ls

If I book a ticket with cp and print the boarding pass online. Do I still need the cp card to board? (no check in luggage)

any experiences?

ejmelton

We have not been asked for the card under the circumastances that you describe. (Only a couple of trips this way.) We have been asked for it when checking luggage (about 2/3 of the time).

Which brings up an interesting question, what keeps one from substituting CP passengers? (And, yes, I do believe that I could get the passenger past the TSA.)

Dan Burgess

We don't get asked for the pass when not checking luggage. When checking luggage, I usually show the pass without being asked.

Regarding substitution, I've conjectured a way to do it and think it would work, and it too involves getting the passenger past the TSA. But I'd never actually try it.

nsx

I've always been asked to show the CP at the gate.

SoCal SK

My husband, the CP holder, has never been asked when not checking luggage. This might be due to the fact that we print his boarding pass on line.

bry99

My wife has never been asked to show her companion pass when she does kiosk or online check-in.

yetter

Everyone, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Tino

Duh, anybody can get a passenger past the TSA. You buy a refundable ticket and wander past them with your security doc/boarding pass. When you enter the secured area, you call and cancel the ticket.

How is that so difficult?

4thplz

There is a huge notation on the agent's screen when boarding a companion.

And thanks... Starting tomorrow, I am going to be asking for that companion pass card everytime

~Working4LUVisFun~

Tino

Joking aside, this is one of the reasons I no longer post loopholes and other great discoveries in Southwest's or any other airline/hotel "system". Too many employees lurking here to close the door on these as soon as they can. I'm starting to see the point of nsx's repeated pleas to not discuss some of the better ones on the board.

ejmelton

So, if my wife doesn't get asked tomorrow, we'll know that you don't work at MDW!

nsx

If she does, could you please check her shoe size?

4thplz

The day I see a passenger sneak around my podium and look at my shoes...I will know it is a FT'er

In all seriousness Tino...I am not a lurking employee I don't think there is a problem with CP holders substituting a companion. If there were, SWA would know about it and there would be a memo in my mailbox


~and I actually get paid for having so much fun everyday~

lairdb

I can't resist crabbing about this one a bit (and I don't point this at Tino, or anyone else -- it's just commentary.)

If I read correctly between the lines, some people have noticed that it might be occasionally possible to bring the "wrong" companion. I don't know if anyone has ever taken advantage of this enforcement gap; I don't make any explicit judgement about that.

However.

I think there's a fundamental difference between finding a loophole within the rules/"system", and finding a gap in the rules enforcement that permits a clear violation of the rules.

My personal choice is that the former, where my actions that are to my advantage are perfectly within the contract (formal contract or just "system")where the rules did not anticipate those actions (a true "loophole") are fine. T-note churning, segment runs, etc., are all in this category. Violating the rules, because there aren't enforcement mechanisms in place to make sure I don't, is a breech of the contract. My judgement that this is wrong has less to do with getting caught than it has to do with being able to look in the mirror in the morning.

With Southwest in particular, I think they treat me very fairly. We have disagreements now and then, but they aren't capricious or unfair, and I choose to treat them the same way. If they want to make $19 fares available for web booking ex-SAN, I'll be out there this afternoon doing segment runs and having a blast; if someone else could possibly use the CP I fairly earned -- that's OK, I'll use a free ticket for them and use the CP only for the named traveller.

--Laird

(Yes, I speed. Frequently. "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. I am vast; I contain multitudes." (Whitman, IIRC.) The relationship between me and government is a contract of a different sort, and the penalties are well-understood and I accept the possibility. --L)

ejmelton

No one at MDW asked for a CP card yesterday. We did show ID at baggage check-in. (We had already checked in, #'s 1 & 2.)

Going back to one of the issues in this thread, while it is very possible to substitute a CPer, it is (obviously) wrong. There is a difference between stretching the rules (or lucking out when the carrier makes a mistake in your favor) and lying.