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PERMANENT MEDICAL CONDITION

Cocoapebbles
Explorer C

Good Morning,

 

I had booked a flight for my grandfather to travel this September to a wedding in Texas however he is in the early stages of dementia and his condition has rapidly deteriorated since the purchase of his flight and it is no longer safe for him to travel.  I had booked a Wanna Get Away fare and am being told the only option is to sign him up for a RR account so I can then turn his travel funds into RR points.  My issue is that this medical condition will only continue to progress making it not possible for him to fly in the future and the solution would be to create a RR account for him just so I can then pay to have his points transferred to someone else because of the fare type. 

 

I have tried to find a policy regarding any exceptions for medical conditions that permanently prevent future travel but have had no luck.  It's frustrating that airlines make it so difficult to either get a refund or to simply allow another traveler to use a ticket that is already paid for. 

 

Any assistance or advice on what to do is appreciated.

 

Thank you!   

3 REPLIES 3

Re: PERMANENT MEDICAL CONDITION

bec102896
Aviator A
Solution

First off sorry to hear your grandfather isn't doing well. 

 

So here's what you can do

 

Create a rapid rewards account for your grandfather. It's free and only takes a couple minutes. 

 

When you cancel his airline ticket his funds will be held for future travel valid until September 7th 2022 (*as long as you cancel his ticket by September 7th 2020)  when you cancel the flight the expiration date will change overnight so don't panic if you see a different date when you cancel. 

 

The day after you cancel you can go to his rapid rewards account and turn the travel funds in to points which don't expire. These points can be used to book a flight for anyone and you don't need to transfer them to another account your grandfather can use them on you or someone else from his account. 

 

-Blake

Re: PERMANENT MEDICAL CONDITION

Cocoapebbles
Explorer C

Transferring his travel funds into RR points was the only option I was given when I contacted customer service but the points for this one trip is not enough to purchase a single flight for someone else.  I looked up flights to the same destination with a comparable cost to what we paid and the points needed is 13,000 on a $200 ticket. 

 

It is also my understanding that partial points cannot be applied to a flight, therefore since the points he would have collected (1,068) are nowhere near enough to purchase a single flight then we are left with only the option to pay to transfer (which is unbelievable since we've already paid for the cost of the ticket) or simply eat the cost.  

 

I understand we purchased a non-refundable ticket but I would have hoped that Southwest had an exception for such circumstances where travel is prevented due to a permanent medical condition in which future travel is no longer possible. And even though signing him up for a RR Account is free its still seems like an unnecessary hoop to jump through in order to transfer the points.

 

I love Southwest but Im so disappointed by this process.      

Re: PERMANENT MEDICAL CONDITION

bec102896
Aviator A

When you convert the funds to points you get 78 points per $1 so if the ticket was $200 you would get about 15,600 points.