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Bait and switch on a refund vs travel funds

Kjtakacs
Explorer C

This is a message I sent SW:

Wed 3-31-21 730 pm EST

 

Last night at around 8:30 pm I made my boyfriend a reservation to go from PBI to Islip on April 10 and returning on April 12.


I put the fee of 501.00 on MY southwest credit card. This morning he indicated that he chose the wrong weekend and could he change it to April 16 returning April 18.

It indicated that the second flight was $248 less than the first one and that it would not return to my credit card but be used as a travel fund.

It has not been 24 hours so I feel this is unfair. I spoke to customer relations at 4:35 pm EST and she told me that if I had “cancelled” that flight I would have gotten the refund but since I “Changed”it I would not.

She said and I quote “ you had to learn the lesson the hard way”

 

I have searched and searched your fine print and absolutely nowhere does it say if you change your flight you won’t get the credit back on your card.
As I am typing this it’s STILL UNDER 24 HOURS SINCE MAKING THIS RESERVATION!

He has no plans to travel to use those funds and will probably be wasted money which no one can afford in this pandemic.
I beg you to put those travel funds back on my credit card as a credit. I’m am extremely upset with this situation. The average person could not possibly know that cancelling and changing a reservation are not the same since it was done under 24 hours. Your fine print does NOT have this information. Totally disgusted with Southwest.

4 REPLIES 4

Re: Bait and switch on a refund vs travel funds

chgoflyer
Aviator A
Solution

@Kjtakacs wrote:

This is a message I sent SW:

Wed 3-31-21 730 pm EST

 

Last night at around 8:30 pm I made my boyfriend a reservation to go from PBI to Islip on April 10 and returning on April 12.


I put the fee of 501.00 on MY southwest credit card. This morning he indicated that he chose the wrong weekend and could he change it to April 16 returning April 18.

It indicated that the second flight was $248 less than the first one and that it would not return to my credit card but be used as a travel fund.

It has not been 24 hours so I feel this is unfair. I spoke to customer relations at 4:35 pm EST and she told me that if I had “cancelled” that flight I would have gotten the refund but since I “Changed”it I would not.

She said and I quote “ you had to learn the lesson the hard way”

 

I have searched and searched your fine print and absolutely nowhere does it say if you change your flight you won’t get the credit back on your card.
As I am typing this it’s STILL UNDER 24 HOURS SINCE MAKING THIS RESERVATION!

He has no plans to travel to use those funds and will probably be wasted money which no one can afford in this pandemic.
I beg you to put those travel funds back on my credit card as a credit. I’m am extremely upset with this situation. The average person could not possibly know that cancelling and changing a reservation are not the same since it was done under 24 hours. Your fine print does NOT have this information. Totally disgusted with Southwest.


 

Unfortunately, I've heard of this happening before -- where a carrier refuses to refund because you've made changes in under 24 hours. This is in violation of the DOT rule.

 

If it's still less than 24 hours since you booked the original flight, cancel the flight right now. If the system doesn't offer you a full refund option, reach out to Customer Relations (not the regular phone line) and request a full refund. If it's denied, file a consumer complaint with the DOT.

 

Contact Customer Relations  (I recommend via Twitter of Facebook direct message)

 

File a DOT Consumer Complaint

Re: Bait and switch on a refund vs travel funds

Kjtakacs
Explorer C

Thanks for that information! 

Re: Bait and switch on a refund vs travel funds

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Assuming you did actually cancel within the 24 hour window, this information seems to be applicable:

 

If your reservation is no longer active or you canceled a refundable fare that was converted into Travel Funds and you would like a refund instead:
Call us at 1-800-435-9792

Write our Refunds Department:
Southwest Airlines
Refunds Department
P.O. Box 36649
Dallas, Texas 75235-1649

 

Edit: The mailing address is the same for contact regarding non-refundable fares.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Bait and switch on a refund vs travel funds

Kjtakacs
Explorer C

Yes! I won!! Thank you so much, all of that worked.