Southwest Companion Pass is back. Get it quick. [Deadline 3/31/17]

[deniseh]

You are correct. However, you should be able to transfer all the points from your husbands account to your MR account when you redeem the reward. They will want to talk to your husband when you do this, but there should be no problem getting all the points moved over to your MR account, then you can convert to the travel package award.

Good to know but I don't think I ever had a MR number in my name. Think we got it originally when we purchased initially in MVC. I always thought it included both of us but it seems to only have my husband's name. How would I get a MR number?

 

[deniseh]

One caution in doing that. If your husband has Lifetime status, he could lose it based on the number of points that are transferred from his account to yours. I know this for a fact as I briefly lost my Lifetime Gold status when I transferred 280,000 to my wife's account for a travel package. I went from Lifetime Gold to Lifetime Silver.

We do have gold elite, but think it was related to our last MVC purchase. Gold elite came with for three years so I don't think it was related to total number of MRP. I do not think it is lifetime.

 

[dioxide45]

Good to know but I don't think I ever had a MR number in my name. Think we got it originally when we purchased initially in MVC. I always thought it included both of us but it seems to only have my husband's name. How would I get a MR number?

Just register for a new MR account in your name. Easy as that.

 

[michael49]

Called Marriott on Monday to initiate a 5 night, Marriott/Southwest Travel package. Received an email this afternoon from Southwest congratulating me on gaining a Companion Pass as well as crediting the 120,000 points to my account. I figure that my wife and I will be traveling free on Southwest for most, if not all, of the next two years!!

 

[FLDVCFamily]

This is for something like the Marriott travel packages right? I'm about to do that for the SWA companion pass and I really hope it's honored. It sounds like it will be.

 

[FLDVCFamily]

Called Marriott on Monday to initiate a 5 night, Marriott/Southwest Travel package. Received an email this afternoon from Southwest congratulating me on gaining a Companion Pass as well as crediting the 120,000 points to my account. I figure that my wife and I will be traveling free on Southwest for most, if not all, of the next two years!!

I thought the 5 night packages were a unicorn? They really exist? I was about to cash out for the 7 nights today. How do I find the 5 night packages?

 

[Fasttr]

I thought the 5 night packages were a unicorn? They really exist? I was about to cash out for the 7 nights today. How do I find the 5 night packages?

See post # 53

 

[PamMo]

When I tried to book a 7 night hotel/flight package online (you can't book the 5 night package online), the Marriott site was down. When I called in to book it, the rep was very quick to ask if I wanted the 5 or 7 night hotel package.

 

[FLDVCFamily]

I have the 270K points in my husband's account and I'm trying to order the package but getting this message when I hit submit:

<We're sorry, but it's not possible to order rewards on marriott.com at this time. Please try again later. Thank you for your patience.>

ETA - We were able to do this over the phone. Points are on their way to SW, we are booked into the Residence Inn San Antonio Alamo area in a 1 bedroom with this package. We're happy with that as we wanted to go to San Antonio This is a category 5...quite pleased to get a 1 bedroom with this certificate, hoping for a 2 bedroom upgrade with Platinum.

 

[JT]

Sorry for late response but thank you.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I have the 270K points in my husband's account and I'm trying to order the package but getting this message when I hit submit:

<We're sorry, but it's not possible to order rewards on marriott.com at this time. Please try again later. Thank you for your patience.>

ETA - We were able to do this over the phone. Points are on their way to SW, we are booked into the Residence Inn San Antonio Alamo area in a 1 bedroom with this package. We're happy with that as we wanted to go to San Antonio This is a category 5...quite pleased to get a 1 bedroom with this certificate, hoping for a 2 bedroom upgrade with Platinum.

We are leaving for our San Antonio trip tomorrow. We are staying at the Hyatt through exchange. So excited about this trip, it's our first time to San Antonio.

 

[BocaBoy]

We want to use the Marriott hotel certificate in London in spring 2018. Looking at the London Marriotts, the ones we like are category 8 hotels. My question is, should we get the Cat 1-5 certificate and upgrade next year, or get the Cat 8 one now?

Contrary to the advice from most people here, I recommend that you get the Cat 8 now unless that leaves you so short on points that you will not be able to do other things in the interim that you want to do. You can downgrade later and get points back as easily as upgrading later and adding points. Why not simplify your life and try to get it right the first time?

 

[dioxide45]

Contrary to the advice from most people here, I recommend that you get the Cat 8 now unless that leaves you so short on points that you will not be able to do other things in the interim that you want to do. You can downgrade later and get points back as easily as upgrading later and adding points. Why not simplify your life and try to get it right the first time?

dsmrp has to call no matter what to either extend or upgrade since they are targeting a reservation in Spring 2018. So upgrading the certificate ends up extending it anyway. No harm in taking the smaller package.

 

[dsmrp]

dsmrp has to call no matter what to either extend or upgrade since they are targeting a reservation in Spring 2018. So upgrading the certificate ends up extending it anyway. No harm in taking the smaller package.

Contrary to the advice from most people here, I recommend that you get the Cat 8 now unless that leaves you so short on points that you will not be able to do other things in the interim that you want to do. You can downgrade later and get points back as easily as upgrading later and adding points. Why not simplify your life and try to get it right the first time?

Is it likely Marriott will extend the certificate if I don't upgrade or downgrade?
I have enough points and I'd kinda like to get the Cat 8, just in case Marriott increases the point requirements by next year.

I'm still waiting for Starwood to transfer DH's starpoints to my account. They told him it would take up to 5 business days I hate waiting Even tho' the Southwest deadline was extended to 3/31, I just want to get qualified as soon as possible.

TIA

 

[dioxide45]

Is it likely Marriott will extend the certificate if I don't upgrade or downgrade?
I have enough points and I'd kinda like to get the Cat 8, just in case Marriott increases the point requirements by next year.

I'm still waiting for Starwood to transfer DH's starpoints to my account. They told him it would take up to 5 business days I hate waiting Even tho' the Southwest deadline was extended to 3/31, I just want to get qualified as soon as possible.

TIA

Yes, there should be no problem extending later.

 

[FLDVCFamily]

We are leaving for our San Antonio trip tomorrow. We are staying at the Hyatt through exchange. So excited about this trip, it's our first time to San Antonio.

Have fun! It's our first trip to SA also. My 11 year-old really wants to see The Alamo, and there seems to be plenty else there to keep us busy for a week. I'd love to read a trip report when you get back!

 

[BocaBoy]

dsmrp has to call no matter what to either extend or upgrade since they are targeting a reservation in Spring 2018. So upgrading the certificate ends up extending it anyway. No harm in taking the smaller package.

You are right, I was not focused on the dates. Although I would probably still go for the cat 8 just to keep the extension as simple as possible, I can see why the other approach would be fine also.

 

[BocaBoy]

This thread caused me to focus on Southwest as a possible airline for our domestic coach travels, since we now live in a city where Southwest goes nonstop to 20 cities. I have only flown Southwest once in my life, so I am studying them to decide whether we should opt for the companion pass. I have one question:

When I go to make a mock reservation on Southwest to go to a city where they do not fly nonstop, but to which they do in fact fly, their web site does not gives me a connecting flight, but rather says there are no flights there. I must be doing something wrong. Surely you do not have to book each flight segment under a separate reservation. Can someone help me? Thanks.

 

[dsmrp]

This thread caused me to focus on Southwest as a possible airline for our domestic coach travels, since we now live in a city where Southwest goes nonstop to 20 cities. I have only flown Southwest once in my life, so I am studying them to decide whether we should opt for the companion pass. I have one question:

When I go to make a mock reservation on Southwest to go to a city where they do not fly nonstop, but to which they do in fact fly, their web site does not gives me a connecting flight, but rather says there are no flights there. I must be doing something wrong. Surely you do not have to book each flight segment under a separate reservation. Can someone help me? Thanks.

No you don't need to book each segment separately. In available itineraries returned for your search, there is a Routing column which lists the number of stops and the connecting airport.
If I entered dates too far in advance or dates they don't fly to that location, I see a warning message box telling me the reason why nothing was returned. Perhaps your outbound flight has flights to the connecting city, but there is no flight on 2nd leg to final destination on the date you selected.

 

[Mr. Vker]

We were thrilled to here WN reverse on this-after my Jan 2 transfer. We now have 4 trips booked with CP. The current sale really has been great. Going to FL for the weekend for $118 RT for two!

 

[dsmrp]

You are right, I was not focused on the dates. Although I would probably still go for the cat 8 just to keep the extension as simple as possible, I can see why the other approach would be fine also.

I did get the Cat 8 level after re-confirming with the CS rep about being able to extend. So in a few days, I should see those SW points in my account! I had to call in too because the website wouldn't let me order online. The rep says it was a fraud protection since I was trying to online redeem points less than 48 hours of transfer from Vistana. I was impressed that Marriott service reps are available 24x7??? I called in on a Sunday at 5 pm PST...Vistana wouldn't have been available at that time.

 

[dioxide45]

I did get the Cat 8 level after re-confirming with the CS rep about being able to extend. So in a few days, I should see those SW points in my account! I had to call in too because the website wouldn't let me order online. The rep says it was a fraud protection since I was trying to online redeem points less than 48 hours of transfer from Vistana. I was impressed that Marriott service reps are available 24x7??? I called in on a Sunday at 5 pm PST...Vistana wouldn't have been available at that time.

Did you transfer from Vistana or from SPG?

 

[dsmrp]

Did you transfer from Vistana or from SPG?

Oops, I thinking of Vistana and SPG interchangeably...my bad...I transferred from SPG. We can convert Vistana TS to SPG points, but never done so, since the rate isn't very favorable for what we own.

 

[dsmrp]

Yay, I qualified for the companion pass , the points transferred on the 4th business day. But I didn't get email from SW (yet) as some others posted.

Interesting, when I entered DH as companion, there wasn't a field for his SW acct number, even as an option. I was sort of expecting it as a requirement, for say, tracking purposes. SW really seems quite flexible.

Looking forward to flying to the southwest ( Santa Fe) on Southwest!

 

[elleny76]

Southwest sounds fun but anywhere I search to fly there is a "one stop" included. We like direct flights (sad) NJ here!