"We are unable to secure the price for the flight you selected."
 

Ugh.

I've gotten this message before, but only a few times, and generally when prices were changing quickly (like when a schedule extension was rolling out or a good sale just announced). I've never seen behavior like this.

All day I've been getting this error on points bookings. I searched this morning for a few dates and it happened, and I just now went back and tried again and got the same result. (Examples below.)

I'm seeing the exact same rates as this morning and getting the same error, asking for more points. But just a very few more points -- 28 in one case, and 60 in another. Both are less than a dollar in value, so it's not a huge deal, just stupid. I can't imagine a reason for this to happen, with the difference being equivalent to less than a dollar.

I guess I'll chalk it up to yet another glitch with the new booking system.

Anyone else seeing this?

I literally just booked something 10 minutes ago and got this error. The difference? 4 points. Seriously. 4.

I wish I had screen shot it!

If its happening consistently, isn't it edging onto some kind of pricing fraud. Well, fraud seems too strong a word, but IANAL so I can't quite come up with a better one.
Didn't a telecom get in trouble years ago for adding like 2 or 3 cents on everyone's bill? Because of the small amount no single payer complained, but because of volume it amounted to 10s of millions. And it became an FTC case.

While it may or may not be directly related, I had something similar happen to me with a cash booking. I was changing flights on on a BS fare. There was no difference in price and plenty of availability on the new flight. When I would get all the way to confirm the change, I was receiving an error that the price was no longer available. I tried several times (both via the app and the website) over several hours and kept receiving the same error. The price never displayed a difference on the screen.

i called WN CS and the agent didn't see an issue. He was able to book the change for me quickly on the phone.

i wonder if there isn't a glitch causing some fares to fluctuate by a couple of pennies . You'd never see it on a cash booking as they display the value to the nearest dollar, but the issues you describe with booking on points may explain what is going on.

I had a similar problem recently and a call also straightened it out, The Person on the phone couldn't tell what was going on. I wonder if it's not because the flight was originally booked on the old system and had been transferred to the new one.

I booked two flights yesterday on points and got this error on one of them. The mismatch appeared consistently, even after I reran my flight search to see if the proper price would show. The difference was only 15 points.

DP: I've been getting this error a lot today as well

I got it Friday while I was refareing several flights. On all but one 5here was no difference in fare. On the one with a difference a quick call took care of it.

One thing I noticed was they were all for the same flight number on different days.

Getting error right now. Something is up with their backend systems.

At first it was an "undefined error". Now it's price error.

I was getting the same error message throughout the day yesterday (Apr 25) when I tried to exchange an award ticket. A lower point value was displayed until I logged in and tried to make the 'change', then the points jumped way up. I was able to call SW and have them make the change on the phone. I see that the problem still exists today (Apr 26) when attempting to exchange a different ticket. Grrrr.

Just happened to me as well with a flight from PHX-SEA in July, called in and they manually adjusted my points, got almost 1600 back.

I'm getting this error repeatedly this morning on several reservations (7) when attempting to 're-fare'. I have waited several hours to check to see if it was something that will go away, but I'm still seeing it.

As it is a savings of ~1000 points, and $99, I guess I'll be calling to get things manually adjusted.

I'm still getting the error message, too, though the discrepancies continue to be less than $1 or equivalent points.

I got it several times yesterday. I am going to check again today and call if it hasn't cleared up. I had hoped it was an artifact of the software switch but appaently it's something else.

A very nice reservations person was helpful enough to update my reservations at the fare/points that I was seeing but not able to book.

She was not able to do it herself, at first, though she did see what I was seeing. A brief hold for her to consult with a supervisor and then she was able to assist.

I had three distinct issues with this today, all three on cash bookings, where the advertised price was not available once I attempted to book it. These were for reservations made under the old system.

I called, and the customer service rep tried to fix it, and then spent some time with the IT Help desk, but told me that those fares were no longer available. She was convinced that there was a reasonable explanation for it... multiple people attempting to reserve those fare classes at the same time.

I'm convinced that it's a bug in the system and they're not interested in solving it because it will go away once all of the old reservations are flown.

Getting this a lot today...

Had the same thing happened to me this morning. However each time I got the error the price went up, so it went up from $140 - $160 - $199 - $249 in about 5 minutes. Crazy!

i GOT IT 16 TIMES OUT OF 56
 

I've been refaring around 50 flights booked through the end of the year. I got the error a large number of times today and yesterday. I was able to get one to go through on an second attempt today. It's definitely a bug in the system and seems to be getting worse.

Yesterday I went through my usual routine of refaring our flights I got the message on 16 out of 56 flights.

Got this today trying to refare a points booking. Second attempt didn't help. Went to create a new booking and after a long wait got something like "Oops, we were unable to contact your financial institution, please try again." Second attempt was successful...but the points balance on the account looked crazy low. I checked the activity details and, sure enough, the points were deducted twice the "Redeem" line saying "- -" for the PNR in each case. I cancelled the original booking, then looked at the upcoming itineraries page and see that two new PNRs are listed. I've been trying for five or ten minutes to cancel one of those, and get either an "unable to retrieve from database" oopsie, or a "we are unable to complete your request because the reservation is unticketed" oopsie. Brilliant, SWA. :mad:

I just got the exact same thing. I should have known not to click Submit again. Points were deducted twice but I only see one upcoming reservation for the flight. Sent an email in requesting a correction

Update: got a much quicker response on Twitter:

I had to call them last night and their system was mostly down. I made a reservation at 6 PM or so and it showed up after 9 AM this morning. The women on the phone told me to call today to straighten things out (issue with voucher being used) and I'm waiting for them now.

I wonder if it's related to the ransomware attack or if they've just been glitchy for a while.

Please send emails to customer service documenting this.

I've had the problem with 4 flights this morning. I previously contacted customer service detailing the problem with 3 flights... they couldn't replicate the problem on two of them, but issued me TTFs on one of them. They also issued a $100 LUV Voucher.

The company line is that this happens when flights are in shopping carts -- the lowest price still shows, even if it's in someone's shopping cart somewhere waiting for purchase. However, I'm convinced that it's an IT glitch.

If enough people contact them about it, it's possible they may try to resolve it.

That is demonstrably incorrect. I have had the same glitch on the same flight persist for days yet when I call in the phone agent can obtain the lower price and doesn't see a problem on their end. Once the phone agent works on it the glitch seems to go away, but I haven't tried to re-fare any of those flights yet.

I emailed them with a list of about 12 flights and 16 PNRs with this problem (out of 56 reservations I was checking for lower fares). The email response I got back was non responsive, basically saying they were sorry I couldn't book the flight and there was nothing they could do even though I sent them a list of the flights affected and specifically told them I was reporting a problem with their website. I called customer relations and told them there was an issue with their system and the answer to my email I was non responsive.

Here is a copy of an email I sent today:

For over a week now, I have been trying to book flights at 12,444 rewards each on this flight. It shows availability and then when I get to the last page, I get an error message. It is beyond frustrating at this point as it has happened more than 20 times on two different computers and using my phone's app. I read online it is happening to others as well.

Here is the message:
One or more of the seats you are attempting to book is no longer available at the air fare you selected. If you are attempting to book a multi-Passenger reservation, consider searching for flights and fares one passenger at a time. (SW900001-GhVD6XWoQwSPv3MMEn9I4w)

My suggestion is to not email customer support. They are not able to help with this situation.

The first time this happened, I emailed them a very detailed description of what I was seeing, and how often I was seeing it, and that it was happening of a span of several days. I received a standard 'canned response', I emailed them back because they clearly did not bother to read and understand my email. I then received a phone call from the rep, who tried, again, to give me a standard 'canned' response. I asked for an email address I could use to send screenshots of what I was seeing. I sent the screenshots, along with timestamps, and they still insisted that I was wrong.

So, I called reservations, described what was happening, and they were able to help me changed 4 reservations in less than 6 minutes.

Since that original instance I have called reservations 4 times now, and never have any issue getting assistance with this, and they help get me credit (either travel funds, or RR points credited back to my account).

My suggestion is to bypass Customer Relations and go directly to a Reservations Agent. The few I have spoken to are aware of the issue and will assist you.

For this specific issue, Reservations reps may be able to help, or they may not be familiar with the issue and you'll send hours on hold. It really depends on the rep you get... so the "hang up and call back" suggestion is a good one here.

In my experience, Customer Relations are the only people empowered to actually fix many issues.

Right now, Twitter is the best route for quick resolution.

While of course everyone has different experiences, Twitter most definitely did not work for me with this issue. They said that I could not duplicate it, even though I was sending them screenshots as I was DMing them.

Similarly with Customer Relations. They both told me that they cannot duplicate the issue.

I just may be lucky, but the Reservation Agents I've all worked with have immediately understood the issue and worked to resolve it, while I have completely struck out with anyone else that I have contacted in Customer Relations, either by phone, email or Twitter.

Understood. It would make sense that, on a booking issue, Reservations might be the first to know about the problem.

Non-update update: Still happening. Still annoying.

(3 points difference this time.)

Rebooking same flight
 

I have a trip over New Year's booked via points and today I noticed that the points went down on one of the legs. I tried to rebook and when I got to the final confirmation, I get an error message that they are unable to price the flight selected. I have tried it with my flight and my daughter's flight several times over the past hour with the same result. I guess I can call but just wondering if this new system is being buggy or if there has been a change about rebooking the same flight for a lower price. Thanks!

I called. They fixed it and said I was not the first complaint today. Must be a system issue which seems to be happening often!

We're you trying to change the original flight, or actually rebooking (cancelling original and then booking the flight again or vice versa)?

The new system is buggy.

"We are unable to secure the price for the flight you selected"

Happening today, January 3, 2018. Happy New Year to SWA IT folks. I tried to book several different tickets on points and got the following message: "We are unable to secure the price for the flight you selected." It then presented me with the same itinerary with a higher point total of maybe 25 or less points each one way. RNO-DEN for May, RNO-LAS and LAS-RNO for February. I tried all the other flights the same day and got the same "upsell." FTC should investigate this for bait and switch or, at the very least, SWA should issue drink vouchers as an apology. This is really crazy.

I got a good laugh out of this!