Southwest Credit and Baggage questions

[jrmo]

I found our tix had gone down $30/pp this morning. I rebooked to get our credit, but how does that work when I go to redeem it? My DD and I are on the same itinerary (so we have $60 in credity) and DH is on his own b/c we could get one fare at a lower price when we booked (he has $16 in credit). They are all booked with DH as the "purchaser", but we are all listed individually as passengers if that makes sense... How will this work when we go to purchase another ticket at a later date?

Also, we are weighing options for water/snacks. Since we are flying SW and there is no lower baggage limit or charge for them, we were thinking of packing a small "roll on" with bottled water and snacks and checking it through DME. Then using the extra space to bring home souvenirs, dirty clothes, etc. Good idea or not?

TIA!
Renee

 

[jrmo]

Meant to add to the tic question. Can the whole $76 dollars be used towards one tic or do they all have to be used for the passenger listed?

 

[CarolA]

When you go to purchase new tickets you will see a place to put in your ticketless travel funds on the payment page. I am pretty sure you can use up to three credits for any one ticket and the credits can be used by anyone not just the ticketed passenger.

Remember SW does still have a 50 lb weigh limit per bag.

 

[Xanthe]

So does this mean I can sell my credit to someone else? I know people have had trouble with this but I'm planning on selling to someone I know well.

thanks
Xanthe

 

[georgina]

The credit is assigned to the confirmation number, so when you buy another ticket, on the payment page, you click "apply travel funds" and enter the confirmation numbers that have credit on them. You can use two confirmations on one purchase if you want - it does not matter whose name the new ticket is in (I think 2 is the maximum number of different confirmation credits you can use). It sounds like you have 2 credits, they could both be used on one ticket. The credit is good for travel up to one year from the original date of purchase, I believe.

I'm always leery about checking liquids, in case it breaks en route.

On the website, under where you enter the ticketless travel confirmation number, it says enter credit card holder name, so I guess your friend could put your husband's name in there if he was the original purchaser and the credit was associated with his name. I know people sell them, I don't know exactly how. I have bought tickets for friends of my children when they were traveling together also, so if you know them really well you could buy them a ticket with your credit and have them reimburse you the amount.

 

[CarolA]

So does this mean I can sell my credit to someone else? I know people have had trouble with this but I'm planning on selling to someone I know well.

thanks
Xanthe

Yes you can. Credits can be used by anyone and from what I understand SW does allow the selling just not on Ebay.

 

[disneyin2008]

I found our tix had gone down $30/pp this morning. I rebooked to get our credit, but how does that work when I go to redeem it? My DD and I are on the same itinerary (so we have $60 in credity) and DH is on his own b/c we could get one fare at a lower price when we booked (he has $16 in credit). They are all booked with DH as the "purchaser", but we are all listed individually as passengers if that makes sense... How will this work when we go to purchase another ticket at a later date?

Also, we are weighing options for water/snacks. Since we are flying SW and there is no lower baggage limit or charge for them, we were thinking of packing a small "roll on" with bottled water and snacks and checking it through DME. Then using the extra space to bring home souvenirs, dirty clothes, etc. Good idea or not?

TIA!
Renee

If you were on the same itinerary (meaning you bought the tickets at the same time and they were one total price), then your credit will appear as ONE credit. And CarolA is correct, you can use up to 3 credits for future tickets. If you each paid separately for your tickets, even though they're on the same flight, but it shows up as two confirmation numbers, meaning two charges to your card....then it's TWO credits.

As an example.....I buy my ticket, and 2 children's tickets all in one transaction.....on the check out page it will list all three tickets, a row showing each ticket price broken down with a final price at the end of the row....three rows and that last column will have a grand total. I pay for it as one transaction so if I cancel I have to cancel all 3 tickets and I get one credit.

Had I booked my ticket paid for it, then booked my first child's ticket, paid for it, then booked my other child's ticket and paid for it. That's three transaction and therefore will be three credits if I cancel us all.

Frankly, the only reason to book everyone separately is if there is some chance that one of them won't be going and you won't want to have to cancel all 3 of you to cancel the 1 not going. Since in our case if one person cancels, we'll all be cancelling it makes sense to do as one transaction.

We do, however, always book the flights as one ways. One flight, 3 tickets to our destination. Then another flight, 3 tickets, home again. This way if the rate goes down for our return flight, we can rebook just that leg.

Once you cancel a ticket you lose that current price, so if we had booked our to and from tickets together and only the from went down, we'd have to cancel both, and that can often mean you'll lose your good deal on the to ticket.

Hope that makes sense, lol.

Oh, another thing to keep in mind...you when you go to use that credit....it has to be used, not just purchased, but the flight leave by 12 months from the date you booked it originally. So let's say you book on June 10th for a flight in October but then cancel it today. You have until June 10th next year to FLY. That one often confuses people because they feel it should be 12 months from cancel, or only need to book within 12 months....but it's not.

 

[swilshire]

Also, we are weighing options for water/snacks. Since we are flying SW and there is no lower baggage limit or charge for them, we were thinking of packing a small "roll on" with bottled water and snacks and checking it through DME. Then using the extra space to bring home souvenirs, dirty clothes, etc. Good idea or not?

Carrying snacks is a great idea, but the only water you would be able to take in a carryon is what you buy in the airport after clearing security. I miss the old days when we always traveled with a cooler.

Sheila

 

[adaygaby]

Just a reminder that you can only have "liquids" (water) that you buy after you pass security. We forgot that when we arrived at the airport & we had to trash three (32oz) of water.

 

[TheBeadPirate]

I believe the 2 credits max is correct. I fly on SWA on a companion pass and the last time DH booked me he was using leftover credits for my airport fees and could only put in two confirmation numbers.

And if you DME/check the roller bag with water you may want to think about putting it in Ziplock big bags with some padding around it. That way if something happens it won't leak on other bags. That's how we do it!

Have a great time!