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Re: GOOD FAITH REFUNDS FOR COVID-19 ON SOUTHWEST

dfwskier
Aviator A

@bahnisikha3474 wrote:

I had a flight for April 2020 and canceled it in February 2020 due to the pandemic. I reached out to them in April 2020 to see if there was a possibility of a cash refund. They denied that but replied saying that they are working on policy changes that would extend my funds till 2022. They never got back to me and now when I reached out to them, they responded saying that my funds have expired as they only extended flights canceled from March 1st.

 

They didn't contact you?? Did you really expect the airline to individually contact each and every one of the probably millions of ticket holders that cancelled. Southwest put the details of the ticket extension on it's webpage. You never bothered to look????? It was not kept a secret.

 

When the airline "didn't get back t o you" f or  almost     a year, didn't you think it strange?   You didn't reach out for a year???? Gimme a break

   

 

  

 

If you bought the ticket less than 18 months ago, the airline will let you convert the travel fund into a voucher into a $100 fee per travel fund.  The voucher is good for 6 months.

 

So, when you take your $80 voucher into account, you have only lost $20.

 

Contact customer relations to move forward

  

It is extremely shady and unprofessional how this business was carried out. They keep sending me stereotypical messages like 'we are sorry for the misinformation provided to you by our agent but we can't refund the full ticket amount. Here is a good faith voucher of 80$ for each passenger'.  It is absolutely awful how they first stole my funds by providing me misinformation and then they have the audacity to patronize me and condescendingly give me a 'keep your mouth shut' voucher. My ticket costs were >500$ and now when I can finally plan a trip after getting vaccinated, they are taking it away from me. Let's not forget that they actually got bailed out by the government and could not reciprocate the same generosity towards its customers in a time the entire world came crashing down.  The true character of any business becomes apparent in these times. This has caused me a big deal of emotional duress and I will escalate the matter the best I can.


 

Re: GOOD FAITH REFUNDS FOR COVID-19 ON SOUTHWEST

KellyB44
Explorer C

Hi! Yes, I am an infrequent airline traveler who paid $1637.80 for my family to travel to a swim

meet and surprise driving trip to Disney in March of 2020 for a trip beginning April 10, 2020.

 

I felt like Southwest was playing a game of chicken in not cancelling the flights until it was forced to. The country was in a state of emergency due to an unprecedented pandemic, I would not be able to travel and return to work as a teacher, I would not in good faith travel to possibly get exposed or expose anyone, and everything related to the trip was shut down (the hotel, the swim meet, Disney). It made no sense to leave the flights scheduled, so I had to cancel. Southwest did cancel my flight-just after I did because it was forced to. It was ridiculous the flight was still scheduled at the time I cancelled it (after March 13, when schools were shut down, after the hotels were closed and the meet was cancelled). Anyone who still chose to travel at that time was putting everyone else at risk and possibly shedding the virus. How can Southwest punish people for being ethical and protecting public health/try to force people to put public health and possibly their own lives at risk or take a huge financial hit?

I have not flown and skipped my sister’s wedding since this event, I would not have been permitted to fly to events and then return to work as a teacher, I would not ethically consider doing so and possibly spreading the virus, the event that we booked for is over and cannot be replaced as the following year’s meet was also cancelled due to COVID and my daughter aged out of this meet for this past year, and several people I know have died of this virus, including my aunt this past Saturday.

 

I cannot use Southwest’s funds by September 7, I am unsure if the vouchers they are offering as an extension includes the LUV Policy of only using $100 at a time and no taxes or fees with a limit of 3 forms of payment for purchase, and this is over $1600 for my family I’m talking about. Our travel is restricted still due to the virus, our jobs as educators, and my daughter’s year-long swim schedule as she goes into her junior year and is making times crucial to her college scholarship opportunities. She cannot take trips and miss meets and practices throughout the summer. We cannot take trips and miss work as educators during the school year, nor do our children take trips and miss school.

 

Again, COVID is still a problem in 2022. My aunt just died due to COVID on June 18. I have always been extremely cautious about this virus from the start. 

Essentially, Southwest is taking my family’s money for services it will not render. Southwest DID cancel my flight, but just did so after the point at which anyone would have had to have cancelled. Other airlines cancelled their flights and have refunds well before Southwest. Southwest received government funds to supplement the pandemic losses. We had tickets to my sister’s wedding (which was postponed and we did not attend in September of 2020 due to COVID concerns) and we were fully refunded the price of those tickets.

 

I am talking about a large amount of money for my family, $1637, that Southwest will it return to me. My three children, husband, and I do not fly often. In fact, my youngest, who is 8, has never flown and the last time we did fly was when I was pregnant with him. Our finances and schedules do not allow for a family trip with flights anytime soon.

 

I  submitted a request via email 10 days ago after a few phone calls. Does anyone know how the currently offered extension works? The standard of $100 each ticket would mean I’d pay at least $500 (maybe $1000 of it were for each flight, as I had round trips for 5 of us), but I was told I could request vouchers in September (wait until closer to the time our credits expire, because they’ll be timed from the moment of issue) for 6 months and, on a second call, for 12 months. Do these vouchers follow the LUV rule of $100 at a time, no taxes or fees, and only 3 forms of payment per ticket-or per purchase-or per flight?

 

I hope Southwest will grant our request and refund my family our $1637. I know that you, yourself, can’t, but perhaps you can advise me. Thank you!

 

 

 

Re: GOOD FAITH REFUNDS FOR COVID-19 ON SOUTHWEST

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

@KellyB44 vouchers are good for 6 months and currently the $100 is being waived.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: GOOD FAITH REFUNDS FOR COVID-19 ON SOUTHWEST

KellyB44
Explorer C

Thank you for letting me know this. I was told a year on my second phone call on June 12, when I sent an email request. I do not have a response yet to my email (just an automated message that it was received on June 12 and a message that my concern was being forwarded to Customer Support  on June 17).

 

Are these LUV vouchers? Would I be limited to 3 forms of payment per purchase ($200 credit for 2 $100 vouchers and having to pay the rest on my credit card since it can’t include taxes and fees for all 5 family members round trip if I wanted to make sure we got the same flight), per flight and passenger ($200 each way per passenger for a round trip with the rest having to be paid for on a credit card for taxes and fees), or some other way?

 

Also, the last person I spoke to on June 12, 2022, told me it was possible to receive vouchers for 12 months after I shared how COVID has been a major concern and still is with my aunt being in the hospital with it at the time of the call. She said to call back in September (otherwise, they’d only be good through June of 2023).

 

Is it possible to request the vouchers 6 months after they expire for a 6 month voucher? I would worry that the waived $100 fee would no longer be waived, and that is $500 of the $1637 (or is it $1000 of it since each of us had round trips)?

 

Thank you!

 

P.S.

 

We really can’t schedule travel during the school year. First, I am not permitted to take personal days the school day before or the school day after a scheduled day off. Secondly, as a teacher,  I have been forced to use many of my allotted days off due to COVID (being tested and waiting for results, having COVID, being a possible exposure). Third, I need to be at school teaching every possible day, as my students have missed so much regular school due to the pandemic that I must teach skills and information that they typically come to me having mastered and now lack—and my own children cannot miss school or sports, either.  Fourth, my oldest daughter swims year-round and cannot miss school, meets, and training as she strives to earn a scholarship for college going into her junior year. Finally, COVID is still an issue and we do not know what is to come. My

family has been unable to use our credits for safety, practical l, and financial reasons since our trip and flights and absolutely everything was shut down for our scheduled trip on April 10, 2020. 

Therefore, I don’t see a practical time for my family to schedule a family trip with flights from now through March of next year. Also, it doesn’t make sense for us financially to schedule a trip that would require a shuttle, expensive hotel with transportation to attractions, or a rental car right now.

 

I also have spent so much money on my job as a teacher due to the pandemic.

 

 

 

Re: GOOD FAITH REFUNDS FOR COVID-19 ON SOUTHWEST

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

@KellyB44 no need for the life story. You'll have almost 3 years to use the funds. If you can't use them within 3 years then that's on you. As stated previously, vouchers will be good for 6 months, you have 6 months from expiration to request conversion, however there is no fee if requested this year. Vouchers are issued in the amount of the travel fund so I have no idea why you continue to ask about limits of payment funds. That doesn't seem to apply in this situation. 

 

--TheMiddleSeat

 

Re: GOOD FAITH REFUNDS FOR COVID-19 ON SOUTHWEST

KellyB44
Explorer C

@TheMiddleSeat , thank you again for this information!

 

If you or anyone else can answer the following questions, I’d greatly appreciate it.

 

Do I have to wait for the funds to expire to convert them to vouchers or could I do this sooner?

 

I think that vouchers can be used by anyone (not just the original passengers tied to each amount). Therefore, I could use the entire amount of vouchers for just 1 or 2 of the original 5 ticketed passengers. Is that correct?

 

Is it true that one could book a flight using 2 vouchers, then cancel it to convert that into 1 voucher? Is it true that the vouchers because they cannot be used for taxes and fees?

 

What is the best way to contact SW to confirm this information and request the vouchers? (I sent an email on June 12 and have not yet received a response.)

 

Thank you!

Re: GOOD FAITH REFUNDS FOR COVID-19 ON SOUTHWEST

dfwskier
Aviator A

@KellyB44 wrote:

@TheMiddleSeat , thank you again for this information!

 

If you or anyone else can answer the following questions, I’d greatly appreciate it.

 

Do I have to wait for the funds to expire to convert them to vouchers or could I do this sooner?

 

Not thru the end of 2022. You can tell Southwest that you have no way to use the TF before it expires, and SW will allow conversion to a voucher.

 

 

 

Remember though vouchers are valid for 6 months ONLY. SO, if you convert now, then you have to use the voucher before the end of 2022. If you do so in December, then you'll have almost a full year to use the funds

 

I think that vouchers can be used by anyone (not just the original passengers tied to each amount). Therefore, I could use the entire amount of vouchers for just 1 or 2 of the original 5 ticketed passengers. Is that correct?

 

Yes

 

Is it true that one could book a flight using 2 vouchers, then cancel it to convert that into 1 voucher? Is it true that the vouchers because they cannot be used for taxes and fees?

 

If you use vouchers and cancel, you WILL NOT get a voucher back. You will get a travel fund that can only be used by the named passenger on the cancelled flight. 

 

What is the best way to contact SW to confirm this information and request the vouchers? (I sent an email on June 12 and have not yet received a response.)

 

You've already done so. wait for a response. 

 

Thank you!

 

 

 


 

Re: GOOD FAITH REFUNDS FOR COVID-19 ON SOUTHWEST

dfwskier
Aviator A

@KellyB44 wrote:

 

 

Essentially, Southwest is taking my family’s money for services it will not render. Southwest DID cancel my flight, but just did so after the point at which anyone would have had to have cancelled.

 

 To be perfectly clear, you DID NOT have to cancel when you did. Southwest would have allowed you to cancel 11 minutes before scheduled departure time - which would have been well after the date Southwest cancelled the flight.

 

 

Other airlines cancelled their flights and have refunds well before Southwest. Southwest received government funds to supplement the pandemic losses.

 

Actually the federal funds were to pay employees who otherwise would have been laid off - not to supplement pandemic losses..

 

Further airlines cancel flights when they are sure they will not fly them - not before. The fact that other airlines were cancelling flights is absolutely immaterial.

 

 

 

 

 

I  submitted a request via email 10 days ago after a few phone calls. Does anyone know how the currently offered extension works? The standard of $100 each ticket would mean I’d pay at least $500 (maybe $1000 of it were for each flight, as I had round trips for 5 of us), but I was told I could request vouchers in September (wait until closer to the time our credits expire, because they’ll be timed from the moment of issue) for 6 months and, on a second call, for 12 months. Do these vouchers follow the LUV rule of $100 at a time, no taxes or fees, and only 3 forms of payment per ticket-or per purchase-or per flight?

 

 The rule is that you may request vouchers up to 6 months AFTER the travel funds expire. The normal rule that you have to pay a fee to do so is waived thru the end of 2022. Vouchers are good for 6 months from the date of issue and may be used by anyone.

 

There is no rule that limits your voucher use to $100 a time. if you want to buy a $400 ticket and have $400 in vouchers, you can use them to buy the ticket.

 

Southwest does limit you to use no more than 3 forms of payment to make a purchase.

 

No airline would make a refund in this type of situation. you should not expect Southwest to do so..

 

IF you do this right, then Southwest will have given you about THREE YEARS to use your funds.. That level of accommodation is absolutely unprecedented in the airline business, 

Re: GOOD FAITH REFUNDS FOR COVID-19 ON SOUTHWEST

KellyB44
Explorer C

Hi again.


I’m sorry; I initially responded directly to the email I received, which did not include your boldfaced responses to each of my points/requests. I did not know you had typed these before.

 

Can you please clarify if each voucher is broken down into $100 increments or if I should get one voucher for the entire amount?

If the vouchers are broken down into $100 increments, then is it true that I must only use $200 of funds on a given flight (form 1-$100 voucher, form 2-2nd $100 voucher, form

3-taxes and fees plus the remainder of the cost of the flight if it exceeds $200)?

 

Are the vouchers, like the original credits, tied to individual passengers—or not?

 

As for your responses to my points requesting a refund, whether Southwest grants this request or not (though it seems highly unlikely) is not up to you.

 

I made these points because others have advised me to request a refund, as they report that they have been given refunds for their Wanna Get Away tickets as a result of sharing their circumstances (with comparable or lesser reasons) with customer service.

 

I understand that you don’t think I deserve a refund, and there is no point in requesting consideration and courtesy from you about this matter.

 

As you cannot deny or accept my request for a refund anyway, nor do you need to attempt to refute my request reasons. I am not sure why you are not acknowledging that this pandemic is unprecedented and that I and many others were fully refunded for the cost of tickets bought through other airlines for flights that were to occur during the start of this pandemic—and that I did not have to wait for that airline to cancel before getting my refund.


Nevertheless, I am including responses to your counterpoints in a P.S. below. Feel free to ignore the P.S. if you’d like.

 

If you could share the answers to the questions about the vouchers, I’d greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

 

P.S.

I do not know exactly when I cancelled our flights (sometime between March 13 and April 10, 2020), and neither do you. I do know that, by the time I did so, everything else related to the trip had been shut down due to COVID (the hotel, the swim meet, and Disney in Orlando), as had much of the world.  All public schools in most areas shut down as of March 13, 2020.

 

Furthermore, in response to how generous it is to offer a credit I can’t currently use due to this situation, you seem to be ignoring the fact that an unprecedented pandemic has been ongoing since the start of this and is still happening.

 

Regardless of how long my family was given, it was out of the question (and impossible to do and then return to a job at a school or team) to fly without an absolute need to do so during at least the first and second year of the pandemic.  People are still dying of COVID right now, and it is relevant that a member of my family just died as a result of it.

 

Another airline gave me a full refund on their lowest price tickets.

 

It is also relevant that we are talking about close to $2000 of our money here, not $200 or $400.

 

*I would be thrilled to rebook our original trip or something like it if it could work, but it simply does not, and life has changed significantly.

Re: GOOD FAITH REFUNDS FOR COVID-19 ON SOUTHWEST

dfwskier
Aviator A

@KellyB44 wrote:

Hi again.

 

Can you please clarify if each voucher is broken down into $100 increments or if I should get one voucher for the entire amount?

 

If you turn in three travel funds you will get three vouchers each with the value of the travel fund that produced it. There are no rules about any kind of increments.

 

 

 

 

Are the vouchers, like the original credits, tied to individual passengers—or not?

 

Unlike travel funds, vouchers can be used by anyone.

 

As for your responses to my points requesting a refund, whether Southwest grants this request or not (though it seems highly unlikely) is not up to you.

That is correct, but I have 44 years of flying experience flying Southwest, so I do have a bit of insight about how it operates.

 

I made these points because others have advised me to request a refund, as they report that they have been given refunds for their Wanna Get Away tickets as a result of sharing their circumstances (with comparable or lesser reasons) with customer service.

 

Ask away. No one is stopping you

 

I understand that you don’t think I deserve a refund, and there is no point in requesting consideration and courtesy from you about this matter.

 

Since I do not work for Southwest, there is no way I COULD supply any type of consideration

 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore, in response to how generous it is to offer a credit I can’t currently use due to this situation, you seem to be ignoring the fact that an unprecedented pandemic has been ongoing since the start of this and is still happening.

 

Stop it!  That statement is false. There are a record number of people travelling every day. A s far as air travel goes, the pandemic ended in about November 2021. 

 

Remember when the CDC recommended everyone stay 3 feet apart? Well, I flew into Chicago O'Hare on Monday. There was no three foot rule, and if there had been a 3 INCH rule, it would have been violated thousands and thousands of times.