As a self-described budget airline, Southwest lacks airport lounges and the comfy seats airlines use to benefit elite members of their loyalty programs. Southwest’s signature benefit for the customers would be the Companion Pass flights to get a travel companion, for travellers who travel 100 flights or accumulate 110,000 Quick Rewards points.
Other than that can perform for clients, beyond offering them priority grooming and check-in, and bonus points for flying.
In September, Southwest started offering its A-List and A-List Preferred elite members free same-day standby flights, with the following restrictions:
- Flights should be between Precisely the Same city pairs
- Flights must be about the same day
- Flights must be within two hours of the originally scheduled trip
The first two requirements are non-issues; they’re expected. But requiring the flight to leave within two hours of their original flight seemed both arbitrary and harsh.
Apparently that opinion has carried the day, and Southwest has rescinded it : Effective on March 8, Southwest elites may standby for any earlier flight, so long as it is on the exact same day and the exact same routing.
It is a small thing, but a indication that its clients are being listened to by Southwest. And that is a big thing.