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Refund due to death

enriquemo2
Explorer C

Who can I work with from SW Airlines in getting a full refund or even a full credit voucher for the unfortunate circumstances I recently experienced?  The night before we were to fly out for our long awaited for Cancun vacation, my 89 year old father had a heart attack, and then passed away a few hours later.  I contacted SW Vacations who we booked our vacation through, and they advised that I could cancel our reservation online and I would get a credit, so I did.  I recently received an email from SW Vacations in which they state they are giving me a credit of only $1800.  We paid $5000!!  They are keeping $3200!!!  How can they do this to someone who not only lost his father, but missed out on their vacation?  It’s just not right!  Anything I can do or speak with?

8 REPLIES 8

Re: Refund due to death

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Southwest Vacations is not part of, owned by, or run by Southwest Airlines so you will need to continue to work with Southwest Vacations for a refund of anything not associated with airfare. Any portion of the cost that was associated with airfare is most likely saved by Southwest Airlines as a travel credit to be used towards future travel. If you have the confirmation number of the flight reservation you can look up the credit associated with each passenger's name here: https://mobile.southwest.com/travel-funds/look-up

 

For the deceased passenger you can write Southwest using the contact us link below and send a message with your request. Alternatively, you could use the travel credit associated with the deceased to purchase a Wanna Get Away Plus fare in the amount of the travel credit with deceased as the passenger, then immediately cancel that reservation, then transfer the travel credit to another person.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Refund due to death

dfwskier
Aviator A

As a point of reference, I have gotten a full travel  fund refund from Southwest AIRLINES upon the death of a named passenger, but as stated earlier you are not dealing with Southwest AIRLINES but instead are dealing with Southwest VACATIONS - a completely different company that is notoriously difficult to deal with.

 

You may not like this but, the firm might be giving you a refund for the deceased person (who could not obviously take the trip), but not for the other people who were still alive and theoretically could have taken the trip - as heartless as that seems. 

 

 Your only option  is to continue to haunt Southwest Vacations for a resolution - sorry.

 

Re: Refund due to death

enriquemo2
Explorer C

Thank you for the replies!  To clarify, my father was NOT going on the trip…only my wife and son were going.  But we obviously had to cancel our trip at the last minute since my dad was in the hospital and ended up passing.

Re: Refund due to death

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

In that case I'm surprised Southwest Vacations (not part of Southwest Airlines) is offering any refund outside of the airfare which Southwest Airlines allows you to hold as a travel credit. Travel insurance would be your best bet for future trips to cover for unexpected situations like this.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Refund due to death

dfwskier
Aviator A

@TheMiddleSeat wrote:

 Travel insurance would be your best bet for future trips to cover for unexpected situations like this.

 

--TheMiddleSeat


Yup.....

Re: Refund due to death

dnsears
Explorer B

I was also wondering if travel insurance had been purchased.  It is listed on their website.  I always purchase travel insurance for any vacation.  It is an added expense, but we have had to use it twice in the past.  Once was also for a death of a family member who was not included on the vacation.  Without the travel insurance I am sure we would not have received a refund.  

Re: Refund due to death

enriquemo2
Explorer C

I did not purchase the travel insurance.  Trust me, from now on, I will.  This is a very expensive lesson learned!

Re: Refund due to death

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@enriquemo2 wrote:

I did not purchase the travel insurance.  Trust me, from now on, I will.  This is a very expensive lesson learned!


I’m the opposite, I don’t usually do it if the loss of the trip could be absorbed the chances of a cancellation are so remote.

 

I would consider it for a very expensive or international trip though, or something that was more likely to fall through and not be easily rescheduled. 

Some credit cards include this option as well although not the Rapid Rewards Visas that I’m aware of, so that might not apply to the flights portion of the trip - there I’m happy to use flight credit anyway so I wouldn’t ever get it for a Southwest flight, my chances of losing the funds are very low.

 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.