Update 12/17/19: Cancellations have been extended through April 13th, 2020.
Update 9/5/19: Cancellations have been extended through January 5th, 2020. Although according to Deals We Like only flights through December 17th have been cancelled so far?
Update 6/27/19: Southwest has extended the 737 MAX cancellations until at least October 1st, 2019.
Update: People affected by these schedule changes are being pro-actively rebooked and also offered a free rebooking to the same city pair within 14 days of when the original flight was scheduled to fly. You don’t pay for the schedule change, even if the new flight is more expensive than the old one.
Southwest has announced that they have revised their schedule due to the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft being grounded and out of operation. The aim behind this schedule revision is to try and limit the number of last minute changes/cancellations. If your flight has been changed or cancelled Southwest should reach out to you and offer to rebook those flights. It isn’t 100% clear how these flight rebookings are being handled. For example when the issues with the 737 MAX were first reported Southwest was allowing consumers to change all flights for free, even if there was a cost difference involved. If anybody has had their flights cancelled/changed and been contacted by Southwest, let us know how Southwest is handling these changes in the comments below.
Time to face reality folks. This plane is never flying again.
SW bumped us off an existing LAX – OGG flight and rebooked us for one arriving 2 hours later with zero notification. Not the biggest deal, but changing flights without any warning is kind of a cardinal sin for carriers IMO. Called and complained, got a $50 SW credit, but not excited to use it until MAX is back.
FaA pUlLeD tOo SoOn
My rebook email:
We want to make you aware of a change we’ve made to your upcoming trip. This was done proactively due to a Southwest flight schedule change on your day of travel.
Please review your new itinerary below. Your reservation is confirmed and no further action is required.
In the event this new itinerary does not work for you, we are offering the one time opportunity to change your flight date(s) and/or time(s) at no additional cost in accordance with our established reaccommodation practices.
For expedited service, you can change your flight at www.southwest.com/rebook3 between the hours of 12:00pm (CDT) September 5, 2019 and 11:59pm (CDT) September 8, 2019. Flights with no additional cost will display as “Available”. Should you need further assistance, you can reach a Southwest Representative at 1-888-871-8321. Please keep in mind that the time to reach a representative may be longer than normal during this time.
We look forward to seeing you onboard soon.
-Your friends at Southwest
So glad I listened to DOC about the SW companion fare card promo earlier this year (and I will push this out Dec 2020/Jan21 to get 2 years).
On the bright side perhaps when they start flying the Max again perhaps some good fare can be found to use up stash of SW(Amex) GC – oddly AS fares are often a better deal than SW for destination on West coast.
AA just did the same thing, canceled 2 of my flights
April 1 flight cancelled; no email/no text, the only way I found out was when trying to check in the day before. We (Companion Pass) were rebooked automatically which I only found out when I phoned in. Agent changed that auto-rebooking to a direct flight, 3 stops, so while flying around the country and getting home after 1 AM on April 2, I missed the Apr 1 email that we were rebooked for our future April flight to a 6:30 AM. Our original non-stop was dropped from the flight list, and all the other non-stops were sold out. Called and got changed from the 6:30 AM to 7:30 AM for a 5.5 hour flight with 1 stop versus our original 2 hour flight. We are now 4 for 4 flights that were cancelled/rebooked.
For the April 1 mess, I used Twitter and was sent 2 $100 vouchers, one for me/one for our CP. Will see how our next flights play out before complaining.
I had a 5 hour June itinerary changed to a 10 hour itinerary. Was able to change the flight to another 5 hour itinerary, more convenient than the original, at no up charge. Another flight was simply moved 15 minutes, so no need to change there. Curious to see if this is a slow rollout that will result in more emails and flight changes in July and August.
Just got the email tonight. The SO and I were originally scheduled for SEA to SAN from 7:50pm-11:40pm. Our original flight was cancelled and we were rescheduled for 6:20pm-9:15pm.
SW is being really generous in their flight changes. They are letting us change our flight between 4/14-4/19 via an online link or calling in. We can change our flight date and/or time by up to 14 days from our original travel date at no extra cost, one time only.
My girlfriend got her return flight cancelled but she was not notified and found out when they didn’t send her the boarding pass the day before. She rescheduled free for a later flight and they gave her a $100 voucher for not notifying her, and for the extra she would pay for her car rental for a couple more hours. She’s A list so they let her pay the fee for the upgraded boarding spot and they refunded her that as well.