Originally Posted by
matt21
I suspect this won't change your mind, but consider a frequent scenario: I buy a one way ticket for a Wednesday flight 2 weeks ahead of time at WGA fare of $250. The Monday before my flight my schedule changes and I can't leave until Thursday or Friday. It's now going to cost $575 (BS fare on a frequent route). That's a $300+ change fee whether you want to call it one or not. Southwest eliminates most WGA fares 7 days out even on non-full flights, hitting frequent travelers in the pocket. Do they have an obligation to honor my lower fare? Of course not, they exist to make the most money possible. I'm OK with that, but in turn I'm going to try to save as much money as possible. If I foresee a couple of scheduling scenarios, I'll book a couple of flights. If they had a problem with such purchases, they'd cancel them. That it's happened 1 time should prove it's not an issue for them.
It's not a change fee, it's a change in fare. Every carrier does this (except the others add a change fee as well). If you change your ticket -- or just buy one from scratch -- three days in advance, it's going to cost a lot more.
Do you really think that Southwest would be a going concern if every passenger on the plane bought the cheapest ticket?
In their earliest days, flying only DAL-HOU-SAT-DAL, they had two fares -- peak and off-peak. If the peak fare is $99 and the off-peak fare is $59, and you wish to change your off-peak flight to a peak flight, you would have to pay them $40.
When you book multiple reservations in order to avoid having to pay more for a last-minute change, you are DEFRAUDING them. People like you should be banned from Southwest for your fraudulent behavior.
