SW Airlines Rapid Rewards - Grrr! :(
 

I'm a member of SW Airlines Rapid Rewards club -- in theory, it's a good deal: 2 credits per round trip, 16 credits for a free flight. Plenty of partner affiliations, plus various bonus promotional ops.

But EVERY time I have made a flight res., they fail to credit my account! I've called cust service, and they keep insisting that I wasn't logged in at the time.

Me: "But my account # is right there on the intinerary!"

Cust svc agent: "You'll have to mail a copy of your intinerary to Rapid Rewards to receive the credit."

That's right -- MAIL! Not fax or e-mail, but mail!

This has happened to me THREE times -- not ONCE have they ever gotten it straight! The problem has always been resolved eventually -- but I'm sick of having to go to all of the extra trouble.

Has anyone else had this happen to them? Any advice on how to resolve it?

I've used SWA Rewards for 10 years.
Have earned free RT almost every year. No trouble... However,as I think back I have always done this online(which now gives only 3 credits for each RT--- formerly was 4 credits online)
AND I always used my "Southwest Visa" charge card.
In fact on a recent "car" trip I even got 0.5 credits for lodging at specific motels.
In addition i recently received 50 % off certificate for a stay at La Quinta good until Dec. 31, 05 as a 10 year
"anniversary" gift.
Sorry to hear you are having trouble...

I can't tell from the information you provided--did you book these trips on SWA.com? If so, you get three credits instead of just two per round trip.

When I book on SWA.com, I enter my Rapid Rewards number in the appropriate field while making the reservation. I've never had a problem with them not crediting the account. It normally takes a week or more after the flight--it definitely doesn't happen immediately--but I've always gotten credit without having to fight for it.

If the situation ever arose where there was a problem, I assume I could just give them my online reservation number and they would have my Rapid Rewards number on that reservation. Once they confirmed that I actually took the flights, they'd give me credit. I would hope I wouldn't have to go through what you went through.

I haven't flown SWA very much in the last few years, but did previously and never had this problem.

Don:

In every instance, I have:

1. Logged into my RR account on sw.com
2. then booked reservation online

The only difference I can see is that I don't have a sw rapid rewards charge card. Hmmm ....

It's been two weeks, and the cust svc agent said that it should have been logged in by now. She was a little *unhelpful* by insisting that I must not have been logged into sw.com when I made my reservations.

I wonder if the the ticketing agent at the ap can assist when I check in for my flight?

I'm particularly steamed because they were offering double credits for flights to my destination -- and to have this kind of problem suggests to me that maybe they don't want to follow through - ?

Wow, I'm surprised to hear this. I've used Rapid Rewards for years and have never had a problem with them. I've found their customer service to be top-notch, too!

Dan, am I dialing the wrong number? I only have the general 800#; I get res. sales agent and just get the same old standard line -- :(

I'm not sure if the fact that no one else has had this kind of trouble is a good or bad thing -- and I'm still a little bit peeved that in this age of technology and instant communcation, I have to *mail* my complaint.

I don't know what might cause the sort of problems you've had. Nothing like that has ever happened to - and I don't have their credit card, so that probably isn't the solution. WN (southwest) has about the best customer service of any airline I've used.

I'm surprised to hear this too. I've never had any trouble with my credits, they always appear right on time. I don't have a SW credit card either. I've always thought they had great customer service too!

I've earned 7-8 awards on SW and never had this problem.

I'm just wondering..could this be a cookie problem on your computer?

Brookside:
I don't think any FF mileage program credits an account until AFTER the flight has been completed. Are you looking for credit to appear before you take your flight?

I signed up a year ago, reserved a RT through Southwest website, got my credits. A month flew again, making a RT reservation for 2 people through Southwest website, typing in my number.

I am back, and checked on-line: my points are added. I didn't bother to sign up my husband as he flies maybe once a year, if that.

Both times used a bank-issued credit card which has nothing to do with SW.

HOW exactly do you make your reservations?