Will this work? To be able to greet my arriving fiancée at the gate.
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: SMF
Posts: 64
Will this work? To be able to greet my arriving fiancée at the gate.
Sacramento/SMF.
Fiancée: Hawaiian airlines inbound flight, Terminal B.
Southwest is also in terminal B.
Please, I know this might sound ridiculous to some of you, but just let me be ridiculous this once.
Plan: Buy myself a refundable ticket on Southwest which will allow me to enter the terminal and meet her right at the gate. Go to my flight's gate and cancel (or, would another method of cancellation be better?), I'll just tell them "something came up". I don't care if the refund is super-quick, it won't be a very expensive flight. I'd even be willing to eat a low-price fare (like $74 to SNA) if I couldn't get it refunded.
Any problem with this plan?
Fiancée: Hawaiian airlines inbound flight, Terminal B.
Southwest is also in terminal B.
Please, I know this might sound ridiculous to some of you, but just let me be ridiculous this once.
Plan: Buy myself a refundable ticket on Southwest which will allow me to enter the terminal and meet her right at the gate. Go to my flight's gate and cancel (or, would another method of cancellation be better?), I'll just tell them "something came up". I don't care if the refund is super-quick, it won't be a very expensive flight. I'd even be willing to eat a low-price fare (like $74 to SNA) if I couldn't get it refunded.
Any problem with this plan?
#3
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: DFW
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, HH Gold, AA Lifetime Gold, United Silver, BA Gold
Posts: 864
Will this work? To be able to greet my arriving fiancée at the gate.
You can surely do the same. Just pick up a flight which is like 4-6 hours later and checkin online the day before and use your boarding pass to get in. Once you are out of the terminal with your fiancée, just call and cancel your WN ticket. I don't see any issues at all.
#4
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: BGM/ PHL
Programs: US (Silver, *A Silver), AA, Starbucks (Gold)
Posts: 2,242
Sacramento/SMF.
Fiancée: Hawaiian airlines inbound flight, Terminal B.
Southwest is also in terminal B.
Please, I know this might sound ridiculous to some of you, but just let me be ridiculous this once.
Plan: Buy myself a refundable ticket on Southwest which will allow me to enter the terminal and meet her right at the gate. Go to my flight's gate and cancel (or, would another method of cancellation be better?), I'll just tell them "something came up". I don't care if the refund is super-quick, it won't be a very expensive flight. I'd even be willing to eat a low-price fare (like $74 to SNA) if I couldn't get it refunded.
Any problem with this plan?
Fiancée: Hawaiian airlines inbound flight, Terminal B.
Southwest is also in terminal B.
Please, I know this might sound ridiculous to some of you, but just let me be ridiculous this once.
Plan: Buy myself a refundable ticket on Southwest which will allow me to enter the terminal and meet her right at the gate. Go to my flight's gate and cancel (or, would another method of cancellation be better?), I'll just tell them "something came up". I don't care if the refund is super-quick, it won't be a very expensive flight. I'd even be willing to eat a low-price fare (like $74 to SNA) if I couldn't get it refunded.
Any problem with this plan?
#6
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: gggrrrovvveee (ORD)
Programs: UA Pt, Marriott Ti, Hertz PC
Posts: 6,091
#7
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Retired in Houston, TX
Programs: Platinum-CO-DL-Priority Club WN A-list Diomond-Hilton-BW Gold-Choice Hertz Presidents Club
Posts: 305
#8
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: DL Diamond, UA 1K MM, SPG Plat For Life, Marriott Plat, Nexus/GlobalEntry
Posts: 9,198
Wanting to meet someone at the gate just for the heck of it is generally not a valid reason for a gate pass and it's very likely they'd say no. If it were a child or elderly person who needs assistance then yes..but that's apparently not the case here. The refundable ticket option is probably the only option.
#9
Moderator: Midwest, Las Vegas & Dining Buzz
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Posts: 17,976
Have done this several times and it works. Just don't forget to cancel the ticket before the flight leaves to get your money back.
As another poster said, buy a ticket for a flight that is much later in the day (or night). There should be no issue with the time, but if a TSA agent should ask you why you are at the airport so early, tell them that you are trying to go standby for an earlier flight. (There have been reports that some aggressive agents have questioned pax about it.)
As another poster said, buy a ticket for a flight that is much later in the day (or night). There should be no issue with the time, but if a TSA agent should ask you why you are at the airport so early, tell them that you are trying to go standby for an earlier flight. (There have been reports that some aggressive agents have questioned pax about it.)
#10
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Nashville, TN
Programs: WN Nothing and spending the half million points from too many flights, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 8,043
First, no one will bat an eye on a one way ticket. Those of us that are experienced Southwest flyers do it all of the time. Just do not do it at the last minute and pay cash.
Buy an Anytime fare, fully refundable. Once inside the secure area, call Southwest and cancel and be sure to request the refund. You can even buy the ticket, at 24 hours before the flight print your boarding pass, then immediately cancel the flight. Use the BP to get through security. OK, this is a bit sleazy, I would keep the flight open until I am inside the secure area.
If HA will give you a gate pass, take it.
As for the TSA, they will generally take anything that is same day and not past. The standby excuse is OK, but just buy a ticket for a flight that leaves close to the arrival time.
Buy an Anytime fare, fully refundable. Once inside the secure area, call Southwest and cancel and be sure to request the refund. You can even buy the ticket, at 24 hours before the flight print your boarding pass, then immediately cancel the flight. Use the BP to get through security. OK, this is a bit sleazy, I would keep the flight open until I am inside the secure area.
If HA will give you a gate pass, take it.
As for the TSA, they will generally take anything that is same day and not past. The standby excuse is OK, but just buy a ticket for a flight that leaves close to the arrival time.
#12
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: TPA
Posts: 105
An appropriate boarding pass from a past flight, saved as a .pdf file, with a little Photoshop work...
This is one of the widely known weaknesses of our current airport security. If you're not checking baggage, you only need your boarding pass to match your ID at TSA - really trivial to skirt this and not just get past security, but even fly with someone else's ticket.
This is one of the widely known weaknesses of our current airport security. If you're not checking baggage, you only need your boarding pass to match your ID at TSA - really trivial to skirt this and not just get past security, but even fly with someone else's ticket.
#13
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 267
An appropriate boarding pass from a past flight, saved as a .pdf file, with a little Photoshop work...
This is one of the widely known weaknesses of our current airport security. If you're not checking baggage, you only need your boarding pass to match your ID at TSA - really trivial to skirt this and not just get past security, but even fly with someone else's ticket.
This is one of the widely known weaknesses of our current airport security. If you're not checking baggage, you only need your boarding pass to match your ID at TSA - really trivial to skirt this and not just get past security, but even fly with someone else's ticket.
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: SMF
Posts: 64