Skip to main content

Southwest Airlines Community

Flight change costs more than new flights?

melynn44
Explorer C

I have done many flight changes over the year and never run into this before. Is this normal?

 

I had a flight, which the total price comes to $140. I was needing to change it. 

 

So, there were some flights I was looking at which if I was booking as a new flight, they were $49-$59 each way.

 

Yet for some reason, when I tried to change my flight to those same flights, it was saying +$20 or + $10 or whatever. How is that possible?

 

Like I said, I've done many flight changes before, and they have always came out to the same price in comparison to what a new booking would be. 

3 REPLIES 3

Re: Flight change costs more than new flights?

dfwskier
Aviator A

@melynn44 wrote:

I have done many flight changes over the year and never run into this before. Is this normal?

 

I had a flight, which the total price comes to $140. I was needing to change it. 

 

So, there were some flights I was looking at which if I was booking as a new flight, they were $49-$59 each way.

 

If I put two an two together from the above, it appears you tried to change a round trip ticket.

 

Yet for some reason, when I tried to change my flight to those same flights, it was saying +$20 or + $10 or whatever. How is that possible?

 

It possible that the outbound and return legs could be priced differently since Southwest prices individual legs and then combines them into a round trip fare.

 

 

Re: Flight change costs more than new flights?

jksobonya
Aviator A

"they have always came out to the same price in comparison to what a new booking would be"

 

This is rarely my experience. Flight prices go up and down all the time. I only ever rebook when the flight price decreases so I can get the travel funds to use later. Based on your example, I almost feel that the prices you should have seen were -10 or -20, since the flight change seemed cheaper than your originally booked price of $140.

 

--Jessica

Re: Flight change costs more than new flights?

elijahbrantley
Aviator A

A best practice is to book each leg of your trip individually.  The benefit is that if one leg goes down, you can rebook and get your points back or a refund or travel funds (depending on ticket type). You can do that without even having to touch the other leg.

 

You can always reach out to SW via social media or the app chat feature if you are looking to rebook at a cheaper price. They can handle that quickly and can isolate the leg of the trip you are looking to change. 

 

 

-A List, Companion Pass holder