# Southwest to charge customers who don't show up



## amtrakwolverine (Dec 16, 2012)

> Southwest Airlines customers will soon pay a fee for not canceling a ticket before their flight.
> 
> The airline outlined the new policy Friday at an investors' conference in New York.


http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/16/15944695-southwest-to-charge-customers-who-dont-show-up?lite=


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## jis (Dec 16, 2012)

Southwest seems to be catching up with the way blazed by Amtrak, at least for Sleeper passengers


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## PRR 60 (Dec 16, 2012)

jis said:


> Southwest seems to be catching up with the way blazed by Amtrak, at least for Sleeper passengers


After a no-show, Southwest will allow you to apply the value of the ticket toward a future flight after the fee. With Amtrak sleeper reservations, if you no-show, the ticket value is 100% lost. WN still has a ways to go to match Amtrak.


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## SarahZ (Dec 16, 2012)

Hotels do the same thing. At least Southwest gives you the option to take a 100% credit.


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## RRrich (Dec 16, 2012)

IMHO if you don't cancel and they can't sell the ticket, you owe them. Or is it unlikely that the seat would be empty?


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## railiner (Dec 17, 2012)

RRrich said:


> IMHO if you don't cancel and they can't sell the ticket, you owe them. Or is it unlikely that the seat would be empty?





RRrich said:


> IMHO if you don't cancel and they can't sell the ticket, you owe them. Or is it unlikely that the seat would be empty?


I agree absolutely. A lost sale of a seat or room, is 'perishable'--that is it can never be sold again. It is the same way with theater tickets....you don't show, you lose it all.

I think this is the way it should be, rather than the practice that some employ of 'overbooking' based on the history of the flight, and then have to pay if boarding is denied...


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## Devil's Advocate (Dec 17, 2012)

I always thought it was odd that Southwest still credited no-shows at 100%. I don't normally fail to show up to a flight but if things get busy enough it can happen from time to time. Whether by cash, credit, or points Southwest assessed no penalty whatsoever for no-shows IIRC. This seems like a reasonable change to me and it's still a far more balanced approach than Amtrak's new 100% penalties we've been hearing about lately.


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## SarahZ (Dec 17, 2012)

This should help avoid overbooking, which will also help with people getting bumped to stand-by (which can be torture as there aren't as many flights are there used to be). I think it's a good policy all-around.


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## Trogdor (Dec 17, 2012)

I doubt it will do anything for overbooking. As far as I can tell, you can still cancel before departure and have the old policy apply. Plus, I think this only applies to their cheapest fares, and folks paying higher fares (in their "Anytime" and "Business Select" buckets) will still have the same abilities as before. The primary driver of this is added revenue to the airline, nothing else.


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