From this thread:
"Credit for a future trip only, unless you are a senior citizen and then they
will refund in full to your credit card. If you get credit, it must be used with 1 yr. of the original purchase date of your original tix."
Fom another thread:
"After seeing that my flight's price dropped, I rebooked with the lower price. then I called Southwest and asked them to credit it back to my CC. After a few minutes of checking into my reservation (I assume to make sure that nothing about the res. had changed except the price), the SWA rep said ok, all done. Three days later, the credit was back on my CC. I never would have know that I could do this if you DISERS hadn't stated it on this board. THANKS!"
So I'm officially confused. Maybe the poster from the other thread was a senior citizen and thus the credit back to the card was made. I've seen other posts, however, about getting the fare difference refunded to the credit card if only the fare (and not flight number) changed. I have a hard time believing that all these posters qualify as senior citizens. Has anyone who is not a senior citizen gotten an immediate credit to their credit card when their fare has decreased between the time of initial purchase and the day of the flight? And how does Southwest know if you are a senior citizen or not, if that is in fact the criteria necessary to get the refund as opposed to a flight credit that can be used on a future Southwest flight? I don't remember giving the ages of those in my party when I booked online.