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Old Dec 12, 2020, 12:32 pm
  #1  
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ORC on Southwest

I'm looking at lining up our annual segment run, and the increased likelihood of canceled flights has me wondering if there's an ORC policy for WN. If I have two or more roundtrips scheduled for a given day and one leg is cancelled, will I still get credit for that leg? How about the leg that I won't be able to catch on the way back?

Last edited by synergistic; Dec 12, 2020 at 12:38 pm
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Old Dec 12, 2020, 2:08 pm
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I have never received credit for a leg canceled by Southwest - certainly got my money back but no leg credit. I'm not sure why you think they would do that ?
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Old Dec 12, 2020, 3:50 pm
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Originally Posted by lougord99
I have never received credit for a leg canceled by Southwest - certainly got my money back but no leg credit. I'm not sure why you think they would do that ?
I've never tried nor been in a situation to ask. I know when I used to fly American frequently, I booked 3-4 leg trips out west. If a leg was cancelled, I was usually given a fairly direct (shorter) routing to my destination, and I had to contact AA to be given credit for what I had booked, instead of what I had actually ended up flying. I've seen reference to it on other boards, I don't think it's complete crazytalk to ask if Southwest does anything similar. If I knew how their policy worked - if they have a policy at all - I could more easily make sure that my flights would be protected.
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Old Dec 12, 2020, 4:08 pm
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Originally Posted by synergistic
I'm looking at lining up our annual segment run, and the increased likelihood of canceled flights has me wondering if there's an ORC policy for WN. If I have two or more roundtrips scheduled for a given day and one leg is cancelled, will I still get credit for that leg? How about the leg that I won't be able to catch on the way back?
A-List is not based on "segment" but flight. So while typical airlines will count, for example - OAK-PHX-LAS, as 2 segments, WN will credit this as 1 flight.

Using this example - OAK-PHX-LAS RT, if PHX-LAS is cancelled, you can in fact invoke trip-in-vein to return back to OAK in WN's expense. In that case, you will be credit for 2 flights - OAK-PHX RT. Of course - you will be entitled for a full refund as well.

I could be incorrect. But this is how I interpret the program. So ORC may not be necessary and possible - you always get what you have flown, not booked.
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Old Dec 12, 2020, 4:35 pm
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Butt in seat is the rule.

You can pay for all the flights you want, but unless your butt is in the seat, no credit.
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Old Dec 12, 2020, 4:45 pm
  #6  
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Originally Posted by garykung
A-List is not based on "segment" but flight. So while typical airlines will count, for example - OAK-PHX-LAS, as 2 segments, WN will credit this as 1 flight.

Using this example - OAK-PHX-LAS RT, if PHX-LAS is cancelled, you can in fact invoke trip-in-vein to return back to OAK in WN's expense. In that case, you will be credit for 2 flights - OAK-PHX RT. Of course - you will be entitled for a full refund as well.

I could be incorrect. But this is how I interpret the program. So ORC may not be necessary and possible - you always get what you have flown, not booked.
Well, yes, it's flight based, but you can use multicity to get credit for both flights on two segments instead of getting just the one. We usually do a couple of those enroute to a city where we do a bunch of round trips, or jump between three cities. I was hoping to hear that if I had a multicity from A-B-C, and A-B was cancelled, then they'd fly me from A-C and give me two segment credits. I shouldn't have referenced round trips in the OP, there likely isn't anything to be done in that situation. I'd probably also be kinda screwed if B-C is cancelled, and I'd miss my C-A leg by the time the next flight gets to C.
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Old Dec 12, 2020, 5:08 pm
  #7  
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Originally Posted by synergistic
you can use multicity to get credit for both flights on two segments instead of getting just the one.
I once advised a friend who was going to be 1 segment short of A-list to fly (one way) NorCal to SoCal as two trips: NorCal to LAS and LAS to SoCal. It worked.
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Old Dec 12, 2020, 5:13 pm
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Originally Posted by synergistic
Well, yes, it's flight based, but you can use multicity to get credit for both flights on two segments instead of getting just the one. We usually do a couple of those enroute to a city where we do a bunch of round trips, or jump between three cities. I was hoping to hear that if I had a multicity from A-B-C, and A-B was cancelled, then they'd fly me from A-C and give me two segment credits. I shouldn't have referenced round trips in the OP, there likely isn't anything to be done in that situation. I'd probably also be kinda screwed if B-C is cancelled, and I'd miss my C-A leg by the time the next flight gets to C.
I would say no ORC in this instance.
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Old Dec 14, 2020, 7:43 pm
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"ORC"?
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Old Dec 14, 2020, 8:13 pm
  #10  
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Originally Posted by kennycrudup
"ORC"?
Original Routing Credit
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Old May 4, 2021, 12:16 pm
  #11  
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Originally Posted by synergistic
I'm looking at lining up our annual segment run, and the increased likelihood of canceled flights has me wondering if there's an ORC policy for WN. If I have two or more roundtrips scheduled for a given day and one leg is cancelled, will I still get credit for that leg? How about the leg that I won't be able to catch on the way back?
It appears I jinxed myself - we are in exactly this situation tonight. We were taking a round trip tonight for a couple extra segments. First flight has been delayed moor than once, now below MCT. Happy to try again tomorrow but it won't let me change online for free, and I had to remove the companion (losing the boarding position, of course) just to try. Two hour wait for a phone agent, halfway through. Hopefully I can get through and they can get it changed before T-24.
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Old May 4, 2021, 12:30 pm
  #12  
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As the last posted indicated.... trips with multiple flights not booked together do run into problems when one of the flights gets delayed or cancelled.

Still worth taking the chance to get to CP or A-list. We did 4 segments one day year before covid.... BNA-ATL, then ATL to Greenville, SC. Then reverse. Got the 4 segments we needed - cheap. One of us was free due to CP... plus the $5.60 per segment of course. Found an excellent lounge in Greenville that was tied to Amex. Ate LOTS of food and plenty of drinks.
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Old May 5, 2021, 1:16 am
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As someone who's done a decent amount of churning, I know very little about segment runs. Can someone explain to me what's being accomplished - are you trying to meet a flights-per-year threshold for companion pass or A-List status by taking a bunch of cheap flights?
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Old May 5, 2021, 7:37 am
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Originally Posted by m907
As someone who's done a decent amount of churning, I know very little about segment runs. Can someone explain to me what's being accomplished - are you trying to meet a flights-per-year threshold for companion pass or A-List status by taking a bunch of cheap flights?
Just A-List for me - even with the uncapped tier points and the TQP boost, that's something like 130k of spend. That would have been difficult to manage for us, especially by May when our points flights start, and even if I had an easy low-risk liquidation method, the spend would have earned us more on another card.
​​​​​
Fifteen flights cost me about $900, which covered three leisure trips, two cheap round trip segment runs, and one hybrid - a meandering overnight we would not have taken otherwise. We feel we are well compensated for the hassle.

edit: also, yesterday went well after all. The delay cost us a lounge visit, but it was a quick painless run.
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Last edited by synergistic; May 5, 2021 at 7:47 am
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Old May 5, 2021, 7:56 am
  #15  
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Originally Posted by m907
are you trying to meet a flights-per-year threshold for companion pass or A-List status by taking a bunch of cheap flights?
Yes. That's how I reached 100 flights pre-COVID.
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