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WN's new reservation system aggressively cancels duplicate bookings

WN's new reservation system aggressively cancels duplicate bookings

Old Mar 27, 2017, 1:35 pm
  #151  
 
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Originally Posted by singlebackpack
This analogy does not hold water.

All bookings (even the so-called "fraudulent" ones) are paid with very real $$ and very real points (not "any coin"), at the exact price Southwest *chooses* to offer them for sale (in a public marketplace called a "website") when I book them.

When I ride the subway I pay $2, I can take the 1:00 train or the 1:10 train. Sometimes my "intent" on which train to take isn't certain until the last minute. It's my choice and I don't have to worry about massive price fluctuations or change fees. I hop on the train and pay my fair share ($2).

This used to more-or-less be the case on Southwest as well. On many Amtrak regional/commuter lines, it still is the case (a ticket is good for any train within 365 days). Does Amtrak consider this "fraud" in any way??...no, of course not.

The SWA rules have changed. The CoC was always there, but never enforced. Thus the new enforcement is, in fact, a defacto rule change. Their right, and yes, maybe we were "spoiled", but it is also my right to voice concern about a change that doesn't benefit consumers or the flying public.

What's the next anti-consumer change SWA will make?...
Actually this better enforcement of a long established rule DOES benefit other Southwest Airlines customers: customers who were not able to book (or book at a lower fare) because other passengers were hoarding seats especially low cost seats on multiple flights.

Most people don't engage in this type of overbooking, so this better enforcement of this rule will benefit more WN customers than it will hurt.
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 10:59 am
  #152  
 
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Pre-May 8 (not post) similar reservations now being canceled! (different city pair)

I thought that this was only happening on post May 9th booking.

I travel weekly on SWA for business (as I know most of you do too!) Due to my meeting schedule, I have several contingency city pairs booked on the same date.

I had a round trip AUS->CLE (April 9-12) cancel because I had a CLE->MKE booked on April 12th. This cancelled on 3/27 at midnight. I am unable to book the CLE->AUS fare due to the new "feature" of the reservation system. The round trip was booked before the one way, that's why it was cancelled.

The only recourse that I was told I had was to call customer service and file a complaint.

Please feel free to call 855-234-4654 and also place your complaint too.
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 11:27 am
  #153  
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Originally Posted by Peter T.
Actually this better enforcement of a long established rule DOES benefit other Southwest Airlines customers: customers who were not able to book (or book at a lower fare) because other passengers were hoarding seats especially low cost seats on multiple flights.

Most people don't engage in this type of overbooking, so this better enforcement of this rule will benefit more WN customers than it will hurt.
+1 - This is why it is a zero-sum game. For every person who thinks that they aren't hurting anyone, they are simply wrong. They are.

Enforcement of the long-standing rule levels the playing field. Others will see cheaper tickets and while there may be a few who jump ship, there will be others who now find cheaper fares on WN and start booking WN.
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 3:57 pm
  #154  
 
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Originally Posted by Often1
+1 - This is why it is a zero-sum game. For every person who thinks that they aren't hurting anyone, they are simply wrong. They are.

Enforcement of the long-standing rule levels the playing field. Others will see cheaper tickets and while there may be a few who jump ship, there will be others who now find cheaper fares on WN and start booking WN.
Repeating a fabricated abstract doesn't make it true. Since other airlines market speculative booking options, an underlying benefit must exist.

WN went from an open hand to a closed fist - no warning, no explanation. They chose not to maximize incremental revenue by using alerts and automated rules that allow tailoring the bad booking resolution process to specific needs.

I see little reason to admire them for that.
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 7:27 pm
  #155  
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Originally Posted by LegalTender
Repeating a fabricated abstract doesn't make it true. Since other airlines market speculative booking options, an underlying benefit must exist.

WN went from an open hand to a closed fist - no warning, no explanation. They chose not to maximize incremental revenue by using alerts and automated rules that allow tailoring the bad booking resolution process to specific needs.

I see little reason to admire them for that.
No, other carriers do not market speculative booking options.

A "hold" is a very specific form of reservation and there is a fee associated with it which covers the carrier's downside risk. It is also very short-term. Generally 24-72 hours and definitely not for duplicate or "impossible" bookings.

AA also used to use the "hold" as it was permitted to by DOT, in place of the 24-hour refund.

But, speculative - not. No carrier markets or uses it that way. Any consumer who uses it that way is wasting his money.
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 8:52 pm
  #156  
 
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Of course it's speculative booking. It removes the seat from inventory - in FareLock's case for 72 hours to a week. The fee varies, but is nominal. Online travel agents popularized an even more prodigal Hold For Free option, though WN doesn't play in their sandbox.

The reservation is created, the flights are reserved for you and the space is being held, meaning no one else can have your space when you have a reservation on hold.

Gives you time to transfer miles or price shop. Small price to pay if your plans aren't certain or you think there may be a fare war leading to even lower fares.
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 9:33 pm
  #157  
 
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Please let me know as soon as we start seeing all these new lower fares.
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 10:04 pm
  #158  
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Originally Posted by LegalTender
Of course it's speculative booking. It removes the seat from inventory - in FareLock's case for 72 hours to a week. The fee varies, but is nominal.
FareLock is an absolutely brilliant product. I use it to hold a second-best award seat while waiting for the first-best seat to become available.
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Old Mar 30, 2017, 12:19 am
  #159  
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Originally Posted by LegalTender
Of course it's speculative booking. It removes the seat from inventory - in FareLock's case for 72 hours to a week. The fee varies, but is nominal. Online travel agents popularized an even more prodigal Hold For Free option, though WN doesn't play in their sandbox.

The reservation is created, the flights are reserved for you and the space is being held, meaning no one else can have “your” space when you have a reservation on hold.

Gives you time to transfer miles or price shop. Small price to pay if your plans aren't certain or you think there may be a fare war leading to even lower fares.
The speculative bookings that WN is now canceling were free and with a deadline of just 10 minutes prior to departure. How is that comparable to a service that costs money and expires in a week? Even if the service were free, the fact that it expires in just a week, and not 2 months from now or whatever -- minus a whopping 10 minutes -- when your flight actually departs, is what makes a massive difference. What is the fare difference between the lowest fare that you bought speculative bookings for and the fare you would have to pay when you make up your mind 3 hours before departure? A lot, right?

This very expensive free version of "FareLock" is going away. Too bad!
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Old Mar 30, 2017, 6:53 am
  #160  
 
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Did you get a email for the cancellation? Were these WGA, Anytime, or Business Select fares?
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Old Mar 30, 2017, 7:43 am
  #161  
 
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Originally Posted by Often1
What you are doing not only sounds like, but is expressly prohibited by the Contract you agreed to with WN. The provision is cut & pasted below.

When you book two tickets which are impossible to fly, that means someone else may not. So, it is not just WN losing revenue and passing that loss on to others, but it is also someone else not getting home. Or, when you are looking for a flight and can't find one, it may be because someone else has done this to you.

So, hopefully this ends the cycle.

Multiple Reservations. Southwest prohibits multiple reservations for the same
Passenger departing from the same city on the same date. Furthermore, without
notice to the Passenger or purchaser, Southwest may cancel such reservations or
any other reservations that it believes, in its sole discretion, were made without
intent to travel.
OK so this got me thinking. Let's say I live in LAX but have a morning meeting in SMF and then an afternoon meeting back at LAX and a morning meeting the following day at SFO, but I'm just going to fly out that night. Theoretically, I can't book both the 1st flight of the morning LAX-SMF and last flight of the night LAX-SFO.
Given, that is the VERY RARE case, but very interesting nonetheless.
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Old Mar 30, 2017, 8:24 am
  #162  
 
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Originally Posted by chrismik
I thought that this was only happening on post May 9th booking.

I travel weekly on SWA for business (as I know most of you do too!) Due to my meeting schedule, I have several contingency city pairs booked on the same date.

I had a round trip AUS->CLE (April 9-12) cancel because I had a CLE->MKE booked on April 12th. This cancelled on 3/27 at midnight. I am unable to book the CLE->AUS fare due to the new "feature" of the reservation system. The round trip was booked before the one way, that's why it was cancelled.

The only recourse that I was told I had was to call customer service and file a complaint.

Please feel free to call 855-234-4654 and also place your complaint too.
This is insanity.

Going from best-in-class to worst-in-class is dubbed a "new feature."
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Old Mar 30, 2017, 10:08 am
  #163  
 
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Originally Posted by jco613
OK so this got me thinking. Let's say I live in LAX but have a morning meeting in SMF and then an afternoon meeting back at LAX and a morning meeting the following day at SFO, but I'm just going to fly out that night. Theoretically, I can't book both the 1st flight of the morning LAX-SMF and last flight of the night LAX-SFO.
Given, that is the VERY RARE case, but very interesting nonetheless.
I think you've hit where people should have a legitimate gripe with WN. Flight schedules that are possible to make shouldn't be cancelled no matter how tight the timelines look to be - it's more the "booking two transcon flights two hours apart"-type scenarios that WN should focus with their decision to enforce this portion of the CoC.
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Old Mar 30, 2017, 10:38 am
  #164  
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Originally Posted by LegalTender
This is insanity.

Going from best-in-class to worst-in-class is dubbed a "new feature."
Yeah, it does stink that WN eliminated their parallel universe where one can visit both Austin, TX and Milwaukee, WI at the same time.
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Old Mar 30, 2017, 10:46 am
  #165  
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Originally Posted by chrismik
I thought that this was only happening on post May 9th booking.

I travel weekly on SWA for business (as I know most of you do too!) Due to my meeting schedule, I have several contingency city pairs booked on the same date.

I had a round trip AUS->CLE (April 9-12) cancel because I had a CLE->MKE booked on April 12th. This cancelled on 3/27 at midnight. I am unable to book the CLE->AUS fare due to the new "feature" of the reservation system. The round trip was booked before the one way, that's why it was cancelled.

The only recourse that I was told I had was to call customer service and file a complaint.

Please feel free to call 855-234-4654 and also place your complaint too.
https://www.southwest.com/assets/pdf...f-carriage.pdf

2. a. (2) Cancellation of Confirmed Reservations.
(v) Multiple Reservations. Southwest prohibits multiple reservations for the same Passenger departing from the same city on the same date. Furthermore, without notice to the Passenger or purchaser, Southwest may cancel such reservations or any other reservations that it believes, in its sole discretion, were made without intent to travel.
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