SW policy

[LeslieG]

I know this has been discussed before, but I can't find the right thread.

If I book travel, then want to cancel, those funds go into my account for future travel with no change fee, right? But then how long do I have to use those funds? Is it one year from date of original purchase, or one year from when I made the change?

Thanks.

[dburg30]

1 year from original purchase..

[crashbb]

And your travel has to be completed by that date - not just tickets bought.

[ruadisneyfan2]

Personally, I like to keep a printout of my credits in a handy place so I don't forget the exp. date. Here's a link to SW's web page that will display all credits with exp. date. Just print off that.
https://www.southwest.com/cgi-bin/exchangePnrEntry

[LeslieG]

Okay, one more question. I just booked a flight round-trip. It just occurred to me I probably should have booked two one-ways. So if I need to change one of the flights, is it going to be more difficult now? If so, maybe I should just cancel and rebook two one-ways right now before the price changes. Thanks all you SW experts.

[ruadisneyfan2]

Originally Posted by LeslieG

Okay, one more question. I just booked a flight round-trip. It just occurred to me I probably should have booked two one-ways. So if I need to change one of the flights, is it going to be more difficult now? If so, maybe I should just cancel and rebook two one-ways right now before the price changes. Thanks all you SW experts.

If you can do it w/o costing you anything, I'd do it. It's so much easier to make changes when booked as sep one ways. There's rarely an advantage to booking as a RT.

[LeslieG]

I'm booked for the week after EAster, so I'm fairly certain there will be no Dings for that period. So I don't have to worry about rebooking a Ding. I went on SW's website and logged into my reservation just to see what would happen if I wanted to change one leg of my flight. It doesn't look too difficult. It asks you to select which flight you want to change, and then you can search for the new flight. Unless I'm missing something, which is possible , it doesn't look too bad. I'd rather not go to the trouble of rebooking into two one-ways unless it's really necessary. Isn't the two one-ways mainly to take advantage of Dings?

[ruadisneyfan2]

Originally Posted by LeslieG

I'm booked for the week after EAster, so I'm fairly certain there will be no Dings for that period. So I don't have to worry about rebooking a Ding. I went on SW's website and logged into my reservation just to see what would happen if I wanted to change one leg of my flight. It doesn't look too difficult. It asks you to select which flight you want to change, and then you can search for the new flight. Unless I'm missing something, which is possible , it doesn't look too bad. I'd rather not go to the trouble of rebooking into two one-ways unless it's really necessary. Isn't the two one-ways mainly to take advantage of Dings?

It used to be that you couldn't change one leg without affecting the other. I've been booking one ways for so long, probably since 06. Maybe they've made that part easier since then.
Don't give up getting a better price. We cruised over Thanksgiving week last year, Sat to Sat, and got $59 down. Of course return $ was awful but was surprised that the weekend before TG would be so cheap.

[nemofans]

Do you really have to use your credit & fly b4 the 1 yr date? I booked our flight in Sept & then had to change our return flight b/c we added an extra day. We ended up getting $100 in credit. My plan was to book another flight by next Sept '10 using the credit for our cruise in Feb '11. I will be able to book the flight b4 the 1yr expiration, but the flight is after the expiration. So that means we can't use it?

[ruadisneyfan2]

Originally Posted by nemofans

Do you really have to use your credit & fly b4 the 1 yr date? I booked our flight in Sept & then had to change our return flight b/c we added an extra day. We ended up getting $100 in credit. My plan was to book another flight by next Sept '10 using the credit for our cruise in Feb '11. I will be able to book the flight b4 the 1yr expiration, but the flight is after the expiration. So that means we can't use it?

It used to be easy to get a 6 mo. extension but then around 1-2 yrs ago they started adding a $50 fee to extend exp date. I haven't done it since they instituted the fee but others have said it's $50 per ticket which can quickly suck up all your credits.
I really just try to use them (long weekend w/dh or something)

btw, Sept should be really cheap fares!! that's very low season in WDW and we've gone every Sept over Jewish holidays for 5 yrs in a row.
cheap, cheap, cheap! I can't resist them.

[nemofans]

That stinks. Then we'll lose $100. We are going to WDW in 2 months, another vacation this summer (not flying thru SWA b/c they don't go there) & then a cruise next year. There's no way DH will want to take another WDW trip in between. I had to change the flight to the next day. I thought I could just use the credits to book the flight for the cruise b/c I would book it b4 the expiration. I had no clue you had to actually fly by the expiration too.
Is there a way I can get a refund?

[ironz]

Unless you booked the fully refundable fares (usually the most expensive), you can't get a refund, only the travel funds.

But...you can look at the bright side...if you were making that flight change on another carrier, you'd be out $150 (in the case of AA, at least) for each ticket for a change fee!

[bluenosemickey]

I didn't realize that either I was hoping to use my credits from this year's spring flights for next year's as well. I guess I won't worry too much about getting a DING fare to bank the credits.

I mean, if I see the flights I already have, I will rebook and get the credits, you never know. But at least I won't be hoping so much to get a good DING, especially if I don't think the flights are as good as the ones I have. Won't be worth it to rebook to a less desirable flight for a credit I might not use.