Please help me understand if I can change these SW tickets

[NHdisneylover]

Please forgive me for asking a question here which I am sure I could find the answer to if I just kept clicking around on Southwest's site long enough I am too tired and frustrated with the situation right now to put so much effort in (family drama--yippee).

We have three roundtrip tickets on Southwest from Boston to Denver right on the either edge of the Christmas black out dates. 2 of those tickets were bought with awards miles.

I know Southwest had pretty liberal change policies, but I do not really understand them. Would it be allowed to change the return legs of the flights to be out of different airports?
We would like to fly to Buffalo, New York around December 30 (those would be one way tickets we would pay for ourselves and a totally separate reservation) and then change the return portion of the tickets we have to fly from Buffalo to Manchester, NH on the date we would have originally flown from Denver to Boston.

I am not sure the above is clear--sorry. here is what we have now:
Boston to Denver on Dec 21
Denver to Boston on Jan 3
(two are awards tickets)

Could I change that to:
Boston to Denver on Dec 21
Buffalo to Manchester on Jan 3

?????

Thanks,
Hadley

 

[spurk5532]

You should be able to do this. Whenever I have changed tickets in the past they have been amazing. They just cancel the tickets you have and give you a credit that you put towards the new flights. I don't know how it works with awards miles but I would assume it is the same process.

 

[Zerosinthecloset]

First off, it's always best to book one way itineraries so if you just need to change one leg of your trip, you won't have to screw up the other if fares are not amenable.

The only time you have to cancel in order to rebook is with DING! fares. Otherwise you can just use the Change Reservation section and redo your reservation, change dates, airports, flights, etc.

The problem you will have will be with the award tickets. There doesn't seem to be any availability on Jan. 3 from Buffalo to Manchester. A Southwest agent might be able to break the trip up into two separate legs, but I don't think they will be able to do anything about award seats being available.

Good luck.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Thanks to both of you

 

[clanmcculloch]

I just want to clarify a few points for you.

If you book your tickets round trip then you can very easily change one leg of your trip without having any effect on the other leg. The change process asks you which flight(s) you want to change. I've done this myself so I know it does work. There's no harm in booking separately; I'm just pointing out that there's no benefit either if you're wanting to book both legs (the main benefit is that if you're ready to book one direction and not the other, you can go ahead and do so with no problems).

When changing a ticket, you do not need to cancel one then book the other. The change process asks you which flight you wish to change and then brings you to the search screen to choose your new flight. The original flight is not cancelled until you complete the change. Much safer than cancelling then in a separate step booking the new flight. Also, if you go through the change process rather than cancelling and rebooking then you'll retain your EBCI (if you paid for it). If you cancel then rebook then you'll lose the money you paid for EBCI (if you paid for it). The only time you need to cancel then book separately is if you're taking advantage of a DING fare. It is required to cancel the book separately for DINGs. It puts knots in my stomache when I'm doing it but it's gone without a hitch.

The ability to make the change is always subject to the availability of the new flight. If there is availability and the new flight is more expensive than the old one then you'll be expected to pay the difference in price. If the new flight is less expensive then you'll get a credit for the difference in price.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I just want to clarify a few points for you.

If you book your tickets round trip then you can very easily change one leg of your trip without having any effect on the other leg. The change process asks you which flight(s) you want to change. I've done this myself so I know it does work. There's no harm in booking separately; I'm just pointing out that there's no benefit either if you're wanting to book both legs (the main benefit is that if you're ready to book one direction and not the other, you can go ahead and do so with no problems).

When changing a ticket, you do not need to cancel one then book the other. The change process asks you which flight you wish to change and then brings you to the search screen to choose your new flight. The original flight is not cancelled until you complete the change. Much safer than cancelling then in a separate step booking the new flight. Also, if you go through the change process rather than cancelling and rebooking then you'll retain your EBCI (if you paid for it). If you cancel then rebook then you'll lose the money you paid for EBCI (if you paid for it). The only time you need to cancel then book separately is if you're taking advantage of a DING fare. It is required to cancel the book separately for DINGs. It puts knots in my stomache when I'm doing it but it's gone without a hitch.

The ability to make the change is always subject to the availability of the new flight. If there is availability and the new flight is more expensive than the old one then you'll be expected to pay the difference in price. If the new flight is less expensive then you'll get a credit for the difference in price.

Thank you so much--this is exactly what I needed to know

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

First off, it's always best to book one way itineraries

Please note while this may be true for SWA, legacy airlines usually offer cheaper prices when booking a round trip.