Andrew

I'm flying USAir only because I'm transporting my friend's cat, and Southwest does not take pets - drat! USAir was the cheapest fare ($100 cat fee to carry a pet on board). My friend is paying for the ticket; I'd checked the fare a few days in a row and it was $119 for the one-way ticket. Should we wait she asked? (it's a month away). No, I said, just book it...

An hour later, after she booked it, I happened to re-check...and the fare suddenly dropped $30! This on a Sunday afternoon - not overnight or anything. Of course, USAir charges you $150 to make any changes. On such a ticket. Had it been Southwest, I would have gotten a $30 credit for rebooking it immediately.

Just a reminder of why I love Southwest (if only they flew pets!) and will continue to do so in the future. I know, I know, it's only $30, and my friend was paying anyway, but somehow I feel ripped off, like I just missed the sale by an hour. Oh, well, at least USAir doesn't charge for water or soft drinks any longer!!!

J62

IIRC most airlines let you make changes without cost within the 1st 24hrs. It may not be a publicized policy, but call them up and ask.

Andrew

I did call them up and ask, just an hour after it was booked. USAir was gladly willing to change my ticket to the lower fare at $30 cheaper...for a $150 change fee. No, thanks.

mrwunrfl

US was the lowest fare? How much was the Southwest fare? United would give you (your friend) a refund within 24 hours.

MomDDTravel

wow Andrew - that stinks. I made a lot of travel reservations when I was an executive assistant and really messed up on one once and they were kind enough to switch it around for no cost - it was within an hour or so of the booking. I am sorry they said no go.

Andrew

mrwunrfl, as I noted above, I can't take Southwest because I'm taking a cat with me - they won't take pets. I already had booked a non-stop on Southwest for a few days earlier at a few bucks cheaper - then my friend asked me to take her cat back with me, so she bought me the USAir flight. United was more expensive than USAir (plus $25 more for the cat) and Delta and had worse routing. Delta was the real second choice, but it used small CRJ jets operated by Skywest (I'm taking a cat remember, a bigger plane seems better) and charges $50 more for a cat than US Air. Trying to save my friend a few bucks.

MomDDTravel, it's a petty little thing, $30, but for some reason it ticked me off. USAir could have quickly credited my friend $30 and made me think, "Hey! These other airlines aren't so bad after all" but instead re-affirmed why I prefer flying Southwest when I can.

mrwunrfl

Thanks for the run-down on the fares. Surprising differences in cat fares between the legacy carriers.

I would be ticked off too as the $30 would be much happier in my wallet than with the airlines (they are just going to lose it).

You should send an e/snail-mail to Southwest to tell them you are a loyal customer but had to go to the dark side because of this policy.

United said they instituted the pay-for-2 seats if you occupy more than one seat policy the other day because of hundreds of complaints from customers. It is a policy that Southwest has had for 28 years, the news said. So that means that United has been geting those complaints for a long time, and I don't know how many hundreds of complaints they got over that time but, supposedly, they were responding to their customers' desires.

But maybe the airlines, Southwest, will respond if they get enough feedback. I mean, United responded, right? It wasn't just another way to try to generate revenue, right?

Andrew

Thanks for the suggestion, mrwunrfl. I did send Southwest a polite email suggesting they change their "no pets" policy.