SWA-No change fees

[maxiesmom]

Do I have this right? If I were to purchase tickets on Southwest, and needed to change the dates, they won't charge me a fee? It doesn't matter how far in advance I need to change the tickets? Is it really that simple?

SWA is starting to fly out of my home airport, and they will be the cheapest tickets. I have never flown them before, so I'm just checking that what I think they do they actually do do! Right now flights for the dates we think we need are $142 each way, non-stop. That is pretty good! But if we have to change dates I don't want to be stuck.

 

[Lewisc]

You just pay the between what you paid and the current fare for whatever flight you want to take. The downside. Southwest is consistent, if you want to make a same day change you'll be paying up to a fully refundable ticket.

 

[maxiesmom]

Thanks! That just seems to good to be true! It will be an adjustment having to learn how they do things compared to Air Tran or Delta.

 

[goofy4tink]

Also, you won't get a refund for a less costly fare. You will get a credit for use later. If you book a fully refundable fare, then you will be credited back to your credit card. But not the cheaper 'wanna get away' fares.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Keep an eye on your fares. they change a lot. My last trip two weeks ago the fare changed (went down) 3 times including the night before we left!!!! And I had only booked my trip four weeks before we left. I now have $76 credit to use.

 

[LisaS]

If you end up with a credit, it will be good for travel within one year of your original purchase date. Be sure to make a note of your original confirmation number. You will need that to pull up those Travel Funds when you want to apply them to the cost of another ticket. (Note also that Travel Funds can only be used for travel by the same passenger who originally received them.)

Also, when you use Travel Funds to pay for a ticket, any new money you have to add to it to pay for that ticket takes on the expiration date of the oldest Travel Funds you use. For example, you purchase a ticket today (3/4/13) and in a few months you notice you can book the same flight for less so you Change your reservation to the same flight at the lower fare and end up with a credit of $30 with an expiration of 3/4/14. Months later you purchase a ticket for a trip in late Feb 2014 for $150 and apply the $30 towards that ticket. If you need to reschedule that flight, the entire $150 now has an expiration date of 3/4/2014.

Getting a credit when your airfare drops is great but you need to be careful when using those Travel Funds that you don't risk losing a lot of money if your plans are not solid.