Southwest opened bookings this morning through September 28, 2012. Ding has not yet announced the opening. The
travel tools page does not yet show a date for the next extension.
In other news:
1. Southwest has announced plans to re-fit its newer aircraft, the 737-700's, with
an additional row of seats. Seat pitch will be reduced to 31 inches, the exit row gap will be reduced 8 inches or so, recline will be reduced 1 inch, and the seat cushion thickness will be reduced. Southwest claims that this will result in increased rather than decreased knee room. The 4% increase in seats per flight may reduce upward pressure on fares and increase pressure on overhead storage bins.
2.
Hilton HHonors became the latest partner to walk away from Southwest in the wake of the new Rapid Rewards program. Points transfers from HHonors were never very attractive. The award option to redeem 350k points for a companion pass and 6 free trips was a great deal, but that opportunity ended years ago. Point transfers from HHonors ended December 31, 2011. All requested transfers
were posted with 2011 effective dates. If you preferred a 2012 date for Companion Pass qualification, apparently a phone call is sufficient to move the points into 2012. As to why so many partners have left Southwest this year, I can only surmise that Southwest wanted to charge them too much for RR points.
3. Chase Ultimate Rewards points (from their Sapphire, Ink and Bold cards)
can now be transferred to Rapid Rewards. That's the good news. The bad news is that these points will not count toward your Companion Pass qualification. FTer djschex tried it and verified this on January 5, 2012, the very first day.
4. Scam operators are attempting to impersonate Southwest Rapid Rewards by taking advantage of
telephone misdialing and by using
snail mail.
5. FT member FindAWay recevied a mysterious promotion for
double tier qualifying points that has blank terms and conditions. Your mileage may vary.
6. If the crossword puzzle in your in-flight magazine is already completed, you can amuse yourself by
counting the peanuts in each bag and reporting your findings on FT. I know, it's just plane nuts (apologies to Herb Kelleher).
7.
The 50,000 point signup bonus for Southwest Visa cards is back. These points count toward Companion Pass qualification, as they always have.