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

[EACarlson]

I may have been the only person who misunderstood this, but in case others were confused, I wanted to share my rebooking/flight credit experience. The November flight I had booked in April just went down $175. I rebooked the flight to a Wanna Get Away Plus fare, and the $175 credit is now in my account with no expiration date. I had thought if I made a change after May 28 that the credit would have a 12 months expiration, but it does not. I assume now if I were to modify that flight again for a lower fare, that credit would expire in 12 months. Anyway, it was a nice surprise!

The first time a Pre 5/28 flight is modified you get a credit with no expiration, those are the rules you agreed to at that time. Now that you've voluntarily changed your flight, the new rules are in place. No checked bags free and any more voluntary changes and the credit will expire one year from the date booked.

I thought the expiry date was 6 months now and you had to use the credit and fully complete your flight within the 6 month time period?

Interested to hear what others say to help me better understand.

6 months is for a Basic fare. PP booked a WGA+ fare so it would have been 12 months.

 

[eticketplease]

The first time a Pre 5/28 flight is modified you get a credit with no expiration, those are the rules you agreed to at that time. Now that you've voluntarily changed your flight, the new rules are in place. No checked bags free and any more voluntary changes and the credit will expire one year from the date booked.

6 months is for a Basic fare. PP booked a WGA+ fare so it would have been 12 months.

Thank you for clarifying this!!

 

[Smilelea]

The first time a Pre 5/28 flight is modified you get a credit with no expiration, those are the rules you agreed to at that time. Now that you've voluntarily changed your flight, the new rules are in place. No checked bags free and any more voluntary changes and the credit will expire one year from the date booked.

6 months is for a Basic fare. PP booked a WGA+ fare so it would have been 12 months.

Wait, so we basically get 1 “freebie” modification after 5/28 before the new rules take effect? We have an Oct flight booked in back in February (and modified for lower fare on May 13th). It’s cheaper now but I didn’t make the change because I don’t expect to fly again before February 2026 so I figured the credit would just be lost. Are you saying it would still be a non-expiring credit?

 

[crazywig]

Wait, so we basically get 1 “freebie” modification after 5/28 before the new rules take effect? We have an Oct flight booked in back in February (and modified for lower fare on May 13th). It’s cheaper now but I didn’t make the change because I don’t expect to fly again before February 2026 so I figured the credit would just be lost. Are you saying it would still be a non-expiring credit?

This seems to be the case. I have changed pre-5/28 flights (wga+ fare) twice in June and they both say non-expiring. I haven't changed the flight, just re-fared.

 

[awrites]

This seems to be the case. I have changed pre-5/28 flights (wga+ fare) twice in June and they both say non-expiring. I haven't changed the flight, just re-fared.

Do you still get 2 free bags?

 

[EACarlson]

Wait, so we basically get 1 “freebie” modification after 5/28 before the new rules take effect? We have an Oct flight booked in back in February (and modified for lower fare on May 13th). It’s cheaper now but I didn’t make the change because I don’t expect to fly again before February 2026 so I figured the credit would just be lost. Are you saying it would still be a non-expiring credit?

No, voluntarily changing the flight now makes the ticket abide by the new rules. The only part of the old rules that is retained is the non-expiring credit because that was the contract at the time.

Do you still get 2 free bags?

No. Voluntary changes make the ticket under the new rules. No free checked bags(unless you get one a different way,) lower points earning, if you cancel for any reason the credit will now expire six months from the date you originally booked it.
I've got a flight booked in September, no chance I'm refaring that one unless it's a huge amount. I'm 95% I'm taking that flight but I definitely don't want to take a chance of ending up with a large credit that's already expired because I booked in January. And I'm really going to need at least one checked bag.

 

[awrites]

No. Voluntary changes make the ticket under the new rules. No free checked bags(unless you get one a different way,) lower points earning, if you cancel for any reason the credit will now expire six months from the date you originally booked it.
I've got a flight booked in September, no chance I'm refaring that one unless it's a huge amount. I'm 95% I'm taking that flight but I definitely don't want to take a chance of ending up with a large credit that's already expired because I booked in January. And I'm really going to need at least one checked bag.

Got it. Thank you for the clarification!

 

[Lsdolphin]

That's right. I had booked a basic fare for a flight home in October using points. I had also bought Early Bird. The airfare went down today. I wasn't able to take advantage of the drop in fares since I would have lost my EB if I cancelled and rebooked. But I was able to upgrade my basic fare to WGA+.

I just did something for my flight in September.

 

[huskies90]

Yes, Basic fares can’t be changed, only cancelled.

Thanks I guess with point bookings it is easiest to do WGA+ now.

This makes no sense to me. If you are booking on points, why wouldn't you just cancel and rebook on basic? I just canceled my pre 5/28 flight booked on points and rebooked basic (don't care about bag fee). I saved 8000 points. If I cancel this flight or want to make another change by canceling and rebooking again, all the points go back to my account with no expiration.

I think SW made the wording confusing on purpose by saying you cannot change a basic fare. Yes you can. The process is just different. Instead of change, you cancel and re-book which has the exact same effect outside of the EXTREME remote possibility that in the time from cancel to rebook the fare goes up. We are talking about less than a minute to cancel and rebook...

 

[EACarlson]

This makes no sense to me. If you are booking on points, why wouldn't you just cancel and rebook on basic? I just canceled my pre 5/28 flight booked on points and rebooked basic (don't care about bag fee). I saved 8000 points. If I cancel this flight or want to make another change by canceling an rebooking again, all the points go back to my account with no expiration.

I think SW made the wording confusing on purpose by saying you cannot change a basic fare. Yes you can. The process is just different. Instead of change, you cancel and re-book which has the exact same effect outside of the EXTREME remote possibility that in the time from cancel to rebook the fare goes up. We are talking about less than a minute to cancel and rebook...

Changing means any ancillaries are still attached. Cancelling means you lose what you paid for them. If in the current environment you pay for EBCI, with basic you lose that money. With WGA+ you can change and bring that EBCI with you. In the next iteration, you pay to book seats, with basic you lose the seat and what you already paid for it.

Re read your second paragraph slowly. You say SW made it confusing by saying you can't change the basic far, then two sentences later, you begin it with "Instead of change," That means you can't change it and have to cancel.

 

[Wood Nymph]

This makes no sense to me. If you are booking on points, why wouldn't you just cancel and rebook on basic?

When using points - cancelling WGA+ and booking Basic is the best option unless you already paid for Early Bird. Then you would lose EB if you cancelled WGA+ and booked Basic.

 

[huskies90]

Re read your second paragraph slowly. You say SW made it confusing by saying you can't change the basic far, then two sentences later, you begin it with "Instead of change," That means you can't change it and have to cancel.

That's my point. In the scenario I describe, it has the exact same effect.

I did not know about losing the EBCI fee. I have flow SW at least 75 times in the last 10 years and I have never purchased it so just like the bags, I don't care about that.

As for the seat assignments, that is tomorrow's problem. Not relevant today.

 

[eticketplease]

This makes no sense to me. If you are booking on points, why wouldn't you just cancel and rebook on basic? I just canceled my pre 5/28 flight booked on points and rebooked basic (don't care about bag fee). I saved 8000 points. If I cancel this flight or want to make another change by canceling and rebooking again, all the points go back to my account with no expiration.

I think SW made the wording confusing on purpose by saying you cannot change a basic fare. Yes you can. The process is just different. Instead of change, you cancel and re-book which has the exact same effect outside of the EXTREME remote possibility that in the time from cancel to rebook the fare goes up. We are talking about less than a minute to cancel and rebook...

What doesn’t make sense about “easiest”?
Modify a WGA+ or higher fare vs cancel and rebook sure seems easier to me.

 

[eticketplease]

We are talking about less than a minute to cancel and rebook...

I wish.
I always have some sort of snag that requires me to start over or relogin

 

[LoveToDisney]

When you cancelled your basic fare booked on points, did SWA let you get your tax and fees credited back to your credit card or did it become a expiring credit or did it just get lost the way an EBCI does?