SWA refund if bought w/AMEX points?

[LoveTwoTravel]

Has anyone booked SWA tickets with AMEX points and then had to cancel their flight? Do they refund the points to your account or are those points lost?

Since they were purchased with points I don't think there was an option of purchasing "want to get away" vs "fully refundable", but I don't remember.

Thanks! I'll call SWA later on today but was hoping to get good news here.

 

[Tara]

Has anyone booked SWA tickets with AMEX points and then had to cancel their flight? Do they refund the points to your account or are those points lost?

Since they were purchased with points I don't think there was an option of purchasing "want to get away" vs "fully refundable", but I don't remember.

Thanks! I'll call SWA later on today but was hoping to get good news here.

By all means call and find out from SWA directly - I am interested to hear what they have to say!

But be prepared to not get the news you want. I cannot imagine that Amex points get you a refundable fare, but I don't know how they'd determine the value of the credit you'd receive if SWA credit for future travel was the refund option. Maybe they base the refund on the current WGA fare for your flight?

 

[LoveTwoTravel]

I'm hoping they just refund the points spent. Fingers crossed! Otherwise I'm willing to pay a fee to have a credit issued to use another time. I'll post back when I've gotten more information.

 

[Lewisc]

Did you transfer enough membership rewards points to your SW Rapid Rewards Account to qualify for a rapid rewards ticket? You can cancel your reservation. You'll have a year, I think from the date you earned your rapid rewards ticket, to fly.

Is there some option with membership rewards to use your points as "cash" to purchase a ticket. I think you'll be subject to the normal terms, you'll get TTF. I'm not sure what you can get if you used membership points to pay for a full fare ticket.

I don't think there are any circumstances where the points get returned to AMEX.

 

[LoveTwoTravel]

SWA *refunded* the award flights back to the accts they came from.

So there was no return of points to AMEX, they are forevermore SWA *points*, and they are available for use for 1 year from the original purchase.

The awards can be extended for a year for $50. I bought a RT flight (2 OW tickets) so I'm not sure if EACH award is $50, making that extension $100, or if I can move the entire award for the RTT for the $50.

We'll probably extend and use for Disney next year if the RTT is $50. Otherwise, we'll take our luck with Dings (it's been great for the past two years) and use these tickets for another trip prior to expiration.