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Stealing my hard earned money!

Supetk08
Explorer C

I am so upset ! We booked a flight for Nov 2020 and was cancelled due to Covid reasons. Southwest told us they would give us a credit for our flight. We were fine with this knowing we would plan to travel in Nov 2021. That is when we always do our vacations. In January of 2021 we decided on a vacation and we're trying to book our flight and use our credit  I looked everyday for the flights to be posted on thier site for our Nov travel dates.  The day  They finally posted I called to get it booked and was told my credit had expired!!! We had no idea we had to book so quickly.  They said we only had 6 months to use  (which we were 2 days past 6 months ) but we could not book earlier because the dates were not posted. We thought we had a year to use that is what every single company is doing. But NO NOT Southwest  our country is in a Pandemic and they don't care they want to steal hard earned money from people. They did not provide me a service how can they keep my money ! How can a company keep money they did not provide a service for. I am beyond upset about this. 

11 REPLIES 11

Re: Stealing my hard earned money!

tappingmom1
Frequent Flyer B

@Superk08

SWA did NOT "steal your hard earned money."

 

You said, "We thought we had a year to use that is what every single company is doing."

 

There lies your problem.  You thought.  Instead, you needed to know.  In your rush to purchase great non-refundable fares, you didn't understand the ramifications of canceling, pandemic or no pandemic.

 

"They did not provide me a service how can they keep my money !"  Because you agreed to their policies when you purchased those tickets.

 

Further, "every single company is doing."  Not true.

 

This is entirely on you and blaming SWA is completely unfair.  I understand that you're upset.  But being emotional and unfairly ranting makes it hard to sympathize.

Re: Stealing my hard earned money!

jksobonya
Aviator A

@Supetk08 wrote:

We thought we had a year to use that is what every single company is doing. 


You did have a year - your travel funds for cancelled flights are valid one year from the date you book, not one year from the date you fly. This is standard Southwest policy and something Southwest always did even before the pandemic. (Other airlines never did anything like this - in fact, you would have to pay fees to cancel your flight with any other airline, forget about having travel "credit" with them.) 

 

--Jessica

Re: Stealing my hard earned money!

parpitt1
Frequent Flyer A

Echoing others comments SWA did not steal from you. I encourage you to read the terms and conditions you agree to when you purchase items. SWA is very transparent about non-refundable flights at the time of purchase. They also list the time frame to use your credit when you cancel a reservation. 

SWA is much less punitive than other airlines once you cancel a non-refundable ticket. 

Best of luck to you in the future and please read the not so small print when you make purchases.

Re: Stealing my hard earned money!

teechtime
Explorer C

I guess I'd agree that they aren't "stealing", but I do agree/wish they would be a bit more flexible in the time of the pandemic.  I also had travel funds, but wasn't the person that originally booked the ticket.  I was a passenger, so I didn't read any policy myself about booking a new ticket by the booking date rather than the travel date.  We had to cancel due to covid and I assumed I had that much time to rebook.  I also didn't know I had to travel by then.  When your trip is cancelled due to covid, you have no control that you can't use that ticket when your kid is graduating, or you teach summer school, etc.  This was the first opportunity since the cancellation that I had the opportunity to even think about flying again.  

Re: Stealing my hard earned money!

gsking
Aviator C

It was your first opportunity to even THINK about flying again?   Well,  I guess you don't fly very much at all.   

 

As was mentioned,  you had a year to rebook a flight.   You don't fly much,  so you didn't think about it.   Oops.  

 

Yes,  if flying is rare for you,  you wouldn't pay attention to the details.   You had one trip that you canceled (not SWA), six months or more into Covid.   And then you assumed you could just reschedule for this year. 

 

I'd be mad at your destination for canceling... not SWA.  Are they even open again this year? 

 

Most of the world has resumed life.   Time to get back to normal. 

Re: Stealing my hard earned money!

rich1954
Adventurer A

This is why I always book with points, even if it means buying some. %100 refundable.

Re: Stealing my hard earned money!

bwallet
Frequent Flyer A

@rich1954 If you always book with points, how do you earn enough points to book flights?

 

And, I'm pretty sure that buying points is much more expensive than buying refundable tickets.

Re: Stealing my hard earned money!

rich1954
Adventurer A

They have to be on sale or running a promo to make it worthwhile to buy, otherwise buying is not a good deal. 

I also get the Chase credit card when they have a promo, recently they were giving out 65k points when you sign up. You can use the card for all your purchases to accumulate points or cancel it after you get the points, wait the 24 months and get it again. 

My wife and I fly 2 or 3 times a year and have not paid cash for a flight in many years.

Re: Stealing my hard earned money!

rich1954
Adventurer A

Don't buy points if they are not on sale or some type of promo. If you pay more than .015 a point than not a good deal.