Travel Funds and companion pass

[Coloradokrebs]

 I purchased two one way trips in September for travel in February for me and my wife.  I have since re-earned the companion pass for 2020.  I canceled the two trips and rebooked for myself and my wife as my companion.  Problem is, half of the Flight Fund from the canceled flights are in my wife's name, $360, and I can't access that to pay for flights for me with her as my companion.  They expire in September and all her travel will be with me as my companion.  What options to I have to either get access to it under my name, if any?  Other options?

[dfwskier]

Sorry, but there are no other options -- other than her taking a trip somewhere where she is not your companion.

Or, you could name someone else to be your companion, and then the three of you go somewhere with her using her travel funds and the companion using companion status.

Reminder: there is a limit to the number of time you can switch companions in a year.

[Coloradokrebs]

Arrg!  Something is not right with that.  Thanks for your response.  what's the limit, if you know, as to how many times a companion can be changed?

Also, do you know if there is a way to take the unused travel funds and convert them over to a voucher with some cost to do so?

Thanks,

[dfwskier]

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@Coloradokrebs wrote:

Arrg!  Something is not right with that.  Thanks for your response.  what's the limit, if you know, as to how many times a companion can be changed?

Also, do you know if there is a way to take the unused travel funds and convert them over to a voucher with some cost to do so?

Thanks,

---

Companion can be changed up to 3 times per year. So you could conceivably have four different companions in a year -- the first plus three changes.

Yes, you can convert travel funds into a voucher that can be used by anyone. You have to wait til the travel funds expire, and then there's a $100 fee.

[DancingDavidE]

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@dfwskier wrote:

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@Coloradokrebs wrote:

Arrg!  Something is not right with that.  Thanks for your response.  what's the limit, if you know, as to how many times a companion can be changed?

Also, do you know if there is a way to take the unused travel funds and convert them over to a voucher with some cost to do so?

Thanks,

---

Companion can be changed up to 3 times per year. So you could conceivably have four different companions in a year -- the first plus three changes.

Yes, you can convert travel funds into a voucher that can be used by anyone. You have to wait til the travel funds expire, and then there's a $100 fee.

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That's unadvertised, but what we hear on the community to be the current offer. Best case as @dfwskier says is if she takes a solo flight sometime and can use the funds. Also consider if she would join one of your trips in progress or leave early instead of only using companion tickets. (Book one-ways to facilitate this setup.)

I'm only confused by one part - you shouldn't have had to cancel your own flight to add the companion. It doesn't sound lke it will be an issue for you to use the travel funds anyway, but you should have been able to add a companion to your own flight without rebooking.

[DancingDavidE]

I should add we were in the same position this year earning CP in August or so - might as well cancel and book a CP ticket and see if you end up using travel funds just in case.

However in anticipation we did book several trips during this time on points, knowing points booking are refunded to the account as opposed to cash fare going into travel funds. Doesn't help you now, but anyone else reading this thinking "what happens when I earn CP mid-year and already have flights booked for my companion?"

Note that in the prior advice although you can change companion periodically, you can't change it while you have future trips booked for the current companion - It's a minor point unless the flight you have in the future for the future companion is full already. If you have November flights booked for a spouse, you can't change companion in July to a child while keeing the November booking for spouse.

[bec102896]

One idea I have is to use her travel funds to pay for her government taxes (the $5.60 each way for domestic travel tax) you would just keep using the same confirmation number until the funds are gone or if you add a one way with her paying (say she flies on a different flight) to use the funds quicker. 

-Blake 

[guoos]

Or, you could name someone else to be your companion, and then the three of you go somewhere with her using her travel funds and the companion using companion status.

[ZevSupport]

I can definitely relate as we were in the same situation. We ultimately used the same confirmation code over and over to pay the $5.60 government fees. 

While I'm not sure how much it'll help, try reaching out via Twitter or giving Southwest a call, maybe they can assist further with this scenario.