Southwest Ticketless Travel Funds?

[disneyldwjr]

Allow me to clarify. Southwest doesn't offer "roundtrip" ticketing as the legacy carriers do, and as I think many (if not most) people understand the concept. With legacy carriers, buying a rountrip fare is almost always cheaper than buying the tickets on the same flights as individual segments. This is not the case with Southwest. The "depart city/round trip" selection option on Southwest's web site is a convenience feature that simply calls up the available outgoing and return flights from the two selected locations, and then allows booking those flights under the same confirmation number. The same total fare could be had by booking as two distinct one-way trips under separate confirmation numbers.

My main point of contention with your post was your statement that JandD Mom would have to "cancel the one way and rebook for the r/t." This is simply not true. And being ticketed one-way may flag you for extra security (the dreaded SSSSSS), it is not a given.

You are right, I should have said may flag you. It is not a given, but, it does happen often, with all carriers.
My comments to J and D mom were meant to tell her to cancel whatever flights she had before she rebooked. If you look at my reply, I think it will become clear what my intent was. If she is looking at fares dropping it is pretty clear that she should cancel and rebook. She is holding two tickets now.
Do you work for SWA or in the travel industry?

 

[vossjemi]

So, if you cancel a flight, how long does it take for the funds to show up in your TTF account? Can you cancel and rebook immediately so as not to lose your preferred flight time/price?

 

[disneyldwjr]

So, if you cancel a flight, how long does it take for the funds to show up in your TTF account? Can you cancel and rebook immediately so as not to lose your preferred flight time/price?

It has been my experience that the funds show up immediately. Some people have experienced a slight delay, but, again, I have never and I do a lot of changing.

 

[Forevryoung]

I change my southwest tickets frequently as well (I fly about once a month from school to home and home to school). Southwest customer service is amazing- if the website cant do it for you call them and they will usually bend over backwards to fix something. I think it is great that you arent charged for changing a ticket and that you can keep finding a lower fare until you get the best deal. I saved $45 by switching a flight and they will just hold the money until i book my next ticket. Thats half a ticket home (BWI-->Long Island NY)

 

[disneyldwjr]

I change my southwest tickets frequently as well (I fly about once a month from school to home and home to school). Southwest customer service is amazing- if the website cant do it for you call them and they will usually bend over backwards to fix something. I think it is great that you arent charged for changing a ticket and that you can keep finding a lower fare until you get the best deal. I saved $45 by switching a flight and they will just hold the money until i book my next ticket. Thats half a ticket home (BWI-->Long Island NY)

They will also refund the difference if the only change is a drop in fare. I have called the customer relations number and have had them credit my cc for the difference.
They will only hold your money for one year from the original purchase, you must have completed addditonal travel with that credit by that time.

 

[JandD Mom]

You are right, I should have said may flag you. It is not a given, but, it does happen often, with all carriers.
My comments to J and D mom were meant to tell her to cancel whatever flights she had before she rebooked. If you look at my reply, I think it will become clear what my intent was. If she is looking at fares dropping it is pretty clear that she should cancel and rebook. She is holding two tickets now.
Do you work for SWA or in the travel industry?

Thanks guys. I am thinking of this scenario: I have a return trip booked O/W for a refundable fare. I find out my outbound price goes down so I rebook and bank the ticketless funds. Then I apply the funds to the refundable return (or if I get lucky, maybe the rate of the return goes down and I book that).

As to security flagging us, that happened to us once. However, I found after the first O/W trip on SW, we are in their frequent flier program, and have not been flagged since. I think they flag you most often on your first flight with them. (Interestingly, they flagged my husband and kids on their first trip on SW but not me - it was my 2nd trip. My kids were 7 and definately not on any terror watch lists ).

Thanks for the help!

 

[lawgs]

NH ANN and Antmaril

Vouchers can be used for any flights at any rate.

if it is a VOUCHER then they have different parameters on how they can be used....

TICKETLESS FUNDS can be used ONLINE to book other travel, VOUCHERS cannot ( when we wanted to use a voucher in the past we had to go to the airport to use it )

this is from SWA site

http://www.southwest.com/help/faq.html

12. Can I pay for travel online using Southwest Airlines vouchers?

No. The acceptable forms of payment for Ticketless Travel Online are unused Ticketless Travel funds and the following credit cards: American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club, Discover Card/NOVUS, and UATP.

If you are holding other forms of Southwest Airlines travel credit (e.g., travel voucher, gift certificate, unused paper ticket, discount coupon), please contact Southwest Reservations at 1-800-IFLYSWA® (1-800-435-9792) for information on how to use those payment options

 

[antmaril]

NH ANN and Antmaril

if it is a VOUCHER then they have different parameters on how they can be used....

TICKETLESS FUNDS can be used ONLINE to book other travel, VOUCHERS cannot ( when we wanted to use a voucher in the past we had to go to the airport to use it )

this is from SWA site

http://www.southwest.com/help/faq.html

12. Can I pay for travel online using Southwest Airlines vouchers?

No. The acceptable forms of payment for Ticketless Travel Online are unused Ticketless Travel funds and the following credit cards: American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club, Discover Card/NOVUS, and UATP.

If you are holding other forms of Southwest Airlines travel credit (e.g., travel voucher, gift certificate, unused paper ticket, discount coupon), please contact Southwest Reservations at 1-800-IFLYSWA® (1-800-435-9792) for information on how to use those payment options

Interesting that the person I spoke to didn't mention this. Oh well, I guess I'll have to figure it out when the voucher arrives. He said it would take a couple of weeks to receive the voucher. At least I didn't lose $453 worth of travel. I really had no choice. We have no plans to travel between now and May 7th.