SW Canceled My Backup Flight! - Is there a way around this, please?

knick1959

Level 2 Member
This COULD be a long story, and if you know me, you know I tend to make them so. TRYING to be brief.

I have an AA flight to LAX and a subsequent large trip from there in jeopardy. IN CASE my CLE->LAX flight gets canceled (good chance) I wanted a backup flight. So I booked a SW flight to cover this ... this, hoping that the next leg of the trip stays intact. All wishful thinking, but I'm covering all bases.

In case the whole trip falls through, I have a less-exciting trip to New Orleans planned. It will still be fun.

In short, I had a flight from CLE->MSY booked. But then I added CLE->LAX on the same day. SW in their smartness figured out I can't take both flights and just canceled my LAX flight.

If I book a SW flight under my wife's account on the same day, will they notice that? We will be each other's passengers on all flights. Ideas?

Another option just came to mind and I'll work on that. I want to book SW because of the easy refundable miles. Any other commitment and I lose $ or miles of flight not taken.
 

projectx

Level 2 Member
Southwest has been known to do that. I think (and could be wrong), that their system will catch it if both flights are scheduled to be in the air at the same time. I would think even if booked under your wife's account they would catch it.

All that said, I have the same plan for if/when I book another AA flight.

I even used it a couple years ago when a snow storm was headed our way on the day we were supposed to fly out. I booked a WN flight for the next morning (day our cruise was leaving) just in case. Sure enough, once we arrived at the airport, our flight was cancelled. Being spring break it was a madhouse trying to get another flight. If I had not booked that backup flight for Sunday morning, we would have missed our cruise.
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
Southwest has been known to do that. I think (and could be wrong), that their system will catch it if both flights are scheduled to be in the air at the same time. I would think even if booked under your wife's account they would catch it.

All that said, I have the same plan for if/when I book another AA flight.

I even used it a couple years ago when a snow storm was headed our way on the day we were supposed to fly out. I booked a WN flight for the next morning (day our cruise was leaving) just in case. Sure enough, once we arrived at the airport, our flight was cancelled. Being spring break it was a madhouse trying to get another flight. If I had not booked that backup flight for Sunday morning, we would have missed our cruise.
Thanks for the reply. I think what I am going to do is delay the trip to New Orleans one day. I'm not sure I was in my right mind when I thought I had to have both the backup trip and real trip leave on the same day. There is no reason for it.

I'm picking SW because it's so easy to get refunded and not lose anything in the grand scheme of things. However, having used all SW miles previous acquired via SW activity, I have to transfer UR or pay cash, always preferring UR. However, now that I've booked a couple of flights for 2 people, I'm committing quite a bit to SW on the chance I need them. My UR holdings are slightly low; well, not really, but I am below my "RT flights for 2 to anywhere in J" levels. I did just use a bunch for a OW home this fall. So I'm trying to be strategic and stingy at the same time.

As an example, Tues flights to MSY were 2758 miles each, an exceptional bargain. On Wed these jump up to 8111/9563 with the latter being the more convenient flight. I may end up paying cash and working with whatever gets refunded before a year is up. More expensive or not, switching the backup trip to Wed makes so much more sense. More time to cancel and adjust things whether the original trip works or I need the backup.

Will work this all out tonight. Thanks again for the reply.
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
Will work this all out tonight. Thanks again for the reply.
And I think I am all set. I switched our Plan B flights to the next day and rebooked our to-LAX backup on the day we leave on the "real" trip. This works out better and the LAX flights were even cheaper than 2 days ago - 3k miles each. I did commit another 8k UR to these plans but that's ok ... I've actually got until May before I might need them again. I'll have to watch for Staples sales and work harder at doing more cards.
 
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