Doesn't SW credit you a difference if your flight's fare fall below what you paid? Just call and get the credit, right? I did this a couple years ago, not sure if it's the same. So, if I see a flight time/direct option I like, I always jump on it and just hope the fare drops, but at least then I don't have to worry about it going up either.
I hesitate to book a cash SW flight vs. using points. If the flight goes down, yes, you change to the lower flight, (you can do it all online w/o calling), but you do not get a refund, only a credit. And, you have to use the credit to fly within one year from the original booking. And the credit can only be used by the person who the ticket was originally bought for. That makes it very frustrating. So, if I get a credit for my and DD25's flights, I can only use the credit from my ticket for myself, and my DD25's credit can only be used for a flight for her, even if I paid for both our tickets. I find that very limiting and the credit is not worth much if we can't actually use it. We don't fly that much, usually only once a year, at the same time each year. So likely I couldn't use a credit if I had one. Actually, this year was an exception, as we added in the 24 hr Day Event and did pay cash for that sudden trip. We got enough credits each when the price went down several times in the two months from booking to travel, $90, to puts towards our Dec trip this year. We booked the upcoming trip and used our credits along with CC for the way there, and used pts for our return trip. Now, I've gotten us like $40 in credits each, but neither of us will be flying again before mid March, a year from when we purchased the original tickets. So, basically, we lose that money. We definitely prefer booking with points. When you make a change, you get the points returned right away and you can use those points for an future booking, not restricted to who can use them or by needing to use by a certain day. So, on the one hand, while I definitely like that SW gives credits, it's frustrating to know that I likely won't be able to use a cash back credit if I have to book with cash. I'm sure for some people it works great, but it seems more people would lose out on getting their money back. Even if they let you use those funds for the $5.60 per leg fee, or for early bird check-in, that would at least help to make the credits more useful for those who don't fly very often. I do think it used to be different in that there wasn't a restriction on who could use those credits, and not such a short window in which to use it.
