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Re: Early Bird Refund

Jbros
Explorer C

I feel the same! Southwest stole $200 of our money with Early Bird. The representative even helped us book our flights and even though we asked 3 times if everything was refundable she failed to let us know EB is not. Not even a prompt when we went to Cancel stating”if you cancel you will lose your EB funds”. I would have thought twice. 

With the pandemic going on you think this airline would help us out. We have Jobs and businesses that are failing and what we are receiving for aid compared to what they are receiving in aid (airlines) I think Southwest can help us out by refunding these fees. I’m quite surprised on their constant reluctance. I used to like this airline but have a very bad feeling about them now. 

Re: Early Bird Refund

NicoleAshley
Employee
Employee
Solution


Thanks @Jbros for sharing your concerns. We understand your frustration. As a peer-to-peer forum, we aren't equipped to assist you here, but I encourage you to reach out specifically to Customer Relations on Twitter @Southwestair, or our Facebook page, or by phone at 1-855-234-4654. Thank you.

 

Submitting a Suggestion and/or Complaint 

Nicole
Community Manager

Re: Early Bird Refund

pickellmi
Explorer C

Tried to cancel flight 10 days ago.  EarlyBird fees were no included in the travel credit, so I did not execute.  Read all the community forum post over the last hour, including the reference to the USA Today 4/2/2020 article about Southwest changing its policy.  Tried just now to cancel again for a future travel credit, and it still excludes the EarlyBird fees.  Here's my post on the whole issue:

 

My spouse and I (both Rapid Rewards members) have the referenced itinerary. I attempted to take advantage of the amended cancellation/refund/travel credit options because of the pandemic affecting all methods of travel. Before I clicked on getting the $254.00 credited for future travel, I noticed that the $40.00 EarlyBird fee was not to be part of the credit. Going back to the rules, I noticed that one has to drill down in the original purchase pages to find this out - why would I need to check this at all?

Let me mention how other businesses have handled the vacation we had planned: 1) Marriott refunded the entire cost we had paid for in advance for a 3-night stay in NYC; 2) Broadway.com refunded the entire cost of our theater tickets for two performances; 3) Amtrak provided travel credit for the entire cost of 2 itineraries; and 4) Delta Airlines provided travel credit for the entire cost of our itinerary from RSW to LGA.

Given the unprecedented nature of the pandemic on all walks of life, why would Southwest Airlines (WN) insist on keeping EarlyBird fees when, in fact, if a traveler has to cancel an itinerary due to it, WN would not be providing early check-in for that itinerary!

I would suggest that WN temporarily amended its EarlyBird policy and provided travel credit to those itineraries for which it is providing exceptions.

 

Why in the world, with the 1,000s of people jamming the phone lines (I'm on a 45-minute call-back hold from 855-234-4654), doesn't Southwest just amend the software to reflect their policy change?  The policy change has been in place since the first week of April....

Re: Early Bird Refund

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A
Solution

@pickellmi lol, you obviously don't know Southwest IT well enough if you think their systems could be changed quickly. So, as you have seen, you won't get the credit for EBCI if you just do the cancelation online, it needs to be requested separately and will be given to you as a LUV voucher while the credit for the cancelation will be a travel fund.

 

My suggestion is to cancel the flight online, then send a message via the live chat in the Southwest app or private message on Twitter (@SouthwestAir) requesting credit for the EBCI. Be sure to include your confirmation number in the message.

 

If your flight isn't scheduled in the next day or two you should actually do nothing right now. Wait until the day before to cancel because if Southwest cancels they flight you can get a cash refund for everything. There's no reason to cancel earlier. 

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Early Bird Refund

SalvatoreR
Explorer C

I went through the same thing recently. I had to cancel and I lost $50. I talk about chat to a customer rep he said that’s the policy. I explained these are extraordinary circumstances can you do something she said no. I asked if I could speak to a supervisor, I was told no. I sent an email to customer relations and I said “I know this is the answer you would like however this is our policy” however we will give you 1000 miles in your account. Well I thousand miles is $20. For all the good things that Southwest does I can’t believe that they would stop me for $50 and knowing that in these times every penny counts. Very disappointed and hope they reverse it in

Re: Early Bird Refund

SalvatoreR
Explorer C

I went through the same thing recently. I had to cancel and then rebook the entire flight. After that process I saw that I lost $50 early bird fees.  I communicated by  chat to a customer rep. And she said that the policy is no refund of early bird fees. I explained but I was not even asking for a refund, simply to transfer the early bird fees from one round-trip reservation to the next. They were the exact same amount. And I also noted that these are extraordinary circumstances and asked if she would do something, she said no. I asked if I could speak to a supervisor, I was told no. I sent an email to customer relations and I explained the situation.  “I know this is not the answer you would like, however this is our policy”. They gave  1000 miles to my account. Well I thousand miles is $20. For all the good things that Southwest does I can’t believe that they would stiff me for $50 and knowing that in these times every penny counts. Very disappointed and hope they reverse the decision. 

Re: Early Bird Refund

SWDigits
Aviator A

Re: Early Bird Refund

mastodonj
Explorer C

This is good info to have *for future reference* BUT it is definitely not a "solution" for those of us who were *required* or otherwise forced to cancel our trips due to the pandemic.  As someone else mentioned, it's like you have to know the tricks of the trade or you're SOL.  Southwest could simply make it crystal clear when you are cancelling a flight that, if you don't want to lose your early bird check-in funds, you should make a reservation for a future trip.

Re: Early Bird Refund

mastodonj
Explorer C

OK. Just got off the phone with Southwest.  Bottom line: they are putting your early bird fees into a "Love" reward which will show up in your Travel Funds within about 14 days.

So, I'm good with that and kudos to SW for stepping up for their customers!

Re: Early Bird Refund

SWDigits
Aviator A

@mastodonj wrote:

This is good info to have *for future reference* BUT it is definitely not a "solution" for those of us who were *required* or otherwise forced to cancel our trips due to the pandemic.  As someone else mentioned, it's like you have to know the tricks of the trade or you're SOL.  Southwest could simply make it crystal clear when you are cancelling a flight that, if you don't want to lose your early bird check-in funds, you should make a reservation for a future trip.


Agree 100%.


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