How to get News Flashes

This thread is locked. A moderator will post here when there is a schedule extension, a noteworthy Rapid Rewards promotion, the start of one of the semi-annual "Big Sales," an unexpected and particularly hot sale, or some other news item considered especially important.

To be notified by Email when a moderator has posted any such important news:

1. Log in to FlyerTalk (if you have not already done so);
2. Click on Thread Tools in the lighter blue bar above this post's dark blue header;
3. Click the "Subscribe to this Thread" option from the pull-down menu;
   (Note that if you see instead an "Unsubcribe" option, you are already subscribed for news flashes--in which case you should abandon this process)
4. In the "Notification Type" field's drop down list on the "Subscribe to Thread" form, select either "Instant notification by email" (preferred) or "Daily notification by email," then click the "Add Subscription" button.

If you need to establish or change your email address for Flyertalk, select "MyFlyerTalk" at the left of the blue bar, then "Edit Email & Password".

That's it. You will now be automatically notified of any time-critical Southwest news. Hat tip to ejmelton for posting the idea for this notification method.

Wiki FAQ

The Southwest/Rapid Rewards FAQ is now in Wiki form, meaning that you can add your own material and correct mistakes to your heart's content. LUV it!

The old FAQ will no longer be updated. It has been un-stickied but not deleted, so as not to break links to it.

Popular Long-lived Threads

Here's a list of useful threads compiled by FT member lougord99. With these links you can quickly find these threads even if they currently buried many pages deep in the forum. Please send a Private Message to the moderators if you would like us to add something:

Chase Southwest Visa 50,000 Rapid Reward points offers : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...ts-offers.html

Rapid Rewards 2.0 begins March 1, 2011 : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...-1-2011-a.html

Official Peanut Gallery Thread : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...ry-thread.html

Enforcement of Boarding Order: consolidated thread : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...ed-thread.html

Official schedule extension prediction thread : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...on-thread.html

LUV Stock Discussion Thread : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...on-thread.html

Southwest's new "Evolve" interior adds 1 row, claims to preserve knee room : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...knee-room.html

Systemwide Fare Sales: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...e-threads.html

Consolidated "Is this a safe connection on WN?" thread : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...wn-thread.html

Pre-Check is starting! Login and look for Opt-in box: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...ater-year.html

Post Your Boarding Card # (non EarlyBird, A-list or BS) : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...d-list-bs.html

WN 14% Devaluation of RR2 points for WGA redemption effective March 31, 2014 : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...31-2014-a.html

Southwest Companion pass 2013-14 : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...2013-14-a.html

Another seat saving hassle and why I hate flying WN: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...flying-wn.html

Customizing FT

Did you know that you can restructure FT yourself? It's a feature called MyFlyerTalk, located near the upper left of your screen.

You can subscribe to forums to see what the latest (and perhaps hottest) thread is in any forums you like. You can also auto-subscribe to view new posts any thread you have posted in. I learned this from SanDiego1K and Canarsie. Here's how to do it.

Setting up auto-subscribe to threads in which you post.
Setting up subscriptions to a forum:
Now you have one-stop shopping for all your main interests on FlyerTalk at your MyFlyerTalk page. Enjoy!

Posting Guidelines

FT exists for the benefit of its members, and most members reading a particular airline forum are enthusiastic or at least frequent users of that airline. How do we add value to their experience? By providing new information, new perspectives, and new opportunities. How do we subtract value from their experience? By starting or participating in pointless arguments that add no insight. The need of the few to vent anger does not outweigh the wish of the many to have a pleasant and informative forum.

Being a good FTer means trying to add value with every post. None of us measure up to this ideal, but we can try. This is not to say that the airline deserves a free pass on its mistakes. Far from it. When an airline disappoints members, die-hard fans will apply a more than sufficient pasting.

So what about cheerleading? Is that not equally damaging? In a word, no. It might not seem fair, but cheerleading is not offensive to the large majority of FT members using a given forum. If the cheerleaders find it necessary to browbeat anyone who posts any criticism of the airline, then they become a problem for the moderator to deal with, but that's quite rare.

By the way, people who love to bash have their own forum. It's Travel Safety and Security, which seems to exist for people who hate the TSA. In fact, anyone who likes the TSA incites a ruckus in that forum just as an airline basher disturbs an airline forum.

Please try to make each post add value. Passion and intensity can be a boon to the forum if you take care to channel them constructively.

If you perceive a troll post, use the Alert a Moderator icon. I'll handle it. That's my job. If you try to scold the poster in public, you add to the forum pollution rather than reducing it. I am very accommodating of alerts since so few people use them as a first rather than last resort. I typically do not reply to alerts, but I read each one promptly and I act on at least 80% of them. Sometimes the action is invisible, for example a private message to the poster requesting an edit. Regardless of whether you observe a response, you can be sure that I have considered your alert.