Credit for cancelled flight with SWA

[CapnJacksGirl]

My DBIL and DSIL have a credit with SWA from a flight they cancelled last August. We know the credit amount has to be used within one year, but they would like to be able to use that credit for our Disney trip in November. Here's my two questions....hoping someone else had this same situation:

1. Is there any chance of calling to book within that one year timeframe but actually traveling a few months later?

2. This one's a little sneaky, but we're wondering if they booked a flight prior to the August expiration then cancelled it, would the credit carry further into the future.....so they could then book their November flight? Or would that credit amount be forfeit at the point of the second cancellation?

I told DSIL to call SWA and ask these general questions, not about her specific situation, to see what she could find out, but I thought I'd check here too and see if anyone had a suggestion. TIA for any insight!

 

[gmeh1]

My DBIL and DSIL have a credit with SWA from a flight they cancelled last August. We know the credit amount has to be used within one year, but they would like to be able to use that credit for our Disney trip in November. Here's my two questions....hoping someone else had this same situation:

1. Is there any chance of calling to book within that one year timeframe but actually traveling a few months later?

2. This one's a little sneaky, but we're wondering if they booked a flight prior to the August expiration then cancelled it, would the credit carry further into the future.....so they could then book their November flight? Or would that credit amount be forfeit at the point of the second cancellation?

I told DSIL to call SWA and ask these general questions, not about her specific situation, to see what she could find out, but I thought I'd check here too and see if anyone had a suggestion. TIA for any insight!

Travel has to be completed within that year. If you book and cancel again, it still goes under the original reservation
The good news is they can get this extended by calling SWA. I don't have the number but their customer service people will have it. I believe there is a fee for this extension, but, I am not sure how much it is, but, better a fee than losing it all.

 

[Jestocost]

Travel has to be completed within that year. If you book and cancel again, it still goes under the original reservation
The good news is they can get this extended by calling SWA. I don't have the number but their customer service people will have it. I believe there is a fee for this extension, but, I am not sure how much it is, but, better a fee than losing it all.

This is correct. You can extend the date for when you have to use the credit for six months beyond the original expiration date by paying a fee. The last time I checked the cost was $75 per credit.

Note that you can't do this until the credit actually expires, however, so if you know now that you can't use it until a few months after the current expiration you can't do the extension and book today. You have to wait until the credit expires, do the extension and THEN book the new flight using the credit.

 

[Minnesota!]

Not sure if this is the same, but I had a credit expiring, so I transferred it to my A+ Rewards Account for Airtran I received a new expiration date. I had planned on transferring it back to SW then, but scored an awesome deal for airfare on Airtran.

 

[DebbieB]

My DBIL and DSIL have a credit with SWA from a flight they cancelled last August. We know the credit amount has to be used within one year, but they would like to be able to use that credit for our Disney trip in November. Here's my two questions....hoping someone else had this same situation:

1. Is there any chance of calling to book within that one year timeframe but actually traveling a few months later?

2. This one's a little sneaky, but we're wondering if they booked a flight prior to the August expiration then cancelled it, would the credit carry further into the future.....so they could then book their November flight? Or would that credit amount be forfeit at the point of the second cancellation?
I told DSIL to call SWA and ask these general questions, not about her specific situation, to see what she could find out, but I thought I'd check here too and see if anyone had a suggestion. TIA for any insight!

That's something you have to be careful of. Say you buy a ticket in March for an August flight. The flight price goes down and you get a credit, which will expire in March next year. Then you book a flight in December for January using that credit, even it's only a small amount. That January flight will expire in March because of the credit, not December.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

NO. If you book another trip with the credit money and cancel the expiration date remains the same as the original purchase date of the credit money. It is all linked back to the original confirmation number. It will NOT extend the expiration date.


If you have $100 credit from a flight you originally purchased in say Jan 2013 and now you want to buy a flight in Aug for $150 and end up canceling that flight. The $50 you had to pay out of pocket toward the new flight now takes on the expiration date of the $100 credit which would be Jan 2014. So watch how you purchase your tickets.

I would purchase one way tickets that way if something were to happen and you need to cancel your flight, only the ticket purchased with the credit will have the earlier expiration date. The other one way ticket will expire one year from the date purchased as long as you used new funds ( ie: paid by credit car) to buy this one way ticket.

 

[CapnJacksGirl]

Thanks for the replies! Knowing there is an extension option is a huge relief! My DSIL is going to call SWA and get the scoop, with the understanding that she will likely be waiting until August to actually book the flight. Should work out great!

 

[PatMcDuck]

What everyone else said, lol. Wait for it to expire, then extend it. If you tried to combine this expiring credit, with a new flight, then cancelled that new flight, the whole credit would have the earlier expiration date, not the later one. If that makes any sense.

When you extend it after it expires, it comes to you in a LUV voucher, in an email. They SAY it may take a few days, but only took a few hours for me. I have done this a few times, and I am sitting on an expired credit now, waiting for the best time to extend it.

ONE BONUS, is that when you get the expired credit back, -$75PP, it can be used by anyone, as far as I can tell. I have credits in my name, and DS. When I extend them both, I get 2 LUV vouchers, and DH can use them, for example. (I think this is true anyway!)

Edited to say that IF you have more than one credit, for the same person, that are heading to expiration, you should combine THOSE before expiration into one reservation, so when you extend you only pay one fee of $75. (book a fake flight, use both credits, pay the difference, cancel immediately, get full refund of cash amount, and the credit will be combined)

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

I'm in the same boat! We cancelled a flight to Vegas last August so we have quite a hefty credit that just expired. I'm looking into extending it. I had read something a while back that said you get another 6 months from when you call, but in reading the posts here I think what I saw must've been old or wrong info. With 6 months from the original expiration, I'm not sure we'd be able to use it. We couldn't use it for this upcoming April trip because it just expired and extending/rebooking that close was too close for comfort, especially during Spring break time.

 

[PatMcDuck]

No, I think you misunderstood, or I did.

When you get a credit, it is good for one year from the original date of booking (not date of original flight). Then, it expires. You have a year (from the original date of booking) to extend it for $75, it is now a LUV voucher. Then, you have 6 months, from the day you called to extend it, to use that LUV voucher.

So, my credit expired in January. I have until JAN 2014 to extend it. Lets say I call in June. It is then good until Dec 2013. In my case, I may want to use it in January, so I will call in July or August, extend it, and book my Jan 2014 trip.


Anyone, please correct me if I got this wrong. And I think you are making the point, that sometimes it is difficult to have to wait for the credits to expire to extend them, if the trip is coming up shortly after expiration. (by then flights are booked or too expensive). When this happens, I find I have to use the expired credits for the trip after that.

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

No, I think you misunderstood, or I did.

When you get a credit, it is good for one year from the original date of booking (not date of original flight). Then, it expires. You have a year (from the original date of booking) to extend it for $75, it is now a LUV voucher. Then, you have 6 months, from the day you called to extend it, to use that LUV voucher.

So, my credit expired in January. I have until JAN 2014 to extend it. Lets say I call in June. It is then good until Dec 2013. In my case, I may want to use it in January, so I will call in July or August, extend it, and book my Jan 2014 trip.


Anyone, please correct me if I got this wrong. And I think you are making the point, that sometimes it is difficult to have to wait for the credits to expire to extend them, if the trip is coming up shortly after expiration. (by then flights are booked or too expensive). When this happens, I find I have to use the expired credits for the trip after that.

Thank you for this info! I think I must've misunderstood what I read further up in the thread about the new credit being good from 6 months from the orginal expiration date. Now I'm thinking that was referring to if you call immediately.

What I'd love to do is pretty much exactly what you gave as your example! - wait until June to call so that my credits would now be good until December (they expired end of Feb.).

Where I think I may have messed up is not combining the credits. We each have two credits - one large one for the main cost of the flight and then a smaller one from a price drop. I didn't actually ever cancel and rebook, just modified the original ressie to get the lower price, so I think they are both tied to the original purchase but I'm not really sure if we'd get everything back less one $75 fee each or if we'd be out two $75 fees each, which would eat up most of the smaller credit.