Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

[ice cube]

Two questions as this is the first time I'm looking at Southwest:

If I use points to book my tickets for December, do they have the same reusable policy as tickets bought with cash?

Has anyone had experience transferring points from Chase travel to Southwest Rapid Rewards? Wondering if the transfer is "instant" as they claim. There are 2 seats left for a flight I'm trying to book and don't want to be stuck waiting hours or days for the transfer

Same policy as cash....can't help you with Chase travel maybe someone else can answer that one

 

[bashuck]

Same policy as cash....can't help you with Chase travel maybe someone else can answer that one

It is better to cancel with points as cash then has to be used within a certain period of time, 1 year I believe. The points are just like you never had booked them.

 

[aokeefe]

So I’d like to change the date of an existing flight. I also have travel funds valid for the new travel dates. As my new flights are more expensive than my current, I’d like to use my travel funds (I have multiple fund but at least 1 is large enough to cover the difference). I don’t see the option to use those travel fund when checking out. Is it not possible to use travel funds when changing flights?

I had the same exact scenario and it actually pulled my travel funds automatically. Do you have a Southwest account set up?

 

[Disneylvr]

Close your browser and go back in or refresh your screen. I had a few issues myself before I was able to book.

Yeah, I kept doing that and was finally able to change to November flights.

 

[MarBee]

So oddly enough I have travel funds from the same trip with two different cancellation dates. They were Covid cancellations. One expires 9/2022 the other 10/2020.

I’m going to call to get it corrected. But if I can’t for some reason, what would be my options with this credit expiring in October. I don’t plan on flying until November at the earliest.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Lsdolphin]

Just an FYI...if you use travel funds that currently expire in Sept 2022 then beware the expiration date for whatever you book using those funds becomes the date you book current flight so if you cancel a flight booked today using your travel funds that expire on 9/22 than your expiration date will be May 28, 2021...

 

[lilaurora]

I had the same exact scenario and it actually pulled my travel funds automatically. Do you have a Southwest account set up?

I found the area when I was on their desktop site. I hadn’t seen the same spot when using mobile (but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t there! ) Thanks for the help!

 

[nkereina]

Won’t let us use travel funds for covid cancelled flights despite a 9/2022 expiration date. Husband is on hold now.

Curious what ended up happening? We also had travel funds with the 9/22 expiration, but fortunately had no issues with their site.

No, it has 10/29/20 as the expiration date so I could not use them for the trip I am booking now I'll call later because I am burnt out right now. They are issuing me a voucher for the $50 I paid for Early Bird booking which applies to flights only so I will have to book one of my flights with cash instead of points

Was the original flight you cancelled outside of their current cancellation policy? We cancelled April and May flights and both travel funds automatically flipped to 9/7/22 expirations. We also received the $50 LUV voucher for our unused EBCI.

Just an FYI...if you use travel funds that currently expire in Sept 2022 then beware the expiration date for whatever you book using those funds becomes the date you book current flight so if you cancel a flight booked today using your travel funds that expire on 9/22 than your expiration date will be May 28, 2021...

So this is what I thought too. Yesterday, I booked a "dummy" flight for a random date in September for the sole purpose of combining multiple travel funds into one so that I could use the whole amount this morning (because of the payment method restrictions online). I canceled the flight immediately after booking, and my travel funds did show a 5/27/21 expiration date. This morning while logged in waiting for flights, I checked my Travel Funds again and the expiration date changed to 9/7/22. I have about $40 in travel funds leftover on that one, and its still showing 9/7/22. Is this because I canceled before September? And perhaps if someone cancels after, they would not get the extended expiration date? Unless of course SWA further extends the cancellation window for this.

Edit: Just corrected my dates above

 

[MarBee]

Just an FYI...if you use travel funds that currently expire in Sept 2022 then beware the expiration date for whatever you book using those funds becomes the date you book current flight so if you cancel a flight booked today using your travel funds that expire on 9/22 than your expiration date will be May 28, 2021...

Curious what ended up happening? We also had travel funds with the 9/22 expiration, but fortunately had no issues with their site.


Was the original flight you cancelled outside of their current cancellation policy? We cancelled April and May flights and both travel funds automatically flipped to 9/4/22 expirations. We also received the $50 LUV voucher for our unused EBCI.


So this is what I thought too. Yesterday, I booked a "dummy" flight for a random date in September for the sole purpose of combining multiple travel funds into one so that I could use the whole amount this morning (because of the payment method restrictions online). I canceled the flight immediately after booking, and my travel funds did show a 5/27/21 expiration date. This morning while logged in waiting for flights, I checked my Travel Funds again and the expiration date changed to 9/4/22. I have about $40 in travel funds leftover on that one, and its still showing 9/4/22. Is this because I canceled before the end of June? And perhaps if someone cancels in say September or October, they would not get the extended expiration date? Unless of course SWA further extends the cancellation window for this.

So just double checking so I don’t mess it up. If I book a flight today using my funds that expire October 2020, then I cancel it- will the new expiration be 5/28/21?

 

[Toolulu22]

Glad the tickets opened up and I purchased them before my walk.

We got 12/23 to Tampa for $171, which is average. There are fewer flights from Islip to Tampa so we typically pay a bit more to fly there than MCO. Just checked and there are a few seats available on 12/23 and 24, but its filling up and choices are narrowing. Our non-stop flight has one seat left.

We’re flying out of MCO and paid $144 for that flight. There are two seats in the lower tier Wanna Get Away pricing left and then it bumps up to $264 to $394. Business Select and Anytime are over $500 per person one way. I would not pay that to fly to or from Orlando.

FYI - we traveled up the west coast of Florida this past February and flew home out of Jacksonville airport. It’s a cute and tiny little place that I would travel through again given the opportunity. If anyone is comfortable in driving and wants to check out the prices there, I want to say that the drive was over an hour but less that two. It’s hard to say because we stopped along the way, but it‘s an easy drive between there and Orlando. Just a suggestion. Not sure about the flight availability. I am going to keep it in the radar, like Tampa, as an alternative to Orlando during peak travel times.

Edit- we traveled up the *East* coast of Florida. One of my old teachers constantly reminded me “your other right”. Terrible with direction.

 

[nkereina]

So just double checking so I don’t mess it up. If I book a flight today using my funds that expire October 2020, then I cancel it- will the new expiration be 5/28/21?

On the SWA web site, the current policy says "any travel funds created because you cancel a flight between March 1 - September 7, 2020, will expire September 7, 2022". Unless SWA extends that window at some point, to me that reads you would have to cancel your flight before September 7, 2020 in order to receive the September 2022 extended expiration date. If you canceled September 8th of this year or any time after, your expiration would revert to 5/28/21. This also jives with my experience yesterday in my prior post above (which I have since edited to correct some things), where I booked a dummy flight in late September to combine travel funds, immediately canceled it, and had a 5/27/21 expiration that updated/flipped to a 9/7/22 expiration the next day.

 

[eeyore29]

Unfortunately not. If you cancel your flights you will lose your EBCI fees although some have reported contacting SW and having those fees refunded. I'm not sure if that's their policy though or if they're just doing it for some?

You may wish to keep your August flights and move them to December when those flights are available as you will keep your EBCI.

So if we decide to wait til February or so, we could just switch to December flights for now, and then switch to February once those dates can be booked, and not lose our EBCI?

 

[nkereina]

So if we decide to wait til February or so, we could just switch to December flights for now, and then switch to February once those dates can be booked, and not lose our EBCI?

Yes, that's probably your best option. I was able to receive a LUV voucher in amount of what I paid for EBCI back when I cancelled in April. But since that's not formal policy, its a bit of a risk so you're probably better to just push the flight to dummy ones to hold it until February flights are released.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We're getting spoiled here by being able to move flights here, there and everywhere. It will be a rude awakening someday when things go back to 'normal' and we have 1 year from booking date to use travel funds!

 

[Crazyhorse]

Just an FYI...if you use travel funds that currently expire in Sept 2022 then beware the expiration date for whatever you book using those funds becomes the date you book current flight so if you cancel a flight booked today using your travel funds that expire on 9/22 than your expiration date will be May 28, 2021...

Wow. I'm so glad you posted this. I was wondering. We have a trip planned for December but I'm leery of booking flights now...to only have to cancel if some of the restrictions are still in place in December. I'm better waiting...cuz I don't want to lock myself into expiring tickets in May of 2021. Thank you!!!!

 

[Lsdolphin]

Oh wow I just booked my flight this morning for December using travel funds and now I hear Disney is changing ADR system to a 60 day advance booking instead of 180 days so it may be very difficult to get any of the more popular restaurants. Also there will be no fast passes at all. so I guess I will be cancelling and hoping since I just made reservation less than 24 hrs ago they will return my travel funds to expiration date of 9/22 instead of 5/28/21!

 

[nkereina]

Wow. I'm so glad you posted this. I was wondering. We have a trip planned for December but I'm leery of booking flights now...to only have to cancel if some of the restrictions are still in place in December. I'm better waiting...cuz I don't want to lock myself into expiring tickets in May of 2021. Thank you!!!!

If you cancel before September 7th, 2020, you will receive the extended September 2022 expiration date. Canceling after September 7th, 2020 will make your credits revert to an expiration of one year from your booking date. This is unless SWA extends their current policy again.

 

[nkereina]

Just an FYI...if you use travel funds that currently expire in Sept 2022 then beware the expiration date for whatever you book using those funds becomes the date you book current flight so if you cancel a flight booked today using your travel funds that expire on 9/22 than your expiration date will be May 28, 2021...

I posted this above, but to clarify, anyone that booked yesterday when the schedule opened (or just booked recently) will have until September 7, 2020 to cancel and still receive the September 2022 expiration date on travel funds. Unless SWA extends their current policy again, any cancellation after September 7, 2020 would cause the funds to revert to the expiration of one year from the booking date.

 

[Lsdolphin]

I posted this above, but to clarify, anyone that booked yesterday when the schedule opened (or just booked recently) will have until September 7, 2020 to cancel and still receive the September 2022 expiration date on travel funds. Unless SWA extends their current policy again, any cancellation after September 7, 2020 would cause the funds to revert to the expiration of one year from the booking date.

i was looking for this information last night on SWA website and couldn’t find it. as I mentioned above I used travel funds from cancelled April trip to book trip for December and the new expiration date that popped up was 5/28/21. So if correct this is good news! Thank you

 

[Leigh L]

Oh wow I just booked my flight this morning for December using travel funds and now I hear Disney is changing ADR system to a 60 day advance booking instead of 180 days so it may be very difficult to get any of the more popular restaurants. Also there will be no fast passes at all. so I guess I will be cancelling and hoping since I just made reservation less than 24 hrs ago they will return my travel funds to expiration date of 9/22 instead of 5/28/21!

I'm not sure if it's a law, but I think all airlines will refund if you cancel within 24 hours of booking. (I thought I read somewhere airlines have to offer this? Not sure though)
This is on SW's website:
https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/purchasing-and-refunds/refund-info-pol.html

• For nonrefundable reservations canceled within 24 hours of booking – If you cancel online at Southwest.com, through the app, or call us within 24 hours of booking, you can receive a refund of any fare (including Wanna Get Away) back to the original form of payment or choose to convert the airfare into Travel Funds (credit to be used toward future travel), assuming it was also canceled within 24 hours of booking and in accordance with the No Show Policy. If you purchased all or part of the reservation using a Southwest gift card or a Southwest LUV Voucher and canceled the reservation within 24 hours of booking, contact our Customer Relations department at 1-855-234-4654.