ftnoob

I can't find where it has been mentioned here before, but the "Change Itinerary" feature allows funds from two additional PNRs to be applied to any increase in fare, even if two (or more) PNRs had already been used to pay for the PNR being changed.

Why is that important? Well for a variety of reasons I'm reluctant to use the technique of buying a refundable false ticket just to combine ticketless travel funds. At the same time I think it was wrong of Southwest to cut the limit from four PNRs to two PNRs without providing an alternative simple way to combine funds. So while I feel justified doing what I can to combine my leftover funds, I prefer to do it in a way that doesn't slam the company with credit card fees. I therefore use a technique that is different from what I've seen described here...and which I also happen to find typically requires fewer steps. Instead of buying refundable tickets and quickly cancelling them, I use the "Change Itinerary" feature to gradually build up the funds.

The technique is perhaps best explained with an example. Suppose you have three PNRs with $27 each (call them A, B, C); two PNRs with $12 each (D and E), and two PNRs with $5 each (F and G). First book the cheapest flight you can find, probably a $29 fare. In these parts there are lots of those between AUS and HOU. Use PNR A (27/27) and D (11/12) to pay the roughly $38 total due for new PNR N. Assume in each of the next few steps that the taxes and fees remain constant at $9.

Use the "Change Itinerary" feature to rebook PNR N at a new fare, such as $39. Generally you want to apply the lowest remaining balance PNR first, but in this case we have two PNRs that can be applied leaving no remainder, so use F and G to pay the $10 difference. Use the "Change Itinerary" feature again to change PNR N to a higher fare, such as $54. Pay for the $15 difference with PNRs D ($1 balance) and B (14/27). At this point you'll have balances of A=0, B=13, C=27, D=0, E=12, F=0, G=0, and new PNR N will have built up to $63. So we combined 100% of four PNRs and part of a fifth into one new PNR in only three steps, none of which required a charge to your credit card or cost SWA any fees. Using only the refundable fare technique would have required: 1) purchase ticket One (two PNRs plus credit card charge); b) cancel ticket One; c) purchase ticket Two (two PNRs plus credit card charge); d) cancel ticket Two; e) purchase ticket Three with funds from One and Two, a total of five steps and at least two credit charges and credits. I don't know the terms of Southwest's merchant processing account, but if someone carelessly chose $300 refundable fares for these steps the credit card fees could have been $10-$15.

If after going through the steps described above you have just a single PNR of a dollar or two that you want to merge with a larger amount, look for different routings (such as connections versus non-stop, different connecting city options) to find cases where the total due is a few dollars different even though the stated fare is the same. Also try reversing the direction of travel. Again using AUS and HOU as an example, AUS-HOU at a $29 stated fare costs $39.50 instead of the $38 it costs for HOU-AUS.

When you have several really small balances ($1-$2) to combine, you can book a one-way award ticket and use the small PNRs to pay the $2.50 fees, then cancel that ticket. With a variety of one way or round trip routings you should be able to combine all tiny balances into $5 or $10 single PNRs.

I'd like to see the refundable ticket purchase option limited to cases where there's just "no other way." Some might argue the extra credit card fees are an incentive for Southwest to hurry up and give us a better option. I'd respond that the company's current leadership would be more likely to find ways to block or penalize use of the refundable ticket technique.

ftn

Firewind

Thank you, ftnoob. Welcome.

I've done a bit of this, but never taken it out this far. Where I see the greatest value is in sweeping together all the morsels that try to get lost along the way when I'm traveling constantly and changing out frequently. While not terribly convenient, it beats maintaining a spreadsheet, in addition to expense reports, or keeping the cancellation email reminders in a special place, so as not to forget them.

I'll bet the moderator will be pleased to see this, as he's lamented about the limit on the number of Flight Funds we can use per PNR. But he may already have done this, by now.

Very nice contribution for one just entering these waters. And thanks again. ^

tusphotog

FWIW, I did something similar to what the OP is describing a few weeks ago. I meant to post something about it but forgot.

I had about $273 that was left over from a VDB voucher. Over the year, I split this up to pay for a couple trips that didn't get used. Long story short I had nine confirmation numbers that all expired the same day. I had to be in SEA to connect to HNL, so I was able to book various tickets, rebook them and keep going. I only had to kick in $1.50 of my own money to do this.

I can pull up the exact city pairs I used if anyone is interested, but in essence the key is trying to use one large amount and a smaller amount so you don't have to add more money to the pot. It worked very well. The final ticket cost $273.50, and I put in $1.50 of my own money, and was able to use up every last penny of the VDB voucher. It was satisfying to see a confirmation email with nine PNRs on it under the payment section.

nsx any chance you could put this in the Wiki?

BTW, Welcome to FT, ftnoob. Great first post! ^

curbcrusher

The wiki is open to editing by everyone. nsx isn't its gatekeeper.

ftnoob

Thanks for the welcomes! I've learned some great info reading here, so finally decided to register to post.

I've made a couple small edits to the FAQ on other topics; I can add this also but wanted to open this topic for discussion here before entering it over there.

tusphotog, thanks for posting your impressive nine PNRs consolidated into one. I was wondering how high any ultimate limit might be. If there is one at least now we know it is more than nine.

ftn

nsx

Done, although all I really did was point to this thread.

pitflyer

I had to play this game for the first time as I have several award tickets I cancelled and I rolled them up relatively easy into a $10, $10, and $7.50 bundles by booking and immediately cancelling interim WN RRs. However, am I stuck now without buying a refundable fare? Because I can't find any individual ticket that would cost around $20 which is the max I can re-use given the max of 2 PNRs.

Let me know if I'm missing something as I woulda never thought of combining my smaller award ticket fees in the first place

ftnoob

The max of two PNRs per new reservation is extinct. As noted in the 14-April flash update, "the future" has arrived (skip over the outdated transitional information in the Wiki).

Also note that non-refundable fares are refundable within 24 hours of purchase, so you don't have to buy and cancel an expensive Anytime ticket.

How many PNRs and in what amounts are you left with to consolidate?

pitflyer

I am still confused, as I thought there was still a limit of two left over TTF (as all my funds are basically 9-11 fees on award tickets I've cancelled or re-done to get a partial refund). I have 9 miscellanous PNRs, but they are all on different dates, except for the three I mentioned that are $10, $10, and $7.50. I'd like to get all these combined into one PNR. Thanks for walking me through it.

tusphotog

The limit is 2 WUT (whole unused tickets) per purchase. You can use an infinite number of TTFs. ETA: I swear I booked a ticket a few weeks ago with 8 total payments (2 WUTs and 6 TTFs). Guess I'm either dreaming things or there was a hiccup in the website and I got lucky?

I don't know if the 9/11 fees from RR tickets count as TTFs or WUTs.

david2son08

FWIW, I just booked a few reservations this morning. For each one, after entering the 4th TTF I got a message that said if I wanted to use a Credit Card I had to call the Customer Service number, and it would not let me enter any more TTFs. So, at that point, with 4 TTFs entered, I could not enter more TTFs and I could not pay the rest with a Credit Card without calling.

I ended up deleting one of the TTFs and using a credit card to pay the rest.

This worked out okay for me, in that I had to book three reservations and I had 8 unused TTFs (using three on two of them, and two on the other), but I wanted to try to use them all for one reservation--just to see if I could, based on what I read here.

While it did allow more than two, it limited me to three, and four seemingly would work if I had four that covered the entire fare.

SWAVictor

As an FYI - calling would not have produced any different result. Our CS&S Reps have to follow the same rules as the website. (by the way, I'll check on the message you received .. it should simply state to remove one of the payments so you can use a credit card - it shouldn't say that calling would result in anything different)

The rules are 2 unused tickets per passenger in the new reservation, and up to 4 additional payments (not an infinite number).

As stated on the website:
Funds must be entered one at a time and may be applied to this reservation in the following way. Up to two unused Ticketless Travel tickets per passenger (always applied first) and up to four of the following in any combination: southwestgiftcards, Southwest LUV Vouchers, Ticketless Travel Funds (left over funds not previously used) and one credit card.

So, if you were booking for one person that means 2 unused tickets and 4 other payments . . . once you hit the 4th if you did not have enough to completely purchase your ticket you would have to back out one of the 4 so that you could add a credit card (as you did).

As an example, if you are booking for 3 people, you could use 6 unused tickets and 4 other payments . . .

I know that its very confusing - and we have really tried to make it as easy to understand as possible. There are other threads here on FT where I have gone into more detail - perhaps curbcrusher or ftnoob could dig it up and point you in that direction.

nsx

Victor, what bugs me is that the system often thwarts our best attempts to use up small TTFs, creating more of them instead by grabbing 90% of a larger source of funds.

Here's one way to resolve this problem before some slimeball decides to play the class action lawsuit lottery: Develop a web page that lets you enter as many unused tickets and TTFs as you want and issues you a gift card for the total amount with the earliest expiration date. Simple and effective.

lougord99

^^^^^^^^^

david2son08

Thanks, Victor.

Something along these lines would be VERY nice!