Early Bird transfer

[jfrank02]

Beware purchasing the Early Bird checkin.  I had to modify my reservation to a new destination city and the Early Bird did not transfer.  Called Southwest and was told because I cancelled the first city and rebooked another city that Southwest kept my $50 and I was out of luck. 

This policy is BAD.  First of all, the customer is doing the work of the Southwest agent.  We don't know, nor does Southwest make you aware of the dangers of losing money like this when you utilize their website.  Second, this is BAD BUSINESS.  i have been a loyal Southwest customer for years and to be treated this way is terrible.  I will now look to other airlines to be treated better.  MAJOR FAIL SOUTHWEST!!!

[bec102896 · Accepted solution]

Usually as long as you change your reservation not cancel your Early bird check in would transfer (at least prior to the new Early bird changes) before the changes as long as you changed to a flight at least 36 hours later it transferred over 

i know now that Early bird isn’t available on every flight so now i am curious how that works if you change from a flight that EB was eligible to a new flight that isn’t available for EB for flights more than 36 hours later. I’ll look in to that scenario and see if I can get an answer for that. 

if you cancel your reservation and rebook you will lose the EB and it is non refundable 

[dfwskier]

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@jfrank02 wrote:
 

  We don't know, nor does Southwest make you aware of the dangers of losing money like this when you utilize their website. 

Ahhhh, yes it does. It's in the published rules, but you actually have to READ the rules to see them

"EarlyBird Check-In can be transferred only if the new flight departs more than 25 hours from the time of the change. If the new flight departs in less than 25 hours, then you will lose your non-refundable EarlyBird Check-In purchase. Additionally, if the change to your reservation involves a new city pair(s), you will need to contact us to have the EarlyBird Check-In transferred."

 

Second, this is BAD BUSINESS.  i have been a loyal Southwest customer for years and to be treated this way is terrible.  I will now look to other airlines to be treated better.  MAJOR FAIL SOUTHWEST!!!

Do you have any idea how many    thousands of statements like that are made to Southwest, American, United, Delta and EVERY other airline every year?

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@jfrank02

[SoCalFlyer97]

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@jfrank02 wrote:

Beware purchasing the Early Bird checkin.  I had to modify my reservation to a new destination city and the Early Bird did not transfer.  Called Southwest and was told because I cancelled the first city and rebooked another city that Southwest kept my $50 and I was out of luck. 

This policy is BAD.  First of all, the customer is doing the work of the Southwest agent.  We don't know, nor does Southwest make you aware of the dangers of losing money like this when you utilize their website.  Second, this is BAD BUSINESS.  i have been a loyal Southwest customer for years and to be treated this way is terrible.  I will now look to other airlines to be treated better.  MAJOR FAIL SOUTHWEST!!!

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I echo @bec102896

I'm assuming you made this change 25 hours or more before departure. I would also try emailing or sending a DM to Twitter and make it clear that your intent of your transaction was to change the destination city on your reservation and not to cancel it altogether and start from scratch. They should have record of both flight confirmations. Here is Southwest's policy:

If I have EarlyBird Check-In and choose to change my flight, will the EarlyBird Check-In transfer as well?

EarlyBird Check-In can be transferred only if the new flight departs more than 25 hours from the time of the change. If the new flight departs in less than 25 hours, then you will lose your non-refundable EarlyBird Check-In purchase. Additionally, if the change to your reservation involves a new city pair(s), you will need to contact us to have the EarlyBird Check-In

transferred.

https://www.southwest.com/help/booking/earlybird-checkin