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Travel Funds

JulieGonski
Explorer C

Extremely frustrated that SWA has stopped extending travel fund dates! Purchase tickets last October for April 2020 and had to postpone due to covid until this Oct 2020 but had to now cancel/postpone again until Nov 2021 but cannot!   Would happily use the funds Nov/Dec 2020 but they wont let me!  

 

Covid is not over so why was the extension policy stopped?  I have some credit under same confirmation # that has date of 2022 but now its 2020...

9 REPLIES 9

Re: Travel Funds

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Flights cancelled before September 7, 2020 did get an extension with an expiration of September 2022.  It appears you cancelled after September 7 and thus did not get the extension or re-cancelled after September 7 and now have funds that expire 1 year after original purchase date.  It's possible Southwest could extend the dates again if demand is still low, but there's been no indication of that so far and demand seems to be picking up slightly.

 

It is still possible to extend/re-issue expired travel funds as a LUV voucher, but there is a $100 fee associated with that change.  To do this, wait until the travel funds expire then contact Customer Relations.  The LUV voucher will have a 6 month expiration.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

 

 

Re: Travel Funds

SWFlyer007
Aviator C

They sent out blasts over and over again.  Did you procrastinate?  

Re: Travel Funds

chgoflyer
Aviator A

@SWFlyer007 wrote:

They sent out blasts over and over again.  Did you procrastinate?  


 

Like many hoping to still travel soon, they rebooked their flights, repeatedly, but never actually cancelled. Meaning that their funds were never extended.

Re: Travel Funds

anas1966
Explorer C

i dont recall receiving any of these blasts. beside, they have no excuse for not extending when everyone else is doing it. SHAME ON YOU SOUTHWEST. i filed a case against them at the BBB and i encourage everyone to do so, as apparently there many complaints against them

Re: Travel Funds

gsking
Aviator C

Wow, you really managed to fall through the cracks in their policy.  You tried to do everything right, and instead got the short end of the stick.  You have my sympathy.

 

I suppose you've called them and asked if you can convert the funds to points, in light of your purchase and (original) cancellation dates?

Re: Travel Funds

chgoflyer
Aviator A

From what I'm seeing on social media and elsewhere online, there are a lot of people who "fell through the cracks."

 

Some people seemingly thought that the flight changes they made during the extension period would extend their funds to 2022. Unfortunately, that only happened if you cancelled your flight completely, and if you didn't use those funds again until they were actually extended by the system (usually overnight, occasionally 1-2 business days). For example, cancelling and then rebooking the same day is causing the funds to default to the previous pre-extension expiration. (I've been advised that those specific customers can reach out to Customer Relations for assistance, but reports are negative so far.)

 

I also think a lot of people thought Southwest's covid-19 accommodations would continue past September 7, 2020. We are no where near the end of the pandemic, so it's unfortunate that Southwest has stopped making any accommodations. I personally think it's a bad business move, to not at least address those who rebooked their flights in good faith, some multiple times, and now find they're facing expiration soon.

 

But that does appear to be the reality.

Re: Travel Funds

lily17914
Explorer C

Have anyone tried to book a flight after Sept 7th 2020 and cancel it after 25hrs. See if SW might be kind enough to leave some backdoor surprise to extend the travel funds expiration without officially announcing it?

Re: Travel Funds

chgoflyer
Aviator A

@lily17914 wrote:

Have anyone tried to book a flight after Sept 7th 2020 and cancel it after 25hrs. See if SW might be kind enough to leave some backdoor surprise to extend the travel funds expiration without officially announcing it?


 

Unfortunately that doesn't work. 😞

 

An update to my earlier posts: If you're one of those who cancelled during the accommodation period (March 1-September 7, 2020) but then rebooked the same day (prior to your funds actually being extended by the system, which took at least overnight), you can reach out to Customer Relations and they will make a special accommodation for you (if your funds are now showing their original expiration date).

 

Be aware however, that sadly this will not help if you simply rebooked your flights. It only applies if you actually cancelled them prior to rebooking. 

 

Yes, this is a somewhat arbitrary (and arguably unfair) distinction. But that's how it is.

 

Contact Customer Relations 

Re: Travel Funds

vdesai82
Explorer C
I had travel funds originally generated from a trip to South Carolina I had booked for travel in late March/April, but re-scheduled to October 2020 due to covid and stay-at-home order. Trip cancelled for October 2020 in September 2020 due to quarantine orders for Chicago for travel to South Carolina as well as us now having a newborn. now my funds are set to expire on 11/20/2020 and contacted Southwest multiple times and no exception being made to extend funds. Keep recommending customer relations, but over 45 minutes of waiting and no answer.