SWABIZ Travel Funds?

Old Jun 12, 2017, 1:46 pm
  #1  
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SWABIZ Travel Funds?

I own a small company and when Airtran was operating we had an A2B account with them. It had a number of nice features like free name changes on reservations. When they shutdown we moved our flying mostly to Southwest. At that time I looked at SWABIZ but couldn't find any compelling reason to sign up.

A few days ago someone in another thread said that SWABIZ users could possibly use TTFs for a different passenger than the original passenger. That was a compelling reason for me to investigate further.


I called a little while ago and spoke to someone in Southwest Group Reservations (that was who the regular reservations line told me to call). She confirmed that was a possibility but that what actually happens is that you call Customer Relations and they convert the TTF to a LUV voucher

Does anyone here have any experience with that?

Can you combine multiple TTFs into one larger LUV Voucher?

Is there a limit to the number of times they will do this?

I may call customer relations and see if they will tell me more.
rsteinmetz70112 is offline  
Old Jun 13, 2017, 9:42 am
  #2  
 
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For what its worth, I just called the SWABIZ number and was told that the travel funds are restricted to the person that they were originally booked under, regardless of whether the ticket was booked under SWABIZ, or not.

Now, its completely possible that I got bad information--many times different reps tell you different things, but that is what I was told by this rep, FWIW.

If you are told differently, please get the name of the SWA rep that told you differently, so that I can reference them when I call back.

My company has about $250 of funds broken out under 21 different reservations that would be nice to combine, which is why I called when I saw your post.
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Old Jun 13, 2017, 10:02 am
  #3  
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Surprisingly few useful details about SWABIZ available to public. At least that I saw.

It offers 10% off BS and AT fares, right now it appears. Also 20% off to/from CVG on those fares. And "special offers" and a Meeting Program. Wonder how small a company or how little business one could do with them?

Please post anything you find out.

In the olden times, under RR 1.0, you got an extra flight credit if booking through SWABIZ. My wife's employer was enrolled and they let me partake. Sweet.
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Old Jun 13, 2017, 10:37 am
  #4  
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Originally Posted by david2son08
For what its worth, I just called the SWABIZ number and was told that the travel funds are restricted to the person that they were originally booked under, regardless of whether the ticket was booked under SWABIZ, or not.

Now, its completely possible that I got bad information--many times different reps tell you different things, but that is what I was told by this rep, FWIW.

If you are told differently, please get the name of the SWA rep that told you differently, so that I can reference them when I call back.

My company has about $250 of funds broken out under 21 different reservations that would be nice to combine, which is why I called when I saw your post.
I was told differently, but I didn't write the person's name down. The person I spoke with was with Southwest Group Reservations (1 888 433 5368) not a special SWABIZ rep. I could not find a specific number for SWABIZ. She seemed very sure of herself, unlike the first person I spoke to at the normal 800 number.

She told me the reservations had to be made under a SWABIZ account and that Customer Relations would issue a LUV voucher for TTF. We did not go into combining multiple TTFs, although that would be a huge advantage.

There is this odd paragraph on the SWABIZ Enrollment Form.

When a Ticketless Travel reservation is canceled or not flown, the funds for refundable or non-refundable fares shall be electronically stored for up to twelve (12) months from the date of original ticketing. Company shall be responsible for maintaining records regarding such funds. Authorized business travelers of Company may request a refund on behalf of Company for such refundable funds or request an exchange of non-refundable funds for future travel on Southwest by calling Southwest reservations at (800) I-FLY-SWA, identifying themselves as SWABIZ travelers, and providing the reservation locator and the CID.
It doesn't exactly say SWABIZ TTFs are usable by other travelers, but it doesn't say they are restricted to the original traveler either. This also seems to conflict with the no show policy as "cancelled or not flown" seems to include no-shows. But it could be just an old statement, one of Southwest's typical ambiguities, or it could be a real benefit.

If this paragraph doesn't modify the standard policies, what it the point of it? A much simpler statement like " All travel is subject to Southwest's standard terms and conditions." would seem sufficient.
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Old Jun 13, 2017, 11:28 am
  #5  
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I found this:

Contact SWABIZ 888-479-2249 Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm CST

I just called my wife's employer and they tell me that I can use any of her employee travel benefits/codes myself, alone, for personal travel. Airfare, rental car, hotel. I imagine it's one of those deals where there is a minimum spend the enrollee must meet annually, so they are happy for people with even tenuous legitimacy to use the codes.

I just went to her employer's website and it lets me pull up WN fares and shows the original fare with a line through it and the SWABIZ fare alongside. Looks like it's ready to go.

And Google is your friend when it comes to finding SWABIZ codes for specific businesses.
My guess is that you'd run very little risk using one for some random company.

I just tried to book a roundtrip 8/2 to 8/4 MDW-RIC through her employer's site. Got this:

"Published scheduled service between (Chicago - MDW) and (Richmond - RIC) does not begin until 08/15/2017. Please select an alternate date or choose another origination/destination. Some flights may only operate on specific days of the week. View Schedules Online for additional flight information. (SW100101-f_spGdT0RTO4xyG5n_iVuA)"

But I know that is not right, as a search at WN's website will show. EDIT: I can pull up MDW-RIC on my iPhone ,, but not on a desktop. Gives that same error.

Changed to 8/16-- 8/17 and it appears to work.

Pre-8/15 MDW-BWI is fine.

So there are some quirks to work through it appears.

Last edited by toomanybooks; Jun 13, 2017 at 11:43 am
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Old Jun 13, 2017, 12:12 pm
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Interesting. I logged into SWABIZ my former company code that went out of business 3 years ago and saw this (but no other apparent discounts). All my info is there, just the regular website interface with few additional tabs.

Would be a game changer if WGA funds could be transferred/vouchered. Next time I have a need to buy a ticket for myself, I'll cancel and see what happens.

I was forced to use Concur's horrible interface years ago and by selecting a WN flight it would pull up SWABIZ prices, usually 5% off of BS. Is that what you see toomanybooks? Mine was direct billing to the Co, though.

10% off SWABIZ Business Select & Anytime fares
Take advantage of 10% discount off Anytime & Business Select fares now through June 15, 2017 when you book your reservations on swabiz.com for domestic and San Juan, Puerto Rico scheduled flights. To receive the discount, simply apply promo code SPRING2017 in the promo code box on the flight selection page of swabiz.com. Anytime & Business Select fares are refundable* and Southwest Airlines most flexible fares. Business Select fares also guarantee an A1-A15 boarding position, a Rapid Rewards earning bonus, FlyBy security lane access (where available), and a premium drink onboard!

SWABIZ is Southwest Airlines’ free online corporate booking tool, with benefits that include travel management reports and access to exclusive offers and promotions. Find out more about what SWABIZ can do for your company’s travel program at swabiz.com/about.
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Old Jun 13, 2017, 12:19 pm
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Groups allows name changes. As far as I know (never having a SWABiz account), SWABiz does not.


Originally Posted by toomanybooks

I just tried to book a roundtrip 8/2 to 8/4 MDW-RIC through her employer's site. Got this:

"Published scheduled service between (Chicago - MDW) and (Richmond - RIC) does not begin until 08/15/2017. Please select an alternate date or choose another origination/destination. Some flights may only operate on specific days of the week. View Schedules Online for additional flight information. (SW100101-f_spGdT0RTO4xyG5n_iVuA)"

But I know that is not right, as a search at WN's website will show. EDIT: I can pull up MDW-RIC on my iPhone ,, but not on a desktop. Gives that same error.

Changed to 8/16-- 8/17 and it appears to work.

Pre-8/15 MDW-BWI is fine.

So there are some quirks to work through it appears.
It's a known issue with the new system, not limited to SWABiz. See this thread: can't book BDL-SMF?
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Old Jun 13, 2017, 12:28 pm
  #8  
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Originally Posted by joshua362

I was forced to use Concur's horrible interface years ago and by selecting a WN flight it would pull up SWABIZ prices, usually 5% off of BS. Is that what you see toomanybooks?
I just pulled up a random MDW-RIC for late August. First flight of the day for BS shows $466 with a line through it, with $400 displayed. That is 14.2% off. AT seems to be similar. No discounts on WGA.

Finding roughly 14% off on other BS fares.

A WGA fare Aug 9 MDW-SDF is $186 vs. $204. The only discount of the day. But it routes through DEN, total over 6 hours! That is just under 9% off.

Wife's company's website shows this:

"15% Discount on Business Select Fares "K"
14% Discount on Anytime Fares "Y"
10% Discount on Select Public Wanna Get Away Fares (0-7 days advance purchase only)
Select fares include the following codes: L, B, Q, H, W, R, O, M, S, N, or T
0% Discount on Public Wanna Get Away Fares (8 days and above advance purchase)"

So the discounts I am seeing are not quite what they have published, as I got a discount offered on a flight 2 months from now.

Maybe the fact that I am seeing slightly less of a discount has something to do with it not applying to the Security Fee or similar.

Relatively few WGA fares seem to be showing up. But if available, they appear automatically, without having to search Fare Class/Code/whatever.
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Old Jun 13, 2017, 1:31 pm
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Originally Posted by toomanybooks
I just pulled up a random MDW-RIC for late August. First flight of the day for BS shows $466 with a line through it, with $400 displayed. That is 14.2% off. AT seems to be similar. No discounts on WGA.

Finding roughly 14% off on other BS fares.

A WGA fare Aug 9 MDW-SDF is $186 vs. $204. The only discount of the day. But it routes through DEN, total over 6 hours! That is just under 9% off.

Wife's company's website shows this:

"15% Discount on Business Select Fares "K"
14% Discount on Anytime Fares "Y"
10% Discount on Select Public Wanna Get Away Fares (0-7 days advance purchase only)
Select fares include the following codes: L, B, Q, H, W, R, O, M, S, N, or T
0% Discount on Public Wanna Get Away Fares (8 days and above advance purchase)"

So the discounts I am seeing are not quite what they have published, as I got a discount offered on a flight 2 months from now.

Maybe the fact that I am seeing slightly less of a discount has something to do with it not applying to the Security Fee or similar.

Relatively few WGA fares seem to be showing up. But if available, they appear automatically, without having to search Fare Class/Code/whatever.
Did you get that discount without a promotion code?
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Old Jun 13, 2017, 2:25 pm
  #10  
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Originally Posted by Juanefny
Did you get that discount without a promotion code?
No code, just through SWABIZ portal with company ID attached.
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