matt21

Comparing it to BJ "cheating" is a bad example. The better comparison is a stock option, where I pay a fee for the option to do something later. I can choose a BS fare with the ability to cancel AT ANYTIME for a full refund, but it's likely a much higher fare for this privilege. Should I choose a lower Wanna-Get-Away fare and cancel, I forfeit the ability to get my money back and instead accept it as a 1 year Southwest credit.

I mostly fly Southwest because I value this flexibility as you pointed out. If such flexibility weren't available, I'd probably start flying other airlines where I can often get a first class ticket for the same price as a BS fare. Since I don't fly the others regularly, I can't comment on if this is a common practice due to change fees or other restrictions. I do however know of several people/companies like myself who use similar tactics and are very loyal to Southwest, not out of any "scheming", simply because their schedule demands the optionality. It's a competitive advantage that wins over certain customers. Since this is the *first time* I've had a reservation auto-cancelled in 10 years of flying Southwest, it looks like they don't have a problem with it except for extreme cases (overlapping flight in my case). Last year, I even had a phone agent schedule multiple flights from different airports while driving out of Florida prior to a hurricane in case I couldn't make it to the first one due to the heavy traffic, they were unbelievably helpful.