Travel funds about to expire

[ghigbee]

Just found out my travel funds will be expired on 6/18/21 and trying to book a flight for Nov for Me & my Wife. We both have the travel funds from a cancelled flight from Nov 2020. Can a person say book a flight to some where that leaves 6/17 and return date of 6/18, use the travel funds, pay the difference, then just cancel the flight a few hours ahead of time? Would the used travel funds still expire on 6/18 or would they be extended for 6 months? Any suggestions would be great!! Thanks

[TheMiddleSeat]

Booking and canceling a flight booked with a travel fund does not change the expiration date. Unless you can actually fly before the 18th you're out of luck.

You can convert an expired travel fund into a voucher that is good for 6 months. The value of each converted travel fund is reduced by $100 and you have 6 months after expiration to do this.

Contact Customer Relations to do this conversion.

--TheMiddleSeat

[ghigbee]

Unfortunately I did not know there was such a expiration date until I went to book our flight for this Nov and tried to use them, thats when the message came up. Guess we will just have to take the $200 hit on this one and have learned a hard lesson. If we book the Nov flight today & pay the whole fare, can you apply the voucher at a later date before the flight?

[TheMiddleSeat]

No, you would have to cancel and rebook to use the voucher and you would get new travel funds when you cancel. Not a good move.

--TheMiddleSeat

[ghigbee]

Was just curious. Guess we wait till Saturday!! Thanks for the info and your time.

[tappingmom1]

@ghigbee  I like your attitude!!  I truly do.  You took responsibility, learned from it, and moved on.  I wish there were more people like you.  I hope you have a wonderful trip in November!!

[bec102896]

One random idea I have with the current issues going on book a flight for tomorrow and hope it gets canceled and maybe they could then offer an extension without the $100 fee per travel fund. Because of all the delays and cancellations today I’m afraid the mess will still exist tomorrow while trying to get planes and crews rerouted. Just a thought,

[TheMiddleSeat]

Not a bad idea, just be sure to cancel at least 10 minutes prior to departure if Southwest doesn't cancel the flight.

--TheMiddleSeat