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

[tschwa2]

I was told by SWA that as long as the transfer is initiated by 3/31/17 they will honor the companion pass offer, so the actual date that the points post can be after 3/31.

You may want to try to get that in writing. This is the original statement they came out with when they temporarily reversed the change.

As we began the New Year on January 1, we took the opportunity to close a loophole in our Rapid Rewards Companion Pass terms and conditions related to transferred points from our Partners…

Many of you have reached out to us since then, and we greatly appreciate your honest and candid feedback. Because we are a Company that values our Customers and believes in doing the right thing, we are offering a limited window for Customers to earn toward Companion Pass by transferring their loyalty points from these Partners.

To that end, points converted from the above mentioned programs will count towards a Companion Pass until March 31, 2017. This is a hard deadline and we will not be able to make any exceptions beyond March 31. If you have points with these Partners that you wanted to transfer, please do not wait. Make the transfer before the deadline.

 

[AZGirl]

You may want to try to get that in writing. This is the original statement they came out with when they temporarily reversed the change.

As we began the New Year on January 1, we took the opportunity to close a loophole in our Rapid Rewards Companion Pass terms and conditions related to transferred points from our Partners…

Many of you have reached out to us since then, and we greatly appreciate your honest and candid feedback. Because we are a Company that values our Customers and believes in doing the right thing, we are offering a limited window for Customers to earn toward Companion Pass by transferring their loyalty points from these Partners.

To that end, points converted from the above mentioned programs will count towards a Companion Pass until March 31, 2017. This is a hard deadline and we will not be able to make any exceptions beyond March 31. If you have points with these Partners that you wanted to transfer, please do not wait. Make the transfer before the deadline.

It worked!! I received the Companion Pass!! Thanks your help!

 

[Quimby4]

I got my Companion Pass just in time. Now, what to do with the 5 Night Cat 1-5 Package. I dont see very good options for a Cat 5 warm beach location

 

[dima]

You just need to call Marriott and upgrade it with points to the desired category.
Of cause you will must have points available on you account.

 

[mdurette]

I got my Companion Pass just in time. Now, what to do with the 5 Night Cat 1-5 Package. I dont see very good options for a Cat 5 warm beach location

That would be because I don't think there is one. If you use the Marriott directory - search for category 1-5 and add beach to activity. There are only 14 in the world: 1 Mississippi, 5 Africa, 5 in Asia and 3 in the Middle East. Could be that this search drills down to beach front properties only.

If you bump up to a Category 6, there are some FL and Hawaii
Courtyard Fort Walton Beach-West Destin
Fairfield Inn & Suites Fort Walton Beach-West Destin
Courtyard Hutchinson Island Oceanside/Jensen Beach
Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa
Hutchinson Island Marriott Beach Resort & Marina
Courtyard King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel
Courtyard Kaua'i at Coconut Beach

I also struggled with the use. For me at least, desired locations and hotels don't start to pop up until you hit Category 7/8.

 

[dioxide45]

You just need to call Marriott and upgrade it with points to the desired category.
Of cause you will must have points available on you account.

This is what we do. We have a current cat 1-5 cert and will first extend it later this year and next year will upgrade it. That should extend it another year again. There aren't many options for where we want to go that have cat 5 properties.

 

[deniseh]

This is what we do. We have a current cat 1-5 cert and will first extend it later this year and next year will upgrade it. That should extend it another year again. There aren't many options for where we want to go that have cat 5 properties.

Any issues in calling and just asking to extend? Do you need a reason to extend or they will just do it? I have a travel package Cat 1-5 but don't have specific plans to use right now.

 

[bazzap]

Any issues in calling and just asking to extend? Do you need a reason to extend or they will just do it? I have a travel package Cat 1-5 but don't have specific plans to use right now.

We have always been able to exrend one year, once for two years.
We have also upgraded category.
I believe you can downgrade category, but we have not tried that yet.

 

[AlmostRetired]

I have a 5 day cat 5 that I am thinking of upgrading to a cat 8 for Christmas. I called and asked if I upgrade and do not need the cat 8, can I downgrade back to the cat 5 getting back all my points. I was told yes.

 

[AlmostRetired]

I continue to learn the Southwest system. I purchased a one way business class (only ticket available and gives you a drink and the earliest boarding) from Islip to Punta Cana (change planes in BWI). My wife was my free companion which is considered a regular ticket. I purchased her early bird check in for $15 which provides computer check in 36 in advance of the flight. Normal check in is 24 hours. Just as a reminder, there are no assigned seats. When you check in, SW assigns you a number which is used to know your position in boarding. Without paying the early bird, the earliest you can check in is 24 hours before scheduled flight.

My belief for boarding number assignment was business class, frequent flyers, people who purchased early bird check in (by date you purchased early bird) and finally, people who check in in 24 hours or later before flight. I was very surprised when my business class got me position A1 and her early bird got her B6, 65 people behind me. This seemed odd so I asked at the gate and got an answer that made no sense. I called up customer relations upon our return. It turns out early bird check in position is determined by revenue to Southwest and has nothing to do based on timeframe to purchase the early bird. Points usage has zero revenue value and a companion pass always has zero value no matter if the original ticket was cash or points. Low ticket prices purchased adding early bird will always be behind tickets with greater revenue adding early bird.

Big deal... not if it means a free companion pass. The fact is, this is not documented anywhere and even the people at the gate do not know this. You will find this out only if you call the executive office.

Few other points ..

You can book hertz rental on from southwest website. it allows you to put in discount codes. I retired from IBM and still get the IBM Hertz discount. The price was the same using southwest as it was using Hertz directly and you get extra extra SW points.
600 Hertz points can trade for 1200 SW points. Hertz points has continued to go down in rental value. This coupled with with the companion pass made the trade well worth it. I had 4000 hertz points that got me 7200 SW points or 2 one way tickets to Charleston for my HHI summer vacation.

 

[tschwa2]

A couple things to remember A1-15 are reserved for business class. You maybe the only business class passenger so that could be 14 more places she moves up. Also the FAQ specifically say that Anytime fares trump other fares when adding early bird. It doesn't specifically say it but it does mention the time stamp is relevant to passengers in the same fare class -so they can divide out the companion passes and FF reward tickets and rate them lower, although the wording would seem to imply that the only differential they make is Anytime Fares vs everything else.

From the FAQ

Is there an order in which EarlyBird Check-In Boarding Passes are reserved?

Yes. Customers who have purchased Anytime Fares will receive priority over Customer’s who purchase Early Bird with other fare types. Boarding positions are assigned based on the time stamp of the EarlyBird Check-In purchase relative to passengers within the same fare class.

 

[Quilter]

I need to learn when to pay with $ and when to use points. I have a wanna getaway fare of $279 DTW/PBI. We have miles from the travel package and from getting the credit card. Points would be 15,331. Husband will be on companion ticket.

Which should I use for paying?

Should I pay the extra $15 for early check in?

 

[AlmostRetired]

A couple things to remember A1-15 are reserved for business class. You maybe the only business class passenger so that could be 14 more places she moves up. Also the FAQ specifically say that Anytime fares trump other fares when adding early bird. It doesn't specifically say it but it does mention the time stamp is relevant to passengers in the same fare class -so they can divide out the companion passes and FF reward tickets and rate them lower, although the wording would seem to imply that the only differential they make is Anytime Fares vs everything else.

From the FAQ

Is there an order in which EarlyBird Check-In Boarding Passes are reserved?

Yes. Customers who have purchased Anytime Fares will receive priority over Customer’s who purchase Early Bird with other fare types. Boarding positions are assigned based on the time stamp of the EarlyBird Check-In purchase relative to passengers within the same fare class.

Even within the same fare class, it is revenue based for that fare class. So timestamps would only work for same exact fare. I was also told that if someone is unhappy with the position assignment r because it was zero revenue value ticket, as long as it was a reasonable (undefined) they would return the early bird fee.

 

[tschwa2]

The FAQ also state that you aren't guaranteed to be in A group. With that said I can't imagine they would consider just about anything in B group not to be reasonable as long as you are in front of non business select and alist/preferred who did not select early bird check in. A zero revenue ticket is a fare class in and of itself. I don't see that someone who bought early bird on a want to get away fare of $220 today and purchases early bird check in today will be behind someone who buys a want to get away fare on the same flight four weeks from now with earlybird when the fare is $245.

 

[AlmostRetired]

I need to learn when to pay with $ and when to use points. I have a wanna getaway fare of $279 DTW/PBI. We have miles from the travel package and from getting the credit card. Points would be 15,331. Husband will be on companion ticket.

Which should I use for paying?

Should I pay the extra $15 for early check in?

$279 divided by 15,331 is about 1.8 cents per point. This is actually good in my opinion. If you even factor in the early bird cost so 279-15-15=249 and divide this by 15,331 you get 1.6 cents per point. The only way it can better is if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and use the bonus cash from this since 1 dolar become 1.5 dollars when used for traveling. In this example it would take 185 bonus dollars from you earned cash bonus to book this flight at 279.

I have been paying the early bird fee for both my wife and I for the 3 additional trips we have booked (Islip to Charleston, to New Mexico and Aruba). I am thinking about only paying it for me and just saving her the seat next to me moving forward. A companion ticket for her will always be less than a revenue or point ticket for me so mostl likely she not be behind my anyway. Last thing about early bird. If you change your reservation and pay it, you do not get the money back.

 

[Quilter]

I have another step in this frustration.

The points weren't in my account again today so I called Marriott Rewards again. Had to go through the story and told the agent (Rep. #4) about yesterday's calls. She questioned why Rep. #1 didn't call me back. I had asked that same question when I got through to Rep. #2. Rep. #2's response was that as soon as a call drops they immediately get connected to a new call. Today's rep, Rep. #4, said that's true BUT they do have the ability to select a no connect status. She said she needed to contact customer care and asked me to hold. I said I would and if the call disconnected it wasn't because I hung up. She checked back with me several times making sure I was still connected. Out of the blue I began hearing the queue from Manor Club and soon I was talking to Manor Club's front desk. I explained what happened and didn't know what to do from that point so told her I'd call MR back.

While calling MR, but before being connected, I received a call back from Manor Club sales desk. This was same woman who has told me it was going to take 6-8 weeks and gave me Orlando phone number. She said she has emailed requests to the office that posts their points. She seemed to agree this shouldn't be so difficult. I asked if I got another MR rep to call her would she give them the names of the people she was emailing. She said she would if I had them call after her lunch. That way it would be direct connection between MR and whoever is in control of this deposit.

I called MR and got Rep. #5. I got his name and extension just in case we were disconnected. I told him I had written out the whole saga. He asked me to email it to him and while the call was still connected he got the email, read it and said he would deposit the points himself.

We're on the last day of our stay at Ocean Pointe. I had enough of the calls so we came out to enjoy the pool.

While we were sitting in the sun I called Southwest to ask some details about the companion pass and Rapid Rewards. Another call came in while I was on that call. After Southwest, I listened to my voicemail. It was someone with Marriott on Hilton Head wanting to talk to me about these points.

I haven't called back yet. I went in the pool. I'd like to get back to my computer and check my account before I return the call.

Like Paul Harvey use to do, I thought I would "tell the rest of the story":


The message was from Michelle Bez (sp). She identified herself as being with Marriott Vacation Club. I had returned her call on 3/25 & 3/29 and left messages twice. She had not called me back.

(I don't know how to fix these font changes) . . .

Michelle did return my call on 3/31. She said she was out of the office due to illness and that’s the reason no one returned my call.
I asked her if she was with the Sales Department and she said yes.

Because it was 19 days ago I'm going just for the basic details.

She told me she had spoken with the women at Manor Club. I did not ask what she and the women talked about. She did mention a couple times that the points could have been transferred into my account after 2 weeks but this would take some kind of special handling (paraphrase).

Without my asking for them, she then told me she put 5K MR points in my account. I told her the MR rep had deposited 25K in my account and she said she had already seen that. She said MR's did their deposit about 5 minutes before her department made their deposit of 25K. So she was aware I had already received 25K as a goodwill offering from MR. In case that's confusing, in total I received 30K as a goodwill offering for time and trouble.

As suggested above, I called Owner Services to find out an email to register all this with the corporate offices. I was given owner.services@vacationclub.com. Fortunately, I had everything detailed here and with some copy and paste it was easy to compose the email. Once it was sent I was emotionally done with the matter.

 

[Quilter]

$279 divided by 15,331 is about 1.8 cents per point. This is actually good in my opinion. If you even factor in the early bird cost so 279-15-15=249 and divide this by 15,331 you get 1.6 cents per point. The only way it can better is if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and use the bonus cash from this since 1 dolar become 1.5 dollars when used for traveling. In this example it would take 185 bonus dollars from you earned cash bonus to book this flight at 279.

I have been paying the early bird fee for both my wife and I for the 3 additional trips we have booked (Islip to Charleston, to New Mexico and Aruba). I am thinking about only paying it for me and just saving her the seat next to me moving forward. A companion ticket for her will always be less than a revenue or point ticket for me so mostl likely she not be behind my anyway. Last thing about early bird. If you change your reservation and pay it, you do not get the money back.

Thank you.

Sorry but I'm still confused. Are you saying it's better to pay cash then use points? (I was wrong the first post, it's actually 15,631 points). At what price per point would you use SW points instead of cash?

Why do you subtract the early bird cost in your calculation?

Does anyone ever fight with you about saving a seat? With our Wanna Get Away fare + early bird will we even have the opportunity to get onboard early enough to save a seat?

I do have a Chase Sapphire Reserve. So I'm trying to understand if you're saying it would be better to use it instead of the SW points. Between us we have 170K SW points so I'd like to use those instead of UR points. UR points are flexible for other airlines and hotels and to me are so much more valuable.

 

[TXTortoise]

I ran into the 'saving a seat' issue after paying for early boarding. Didn't know they allowed it until I got to Exit Row and lady was saving two seats. I was less than happy. Flight crew was there and said it was allowed. Personally I think it really devalues the early boarding option on leisure travel routes, at least if your over 6'2"....

 

[Mr. Vker]

I ran into the 'saving a seat' issue after paying for early boarding. Didn't know they allowed it until I got to Exit Row and lady was saving two seats. I was less than happy. Flight crew was there and said it was allowed. Personally I think it really devalues the early boarding option on leisure travel routes, at least if your over 6'2"....

There is a LONG thread on Flyertalk about this. They are allowed to save seats-but you are allowed to take them. There is no way they can prevent it. Thats why the gate agent says "Take any open seat". I have seen some "intense" conversations when business select or A List people are kept from prime seats due to seat saving. The saver almost always has to give it up-although making for an awkward flight.

 

[AlmostRetired]

Thank you.

Sorry but I'm still confused. Are you saying it's better to pay cash then use points? (I was wrong the first post, it's actually 15,631 points). At what price per point would you use SW points instead of cash?

Why do you subtract the early bird cost in your calculation?

Does anyone ever fight with you about saving a seat? With our Wanna Get Away fare + early bird will we even have the opportunity to get onboard early enough to save a seat?

I do have a Chase Sapphire Reserve. So I'm trying to understand if you're saying it would be better to use it instead of the SW points. Between us we have 170K SW points so I'd like to use those instead of UR points. UR points are flexible for other airlines and hotels and to me are so much more valuable.

The estimated value of Marriott Rewards Points at 0.9 cents each point (just for value comparison).
The estimated value of Rapid Rewards for a Wanna Get Away is 1.43 cents each point
In your example using 15,631 points each point is at 1.78 cents per point. I would use points and forget about Chase since you are getting a good cent value for your points.

I was wrong for subtracting the early bird cost. If you do it or not, has nothing to do with how you paid for your tickets.

Saving seats are allowed since there is no policy disallowing it but if an issue comes up, it is up to the flight attendant to address. He/she could go either way.

 

[tschwa2]

We are a family of 5 although sometimes certain members prefer to drive or DH can't get off of work so 2-5 on any given flight. My strategy is to pay for most of my flights using my chase sapphire reserve and then using either SW reward points or Chase UR points to pay for the other family member flights minus the companion. I hope to build up my SW rewards and get to A level or A level preferred for the bonus points. I will probably apply for the SW chase next year (or possibly the following year) to continue the companion pass into 2019.

 

[Quilter]

The estimated value of Marriott Rewards Points at 0.9 cents each point (just for value comparison).
The estimated value of Rapid Rewards for a Wanna Get Away is 1.43 cents each point
In your example using 15,631 points each point is at 1.78 cents per point. I would use points and forget about Chase since you are getting a good cent value for your points.

I was wrong for subtracting the early bird cost. If you do it or not, has nothing to do with how you paid for your tickets.

Saving seats are allowed since there is no policy disallowing it but if an issue comes up, it is up to the flight attendant to address. He/she could go either way.

Thank you again.

I know little to nothing about Southwest. I went over to flyertalk to see if there's a quick wiki post explaining the system. Didn't find one.

It will be a new learning situation.

 

[Quimby4]

Any thoughts on upgrading from Cat 5 to Cat 9?
I was thinking of using the 5 night certificate for Grand Cayman but MCVI St Thomas is also Cat 9 and all 2 bedroom units, where as GC would be a room with 2 double beds for hubby and I and 2 teenagers.....

While GC is closer I think I would prefer STT to have a 2 bedroom with the certificate.
Am I missing something here?

Thank you.

 

[Fasttr]

Any thoughts on upgrading from Cat 5 to Cat 9?
I was thinking of using the 5 night certificate for Grand Cayman but MCVI St Thomas is also Cat 9 and all 2 bedroom units, where as GC would be a room with 2 double beds for hubby and I and 2 teenagers.....

While GC is closer I think I would prefer STT to have a 2 bedroom with the certificate.
Am I missing something here?

Thank you.

You would need to toss additional points at it beyond the 5 night certificate. I believe they charge 5000 extra points per night per bedroom size upgrade....so from Studio to 1BR = 5K extra points and from 1BR to 2BR = 5K extra points....so in your case 10K extra per night for 5 nights or 50K additional points needed for the 5 night stay.

 

[Quimby4]

You would need to toss additional points at it beyond the 5 night certificate. I believe they charge 5000 extra points per night per bedroom size upgrade....so from Studio to 1BR = 5K extra points and from 1BR to 2BR = 5K extra points....so in your case 10K extra per night for 5 nights or 50K additional points needed for the 5 night stay.

Yikes that is a lot more...maybe I should just leave the kids at home.
Maybe we should do Grand Cayman since Gold Status would get free breakfast but not at STT since MVCI property.

Im wondering if marriott will add my Reward # to the ressie since I will be Gold and hubby losing gold status before we travel. ??

Then we could add on 2+ nights at Westin GC too.