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Re: Flight Cancellation due to weather???

chgoflyer
Aviator A

@dfwskier wrote:

@chgoflyer wrote:

I've had no experience rebooking a canceled flight (unprotected by a Travel Advisory) for one "up to 14 days later" -- I'm just aware that the Southwest Contract of Carriage guarantees accommodation on the next flight with available space. Are you certain that is the policy on non-protected flights?

 

If you cancel a non-refundable reservation electively you will only receive Travel Funds, calling will not generate any kind of refund. If Southwest cancels a non-refundable reservation you are due a full refund upon request (with any Gift Card funds being converted to Travel Funds).


From page 13 of the contract:
 
Delays or Involuntary Cancellations. If a Passenger’s scheduled transportation is
canceled, terminated, or delayed before the Passenger has reached his final
destination as a result of a flight cancellation, Carrier
-caused missed connection,
flight delay, or omission of a scheduled stop, Carrier will either transport the
Passenger at no additional charge on another of Carrier’s flights, refund the fare for
the unused transportation
in accordance with the form of payment utilized for the
Ticket, or provide a credit for such amount toward the purchase of future travel."
 
And every text message I've received from the airline after getting cancelled reads:'SWA Flight XXX on Feb XX from DAL is cancelled. To rebook OR REQUEST A REFUND call 866 XXX XXXX."
 
I beleive the 14 day rebook rule is a federal rule all airlines must adhere to.

 

As I said, I'm unfamiliar with the 14 day period. I'm not saying it isn't true, just that my experience has always been accommodation on the next flight with available space. Do you have a reference for the FAA rule? I've not ever seen anything that mentioned that specific 14-day period, and it's not referenced anywhere in Southwest's CoC or Customer Service Commitment. (It's only mentioned when a Travel Advisory is posted.)

 

As to the rest of you post: When Southwest cancels your flight, the associated funds are held as Travel Funds under the confirmation number. If you'd like a refund, you must request it. (Note: You're not cancelling the flight, Southwest already has.)

 

However, my earlier point still stands: If you cancel a flight electively, you will not receive a refund of a non-refundable fare (unless it's protected by a Travel Advisory). You will receive Travel Funds.

 

Does this make it clearer?

Re: Flight Cancellation due to weather???

dfwskier
Aviator A

@chgoflyer wrote: 

 

However, my earlier point still stands: If you cancel a flight electively, you will not receive a refund of a non-refundable fare (unless it's protected by a Travel Advisory). You will receive Travel Funds.

 

 Some where upthread I mentioned that if your flight is canceled:

 

"And every text message I've received from the airline after getting cancelled reads:'SWA Flight XXX on Feb XX from DAL is cancelled. To rebook OR REQUEST A REFUND call 866 XXX XXXX."

 

I believe I further elaborated that you could cancel the reservation yourself, and if you do that, you can only receive travel funds. Note that is possible only until the date/time of the canceled flight. Note: I did this myself earlier this week when I had yet another canceled flight this year (5th one).

 

Not sure what we're debating

Re: Flight Cancellation due to weather???

chgoflyer
Aviator A

To be fair, neither am I anymore. 😉

 

I was initially responding to your post where you said:

 

3)You can cancel the reservation. If you do it yourself, you will get travel funds. If you do it with a reservations person you can ask for cash back to whatever method used to pay for the original reservation. Alternatively, you can ask for travel funds. If you used a gift card to pay for the original reservation, your only option is travel funds.

 

I was just clarifying for anyone reading that, no -- if you cancel a reservation you cannot receive a refund. The flight would need to be cancelled by Southwest for this to be true.

 

I suspect it's semantics here, and what you meant to explain was that if your flight is cancelled by Southwest you can call and request a refund. (Not that you call and cancel the reservation.)

 

Which is why I replied:

 

If you cancel a non-refundable reservation electively you will only receive Travel Funds, calling will not generate any kind of refund. If Southwest cancels a non-refundable reservation you are due a full refund upon request (with any Gift Card funds being converted to Travel Funds).

 

And...

 

As to the rest of you post: When Southwest cancels your flight, the associated funds are held as Travel Funds under the confirmation number. If you'd like a refund, you must request it. (Note: You're not cancelling the flight, Southwest already has.)

 

However, my earlier point still stands: If you cancel a flight electively, you will not receive a refund of a non-refundable fare (unless it's protected by a Travel Advisory). You will receive Travel Funds.

 

To be fair, as the CoC states, there is a specific circumstance where, if your flight is significantly delayed (but not yet cancelled) you can cancel the itinerary and receive a refund. But this discussion was in the context of flight cancellations, so I didn't want to further complicate things by discussing that distinction. 😉

 

Ultimately, I think we're really saying the same thing here.

 

My other question was regarding the "14-day period for rebooking" (when outside of a posted Travel Advisory):

 

I said...

 

I've had no experience rebooking a canceled flight (unprotected by a Travel Advisory) for one "up to 14 days later" -- I'm just aware that the Southwest Contract of Carriage guarantees accommodation on the next flight with available space. Are you certain that is the policy on non-protected flights?

 

And...

 

As I said, I'm unfamiliar with the 14 day period. I'm not saying it isn't true, just that my experience has always been accommodation on the next flight with available space. Do you have a reference for the FAA rule? I've not ever seen anything that mentioned that specific 14-day period, and it's not referenced anywhere in Southwest's CoC or Customer Service Commitment. (It's only mentioned when a Travel Advisory is posted.)

 

FYI: I've checked again, and I see nowhere in the FAA regs any mention of a requirement for reaccommodation for up to 14 days.

 

I've reached out to Southwest for an official clarification, and will post when I hear back.

 

 

 

Re: Flight Cancellation due to weather???

chgoflyer
Aviator A

Update:

 

Here's the official reply I received from Southwest. While it's not exactly definitive at answering the question, it does seem to indicate that the 14-day reaccommodation practice only applies during protected Travel Advisories.

 

Hope this helps clear up the confusion.

 

Thank you for contacting us, we appreciate the opportunity to respond to your concerns.

 

Please allow me to explain that when a flight cancellation occurs, the Customers involved have the option of surrendering their flight coupons for the appropriate refund or awaiting accommodation on the next available Southwest Airlines flight to their destination. In the latter case, our Employees will accommodate displaced Customers with a confirmed seat or a “priority standby” listing if confirmed seats are not available. Any changes made to a reservation outside of our accommodation procedures would be subject to the applicable fare difference at the time of the change.

 

In contrast, when our Network Operations Control Team anticipates and announces, via a Travel Advisory on Southwest.com, that inclement weather may impact our flight schedule, affected Customers can be reaccommodated at no charge provided that: travel is completed within 14 days of the originally scheduled itinerary and no changes are made to the originally reserved city-pairs. If the Customer chooses to travel beyond the 14-day window, he/she is responsible for any fare difference for the new reservation. If you have any questions regarding our accommodation procedures, please feel free to contact us anytime at 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792).

 

Your support, patronage, and confidence are very important to us, and we hope to have the opportunity to welcome you onboard another Southwest flight soon.

 

Sincerely,

John Repp, Southwest Airlines

 

 

 

Re: Flight Cancellation due to weather???

Rallytime14
Explorer A

I’ll be blunt here. No airline will pay for accommodations for weather delays. If a flight Is cancelled for weather reasons, then the airline is no longer at fault, since like you, they don’t control the weather. That doesn’t mean the weather at your departure airport has to be bad, it could be at the destination or affecting previous segment en route to your departure city. If your plane can’t get off the ground to get to you, then it ain’t comin’!

 

Now if this cancellation was due to a fault of the airline, then you could expect to receive accommodations/food vouchers until your next flight. Otherwise they’ll just rebook you and waive fees associated with a change. They will likely also waive any differences in fare too.

 

If you are ever stuck in a city due to a weather cancellation, try looking up “distressed passenger rates” or asking if a local airport hotel has those available. I’ve been stuck due to weather before and sometimes you can get discounted room rates for folks just needing somewhere to crash for an evening. In the event that’s not available, try broadening your search for hotels out of the immediate airport area. In a city like Dallas or Houston, there are a ton of hotels to choose from. You can probably find something more affordable that’s an Uber ride away and closer to better food options/things to do.

 

Sorry your wife and son had to deal with this. Hopefully they enjoyed their college visit at A&M. Unfortunately it’s something that happens a lot with air travel.