@AlexM89 wrote:
Hello everyone. I purchased four tickets for myself and three friends for a trip in less than two weeks from now. One of the friends moms ended up having an accident that required her to have major surgery on her arm, because of this that friend no longer has someone to watch her kids for our trip and she had to cancel out. I have another friend interested in taking her place, however, The tickets I bought for us are wanna get away. Now I’ve read other posts where people have said to cancel the flight for credit, then use the credit to purchase a ticket with get way plus to get the transferable credit to transfer to the other person. My problem is that to either upgrade or just purchase a new ticket for our flight with plus will cost an extra $200. What I’m wondering is, can I cancel the original flight and get the credit, then just find any other flight available from southwest going anywhere that cost the same price as the credit, (like say just a one way ticket priced the amount of my credit) buy that ticket with the get away plus, then cancel right away to get the transferable credit? The friend we want to transfer to already has credit on her account for another canceled flight, the credit she already has plus credit from this flight is enough for her to a buy a ticket for herself on our flight, that is why I don’t want pay $200 more, and then have an extra $200 worth of credit sitting there or sent to her. Thanks in advanced.
Hello!
Best wishes for your friend who cannot make it.
You are correct that your friend will not be able to keep the same price given the changed posted price between the time of original booking and today.
I am aware that there was a reported loophole published on this board and elsewhere that allows a non-transferable WGA flight credit to be 'converted' into a 'fresh' transferable credit by using the original credit toward purchase of any WGA+ fare on a date between any two destination so as long it does not conflict with any other existing bookings. After booking that flight, that person would cancel that reservation and the returned credit is reported to be a transferable flight credit.
I don't know if this is still valid as I've never needed to do something like this. It appears according to Southwest Policy that it can still be done given that there are no published restrictions on fare class when purchasing flights with a non-transferable flight credit nor when receiving a WGA+ transferable flight credit:
- What are flight credits?
- A flight credit is a credit from either a canceled flight or a downgrade in fare that can be used to buy a future flight.
- How do I book a flight with a flight credit?
- When booking a flight, you’ll see an option to apply a flight credit on the payment screen and can do so by entering the confirmation number associated with the flight credit. Each Passenger can use a total of three forms of payment per booking, and each flight credit counts as a form of payment.
- WGA+ Transferable Flight Credit Policy:
- Transferable Flight Credit™ allows you to transfer your flight credit to someone else. Both must be Rapid Rewards® Members and only one transfer is permitted. Transferable Flight Credits don't expire. For bookings made through a Southwest® Business channel, there is a limitation to transfer only between employees within the organization.
If you try it and it works, great! If not, I believe the worst case scenario is that your friend would retain this credit for future use.
