Student is stifled by Southwest's college rewards program
— -- Question:I recently traveled on Southwest, and was supposed to earn two credits under the airline's Rapid Rewards program for college students, rather than just one. Southwest is refusing to give me the double credits because it says I made booking over the phone, rather than doing it online.
I had originally booked my flight online, however, I needed to change my travel date. I tried to make the change online, but Southwest's website wouldn't allow me to, and prompted me to call customer service. The telephone representative gladly changed my flight, but she did not warn me that I would lose a Rapid Rewards credit by doing so.
I have called Southwest a number of times about this issue and have written the airline a letter. They keep referring me to another phone number that is always busy. Clearly, calling the hotline to change my ticket was not a decision I made by choice. Because Southwest won't give me that second credit, I am one credit shy of an award, and must earn it within two weeks. Please help!
— Michael Lin, Los Angeles
Answer:Lin couldn't change his flight date online because of a computer glitch, apparently due to the fact that Southwest discontinued its College Rapid Rewards Program early this summer.
The popular student program granted two credits for each one-way flight, rather than the standard single credit per flight. College students must accumulate 16 credits within 24 months to earn an award. Since the program has been canceled, students have until October 15 to earn credits. But after hassling with Southwest for almost a month, Lin's own earnings cutoff date was just two weeks away.
In order to qualify for double credits, though, all College Rapid Rewards bookings have to be made online. Although Lin booked his original trip via Southwest's website, he had to change his ticket over the telephone. That caused his trip to be reclassified as a telephone booking, rather than an online booking—thus eligible for just one credit, not two.
"It could (and does) happen to other customers," says Southwest representative Christi Day. "If the promotion you are involved in requires that your ticket be booked online and you change it by phone, you will lose the credits."
As for the constant busy signal for the customer response center, Day said that the team has experienced "incredibly high call volumes all summer, and many customers are having trouble getting through via phone." His letter hadn't shown up in the system yet either, and Lin was understandably nervous about losing all his credits.
Southwest studied Lin's account, agreed to adjust his account and give him that second credit, and sent him his College Rapid Rewards award certificate.
How can you avoid trouble?
Read the rules. Double-credit promotions always involve specific requirements, whether online-only bookings or route-specific bonuses. Any deviation from the rules means you won't get the credit you're counting on.
Keep a watchful eye on your mileage, and make sure bonus miles don't get overlooked.
Get in touch with customer service over mileage disputes. "If fliers run into the same issue as our customer did in this case, they should contact us and nine out of 10 times we will be able to fix it," says Day.
Linda Burbank first began troubleshooting travelers' complaints for the Consumer Reports Travel Letter. She now writes regularly for Consumers Union publications and is a contributing editor for National Geographic Traveler. E-mail her at travel@usatoday.com. Your question may be used in a future column.