection time.
Jul 2, 2016, 2:56 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 103
Jul 2, 2016, 2:57 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 103
Jul 2, 2016, 3:09 pm
#7
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: LAS
Posts: 1,525
The total time is right there in the column that says "Travel Time". With the time zone changes, it will either look shorter (going) or longer (returning) when you adjust your watch for local time. But, the total amount of time it takes for the entire trip is the "Travel Time".
Jul 3, 2016, 6:31 pm
#10
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1.050MM, PersonalCar 0.275MM
Posts: 1,718
Non-refundable doesn't mean a whole lot for a Southwest flight purchased with points. But that requires some explanation.
The points themselves are refundable back to the Rapid Rewards account from which they came even if you had selected a Wanna Get Away fare type (but denominated in points) that would have been non-refundable had it been purchased with dollars (not points). The dollars that you had to spend when you bought the flight in the first place for some of the fees/taxes that are not covered by points are in theory refundable if they represented new money (e.g., not applied from a source that was already non-refundable). In practice most of us don't care too much about that relatively small amount being refundable or not.
Re-booking the flight to get the new lower price in points doesn't change the status of the dollars that was spent on the fees/taxes.
And, if you selected exactly the same flight and/or the same routing, as opposed to the same origination & destination but with different connection point, probably the amount of money didn't change at all. But if you did change routing, then the money needed could change... and that's too complicated for me to want to bother explaining here.
The points themselves are refundable back to the Rapid Rewards account from which they came even if you had selected a Wanna Get Away fare type (but denominated in points) that would have been non-refundable had it been purchased with dollars (not points). The dollars that you had to spend when you bought the flight in the first place for some of the fees/taxes that are not covered by points are in theory refundable if they represented new money (e.g., not applied from a source that was already non-refundable). In practice most of us don't care too much about that relatively small amount being refundable or not.
Re-booking the flight to get the new lower price in points doesn't change the status of the dollars that was spent on the fees/taxes.
And, if you selected exactly the same flight and/or the same routing, as opposed to the same origination & destination but with different connection point, probably the amount of money didn't change at all. But if you did change routing, then the money needed could change... and that's too complicated for me to want to bother explaining here.
Jul 4, 2016, 11:36 am
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 103