rebooking a solo flight into a companion pass ticket

[ebright09]

Hey guys -

Hoping someone can help me achieve clarity here in my efforts to save(and use) every dollar.

I booked myself solo LAX->BNA in April for my mom's 60th. It was a wanna-get-away fare, grand total cost was $483.96. $30 of that was earlybird each way. Another $117.16 of that was from a voucher that expires June 30th 2018.

My girlfriend has a companion pass as she flies a lot for work. She now wants to come on this trip with me. I've looked and the exact same fare I booked - is $136.00 cheaper than when I booked it.

If I cancel my current flight, what happens to the voucher monies already spent? Do they go into the new voucher I will get and does that then mean that I must spend those voucher monies by 6/30/2018 as well?

Can I use the 'new' voucher I would get, to book my girlfriend and I's flight with companion pass or am I SOL there -- ie we have to pay outright for the new fare when we book?

Appreciate the time - hoping someone who has more experience with this stuff can help me understand all the mechanics in play(thereby teaching me to fish instead of handing me one!) 🙂

Evan

[franktravel]

Any new money applied with a voucher to purchase a flight that is then canceled will take the expiration date of the earliest credit used. 

So all you need to do is modify your flight, NOT cancel! and now you will have a $136.00 credit  attached to the conformation number of  the flight you are changing for a future flight. 

If you are the Companion Pass holder and want to add a Companion, log into your Rapid Rewards account and under future flights you will see "Add Companion" 

Good luck.

[TheMiddleSeat]

If I'm reading the question correctly, the poster has a flight booked, but girlfriend has the Companion Pass and wants to also go on the flight. In that situation the OP's purchased ticket is not required as he would be added as a companion (assuming GF has him selected as her companion). Combining with answer from @franktravel I believe the OP will cancel their ticket which returns all funds except for money used to purchase EarlyBird (that's not refundable). Funds would now be limited to being used by the OP, only he can fly with those funds, and they would have the soonest expiration date of the vouchers that were used. 

GF would add OP as companion and the travel funds could be used to pay the taxes.  If OP wants EarlyBird he would need to pay for that (again) with cash.

Or, if OP has no intent on flying again before funds would expire then leave everything as is and avoid having to repurchase EarlyBird. That's a waste of a lot of funds, but some people don't have time to take trips.

[DancingDavidE]

I think one more clarification - the flight credit for OP when canceling can't be used to purchase the girlfriend's ticket, OP would would have to use the credit on his own for a different flight before the expiration.

Unofficially there is rumor that you can call Southwest and have an expired credit issued as a voucher for a fee, which might be $100 but subject to change. If OP is in it for $400 and won't be able to use the credit, then it may be worth trying to do this, although it isn't guaranteed to get $300+ of vouchers out of the deal.

However in each case you'll still have to pay cash or points for girlfriend's ticket before she can add you as companion for the flight. Make sure she has you named as designated companion in her RR account also before canceling anything.