Just a few days Southwest’s unannounced announcement that hotel transfers will no longer count towards the Southwest Companion Pass, folks have been receiving emails congratulating them for earning the pass for 2017. These emails were a huge system glitch as these accounts have not actually met the qualifications for the pass. From reports I’ve read, the people receiving the emails are those that had the companion pass in 2016, but didn’t meet the requirements yet for 2017, and those that transferred hotel points over at the beginning of the year with hopes of earning the pass (prior to learning that the points will not actually count).
People have been reaching out to them via Twitter all day and receiving one liners back essentially saying it was an error and we welcome you back to Southwest soon. While I get a mistake is a mistake, this is definitely giving people false hope and I sure do hope they follow up with an email to impacted customers letting them know of the error and giving them some sort of good will gesture – even if it is just a few hundred Southwest points.
What I am actually curious about is IF those points that were transferred over and have posted actually ARE counting towards the companion pass. Southwest’s IT systems are on the older side and are being updated in May. So I would not be surprised if their technology is not in sync with their terms and conditions.
Did you receive the email? Did you transfer points? If so, does it say that they are qualifying companion pass points? Let me know!
Thanks to Miles to Memories for letting me know about this!
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Who has the absolute worst IT in travel? Southwest vs. Hyatt in a cage match.
That’s why Southwest is a huge waste of time. No partners, no long haul, no first class, and a non-existent network for transcons. And the fares aren’t all that cheap either – DL AA UA routinely beats WN on fare these days.
Got the email too, had the pass last year. I was close and this was a late xmas present, then it looks like a kick in the nuts…makes me want to just fly delta with all the system issues they constantly have
American Airlines is up there. The most antiquated technology on the planet in travel. They still issue paper vouchers!!!
sick and tired of constant tech issues on their website constantly getting the “OOPS” message there year after year
and yes I got the same email congratulating me for earning the companion pass, only to receive a blunt “we’re sorry for our mistake” message a while later while not offering any token points or credit. I get the same kind of standard “wrote” responses whenever I submit a complaint there about their service. It’s sad how they’ve fallen