So today I received an email that my "A-List Membership" with Southwest expired as of Dec. 31. How is that possible when I am Air Tran Elite again for 2013 and the programs were supposedly reciprocal?
Did anyone else get this email? And does this mean the A-List people who were given Elite status are no longer Elite and won't have access to free Air Tran biz class upgrades?

Further assurance that integration is being intelligently mapped out and executed.

Prolly just a glitch. As often as they audit FT posts, it should be remedied in 90 days the fulness of time.

Certainly in due course.

And after mature consideration.

I thought it was a limited time promotion...

"Rapid Rewards A-List/A-List Preferred & AirTran Airways A+ Elite Reciprocal Elite Offer: The “Reciprocal Elite Offer” is available to valid Rapid Rewards A-List, Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred, or AirTran Airways A+ Rewards Elite Members only. This offer does not apply to the Rapid Rewards Companion Pass Program or A+ Rewards Companion Travel Program. To qualify, the Member name listed on the accounts of both programs (Rapid Rewards and A+ Rewards) must match exactly. Successfully submitting account information on this form does not guarantee or activate reciprocal elite status. All entries will be verified before processing and activation. Please allow 2-3 weeks for processing, activation, and delivery of respective Member cards and materials. Materials will be delivered to the e-mail and mailing addresses associated with the program with which elite status is being activated. For example, an A+ Elite Member activating Rapid Rewards A-List status will receive their A-List materials at the e-mail and mailing addresses associated with their Rapid Rewards account. Rapid Rewards Members who activate A+ Elite status will be granted status with an expiration date of 365 days from processing. A+ Rewards Members who activate A-List status will be granted status with an expiration date of December 31, 2012. A-List and A-List Preferred benefits are available on Southwest Airlines flights only. A+ Elite Benefits are available on AirTran Airways flights only. Members of either program (Rapid Rewards or A+ Rewards) who experience difficulties completing the submission form for reciprocal elite status should contact the dedicated A+ Elite Member desk at 866-508-xxxx. Information marked as “required” on the offer form must be included to process the request. Failure to include required may result in a delay in processing or activation. This offer is non-transferrable. Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways reserve the right to discontinue the Reciprocal Elite Offer at any time and without notice. All Rapid Rewards rules and regulations apply. All A+ Rewards rules and regulations apply. � 2011

You are receiving this email because you are an A+ Rewards member subscribed as: <DoctorK>"

It seems that the status match was for one year only. I had the same thing happen in reverse.

You can always call and ask for a renewal. If you do, please report your results here. So far nobody has tried AFAIK.

+1 for having the same thing happen in reverse.

A very nice unsolicited notification/welcome as AirTran A+ Elite appeared in email and subsequently a packet via snail mail sometime summer 2011; the card indicated "expires 8-31-2012".

Made reservations in October 2012 for MCI-FLL n/s on Southwest and FLL-SJU n/s on Airtran for travel over Christmas/NY. I had never flown AirTran prior to 2 weeks ago- no slam, no bias, just no need to deal with that which is known as ATL or MCO.

At the suggestion of a very wise FT member, I called the Southwest A-List+ line a couple of days prior to departing for Florida and inquired re: the chances of having the AirTran A+ Elite status reinstated so as to overlap my planned trip (I had already requalified for re-up of SW A-List+ and CP for 2013 sometime last September).

Zero hesitation and zero hassle, the response was "yes sir, we'd be happy to do that for you". They told me it would take about 10 minutes of keyboard work and they'd call me back once completed. They did and it was.

FLL-SJU-FLL flights in Business on AirTran were very nice and totally flawless. Great crew, had interesting chats both with gate agents and flight attendents re: the aquisition, etc. To a person, the AirTran folks all seemed to have a positive attitude about the future.

A new packet containing an A+ Elite card w/12-31-2013 expiration was in the snail mail when I got home 1-1-2013.

So if I, as an Air Tran Elite, activated my SWA A-List Rewards in November, 2012, my "status" expired Dec. 31, 2012. But an SWA- A-List Rewards member who activated their Air Tran Elite status in November will maintain that status until November, 2013?
Is that how I'm understanding this? If so, wow, that's fair.
Not really a big deal, as I have vehemently avoided SWA out of ATL. But in the rare instance that I might be forced to fly them, I'm not really looking forward to boarding with the rest of the cattle in group C.

More ineptitude in this seamless merger.

My SWA status also expired, why in the world wouldn't they continue to monitor use of their affiliate airline and give status in the program? The status they gave encouraged me to use SWA several times in 2012 while flying out west and on some eastern routes, while also flying AirTran a couple of dozen times. I ended up with 29,000 points on SWA, FWIIW.

But now they don't want me to use the SWA network, just AirTran's, where I am elite until 2014?

At times I think there's an inner skill at work on this merger by SWA's people that the folks on here from FT (like me) just don't get. But this is just a careless, dumb mistake. The emperor wears no clothes.

The same thing happened to me in reverse to the OP. Got A+ Elite match to my WN status for one year. When that year was up back in August, I called WN and was told that it was a one-time complimentary match and could not be renewed based on my continued status on WN. Doesn't make sense in my mind why they wouldn't extend this for both sides.

Enticing FL flyers into jumping ship to WN utilizing disparate loyalty programs is a real b**ch. This will not end well. MCO, ATL, MKE and BWI elites are destined to be orphaned without some corporate awakening. The rationale for sunsetting reciprocal status now totally escapes me.

+1. I'm in the same situation. Not having it doesn't affect me out of MEM, but I can't earn WN status out of MEM until they switch over, at which time I'll have nothing on WN and nothing useful to me on FL. At least in other markets people can maybe fly both. In any case, I can't see being loyal to WN with a full service carrier offering the same prices on the same routes, if I have no baggage needs and no status on either. Not saying I wouldn't fly them, but I wouldn't go out of my way to either.

If my travel plans take me east of the Mississippi, I will seriously consider a detour to MEM for Interstate BBQ.

Best of luck with your status matching efforts. I have a feeling that Southwest will bend the elite qualification rules to keep as many AirTran customers as possible.

You might be able to retain status as service ends. Such is not the case currently for flyers who might have split their flying from cities served by both with not enough to requalify on either. IMO this quirk should be addressed especially as we enter "codeshare" territory.

And likely vice-versa. Southwest status unlike Airtran is calendar year. Airtran was a rolling period. So the Dec 31 end date was set by their system unless you happened to requalify for 2013 by flying a bunch on Southwest. The two systems are not yet connected for status on both without manual re-entry.

Perhaps, then again, whereas FL elite gives a different in-flight experience, plain old A-list doesn't really seem to do much to improve, except maybe giving you a better shot at an exit row seat. I guess that is worth a good bit to me, but compared to FL where I have assigned exit row and space available J, it's just like being a kettle on the legacies in the old days. Oh well, FL was fun while it lasted.

Same thing for me... My A List expired 12/31 like most of you, I have maintained A+ Elite through 2/28/2014, so I'm hoping not be left by the side of the road...

I am in ATL and fly often to MCO, LGA and MKE and my best bet is AirTran still (for now)... And since I fly with a pet often, I'd rather not pay $100 more on DL...