Southwest Cancellation question

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Hi everyone! I just recently received some medical information that is making me consider cancelling my February trip. My only issue is we purchased wanna get away tickets via Southwest which are non-refundable and non-transferrable.

Does anyone know if I would be able to upgrade the tickets to "anytime" which has a refundable option so that I could cancel?

 

[anonymousegirl]

I don't think you can upgrade after purchase, but even though these tickets are non refundable, you can cancel them and the purchase price is deposited into a Travel Funds account at Southwest for original named customer to use up to one year (from issue, I think, not cancellation date).

 

[LisaS]

Hi everyone! I just recently received some medical information that is making me consider cancelling my February trip. My only issue is we purchased wanna get away tickets via Southwest which are non-refundable and non-transferrable.

Does anyone know if I would be able to upgrade the tickets to "anytime" which has a refundable option so that I could cancel?

I think if you upgrade the tickets, their system keeps track of how much of what you paid is non-refundable. So when you cancel the Anytime reservation, I think you will be right back where you started.

If you cancel, each passenger ends up with Travel Funds tied to their name, good for future travel that is completed by one year from the date you booked your original flight.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Does anyone know if I would be able to upgrade the tickets to "anytime" which has a refundable option so that I could cancel?

No.

Although you can apply the nonrefundable tickets toward refundable tickets, the dollar amount attributable to the nonrefundable tickets will remain nonrefundable if you subsequently cancel the refundable tickets.

It the airlines allowed you to do what you're suggesting, the whole idea of nonrefundable tickets would be meaningless.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Thanks everyone. Looks like unless I plan to fly somewhere else in a years time (which I don't), I'll either be out the money or maybe things will work out that I can travel in February as planned. Oh well.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Thanks everyone. Looks like unless I plan to fly somewhere else in a years time (which I don't), I'll either be out the money or maybe things will work out that I can travel in February as planned. Oh well.

I hope things work out for you.

I know you're saying you won't travel within a year, but at least that's an option if the medical situation allows it. If you can't get vacation time, maybe a long weekend would be an option.

The good news is that you're dealing with Southwest Airlines, which charges no change fee. If you were dealing with nonrefundable tickets on a legacy carrier (Delta, United, American, or US Airways), you would have to pay a $200 change fee per ticket to apply the value to different flights. With leisure tickets, there's usually not much value left after the $200 change fee.

I assume you did not buy travel insurance to cover a trip cancelled due to medical reasons. The lesson here is that every time any of us buy nonrefundable tickets without buying trip insurance, there's the risk that we could lose the value of the tickets. I just bought tickets for a February trip to the West Coast. I declined the trip insurance on the airline website. I plan to stay healthy, but you never know.