Bad weather forecasted-unsure
May 15, 2019, 5:01 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 95
Bad weather forecasted-unsure
I had a round trip flight this week. Yesterday I flew from Tampa to Little Rock (stopover in St.Louis) and Saturday I’m supposed to fly Little Rock to Tampa (layover in Dallas)
my problem lies in the fact we have a 80% chance of thunderstorms/possible tornadoes in Little Rock Saturday and Dallas has a 80% chance of severe weather.
my plan was gonna be to reroute from Dallas but now I’m worried about getting out of my starting airport.
im unsure if I should call Southwest tomorrow and try to get bumped onto a Friday flight (highly unlikely I can)
call Southwest Friday and get a plan for Saturday
or wait it out and see what happens.
thanks in advance!
my problem lies in the fact we have a 80% chance of thunderstorms/possible tornadoes in Little Rock Saturday and Dallas has a 80% chance of severe weather.
my plan was gonna be to reroute from Dallas but now I’m worried about getting out of my starting airport.
im unsure if I should call Southwest tomorrow and try to get bumped onto a Friday flight (highly unlikely I can)
call Southwest Friday and get a plan for Saturday
or wait it out and see what happens.
thanks in advance!
May 15, 2019, 5:32 pm
#2
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,624
Watch the southwest.com home page for a weather announcement. You can get a free change if and when it appears.
May 15, 2019, 5:54 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Nashville -Past DL Plat, FO, WN-CP, various hotel programs
Programs: DL-MM, AA, SW w/companion,HiltonDiamond, Hyatt PLat, IHF Plat, Miles and Points Seeker
Posts: 11,072
Thunderstorms are a regular event. Sometimes flights get delayed, rerouted or canceled. The vast majority run on time, or close to it.
In general, trying to second guess what might happen to you is not healthy.
SEVERE weather gives you options to change and these are posted on the SWest page.
In general, trying to second guess what might happen to you is not healthy.
SEVERE weather gives you options to change and these are posted on the SWest page.
May 16, 2019, 7:46 am
#4
Join Date: Oct 2001
Programs: LTP, PP
Posts: 8,699
You are not likely to see advance weather warning and free changes on run of the mill Spring / Summer thunderstorms in the Midwest. You have to deal with them as they occur. I once spent a miserable May connecting to/fro MDW weekly on the last flights of the day before I wised up.
May 17, 2019, 9:49 pm
#8
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Central US
Programs: WN CP, HHonors, Hyatt Platinum, IHG Premier,LaQuinta Elite, Amtrak
Posts: 452
Good luck on your travel out of Little Rock. On two occasions in the last 12 months, I've been forced to rent a car at DAL and drive to LIT because the Little Rock segment was canceled - once mechanical and once weather (meaning the return flight of this loop, LIT-DAL, got canceled too). Pretty unbelievable that there are only two legitimate schedules to DAL from LIT on this Saturday... I remember the day when there were at least 6 per day, and perhaps even more when SWA first started serving LIT. Some of us were fans of the Wright amendment.
May 18, 2019, 8:56 am
#10
Join Date: Oct 2001
Programs: LTP, PP
Posts: 8,699
Its TS season in the Midwest, not much you can do about it.
At least you got some advanced notification.
I spent a miserable month on May connecting to/fro MDW on the last flights of the day. I was once pulled off the plane at MCI because I would miss the connection, then told to get right back on because they "would wait". Well, the connection was long gone by the time we got to MDW. Significant costs taking another airline to a nearby airport and limo and didn't get home until 5am. WN refused the refund the 2/3 of the journey not flown. The kicker was the following week, similar circumstances and we sat an extra hour in MDW waiting for a connecting passenger!
Best of luck!
At least you got some advanced notification.
I spent a miserable month on May connecting to/fro MDW on the last flights of the day. I was once pulled off the plane at MCI because I would miss the connection, then told to get right back on because they "would wait". Well, the connection was long gone by the time we got to MDW. Significant costs taking another airline to a nearby airport and limo and didn't get home until 5am. WN refused the refund the 2/3 of the journey not flown. The kicker was the following week, similar circumstances and we sat an extra hour in MDW waiting for a connecting passenger!
Best of luck!
May 18, 2019, 9:03 am
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 95
Can’t fly out till tomorrow got rebooked on a new flight early tomorrow morning (then to St Louis, then Pittsburgh, THEN Tampa lol). I’m okay with having to leave tomorrow however I’m pretty upset that yesterday even while out on a picnic I made sure to check in at T-24 because a window seat is extremely important to me when flying. Got B 1 and B 2 then. Now I’m B21 and B45.....I even tried to pay to upgrade to A list preferred and was told I can’t unless someone cancels tomorrow. UGH
May 18, 2019, 9:09 am
#12
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: BNA (Nashville)
Programs: HH Diamond
Posts: 6,227
Can’t fly out till tomorrow got rebooked on a new flight early tomorrow morning (then to St Louis, then Pittsburgh, THEN Tampa lol). I’m okay with having to leave tomorrow however I’m pretty upset that yesterday even while out on a picnic I made sure to check in at T-24 because a window seat is extremely important to me when flying. Got B 1 and B 2 then. Now I’m B21 and B45.....I even tried to pay to upgrade to A list preferred and was told I can’t unless someone cancels tomorrow. UGH
Southwest has consistently had the highest cancellation rates of any domestic airline this year. I have tried to fly through DAL on Southwest several times. I have never actually been able to fly that route. It's like a unicorn for me. It always gets cancelled.
May 18, 2019, 10:23 am
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2019
Posts: 95
This sounds exactly like my experience in March trying to get anywhere through DAL. Pre-emptive cancelling, hours of delay until the next available flight, losing boarding position, etc. In my case, it was 3 separate cancelled flights over 2 days.
Southwest has consistently had the highest cancellation rates of any domestic airline this year. I have tried to fly through DAL on Southwest several times. I have never actually been able to fly that route. It's like a unicorn for me. It always gets cancelled.
Southwest has consistently had the highest cancellation rates of any domestic airline this year. I have tried to fly through DAL on Southwest several times. I have never actually been able to fly that route. It's like a unicorn for me. It always gets cancelled.
May 18, 2019, 12:04 pm
#14
Join Date: May 2006
Location: TUS/PDX
Programs: WN CP/A-List, AS MVPG75K
Posts: 5,798
I was once pulled off the plane at MCI because I would miss the connection, then told to get right back on because they "would wait". Well, the connection was long gone by the time we got to MDW. Significant costs taking another airline to a nearby airport and limo and didn't get home until 5am. WN refused the refund the 2/3 of the journey not flown. The kicker was the following week, similar circumstances and we sat an extra hour in MDW waiting for a connecting passenger!
Best of luck!
Best of luck!
May 18, 2019, 7:06 pm
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Chicagoland, IL, USA
Programs: WN CP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,192