The Site: SouthwestVacations.com
- Affordable fun vacation packages in exciting destinations from coast to coast
- Southwest Vacations’ packages are combined with cheap Southwest Airlines flights.
- No checked baggage charges. Your first and second checked bags are free! (*under 50 lbs.) - Only airline we know of with a free bag policy.
- Hotel-only bookings available.
- Reserve car rentals, activities and attraction tickets in one complete vacation package.
- Popular destinations include Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando and Reno.
- Search Southwest by “Vacation Themes”. Specialty vacation packages for adventure, culture, family, gaming, golf, ski, spa, sports and more.
- Clickable “Destination Map”. Easily find your closest departure city and all available destinations.
- Destination videos.
- Earn “Rapid Rewards” from Southwest Airlines for every vacation package booked on southwestvacations.com, if you are already a Rapid Reward member. Enroll on the Southwest Airlines site to earn rewards.
The Good:
Southwest Vacations always have inexpensive vacation packages, which are easily found under the “DEALS” tab on southwestvacations.com. All of Southwest Vacations’ current deals are listed, and it is easy to find a cheap vacation package here. Southwest Vacations’ deals are sorted by destination city, so just scroll down and find what looks fun to you. Remember that even if the “departure city” is not yours, you can still click on the deal and then choose your nearest departure city. Quite often, that destination will still be reduced in price.
The Bad:
Southwest Vacations hotel descriptions and ratings are sparse. The good news is that this information is easily found online elsewhere. We recommend that you read hotel reviews and ratings on another site prior to booking, such as Expedia, to make sure the hotel is not a dump! Be advised that you cannot book a “flight only” on the Southwest Vacations site, unless you include a rental car. Not really a bad thing, but this site is dedicated to “packages” of either “flight plus hotel“, “flight plus car“, ect…
The Fees *:
- Variable $30 (up to $100) penalty per person to cancel or change a Southwest Vacations reservation. Must be at least 48 hours prior to departure.
- No refunds on attractions and passes.
- Purchase a “pre-travel waiver” and all Southwest Vacations penalties will be waived if you need to cancel your vacation. Also, you’ll be guaranteed the lowest available rate for the specified travel itinerary.
- Document delivery fee $7.50 per package ONLY if booked LESS than 15 days in advance. Southwest Vacations are not ticketless. Boarding passes can not be issued online or at airport kiosks when traveling on a vacation package. You are required to bring your flight tickets with you to the airport in order to travel.
- No fees for checked bags!
- No fuel surchages.
*Based solely on research done by TravelSiteCritic.com, these figures may be inaccurate and are subject to change.Verify policies with the website before you book. Please be aware of airfare taxes & fees, applicable to any booking that includes airfare.
The Deals:
Southwest Airlines Vacations COUPON CODES << CLICK HERE for all updated travel coupon codes
I booked a place through Southwest Vacations called in advance to find out if their were any “additional” fees and confirm the address of where I would be staying. Planned my whole vacation around the property at which I was told I would be staying. Even confirmed the day before and gave them my flight arrival time. So I arrived at the property and the only person there was a guard at the gate with no idea where I needed to go or what I needed to do. With two kids in the car and an hour on of phone calls I’m directed to a lock box across town. Then I find out I need to keep driving out of town for the property at which I will be staying.
Then my vacation gets interesting. I was in town because my wife was competing in ironman FL. After waiting for her to finish 3 hours past my kids bedtime I make it back to the property with my youngest asleep and cold in my arms to find the door the pad locked. After another hour and a half on the phone the property manager finally called me back and said there was nothing she could do because I did not pay some $40 fee and she would be by around 10 or 11 AM. I politely told her she would need to explain that to policeman who was standing there with me (I had called them after the first 20 min. told by the answering service that they would try to locate someone) because my belongings were inside and I was holding a receipt saying “paid in full” and we were about to break the door down. Fortunately the 2nd officer found an open window I got my belongings and a hotel room in town. After a year and several days on the phone with southwest vacations they still refuse to even reimburse me the hotel expense.
Southwest Vacations has no idea what customer service is. I booked a trip through MGM Resorts Vacations, believing they were part of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. It ended up being Southwest Vacations I booked through. I purchased a trip for 5 adults, my wife, daughter, son-in-law, son and me. I even purchased the cancellation insurance, but when I tried to cancel the trip for just my wife, and no longer needed 3 rooms, I could not cancel the third room (2 days in advance)because it was associated with my son’s name. My only options were to keep all three rooms, just “request” a refund for my wife’s plane ticket, or cancel the trip for everyone. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and was informed that they are all supervisors (not sure who they supervise if that is the case). I contacted the hotel directly, and they informed me that since I booked through a third party, they could not help me either. This was to be a big event, my son’s 21st birthday, and now it has turned into a very frustrating endeavor. If you book through Southwest Vacations, read the terms and conditions carefully on their website, you can only get to it by booking a trip, can’t get back to it unless you book another trip (or at least go through the steps and act like it). They will not get any return business from me.
I hope you issued a chargeback through your bank- then you can get your money back!
I don’t see what is so bad about Southwest Vacations. We did a vacation flying into FLL, and had no issues.
Terrible, terrible, and terrible!!! I purchased a “vacation package” from southwest vacations. The day before I was to depart from the airport I decided to check in online and when I tried it rejected my confermation number.. So I called southwest and they stated that the Plane tickets are mail to your address.. Btw I thought everything was ticketless in 2011!!! So my tickets were lost in the mail, then I called and asked for a replacement ticket and the manager saidto me that they cannot do that and I had to pay for another ticket!!! I was very frustrated and asked to speak to someone higher the her and she rudely said no and that she will not transfer me to no one else!!! So I ended losing $1,500. Essentially I paid for something I never recieved!!! Southwest airlines is a joke… I will never ever ever buy from southwest vacations as long as I live and I will let every one of my friends know about this SCAM called SOUTHWEST VACATION!!!!
Southwest Vacations is absolutely one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. They send the tickets via us mail we did not recieve our tickets three weeks later and they say that we can buy another set and should those get returned they will refund them. If not we are out the money. Sorry this is the policy and no we cannot prove that we sent the tickets…
Hmm
Forget about making the customer happy with Southwest Vacations. I never received my tickets in the mail and the “Customer Service” would not do anything to fix it. Even though the tickets were paid for, the said they could do nothing to help me. I had to buy new plane tickets the day before. NEVER BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY!! I travel quite often and this is the worst experience I have ever had. I will never use them again, no matter how good the deal it, not worth the headache.
Watch out! Southwest Airlines incorporates Southwest Airlines Vacations into their website as if they are part of Southwest Airlines, but they are NOT. Southwest Airlines Vacations is really the Mark Travel Corporation. You will find the Mark Travel Corporation name sprinkled sparingly and somewhat discretely on the Southwest Airlines Vacations website. If you’re not looking for it, you won’t even notice it. I didn’t, to my misfortune. However it’s very important to know, because Travel Mark Corporation/Southwest Airlines Vacations has set all its own rules… archaic and unreasonable, as another commenter pointed out. They are unbending. My advice from personal experience …stay away.
Don’t even try to make any changes after you book a Southwest vacation. We wanted to see if we could upgrade our hotel room. The hotel said we had to do it through Southwest. Southwest said they couldn’t do it b/c it was less than a week before our vacation. How ridiculous! We would have been better off booking everything separately. I don’t believe we saved any $$ at all booking through Soutwest vacations either.
I feel your pain. I just called to change a vacation I had booked, not minding to pay the extra fees in order to get the dates which worked toward my convenience only to have an incompetent, rude employee misinform me of the policy (which I was under the impression I had to pay just the difference, not have to pay for the new trip IN FULL, to have to await a refund) – Southwest called me back and apologized for giving me misinformation and I was on hold for over an hour and a half. I’m pretty livid and plan on never booking a vacation through them ever again nor will I probably ever book a flight through them either.
We feel your pain JP. They indeed do try to make traveling with them as difficult as possible. Not even addressing their archaic check in policies, upon trying to buy an early check in pass, we were told we were not allowed to since we purchased a vacation package. This means because we booked in advance and basically thought we were doing something we assumed would result in a stress free vacation, we are being penalized by Southwest. Their claim to be customer service friendly is joke. There’s no friendliness if you have an issue with them. I, too, will think twice about buying a so called Vacation Package from Southwest, and will certainly not be in a big hurry to fly with them.
I wanted to share my recent experience with Southwest Vacations. The hotels are a great deal- the flights are a different story. We purchased a round trip flight to Vegas, and only after we received confirmation, did they tell us that that flight had a lay over. When we called to change our flight, they told us we could not change or cancel the reservation- no exceptions. Upon further discussions, I learned that I would be snail mailed our airplane tickets- I specifically asked if these would be coming via Fed Ex and need a signature, as I, like most of the world, work all day. They told me “no- it will come via US Mail.” So what happens a few days later, but I get a Fed Ex ticket on my door- saying they cant leave the package without a signature- great. So, I call Southwest Vacation packages, again and ask if there is anyway I can change the Ship to address or have the tickets delivered electronically- I am told NO and NO. Wow… could they make this any more difficult? So, I end nup having to go to Fed Ex, and pick up the tickets myself. Ok- fast forward to day of the travel- I go to check in online- and receive a “fake” boarding pass that tells me I cannot use this to get on the plane, but only to get through security. On the day of my trip, I take the “boarding pass” to security, and am told they cannot let me through with the document, and have to call over their manager.
WHAT A NIGHTMARE. I honestly don’t think that they could have made flying on Southwest any more difficult. Next time, I will skip the vacation package, spend the extra $100, and have a stress free travel experience. I would suggest you do the same