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Southwest makes it impossible to use credits

JEG
Explorer C

My family booked a trip to fly for Labor Day 2021. We paid holiday prices, and covid seemed to be waning. 

 

When covid dangerously surged at our destination we chose to cancel and use the credit in the future. 

 

Southwest will not just credit the parents for the children's tickets so we have a better chance of using the credit. The children all have the credits under their names. 

 

Southwest then requires a "call" to extend the credits for six more months, and steals 100 dollars per flyer credit as a "fee." The flights were booked all at once as a family trip, and paid for with one credit card charge *HOWEVER* they divide it up by passenger and keep 100 per ticket as fee!! Therefore 400 dollars of the 1600 dollar trip price. Dirty. 

 

Because we can't fly together in the alotted time (the children are too young to fly by themselves), Southwest has now stolen 400 dollars from us. For nothing. On top of my tax dollars used to bail them out.

 

No other business would get away with this. Thankfully, there are other airlines to choose from. Whew!

 

 

2 REPLIES 2

Re: Southwest makes it impossible to use credits

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

You purchased a non-refundable ticket.  Southwest offers you the ability to use the full credit within one year of your original purchase date, that is plenty of time to make plans and planes are flying at near capacity so most people have moved on from being afraid to fly.  While you may have not wanted to go to your original destination, Southwest flies to plenty of other places.  You have had lots of time and lots of options and you have chosen not to fly.

 

Travel credits have always been associated with specific travelers and as far as I know it's the same on other airlines that offer similar credit.  Children age 5 or older can fly alone on Southwest if that's really your concern.

 

As a convenience for those who need even more time than the one year already given to use travel credit Southwest does let you convert an expired travel fund into a LUV voucher.  You do not need to call as you claim, you can send a message using the contact us link below with the confirmation numbers and passenger names.  It's not unreasonable that there is a small reduction in the value of your funds in exchange for the additional time given to you to use the funds.  LUV vouchers can also be used by anyone and are not directly connected with a specific passenger so you also get additional flexibility for the small reduction in value.  You have 6 months after expiration to convert and then 6 months to use the vouchers.

 

Perhaps you should read about other airlines refund policies before claiming Southwest is inferior.  Since you did not even know Southwest's policies I'll guess you have not examined others to see they are very similar, if not worse.  You could always buy a refundable fare next time if you are so worried about having to reschedule.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Southwest makes it impossible to use credits

dfwskier
Aviator A

Southwest did not STEAL anything. The airline is doing EXACTLY what it said it would when you bought your ticket. If you didn't like the rules, then you should not have bought the ticket.

 

 Do you understand that if you had been on United, Delta, American et all, they would have kept the entire $1600. So Southwest is doing something no other airline would do by giving you access to $1200.