pitflyer

My companion has three first names, and this has always been a nightmare for booking travel since different systems treat it differently (some put anything after the space as a middle name, some have a limit of one space, some two). Southwest did create the companion pass with three first names which automatically matched up her Rapid Rewards number. This was all good till I canceled a companion reservation and tried to apply funds to a new reservation. Website kept saying name didn't match.

Talked to customer service and they said it matched perfectly (ie three first names) and they were able to book it without an issue, so its an app/website issue. The CSR was very apologetic and said she would escalate, but wondering if anyone else has run into this? Luckily most of my companion pass reservations I just cancel and refund. These two were paid for with a gift card, which then made it travel funds when I cancelled and caused this headache.

justhere

Wouldn't it be easier to look at it as one first name and two middle names instead?

toomanybooks

WN also chokes on hyphenated last names. Seems pretty stupid these days.

God forbid you are one of those African guys like in "The Gods Must Be Crazy" with ! in your name.

SWAVictor

Hello Everyone !

I'm going to look into the 3 first name issue with not matching on travel fund use online.

In the mean time a couple of things to know.
- The back end reservation system has only 2 fields: LastName / FirstName
- Middle names/initials are typically added to the FirstName field, and suffixes added to the LastName field:
ie: Lucas Jr / Victor A
- a hyphen is the "format" to indicate that you are entering a new passenger name. -Lucas/Victor
this is why hyphenated names present an issue. The back end perceives it as a new entry.
The best way to treat a hyphenated last name is to simply not enter the hyphen. So, instead of "Lucas-Lucas", it would be entered as "Lucas Lucas"

I'm guessing that the issue that the OP had with applying funds may have been how all of the names are split between the two fields, but I don't know that for sure at this point.

SWAVictor

pitflyer -
I'd be happy to investigate this for you and possibly give you direction on how to self-serve these situations through the website.
If you'd like for me to do so, please PM me with the confirmation number that held the funds you were attempting to transfer.

Thanks,
SWAVictor

clar1128

Applying travel funds is always hard for me who got 3 first Names. I have tried every combination I could think of but nothing worked. I am on hold for almost 50minutes already so I could apply My travel funds

Can you help with this?

For example:
First Name: John Doe Smith
Middle Name: (nothing on profile)
Last Name: Uncle

Travel funds page gave shows: John Uncle. (I tried this did not work)

what should I type in on the passenger name and last name for my travel funds to apply?

SWAVictor

Hopefully you've gotten through to Customer Service by now.
Unfortunately, this is a known issue with no easy fix. I have a co-worker named "Leigh Ann" who has the same issue and has to call in to use travel funds.

I don't personally have access to book reservations or apply travel funds, so Customer service is the best route.

clar1128

yes after 2 hours of being on hold. I was very frustrated as I woke up early to purchase the cheapest points fare as you released them this morning. But because of this travel funds issue the fare went up already when one of your rude CSR answered my call and booked it for me. I just do not get it I am logged in on my southwest account and everything is pre-filled but still it says wrong name. so everytime I need to use my travel fund I need to call each time.

synk

This issue has been around for years. They're never going to fix it.

oceanbreeez

I haven't found a way with booking a Companion Pass, which is what the original question was, but I have been able to use travel funds online for non-Companion Pass tickets where there are two first names, which came up in the responses.

1. Reserve ticket logging in through the person's account as usual. Before applying the travel funds, edit the Passenger Name to delete the second part of the name. Example: change "Leigh Ann" to "Leigh". The other information fields (Rewards, phone, etc.) should retain the already populated data.
2. Add the travel funds using the code and only the first name of the multiple ("Leigh"). Apply the funds and you should see the credit or zero owed.
3. Scroll back up and edit the Passenger name to add back the "Ann", so the ticket name is back to "Leigh Ann".
4. Scroll back down and Purchase. This has worked for me and since I started doing this, I no longer have to call Customer Service to use travel funds for my multiple first name spouse.

With buying a Companion Pass ticket, there is no ability to edit the Passenger name while booking it (for obvious reasons), so I have to call Customer Service. Fortunately, there is no time sensitive issue trying to catch the last ticket at a certain fare, since the fare ticket that the Companion is joining was already purchased.

Jamie Abitia

Had this issue happen to us. The agent on facebook said it worked for them by entering the first part of the name as the first name and the second part as the middle name in the “who’s flying” field. Example: “Who’s Flying?” First Name: Mary Anne would then be entered as First Name: Mary, Middle Name: Anne and for the travel fund voucher field enter “Mary Anne” as the first name. I guess the system reads it wrong if you do both names as the first name up top because it only reads the first part. Shouldn’t have any trouble at the airport, as the ticket usually only has the first part of the name, at least for my boyfriend. Also, this did not work on the app, only from a desktop. Hope that helps someone!

pitflyer

Thanks for the data point on myold thread. I will have to try it that way in the future. For now, I've just been doing everything with refundable credits instead. In my case, my companion also has a middle name, so I'm not sure if moving her second and third first names into the middle name field would work -- because then where would her middle name ago? IE the name is First (ONE TWO THREE) Middle (FOUR) Last (FIVE). As the other person posted, since Companion Pass bookings don't let you change the name this would only apply for other tickets.

nort

Bumping an old thread. Ran into the same issue today applying travel funds with passenger name that has a space in the first name. After trying several variations that didn't work and the phone support having a >1 hour wait, I tried with just entering the first initial instead of the first name. It worked. So, if the first name is "Mary Anne" and last name is "Smith", enter first name "M" and last name "Smith" to use the travel funds from a previous cancelled reservation.

But sheesh! How hard is it to fix this issue? It's been known for years and seems Southwest wants to make things hard for passengers and overload their phone support agents with long wait times that's completely avoidable.

Tanic

I just remove spaces and smash the names together. As long as all the databases are consistent (incl TSA and USCIS) it works.

oceanbreeez

Just to clarify that your issue relates to this thread - are you saying you did this with with a Companion Pass reservation (i.e. where you can not modify the traveler name "Mary Anne")?

It would be great if something in the system changed and we can now use the Travel Funds online and not have to call in to apply it for a Companion Pass.