southwest ticket price drop!

[kaseycamille]

For the credit you receive to use for future trips: does the travel need to be completed by the one year cut-off date or does the value just need to be used by then to purchase another ticket?

 

[ibob52]

Quote:
For the credit you receive to use for future trips: does the travel need to be completed by the one year cut-off date or does the value just need to be used by then to purchase another ticket?

Travel must be done before ... one year of the original purchase date.

 

[Lori74]

Nope, SW doesn't charge for this. Two things to keep in mind: the credit will expire 1 year from your original date of purchase. And each credit can only be used by the person it was issued to. Meaning each person must use their own credit in the future, 1 or 2 people can't use all the credits. If you don't fly SW again within the year, the credit will expire.

do you have to fly within one year, or purchase future tickets within one year?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

do you have to fly within one year, or purchase future tickets within one year?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Travel must occur before the expiration date. We once had credits expiring on May 10 but the future trip we wanted to take was May 6-13. So we booked separate one way reservations and applied the credits to the May 6 flight.

 

[Lori74]

i see, thank you. ours expires one month before our next scheduled trip. what a bummer!

 

[KKB]

One thing to note--we had to cancel & had a $400 credit and were not going to be able to use it within the year. I called & for $100 I was able to extend that credit for another year.

The BEST part of booking w/ RR points is that if you find a cheaper rate, those points go right back into your account. Additionally, you can cancel the day of your flight & get all your RR points back! (plus they refund the 9/11 fee!)

Funny story--my folks booked SWA last month then changed their minds. My dad thought he could get a full refund. I said, no, but you do get a credit and a year to use it. He went on & on how it just makes him hate SWA more (he likes to choose his EXACT seat before boarding)...I said, well, NO OTHER AIRLINE would allow you to do this. All other airlines charge a lofty change fee AND you have to change your ticket to another flight when you do that (no credits like SWA).

(earlier poster mentioned they could change on United due their status at United; for us lay folks, SWA had the best options)

 

[Lori74]

One thing to note--we had to cancel & had a $400 credit and were not going to be able to use it within the year. I called & for $100 I was able to extend that credit for another year.

The BEST part of booking w/ RR points is that if you find a cheaper rate, those points go right back into your account. Additionally, you can cancel the day of your flight & get all your RR points back! (plus they refund the 9/11 fee!)

Funny story--my folks booked SWA last month then changed their minds. My dad thought he could get a full refund. I said, no, but you do get a credit and a year to use it. He went on & on how it just makes him hate SWA more (he likes to choose his EXACT seat before boarding)...I said, well, NO OTHER AIRLINE would allow you to do this. All other airlines charge a lofty change fee AND you have to change your ticket to another flight when you do that (no credits like SWA).

(earlier poster mentioned they could change on United due their status at United; for us lay folks, SWA had the best options)

is that $100 per ticket? or reservation?

 

[mickeyhereicome]

i see, thank you. ours expires one month before our next scheduled trip. what a bummer!

I believe I read on here (could be wrong), that if they are expiring book a dummy trip and cancel that one and now your vouchers are valid a year from the day you booked your dummy trip. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[vicarrieous]

@OhMari I am flying MKE to MCO and I recently noticed my flight down is SOLD OUT and I was shocked!

 

[Lori74]

I believe I read on here (could be wrong), that if they are expiring book a dummy trip and cancel that one and now your vouchers are valid a year from the day you booked your dummy trip. Can anyone confirm this?

that would be fabulous if that's true!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

......
Funny story--my folks booked SWA last month then changed their minds. My dad thought he could get a full refund. I said, no, but you do get a credit and a year to use it. He went on & on how it just makes him hate SWA more (he likes to choose his EXACT seat before boarding)...I said, well, NO OTHER AIRLINE would allow you to do this. All other airlines charge a lofty change fee AND you have to change your ticket to another flight when you do that (no credits like SWA).

(earlier poster mentioned they could change on United due their status at United; for us lay folks, SWA had the best options)

Bolded part is not true. You do not have to book a new ticket and you do get credits on other airlines, less change fee.

 

[mickeyhereicome]

This post made me check our reservations and our tickets came down almost $100 each during Thanksgiving week! That's $400 more for something else or a future flight. Love SWA

 

[CMNJ]

I believe I read on here (could be wrong), that if they are expiring book a dummy trip and cancel that one and now your vouchers are valid a year from the day you booked your dummy trip. Can anyone confirm this?

Not true if you have "wanna get away" non refundable fares (unless the policy recently changed)-if you cancel or change to a less expensive flight the credit is good one year from the original purchase date.
We had booked a flight on dec 31 that we later cancelled-use most of the credit for flights in May but the balance paid part of our upcoming flights-when I look at the confirmation email it shows the credit expires dec 31 2015. So if I cancel this flight I'd have to use it before the 1 year expiration date.

 

[KKB]

I stand corrected, somewhat--other airlines apparently will issue a credit (though on some airline sites, I could not actually find this in writing...) BUT you will typically pay $200/ticket to change.
SWA--with wanna get away fares you cannot do a "dummy" booking, cancel & rebook to extend the life of your credits. In fact, if you booked a trip today, but used some old credits to pay for it from, say March, and then needed to change the booking you made today, the entire price you paid would expire March 2016, not Sept. 2016.
Incentive to ignore small credits (unless the trip is a lock), book one way trips & book everyone separate.
I am not sure if it is $100/ticket or reservation to extend your credit on SWA as ours was only for 1--I believe I read on these boards someone else doing this for $100/person.

 

[GOOFY D]

I can cancel frequent flyer tickets on United and re-deposit them for no fee due to my status.

Southwest's no fee change is great, but useless for many people because they will never have a chance to use their credits.

Anyone can do the same on Southwest regardless of status.

 

[hollypoast]

We

@OhMari I am flying MKE to MCO and I recently noticed my flight down is SOLD OUT and I was shocked!

We are also flying this route and our flight is sold out too. (10/23)

 

[OhMari]

We



We are also flying this route and our flight is sold out too. (10/23)

Isn't that week Teacher's convention weekend?

Just a note, we were suppose to fly out Labor Day weekend to NYC, and I had to reschedule for this week, Southwest charged me $3.00 a piece.