Changing point booked reservation to be companion

[alek]

So I have Companion Pass and may still have some trips with the person currently listed. But in a month, I'm travelling with a friend who before I depart, plan to add him as my companion. However, we weren't sure when we planned the trip, so I have already booked his ticket using my points.

When I call Southwest to change my Companion, can I provide his confirmation number and they can just switch him to be my companion, and refund the points back into my account?  And just to make this more interesting, it's actually an International ticket (to Belize), so there are customs/immigration fees - I assume those just come straight across.

I.e. everything remains the same (passenger name, dates, flights, etc.) but in a couple of weeks, I just want to change his booking from using my points to be my companion. It would be nice not to have to cancel/rebook his reservation.

Thanks!

[TheMiddleSeat]

Whether you call or do it yourself, you'll end up canceling the points reservation and rebooking as a companion. Fees won't "transfer" over, but will be refunded (I believe as travel funds) and then you'll pay them again. And yes, points are refunded to the account they came from. 

[alek]

Yea, that's how it has always worked when I have changed a reservation, but I'm wondering if the Companion can handle this slightly different and particularly the International Fees. I'll be doing this in early November and will try to remember to circle back and summarize what happened.

[alek]

As a followup/closure, things went down exactly as expected.

1. Called Southwest to change my companion from my son to Dave. Agent was (as typical) super friendly and took care of it right away, but said yea, she did not have "super-powers" to swap the ticket over.

2. Had Dave cancel his previous booking and request refund of points and fees.

3. Then added him as my companion on the same flight which generates a new confirmation number.

So while it would have been nice not to have to do these few extra steps, it was pretty easy.

Getting up for the 6:05AM departure on 11/11 Denver to Houston flight won't be as easy!    😉

But hey, we are headed to Belize for our 20th Anniversary, so it's all good!

Thanks Southwest!

[DancingDavidE]

Happy Anniversary! Glad it went smoothly, if taking a few extra steps.