WN's new reservation system aggressively cancels duplicate bookings
May 16, 2023, 8:13 am
#346
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,625
May 16, 2023, 2:11 pm
#347
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: RNO
Programs: AA/DL/UA
Posts: 10,778
Why don't you book the flight you want once you know what your schedule is? What's the point of booking both so far in advance?
May 16, 2023, 2:22 pm
#348
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: SNA
Programs: Bonvoy LTTE/AMB, AmEx Plat, National EE, WN A-List, CLEAR+, Covid-19
Posts: 4,967
This- I book the expensive trips far in advance even though I'm not always sure of when I should/can go, and as long as you can "reasonably" get to each place CancelBot won't hit you.
Price, of course.
... and to echo Our Fearless Leader's point, be sure to cancel the other seat(s) as soon as your plans have solidified.
Price, of course.
... and to echo Our Fearless Leader's point, be sure to cancel the other seat(s) as soon as your plans have solidified.
Jun 13, 2023, 8:46 am
#349
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 1,868
So I can officially confirm that either the cancelbot does not run every night, or it has been programmed to ignore bookings made that day.
Yesterday, I booked two trips to Nashville for this summer, and somehow when I was booking, I got the outbound flights right - but accidentally booked my flight home in July twice instead of booking one for July and one for August. I went to see if I could reprice anything during the sale, and realized that I had two tickets on the exact same flight.
Yesterday, I booked two trips to Nashville for this summer, and somehow when I was booking, I got the outbound flights right - but accidentally booked my flight home in July twice instead of booking one for July and one for August. I went to see if I could reprice anything during the sale, and realized that I had two tickets on the exact same flight.
Jun 13, 2023, 8:51 am
#350
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,625
The bot runs at midnight Central time. It will cancel your duplicate flight at the second midnight, not the first.
Jun 13, 2023, 11:01 am
#351
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 1,868
Ah, I must not have realized that they have always given us a single day of grace. It's been so long since I did a segment run, I haven't met the cancelbot in a long time anyway. That's good to know, that I can book on the last day of a sale and buy myself a little more time to make up my mind.
Jun 19, 2023, 1:39 am
#352
Join Date: Nov 2016
Programs: Nectar Card
Posts: 1,093
nsx, how does the bot decide whether two flights are both flyable? Does it check whether there's a valid WN itinerary connecting the two end of one, to the beginning of the other? Or does it calculate the distance between the endpoints, figure out the average flying time between the two on any carrier, take on an hour on each end for self-connecting, and decide like that? Either way, it's not enormously-difficult to set up, but just wondering how persnickety they coded up the thing.
Also, from this [thread] I have determined that a WN itinerary landing in city-A at the same time another WN itinerary departing city-B, would not work. ^_^
Also, from this [thread] I have determined that a WN itinerary landing in city-A at the same time another WN itinerary departing city-B, would not work. ^_^
Jun 19, 2023, 5:21 am
#353
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,625
The bot does not limit its feasibility consideration to WN itineraries.
Jun 19, 2023, 5:41 am
#354
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: SNA
Programs: Bonvoy LTTE/AMB, AmEx Plat, National EE, WN A-List, CLEAR+, Covid-19
Posts: 4,967
I dunno ... I'd once had two schedules that could have worked had I taken a red-eye on someone else (with time to spare even) and CancelBot popped one or the other (it was a while ago, I don't remember all the details).
Jun 19, 2023, 9:52 pm
#356
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,625
Yes. The bot's algorithm will not cancel you if there's any reasonable way to fly both. It has never canceled any of my segment runs, even with fast turns and two round trips in a day.