Southwest Airlines

Leap Year Flight Deal + Eclipse Flight Contest

How to see the eclipse from a Southwest Airlines flight

Much of the United States will be able to see a total or partial eclipse on April 8, 2024.

But wouldn’t it be great to see the eclipse from the air?

Some lucky ducks will get that opportunity. Including the winners of a “Solarbration” sweepstakes hosted by Southwest Airlines and Omni Hotels & Resorts.

Entering is free and the two winners will each get a prize package for two that includes air travel on a Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas or Austin that is predicted to be in the direct path of the eclipse. Winners will also get to stay in an eclipse-themed Omni Hotels & Resorts hotel room. If you don’t live in one of Dallas or Austin, Southwest says it will get you there too. (See the rules and restrictions)

Enter the Southwest/Omni Hotels Solarbration sweepstakes by 8 a.m. CT on March 11, 2025.

Good luck!

LEAP YEAR FLIGHT DEAL

Qantas has a Leap Day Sale sale running for 24 hours – from 12:01 am to 11:59 pm PST on February 29, 2024.

The sale offers $250 off round-trip economy cabin flights to Australia and New Zealand from the carrier’s U.S. gateways. Some restrictions and blackout days apply. To take advantage, enter the code ‘LEAPDAY’ in the ‘have a promo code?’ prompt at the top of the flight search results page. This could help you save on these flights:

·         Los Angeles to Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne. 

·         Dallas/Fort Worth to Sydney or Melbourne. 

·         San Francisco to Sydney. 

·         New York (JFK) to Sydney (via Auckland) 


 

Airlines offer travel advisories/waivers for weather & 737-9 MAX inspections

Between the storms in many regions of the country and the grounding of all Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft for inspection, there are a lot of flight cancellations, schedule disruptions, and airline travel alerts.

Here are links to the current travel advisories and waivers (as of early Tuesday, January 9, 2024) in effect for some of the major airlines. Be sure to check your airline’s website for the latest updates on these advisories,

Alaska Airlines

On its website, Alaska Airlines is advising travelers that due to Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft inspections and winter weather in the Northeast, they are offering a flexible travel policy for travelers who want to change or cancel their flights. Original travel dates include January 9.

American Airlines

American Airlines has a travel alert for close to 60 cities that may be affected by severe weather in the Eastern US and Canada. The airline will waive your change fee if you traveling in any fare class and are scheduled to fly January 9-10 and can travel instead January 9 – 15. See here for more details on American Airlines’ travel advisory.

Delta Air Lines

for Delta Air Lines has travel advisories posted for winter weather in the Midwest that may affect more than two dozen airports and as many in the Northeastern U.S.

JetBlue

JetBlue has also issued travel alerts for winter weather in the Midwest and the Northeastern US.

In the Midwest, the airline will waive change/cancel fees and fare differences for customers traveling through January 9 to or from Chicago (ORD), Detroit (DTW), Kansas City (MCI), Milwaukee (MKE), and Minneapolis – St. Paul (MSP). The travel alert covers about 15 airports in the Northeast. Customers may rebook their flights through January 13.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines has travel alerts posted for the Midwest and the East Coast.

United Airlines

For those scheduled to fly on a Boeing 737-9 MAX airplane, United Airlines offers these options:

You can reschedule your trip and have the change fees and fare differences waived. Your new flight must be a United flight departing by January 18, 2024. Tickets must be in the same cabin and between the same cities as originally booked. Trips rebooked after January 18, 2024, will still have the change fee waived, but there may be a fare difference. Cancelling and getting a full refund is also an option.

Sweepstakes from Delta/T-Mobile & Southwest. Plus: KLM’s newest miniature Delftware house

T-Mobile Customer? Enter this Delta Air Lines contest

Are you a T-Mobile customer who doesn’t pay much attention to T-Mobile Tuesdays?

That’s the day customers can score discounts and prizes on a special T-Mobile app.

And whether or not you take advantage of the offers, October 10 will be a good day to check it out.

On October 10, T-Mobile and Delta Air Lines will give away more than $300,000 in airline gift cards in a T-Mobile Tuesday campaign.

Enter for a chance to win $500, $10,000, or even $25,000 in Delta gift cards. And use your prize on Delta flights, Delta Vacation packages, upgrades, in-flight meals, Delta merch, etc.

Good luck!

Southwest Airlines Trolls-themed plane + sweepstakes

To celebrate the new “Trolls Band Together” film from DreamWorks Animation, Southwest Airlines is flying a Boeing 737-700 aircraft covered in Troll characters.

And it’s not just on the outside of the plane. The design continues inside the plane too, with Trolls-themed images on some of the cabin window shades.

Ahead of the film’s release on November 17, Southwest’s inflight entertainment system is showing chapters of the blockbuster musical franchise, “Trolls” and “Trolls World Tour.”

Keep an eye out, too, for pop-ups at airports and onboard flights for Trolls-themed merchandise giveaways and other surprises.

In the meantime, Trolls fans should enter a Southwest Airlines sweepstakes for a Trolls-theme LA Getaway to Los Angeles.

The prize includes round-trip tickets on Southwest to LAX for the winner and three guests. The package also includes a hotel room for 2 nights, two $500 Visa gift cards, movie tickets and swag bags. Enter the Southwest Airlines Trolls sweepstakes here by October 19, 2023.

KLM unveils its newest Delft blue miniature house

Each year on its birthday – October 7 – KLM Royal Dutch Airlines unveils a new Delftware miniature in the shape of a Dutch house or building with a special meaning or place in history.

The tradition began in the 1950s. Each little house is filled with Bols Jenever (a Dutch gin) and gifted to passengers traveling in KLM’s business class cabins on intercontinental flights.

This year, in honor of KLM’s 104 birthday, the featured building is the train station in Valkenburg, about a three-hour train ride from Amsterdam.

Fully restored in 2005, this castle-like building was designed by architect Jacob Enschedé and began operation in 1853. KLM says it chose to add the station to its collection partly to celebrate the role railways play in the accessibility of the Netherlands.

Past homes and buildings in KLM’s Delftware miniatures series have depicted everything from the home of Dutch exotic dancer and spy Mata Hari to the Anne Frank House and the Heineken Brewery.

Learn more about KLM’s Delftware miniatures here.

Southwest Airlines Saga Continues

After a week of widespread cancellations and disarray in operations, many Southwest Airlines passengers are still stuck at airports around the country waiting for standby seats. Or in hotels waiting for confirmation of a flight home.

If you’re following social media and watching TV, you’ve also likely seen stories of people renting cars – sometimes with strangers – to get where they need to go.

The airline says it’s doing its best to put things right. And late Wednesday, Southwest Airlines Chief Commercial Officer, Ryan Green, took to social media to offer (more) apologies; a pledge to do “everything we can” to make things up to customers, and something more useful: fresh details about some added tools and resources that might help travelers get refunds, flight reservations, and their baggage.

Airports also are beginning to get answers and action from Southwest Airlines. Take a look at this Twitter thread from Chicago’s Midway Airport, where Southwest Airlines is the largest carrier. In addition to trying to accommodate thousands of stranded passengers, the airport has had to store and secure an incredible amount of baggage.

In the meantime, most other airlines are capping fares on many routes to accommodate those who are rebooking themselves on non-Southwest Airlines flights. But since this is still the busy holiday season, those seats are hard to come by too.

For those of you who may be stuck at an airport or know someone whose holiday plans were ruined by weather and airline meltdowns we know you’ll understand the joy this man experienced – and expressed – once he was reunited with this bag at Midway Airport.

Southwest Airlines Nightmare Continues

Early Wednesday morning, Flightaware.com was showing almost 2500 Southwest Airlines flights canceled. That leaves thousands of passengers still stuck at airports around the country.

All other domestic airlines now have their schedules back on track since the last weekend’s bad weather. But not Southwest. The airline continues to suffer from staffing problems, software and technology failures, and other challenges.

Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan offered apologies. ( See below). And the airline is offering to cover the costs of hotels, car rentals, and tickets on other airlines in an effort to help out inconvenienced passengers.

If your plans have been ruined, here’s a link to begin filing for that reimbursement. Also be sure to check your credit card for any travel delay benefits it may offer.

The Department of Transportation has vowed to investigate.

But that isn’t really doing much right now to fix the problems and headaches this meltdown has caused. Nor will it make up for ruined holidays and family gatherings, and missed meetings, weddings, funerals, and other important events people were trying to get to.

Not only are Southwest Airlines passengers still stuck at airports all over the country, baggage is pilling up in bag claims. And many people won’t get flights home until after January 1.