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Southwest Airlines Community

Refund being held as pending transaction

BeckyLee
Explorer C

I booked a flight about 48 hours ago. I had to cancel it and did so right away and was told my card would be refunded. For 2 days I haven’t been able to access that money. I turned around after canceling and bought a different ticket for another date. 

The thing is this: right now I’ve essentially paid for 2 tickets and I don’t know about anyone else out there I just don’t have that kind of wiggle room with my bank balance. I am a student and every penny is accounted for. I really need to access my money but was told it would take up to 7 days! 

Why does it take so long? Southwest has taken money from me and I’ve got no services. My new reservation is through Southwest. I feel as if I’ve been taken advantage of.

 

I was told my card would be refunded but I will be struggling to make it up to 7 days. Please, can’t someone push the button to release the pending transaction? 

2 REPLIES 2

Re: Refund being held as pending transaction

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Exactly when you canceled is important. You mentioned that you canceled 48 hours after purchasing a flight. If you canceled your purchase of a Wanna Get Away fare more than 24 hours after the purchase you would not be getting a cash refund. Instead the value of your fare would be held as travel funds (credit) that you could use towards another flight within a year. If you did cancel within 24 hours then you would receive a cash refund if that's the option you selected. How long that refund takes to show up is partially up to Southwest and partially up to your bank but should only take a few days. If, based on the timing info above, you really believe that you will be getting a cash refund you could contact both your bank and Southwest Customer Relations.

Contact Customer Relations

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Refund being held as pending transaction

bec102896
Aviator A

One thing I'll add is this is a holiday weekend so this can delay the refund process a couple days. But as @TheMiddleSeat said how long after you booked the ticket is the determining factor of if your refund is to a credit card or travel funds. 

 

-Blake