Refund

[Luckyone]

My mother was supposed to fly from Phoenix Az to California on 4/5/2020 however due to covid she was going to reschedule her flight to next year however she passed away 9/15/2020 . We closed my moms banking account because she was receiving VA as well as social security benefits. We notified both benefits in order to prevent them from sending her a check on Oct 1. I spoke with two representatives Rocky and Alex regarding this matter. I advised them since my mom bank account was  closed they would send the payment back to SW airlines. I told them I have my mom death cert and please send a paper check to me. I was basically told to bad it's not their responsibility and according the law that's all they can do. I even asked if they could transfer the ticket to my name, they couldn't do that either. It seems as if SW is trying to keep my deceased mothers money and just move on to the next deceased person. if this is a rule then SW should have it changed immediately because the grieving family is going through enough stress. I would like to get this issue resolved with a supervisor.

complaint 12811567.

[dfwskier]

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@Luckyone wrote:

 . I spoke with two representatives Rocky and Alex regarding this matter. I advised them since my mom bank account was  closed they would send the payment back to SW airlines.  

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Sorry to hear of your mom's passing.

First of all, I'm confused about your comment. Are Rocky and Alex Southwest employees or Southwest Vacation employees?

I've dealt  with Southwest on getting refunds of Wanna Get Away tickets two times on behalf of people that had died. In both cases, the airline promptly refunded the ticket amounts TO THE ORIGINAL FORM OF PAYMENT. I didn't even need death certificates. The process was effortless. I presume it is automatic by the airline.

Now if the original form of payment was your mom's bank account, and you closed the account, there's nothing "automatic" that the airline can do. There was no reason to close your mom's accounts within days of her passing, Any government payments made to the account that should not have been made would be easily recovered by the government from those accounts. I leave deceased people's accounts (I've done so 4 times) active for at least 6 months after death to allow any automatics payments to at least be recognized. In this case it would have allowed an easy ticket refund. 

Anyway, if Rocky and ALex are Southwest employees, you'll need to contact customer relations in order to address the issue. SInce this is a customer forum, no one here can fix it. Here's how to contact customer relations:

https://community.southwest.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/Contact-Customer-Relations/ta-p/108355