SW I'm contacting the DOT regarding lack reward space for the original rewards
Has anyone contacted the DOT over this? the lack of award space for the original rewards is almost non-existent.
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I haven't seen this.
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My experience is that award space opens up quite nicely in the last week or so before travel. Far in advance on peak dates you will find nothing, just like with other airlines' saver awards.
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Originally Posted by ermintrude
(Post 25975864)
Has anyone contacted the DOT over this? the lack of award space for the original rewards is almost non-existent.
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DL removed its award chart altogether, arguably to preempt a DOT violation.
"The Department’s deceptive practices prohibitions preclude airlines from imposing unreasonable capacity restrictions and/or unannounced blackout dates for the use of frequent flyer awards. To the extent airlines offer their frequent flyers awards for service to destinations, that traditionally are subject to high consumer demand, they must include in their promotional materials adequate disclosure that seats are limited—at times severely—and may not be available on every flight, if in fact that is the case." |
Does DoT do any thing with consumer complaints other than report how many there are?
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Originally Posted by rsteinmetz70112
(Post 25979822)
Does DoT do any thing with consumer complaints other than report how many there are?
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It's not worth the bandwidth it takes to file a complaint. And that presumes you have an unlimited data plan.
DOT has uniformly stayed away from whining about FFP availability and focused on things that matter to consumers. |
Originally Posted by joshua362
(Post 25980133)
:D Exactly. Does about as much as the DOJ does with merger / antitrust reviews. Lots of nice paying government jobs with little effect and outcomes.
Southwest Gets Hefty Fines for Advertising $59 Fares That Didn't Exist |
How many standard awards can there still be out there? Anyone know the official Sunset date?
OP: Try calling customer relations to see if they can book something for you. Word is that they are doing this for A-Listers; worth a try even if you're not. At the minimum, it will likely be more productive than filing a DOT claim. |
Gotta be around 5/12/16, right? The last day to top off a seeded SA a year ago.
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SW I'm contacting the DOT regarding lack reward space for the original rewards
My last available SA expires on 5/13/2016.
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If you are A-List Preferred,the Dallas CS# will override and book for you.
Interestingly, after they did this for me last weekend, my flight showed that I used a 'Freedom Award'. On the day of travel, standard award availability opened up. I cancelled the 'freedom award' override booking, hoping it would redeposit as a freedom award. No luck--went back as a standard award. |
Do file a complaint
Originally Posted by ermintrude
(Post 25975864)
Has anyone contacted the DOT over this? the lack of award space for the original rewards is almost non-existent.
I think a strong case can be made the impossibility of using these awards amounts to a breach of contract. As other posters have noted, it is true that availability is often low for many award classes on other airlines. But, there is a huge difference. On other airlines, your miles don't expire, and if you can't use a reward this year, you can use it next year. This is not the case with the legacy awards. If you can not find a flight by the expiration date, they are gone, and there is no chance SW will offer you an extension. Will a complaint help you personally? it is possible, but not likely. When you reply to the DOT, SW does have to respond to you personally, and cc the DOT--so sometimes it prompts a better response. But usually not. Still--you should file out of principle. If enough customers complain about this, it is possible it will prompt an investigation. And the DOT complaints rates are used by the media to compare the customer service among airlines--and a complaint at least gets SW a well deserved ding for their less than honorable actions here. |
Originally Posted by oswaldjacoby
(Post 25985502)
I do think you have a very legitimate complaint, and would definitely file with the DOT.
Will a complaint help you personally? it is possible, but not likely. When you reply to the DOT, SW does have to respond to you personally, and cc the DOT--so sometimes it prompts a better response. But usually not. Still--you should file out of principle. If enough customers complain about this, it is possible it will prompt an investigation. And the DOT complaints rates are used by the media to compare the customer service among airlines--and a complaint at least gets SW a well deserved ding for their less than honorable actions here. |
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