Who gets the flight credit if traveler DOESN'T have a RR membership?

[queenfree85]

Since SWA has decided to refuse to allow people to use their flight credits for anyone but themselves (which imo is the same as telling someone trying to hand you cash to buy a gift for a friend "nope!" because you want the friend to hand you THE EXACT SAME CASH........) my plan to save my travel buddy and I some money by purchasing both our round-trip tickets at the cost of the WGA fare with my travel credits failed.

I'm going to buy their ticket but am confused on what happens to that money if something comes up and my travel buddy can't make it.

I feel like I'm scr€w€d because WGA is "non transferable" but WGA+ seems to ONLY be transferable from RR member to RR member and my travel buddy DOES NOT have a RR membership and honestly doesn't need/want one since the only reason we were flying SWA was because we thought I'd be able to cover it with my travel credits!

So would I just be out the money or is my travel buddy going to be forced to create an account they'll literally never use or even log into again just to create a fail safe of transferability for our trip?

[dfwskier]

" the only reason we were flying SWA was because we thought I'd be able to cover it with my travel credits!"

So when you could not do that, why did you buy a Southwest ticket anyway?

[queenfree85]

If you read more carefully I have not purchased my travel buddy's ticket yet...

Your reply is not in any way helpful or insightful and comes across judgemental. If you're just asking out of curiosity then for context I have flown SWA exclusively for decades and for a long time travel credits could be used for anybody so it's news to me this has changed hence why I'm in this forum asking.

I have no issue accumulating points for myself no matter which ticket tier I purchase I just needed clarification on options for companion travel under the new guidelines which the other person who replied gave so we'll book accordingly. 

[bec102896]

You do realize this works the same way with every major airline. Example I cancelled an American Airlines flight only I can use the credit even though someone else paid 

with Southwest if you buy WGA+ then you can transfer your funds to anyone as long as both the persons funds you want to transfer and the person who receives the funds have RR accounts. 

standard rule is the funds stay with each person on the reservation. If you have a $200 flight per person ($400 total) and both cancel then you each have $200. If passenger A cancels but B continues to travel then passenger A has a $200 credit 

[queenfree85]

I exclusively fly SWA so no I don't know what any other airline does. That's why I'm on the SWA forum asking for feedback on a SWA issue. But thanks anyway. We'll figure out what we'd like to do as far as WGA+ or another airline. 

[DancingDavidE · Accepted solution]

That's generally the reason to buy refundable tickets if you aren't sure about flying and applies to all airlines.

Southwest offering the WGA fare (and the other airlines offering non-refundable economy fares) is a trade-off on the cost today vs flexibility tomorrow.

Southwest does have one of the best workarounds in this regard, for the limited extra cost of buying a WGA+ fare as you pointed out the friend can transfer a flight credit back to you.

Since it is academic anyway until you actually cancel the ticket, go ahead and book Southwest either WGA or hopefully WGA+ and then wait and see. If your friend cancels and you need to recover the flight credit then setup an account for them. Like you said if they do not otherwise need the account then just wait until the end and see if they need it. If not, then don't sign up for one. 

This is still WAY better than other carriers where there would be no option to transfer the flight credit.

[queenfree85]

Thank you for the insight. We'd like to fly together so we'll likely just go with the WGA+ in this instance but we're still deciding. Appreciate the feedback!