phil94028

I'm a bit confused. I still see "Fare Difference" for WGA same day changes on the WN website and no announcement - is this real?
If true it negates A list for people like me who avoid travel on busy days anyway. The difference between confirmed and standby is moot on a light flight - A60+ boarding not that valuable either.
I generally only use WN for intra-California anyway so even a middle seat not that big a deal.
Had always thought the extra revenue from SDC was very important to them - which is why the rule was so enforced even when a flight was later by up to an hour! It also eats into potential WGA+ upsells.

dmbolp

Free Same-Day-Standby for all is "Coming Soon", along with the other things.

As A-List I've done free Same-Day-Change multiple times this year, all on WGA. As A-List you have a flight today that's asking for a fare difference?

phil94028

I do get free same day change. as an A-List. I used miles for a lot of flights this year - which I thought qualified as segments but do not any more. Would mean taking a lot of marginally needed flights to requalify. This means I do not really need A List at least for the way I use WN. . I almost always take an earlier flight than I booked and a lot of Tue/Wed travel and intra Calif is always light.

I guess there must be a big competitive reason to do this., I think bookings seem to be suddenly soft for all the carriers. It is a super nice change but sure seems like it hits revenue in a lot of ways. The must have looked at this very carefully.

Gator11

I'm A-List Preferred and when I tried to do same day confirmed at the kiosk 2 weeks ago it asked me to pay the fare difference. I was on a WGA fare. I just went to the gate on asked to be put on the standby list and cleared shortly before boarding started.

dmbolp

Doesn't work at a kiosk, must see an agent or call (maybe app works now?). Free Same-Day-Change for AL/AL+ has been available since 5/17/22, as long as a seat is available.

https://swamedia.com/releases/releas...re-flexibility

Tier Members (A-List /A-List Preferred Customers) now receive same-day confirmed change in addition to same-day standby9.

9. If there’s an open seat on a different flight that departs on the same calendar day as your original flight and it’s between the same cities, you can get a seat on the new flight free of airline charges. If there isn’t an open seat on this different flight, you can ask a Southwest Gate Agent to add you to the same-day standby list for a flight between the same city pairs that departs on the same calendar day prior to your originally scheduled flight, and you will receive a message if you are cleared on the flight. For both the same-day change and same-day standby benefits, you must change your flight or request to be added to the same-day standby list at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of your original flight or the no show policy will apply. Based on the flight status contact preference selected during booking, the message regarding your standby status will be an email or text message with a link to access the boarding pass via the Southwest App, mobile web, or you can visit a Southwest Gate Agent to print off the boarding pass. If there are any government taxes and fees associated with these itinerary changes, you will be required to pay those. Your original boarding position is not guaranteed. Important: These benefits are available only by seeing a Southwest Gate Agent or calling 1-800-FLY-SWA. If you change your flight through any other channel or to a flight that does not meet the requirements outlined above, you will be responsible for the difference in price. If an A-List or A-List Preferred Member is traveling on a multiple-Passenger reservation, same-day standby and same-day change will not be provided for non-A-List or non-A-List Preferred Members in the same reservation. For A-List and A-List Preferred Members who have also qualified for a Companion Pass®, A-List and A-List Preferred benefits are not available to the Companion unless the Companion is also an A-List or A-List Preferred Member.

nsx

Possibly related: Today the boarding announcements mention that after A60 they will take all remaining business select passengers plus XT and A-List. First time I’ve heard business select mentioned in conjunction with mid boarding.

Could Southwest be preparing to sell
more than 15 BS fares per flight, with the extras boarding after A60 like I usually do?

LegalTender

I think it's bigger than that. Q3 projections may be stressing people out. Boarding early is not a lifeline. There's a Business Select team doing a Manhattan Project in a well-ventilated bunker. One-class seating is North Korea.

nsx

I wonder about people who recently bought WGA plus fares for future travel and now see that they could have paid less for WGA and gotten free standby for an earlier flight.

OTOH today I had supposedly free same day change on JetBlue but you can’t SDC online if you paid for their Blue Extra using points. 45 minutes on hold to change the flight time? If the seats would remain available that long? The product is defective. Which is why I’m flying Southwest instead.

Standby is going to be more of a gamble, and even SDC will get harder. It’s almost as if airlines need to shuffle the deck every so often after customers learn to work the system. FTers figure it out immediately but the public travels less frequently and takes longer to catch on.

Troopers

But when does a standby clear? The advantage of WGA plus is the ability to SDC at 12:01am or morning of flight without heading to airport, right?

nsx

Right. If the flight is not going to be wide open or if you have to check bags then confirmed change is better. If you are willing to gamble a little and have no checked bags, then standby is fine. With A-list priority I am usually cleared from standby before boarding starts.

ksuwldkat

Is there someone with a-list who has tried confirming a change on the app/online with either a companion or other travelers on the reservation?

Kevin AA

That was back in the day when the fare was a function of the time of day, not number of seats already sold.

Take DAL-HOU for example. There used to be just two fares -- peak and off-peak. If you bought an off-peak fare and wanted to fly on a peak time flight, you had to pay the fare difference. Otherwise it would make no sense to publish two fares if everyone is going to buy just the off-peak fares.

Times have changed in forty years. Some good, some bad.

Gator11

Thanks, I was not aware that it wouldn't work at the kiosk. I'm wonder why the agent at the gate didn't tell me she could confirm me on the flight because there were at least 50 open seats when boarding was complete.

dmbolp

My guess would be an uninformed, or lazy, gate agent

oceanbreeez

When I've had a companion and there are just a couple seats on the flight I want to SDC to, I've called in and the agent can grab the two seats and make the change. If it looks like there are enough seats, I'll cancel the companion, make the SDC and then add the companion back. I don't think I've been able to do an online SDC on a reservation with a companion and change both in one step, but it's possible the software has been updated since the last time I tried. I haven't tried it on a reservation that had other non-companion travelers.