youranut

I am getting flown across the country by a client on southwest. Can I change the destination of the return flight? The tickets will be purchased by the clients travel department and it would be inappropriate for me to ask for this.

For example lets say that they are flying me from Dallas to New York. I would like to detour on the way home and spend a long weekend in the Bahamas. Can I use the return flight to trade towards the Bahamas flight? And then purchase my flight from the Bahamas to Dallas?

If so, will the client be able to see this?

Big4Flyer

It's hard to know without being able to know what system they use for travel and expense. If they're using Concur like many other large businesses, they would be able to see the updated reservation. I got approved to do this on a way home from a business trip, made my changes directly through Southwest.com, and they showed up in my Concur travel profile.

youranut

Thank you for that useful information. I don't know if it's concur but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Hopefully when they send the itinerary it will give me more clues to help make a decision. If it's concur I probably won't try it. The client is actually a "potential client" so I don't know them well enough to use their dime to fund a vacation.

smmrfld

youranut

You're absolutely right. The bahamas was just fictional example though. I'm sure I could find a suitable domestic vacation spot.

So here's another question: What if I decide to take that long weekend and pay for the tickets myself.......but be a no-show for the return flight purchased for me? I would get the weekend started faster if I left from the clients location rather than return home first and left from there. How would that look on a system like Concur?

Tanic

All they need is the PNR and your name.

youranut

I don't know what that means

Tanic

Passenger Name Record or the six character reservation code and your name is all that is needed using the Southwest website to recover the history of the reservation.

youranut

Thanks for clarifying. I guess my question is - will the client be alerted by any system if I'm a no-show to the flight? I assumed that they could check up on me after the fact if it crossed their mind to do so.

smmrfld

Often1

It is impossible to tell you what the client will and will not be alerted to. Concur is simply one of many compliance tools out there. Some users ignore the data about changes because they do not care and others care a whole lot.

It is entirely possible that your prospective client will be alerted as to any change, no show or other effort to muck with the ticket or PNR. Unless you know the systems and how they will react, you already have your answer.

joshua362

I'll refrain from passing judgement although don't see any ethical issue with fulfilling your obligation (getting there and doing whatever) then then having a change of plans and taking the long way home at YOUR additional & incremental cost. You are not pocketing the cash nor likely to have residual funds leftover on the PNR. You'll likely pay top dollar for the extra flight at the last minute.

FWIW, I was forced to use the (bad) Concur which interfaced with SWABIZ horribly IMO. Don't know if things improved lately but for mid-trip changes it was far easier to take the PNR, go to southwest.com, cancel it outright, use the funds towards the new flight and expense any additional fare costs. Did it for years as a VP.

YM and Opinions MV.

BerenErchamion

Why not just call them and explain your situation and that they should just cancel the return flight? Presumably they purchased a refundable fare, so it'll go a long way towards building goodwill with a potential client. I highly doubt they care what you do on your personal time after you leave the meeting.

If they purchased WGA then the TTFs are in your name, so a heads-up would be nice to ask them if they'd rather you'd cut them a check for the amount or if you can just go ahead and apply it to your new travel plans (since they were planning on spending that much to get you back anyway, they may be ok with it).

In fact, don't even bring that up. Assuming that the person they have handling corporate travel has any familiarity at all with Southwest's ticketing methods, they'll know if they purchased a nonrefundable fare, and they'll know what happens with the TTFs in that case. So they may just offer to let you keep it on their own initiative, which avoids you having to look like you're trying to get something for free by asking--and if they do ask you to refund it, then at least you don't look like someone who's trying to get something for free. Only bring it up if they don't mention it, and in that case ask "Did you purchase a refundable fare? If so, I know that Southwest says that the funds for a ticket change are in my name; do you want me to reimburse you for it?"--in other words, even then, don't ask to keep it, ask if they want you to reimburse them.

If it were me:.

"Hey, it's me, I wanted to let you know that my plans have changed and I'm not returning home after the meeting, in case you wanted to cancel the return ticket you had purchased." You don't have to tell them that you're planning on visiting Hedonism or whatever; unless they're Hobby Lobby, they neither care nor need to know.

Then, if it was refundable, they'll say "Thank you very much for letting us know, <your name>, it's much appreciated" and they'll get their money back and be happy.

If it wasn't refundable, they'll either say "Thank you very much, we did purchase a nonrefundable fare which means that Southwest will only release the funds for a credit for future travel to you--would you mind reimbursing us?" or "Thank you very much, we did purchase a nonrefundable fare which means that Southwest will only release the funds for a credit for future travel to you, but we were planning on spending it on you anyway, so don't worry about it, it's not worth the trouble."

Either way, problem solved, and a lot less shadily than you seem to be trying to go about it.

PAX62

I book flights all the time for my employees. Our obligation is to get them to and from home to traveling city on provided dates. Once we make the reservation they are free to manipulate and change them all they want if they want to alter their schedule...and many do. They of course are paying for any additional costs but they have complete control of the reservation at that point.

If they just directly booked you, it is easy peasy. If they booked through SWA Biz or Concur, may be a different story.

Just reach out to the travel coordinator and ask "I may wanna manipulate my return flight at my own expense...is that OK or will that create a problem in your system?"

If they say "No Problem" you can change your flight all you want with your PNR (confirmation #)

NoStressHere

No show on return is really not a big issue. It happens. Sometimes the airline does not track it right even.

If you do cancel yourself, the funds may sit there for your use for up to a year. The company may or may not even know about it. Unless somebody is really watching tickets closely, it will just drop off their radar.

If you are trying to work on a new client, I would be wary of making changes.