bj2757

I tried all day Thursday to re-fare a trip. I could see that both legs were on sale (about 1300 points lower each way) but I couldn't make the change.

I was able to get on yesterday morning but only the outbound portion of the trip was still reduced - the return flights were the same as I already had.

I re-booked to get the reduction on the one flight (2 of us) and sent them an email asking about the return trip. We'll see.

NextTrip

I called in and made changes. I know, I know...I won't be able to change them again on the website, I'll have to call. But, it was worth saving almost 6,000!

lougord99

As A-List your boarding position has no relationship to when you check in. You will get the same boarding position if you check in at the airport.

COS_Flyer

I'm not sure if this would be the same situation, but I've had instances in the last year when I've changed flights a few hours before a flight was departing and gotten a boarding pass in the high B's or even in the C's. Fortunately, the gate agent let me board after the A group. That was the scenario I was imagining.

texashoser

As long as you buy a ticket greater than 36 hours out, your A List spot is guaranteed in that flight no matter when you check in as you are auto checked in.

On the other hand, if you purchase a ticket or change flights within 36 hours, then you are subject to non-A List check in rules, ie, you get checked in behind everyone else who hasn't checked in yet.

lougord99

But then board before the B's. Regardless, you don't need to check in before arriving at the airport if you are A-list.

texashoser

Correct. Was just clearing up why that poster was not getting getting decent boarding numbers when changing flights at the last minute even though they were AL.

bobunf

On Saturday, June 6, I took flights BOS-BWI 11:40 AM and BWI - FLL 2:45 PM. Neither flight was full. The BWI flight was only an incredible one quarter capacity with zero A1-A15 boarders. Very unusual, and, I suspect, a direct result of the meltdown.

Any other experiences?

nsx

My Friday flight was full, but that was 12 hours after the website became usable.

toomanybooks

Amazing stuff.

I read the earnings reports and analysts' questions every quarter. None of them EVER ask WN about the repeated hideous IT failures. Wonder why that is.

tusphotog

Not much to add to all of this except my A+ status was worth every penny last week. I was on hold about 1-2 minutes Thursday night and had a flight cancelled in about 60 seconds. Agent was all business, but did let out a chuckle when I said "good luck the rest of the way!"

I was sure glad I was on AS all week!

Because the visible IT failures are relatively isolated. Other than the last few days and the RR 1.0-->2.0 meltdown there generally aren't these large scale types of problems. Yeah, we get that stupid OOPS message too much, or bizarre errors that won't let you book a ticket, but they usually go away in a few minutes, or at worst a couple hours.

In fact, I bet most people don't even log in when booking tickets. I've found most problems occur when the login page is "undergoing maintenance" (aka the gerbil on the wheel got tired).

CP issues? I'm willing to bet there's a bunch of analysts that want to do away with the CP all together.

Yes, their IT systems are garbage. It's been a problem since at least 2005, if not before. But until it affects the entire site for several non-sale days where you can't book a ticket at all, I doubt you hear analysts mention it. All that being said, it sure would be nice if they'd get rid of the bloated design and that dumb RR Visa popup that's new (that's blocked nicely by .......).

I highly doubt your flight being 25% full and no BS folks had anything to do with the meltdown. I've had Saturday flights and even weekday flights with no BS and just myself at A16 as the only A+ person.

FWIW, full flight for my gf PHX-SFO on Friday afternoon. Full flights LGA-MDW-ABQ for a friend on Saturday 6/6.

pinniped

I flew LGA-MCI Thursday evening. It's a newer nonstop route so I don't think there's enough history to say what affect the meltdown had, but it was probably 2/3rds full instead of the 100% full I was expecting.

I was traveling with two colleagues: one was A1 (BS), one was A55 (EBCI), and I was B20 with a very fortunate checkin via the mobile app in the middle of the night (maybe T-17 hours or so). I had failed to check in all evening.

I knew one other person who was supposed to be on the flight but failed to check in entirely after many repeated attempts from 8PM Wednesday up through about noon on Thursday: she ended up jumping to United, nonstop out of EWR, instead. Her decision came down to take a cab out to LGA and maybe not get on a flight at all, or take a confirmed seat on a RJ instead. Nobody likes RJ's, but people do like confirmed seats, so off she went the other direction.

texashoser

To me this sounds odd. By all reports, there were no problems with the systems at the airports and folks were able to check in just fine. Seems like she was a bit too worried. Her decision, though, of course.

pinniped

At noon on Thursday, we had no idea. I was a *little* concerned because I hadn't yet been able to get my mobile BP to render correctly on my phone, but I'd already made it to the screen where I knew I had B20, so I figured at that point I was safe from IDB and just figured that - worst case - an agent could print me a BP using their system.

You're correct: as it turns out, she would have been able to get a seat in the back of the plane without any difficulties. I think we're all so conditioned to 100% full flights that it didn't seem like a worthwhile gamble when a different flight still had a couple confirmed seats left. The problem with the evening departure out of LGA is that by the time you find out you can't get on that flight, it's too late to book some other airline with a connection. (The late DL nonstop to MCI was sold out. Only UA...different airport...had seats.)

bj2757

UPDATE: I received a rely from Southwest this morning. Basically it said the sale priced fares were on a first come first serve basis - and since I couldn't complete the transaction when I saw the reduction and couldn't get ahold of them until the one fare had changed - tough luck.