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Request expiration extension on tickets canceled due to Covid 19.

ftputnam
Explorer C
The following is my message asking for help, sent to Southwest customer relations on 8-13-2020.
 
Please help me with this or let me know who can help.  My husband and I (both late 60's) had saved up to take our children and grandchildren on a Hawaiian vacation in April 2020. (We booked the flights last year, before Covid 19). Because of Covid, we first had to postponed the trip to July 2020, Hawaii was still closed so had to postpone again, this time to December 2020. Hawaii is still on the restricted list so I had to cancelled the trip because of health risks to ourselves and one of our grandchildren. My problem is that the expiration date was only extended to May 2020 instead of September 2022. We live in a remote area with no cell service and spotty internet at best, so I did not receive word that I could have cancelled in September and received an extended expiration date of September 2022. The entire cost of the tickets for 9 of us during this peak time is $8****.20. This is a good part of our savings wasted if a covid vaccine is not available by then. Please help us by extending the expiration date to September 7, 2022 or exchange the tickets for Rapid Rewards points. I am also available by phone at *******117 if you have questions or would like to discuss this further. Thank you so much for your much needed help with this. T**a P*****m
 
 
This is Southwest airlines response.   i did not receive help , but, got a "canned" answer from Southwest instead.  
Has anyone else received this answer?  Has anyone received an extension, if so, how did you do it?
 

 

Southwest Airlines
sent
4 minutes ago
Thank you for your patience with me. Certainly, we understand your concern for traveling at this time. We pride ourselves on never charging cancellation fees (although failure to cancel a reservation at least 10 minutes prior to scheduled departure may result in forfeited travel funds), so if a Customer purchases a nonrefundable Wanna Get Away fare and they decide to cancel, all travel funds will be held and available for future use. That being said, I understand you'd like to rebook your family trip to Hawaii and that the expiration date listed on your ticket is not ideal. As mentioned, the full use of your funds are available for future travel to be completed on or before May 28, 2021. While we will be unable to honor your request to provide you with an extension through September 7, 2022, or to provide the option to convert the travel funds to Points, your concerns have been summarized for our Senior Leaders. -James
2 REPLIES 2

Re: Request expiration extension on tickets canceled due to Covid 19.

bec102896
Aviator A

First off for your reservations security please edit your post to remove the confirmation numbers. 

 

Now with the extension of travel funds unfortunately the deadline to get the travel funds extended to 2022 passed on September 7th at this point all we can do is hope that southwest will offer another chance to get an extension on travel funds but as of now they are back to the normal policy of travel funds expiring 1 year from original purchase date. I do know that if your funds expire you could Contact Customer Relations  and on a case by case basis will issue a LUV voucher for the funds minus a $100 fee and that voucher is good for another 6 months. 

 

-Blake

Re: Request expiration extension on tickets canceled due to Covid 19.

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

For your safety, please remove your confirmation numbers from your post.

 

Your results are not surprising based on the feedback from others who missed the deadline to extend travel funds.  The opportunity was available for quite some time and Southwest does not seem to able/willing to extend funds now that the deadline to do so has passed.  Hopefully you are able to travel before May 28, 2021.

 

--TheMiddleSeat