Southwest fare drop - refunds on Wanna Get Away fares?

[mickeyfino]

Fares for one of our flights came down by $40. I went on the SWA site to rebook (by clicking Change Itinerary), selected the same flight and saw the new lower price.

However, I was presented with two options for the credit 1) "Request Refund" or 2) "Hold for future use". I selected Request Refund, but I didn't think refunds are possible since it was a Wanna Get Away fare, which I thought was non-refundable. How does this work? Should I have selected Hold for Future Use? I would prefer $ back, but SWA credit is good too. Worried that I messed up!

 

[bumbershoot]

I've seen people mentioning this recently, but I am not sure anyone has come back to say if they got the refund. Be sure to come back to tell us!

 

[PatMcDuck]

Within 24 hours, I think you get a refund, I have gotten that.

Please report back if you get an actual refund!

 

[Huff]

From Southwests website:
"If you call or cancel online at Southwest.com within 24 hours of booking, Southwest will offer you the option of refunding the airfare back to the original form of payment, or retaining the credit to be used toward future travel."

I believe all airlines give full refunds within 24 hours per FAA regulations.

 

[Barbruka]

Just changed my Wanna Get Away trip. No refund and charged me a $100 change fee because the original booking was 2 months ago. Actually $86 because new trip was cheaper. But worth it because now we don't have to get up at 4:30 to come home. Respectable hour of 7, and nice breakfast at Boma before leaving for airport.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

SWA does not charge a change fee so I am not sure why you say you had to pay $100. I have changed many many flights and never paid a change fee. It could be that by the time you processed the change the price went up but SWA does not charge change fee's. Or the fact that there was only one seat available at the lower price and then you where charge a higher price for the other ticket.

Even though you said it gave you the option to select a refund, if you had selected that option it would not have gone through. The full refund is only good for tickets bought within 24 hrs. You would have had to chose the hold for future use option.

 

[jerseygal]

From Southwests website:
"If you call or cancel online at Southwest.com within 24 hours of booking, Southwest will offer you the option of refunding the airfare back to the original form of payment, or retaining the credit to be used toward future travel."

I believe all airlines give full refunds within 24 hours per FAA regulations.

Thanks for the reminder of the 24 hour option for refund. Have received SW credits often, but have never changed within 24 hours of booking. Love that SW has NO change fees!

 

[Disneylover99]

Just changed my Wanna Get Away trip. No refund and charged me a $100 change fee because the original booking was 2 months ago. Actually $86 because new trip was cheaper. But worth it because now we don't have to get up at 4:30 to come home. Respectable hour of 7, and nice breakfast at Boma before leaving for airport.

You should not have been charged a change fee. It doesn't matter when you booked. Maybe you added on early bird check in when you made your change?

 

[Kelly Anne]

Just changed my Wanna Get Away trip. No refund and charged me a $100 change fee because the original booking was 2 months ago. Actually $86 because new trip was cheaper. But worth it because now we don't have to get up at 4:30 to come home. Respectable hour of 7, and nice breakfast at Boma before leaving for airport.

Southwest does not charge to change, no matter when you booked. I changed my flight to an earlier, cheaper flight months after we booked.

 

[Barbruka]

All I know is last night the price for both tickets dropped a total of $50. I had to pay $86. Maybe I need to call them today and ask what is up?

 

[georgina]

To the OP, I can verify that although they offer a refund on the WGA fares when you change to a lower price, it does not credit (outside 24 hours). You did not mess up by requesting one, it will just give you the credit automatically.

Never ever had a change fee.

 

[Kelly Anne]

All I know is last night the price for both tickets dropped a total of $50. I had to pay $86. Maybe I need to call them today and ask what is up?

Is your flight with Southwest?

 

[DebbieB]

All I know is last night the price for both tickets dropped a total of $50. I had to pay $86. Maybe I need to call them today and ask what is up?

I would. It's possible the price went up while it was being processed.

 

[bumbershoot]

All I know is last night the price for both tickets dropped a total of $50. I had to pay $86. Maybe I need to call them today and ask what is up?

Absolutely.

Did you book a package through SW vacations not their normal site?

 

[hsmamato2]

All I know is last night the price for both tickets dropped a total of $50. I had to pay $86. Maybe I need to call them today and ask what is up?

you can call and ask, or just go into your swa site and view your account to see what the flights cost- you aren;t charged a change fee, my best guess is they weren't the price you thought they were,or maybe only one of them was that price,etc. no change fees on swa

 

[AngiTN]

All I know is last night the price for both tickets dropped a total of $50. I had to pay $86. Maybe I need to call them today and ask what is up?

you can call and ask, or just go into your swa site and view your account to see what the flights cost- you aren;t charged a change fee, my best guess is they weren't the price you thought they were,or maybe only one of them was that price,etc. no change fees on swa

That or I wonder, did PP change both flights in error?

It's possible to have a drop on your departure trip but an increase on the return trip (or vice versa)

Or maybe you paid less than you remember on your flight?

The one thing that is for sure, there is no change fee so there is some other explanation. A phone call is in order, unless you can read on your receipt to see where the costs came from. It's hard to read but it's on there

(example from my most recent booking, if you can see in there, it shows the fare, 98.49 and taxes)

BNA WN ORL98.49SLNVVNR 98.49 END ZPBNA XT5.60AY4.50XFBNA4.5

There will also be a breakdown on the charges just below that

 

[Wood Nymph]

Fares for one of our flights came down by $40. I went on the SWA site to rebook (by clicking Change Itinerary), selected the same flight and saw the new lower price.

However, I was presented with two options for the credit 1) "Request Refund" or 2) "Hold for future use". I selected Request Refund, but I didn't think refunds are possible since it was a Wanna Get Away fare, which I thought was non-refundable. How does this work? Should I have selected Hold for Future Use? I would prefer $ back, but SWA credit is good too. Worried that I messed up!

We took the option to get a cash refund but it never came to us. Instead the credit was issued for future use.

 

[Wood Nymph]

All I know is last night the price for both tickets dropped a total of $50. I had to pay $86. Maybe I need to call them today and ask what is up?

If you cancelled the original flight inside of changing the original flight then you would have paid the additional money if you didn't go through the additional steps to apply the credits from the cancelled trip to the new flight. I did this by mistake once and called SWA to straighten it out. But you have to call within 24 hours or they can't fix it.

That is the only thing I can think of that would have caused you to pay the $86.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

We took the option to get a cash refund but it never came to us. Instead the credit was issued for future use.

You will never get a cash refund unless you booked the refundable fare. even though the option is there when you process the transaction.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

You will never get a cash refund unless you booked the refundable fare. even though the option is there when you process the transaction.

I can confirm this is how it works past the 24-hour window. We had the same issue once and a reservation agent told us the refund button does nothing if you are rebooking a Wanna Get Away fare. At that fare class, after 24 hours the money goes into a travel fund tied to your reservation number that you can use for additional travel in the next 12 months. That's fine if you confine your travel to Southwest. (We do.) But annoying if you don't.

However, within 24 hours of purchase, you definitely can get a refund, even on a nonrefundable fare. It's explained in SWA's terms for refunds: https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/purchasing-and-refunds/refund-info-pol.html