Obsessive Change Fees

[22997280725]

4 of us went to the INDY 500 in May 2024 with Southwest out of Norfolk VA. Our original return date was after the race on Sunday PM. Due to a 4 hour rain delay, we needed to reschedule our flight until the next day, Monday. Even though we had been given multiple napkins on our flights boasting NO CHANGE FEES, we were charged $288.00 per ticket just to change our return flight home . ( total round trip tickets were under $400.00 each ) Our conf # was 3UJYPT. I sent a complaint to Southwest, Case # 92138237 and was sent a you can Kiss my A** form letter. Southworst took advantage of thousands of Race Fans and our group will no longer fly Southworst.  Enjoy your money Southworst because you will get no more of ours even if it cost more and I will continue to let everyone that I can reach out to, how you treated the race fans that flew with you, Hopefully for the last time. One last thing, the flight attendant's were were the best part of the flights. I commend the flight attendants and CONDEM the Southwest Corporate. 

[bballflyer · Accepted solution]

I don't think these were change fees were they, vs the price of the ticket at the time of the change?  A change fee, which I have had on airlines such as Alaska (that has now removed them) and American, would charge you $250 just to change the flight, + the cost of the new flight.  Southwest will let you do same day standby to change at no charge, or if you pay the extra 20+ can do same day confirm changes at no extra charge, but these are only for flights the same day and on the day of travel.  If you have to change to a different day of travel, or have to make the change before the travel day, you will always be charged the cost of the new fare at that time, or in many cases, given a credit if the price has dropped.  If there are weather issues such as a storm, that will cause significant delays on the flight, they allow no charge changes up to 14 days.  I assume when you say weather delay, you mean for the race not the flight, if the flight was delayed by 4 hours I would contract customer service and they may be able to help.  Southwest has one of the most flexible policies out there.  I don't know of any airline that will change you flight to a different day without charging the cost of the new flight time unless there is some flight delay preventing you from taking your original flight. 

[tappingmom1 · Accepted solution]

Lucky you...seeing the Indy 500 in person.  I'm a race fan and that race is on my bucket list.

But to address your complaint:

You weren't charged a change fee.  And, as your napkin indicated, SWA does not charge change fees.

However, you were charged for the difference in the cost of the new flight.  For example, if your original Sunday flight was $200 and the new Monday flight was $488, you were charged the difference in flight cost...or $288.  Because it was a last-minute "purchase" or change, the flight was more expensive.

All airlines will charge the difference in flight costs if you make a change.  All of them.  I'm sorry you misunderstood the benefit in its entirety.  

Here is a link to SWA's Same-Day Change and Same-Day Standby explanation:

https://www.southwest.com/airfare-types-benefits/sameday-standby-change/#:~:text=Same%2DDay%20Change...