Unable to refund even with the Coronavirus

[saltmanone]

   Let me restate my discriminating claim. Whether a senior citizen or a young child ,I think my groups purchase or the children's group purchase is entitled to the same offers given a individual senior or a younger person. Our money has the same value as their money.

[chgoflyer]

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@saltmanone wrote:

   Let me restate my discriminating claim. Whether a senior citizen or a young child ,I think my groups purchase or the children's group purchase is entitled to the same offers given a individual senior or a younger person. Our money has the same value as their money.

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Making a claim of discrimination really isn't going to help you. You are being treated exactly the same as any other groups customer. Which is, being treated according to the terms of your group's purchase. Which is what you agreed to when you made the purchase. You didn't make a purchase individually, so those terms don't apply.

That said, I do feel like this is a very specific situation that may require special accommodations. It remains unclear at this point if Southwest will be making any of those. Your best bet is to continue to follow up with them directly.

As a reminder, this is essentially a customer to customer forum, and not an official customer service channel. 

[bec102896]

I’m sorry for your continued disappointment with the group travel policies. As mentioned this is primarily a customer to customer forum so I recommend reaching out to the groups department or you can reach out to customer relations at 855-234-4654 and maybe they can help but they will probably refer you back to the groups department.

Why do I (as a customer) think they aren’t letting you out of the group reservation? Because with group travel you get free name changes and a discount on the flights compared to those who book 8 or less online. Also once you make the final payment your locked in to the reservation as is stated in the contract that the group leader received if you cancel you will lose all funds. If you haven’t made the final payment you could cancel but you will lose the non refundable deposit. 

-Blake 

[S2bx04]

I’m so sorry to hear this! That’s terrible!

[jksobonya]

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@aespin28 wrote:

I had purchased tickets for my family to come visit me in San Francisco a while back before the outbreak occurred. Southwest is now taking a hard stand on not refunding my tickets. They would only give them back as a credit in the passengers name (which I purchased the tickets with my own card) 

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This is standard practice. Southwest does not give refunds on Wanna Get Away fares. If you cancel your flight, you are given the balance as a credit to use within 1 year since the date you purchased the airfare. That's pretty generous considering Southwest does not charge any cancellation fees, like all other airlines do, ironically up until now. The other airlines are enacting no cancellation fees which Southwest has always done. 

--Jessica

[MGC]

SAME here.   Flying into New Orleans in 10 days.  New Orleans has 6 new cases today, all in the service area.   THEY ARE PUTTING PROFITS BEFORE PEOPLE.

[MonicaSW]

Jessica, its good to know that Southwest has a generous cancellation policy. But, this is an economic hardship situation for most of us. For people like us you have contract jobs, no job, no money! We are worried about our future. In this dire circumstances, do you think a travel fund would help?  We expect South West to empathize with his customers and not hide behind policy.

[jksobonya]

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@MonicaSW wrote:

Jessica, its good to know that Southwest has a generous cancellation policy. But, this is an economic hardship situation for most of us. For people like us you have contract jobs, no job, no money! We are worried about our future. In this dire circumstances, do you think a travel fund would help?  We expect South West to empathize with his customers and not hide behind policy.

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Monica - believe me, I know all about contracts! I am a contractor and my current end date at my company is 3/31. I've been told since the start of the contract that it was always likely my contract would be extended (or even better, a permanent position!) but I have yet to receive an update, and I have 2 weeks left. I am trying not to worry too much about it and just let the dominos fall one way or another. Worse case scenario, I'll be unemployed for awhile. I should still be able to collect unemployment while I look for another job 🙂 

Regarding Southwest, if they make any updates to any of their policies, I am sure that an announcement will be made. 

--Jessica

[Jiggy]

We have a  youth group going to NY. I agree with Southwest that they are safe from the virus. However, we are not safe from NY (who currently is under a State of Emergency) deciding to quarantine certain areas or possibly closing airports and having our children stranded there for up to 14 days. We are a lower income group in Mississippi and air travel in the next 10 months for these kids with a voucher is very unlikely. Also, they did fundraisers to pay for the tickets. Morally it feels wrong to raise funds for an organization and use for personal use. I know this isn't Southwest's problem but this is a situation to break policy.

[saltmanone]

I assume your purchase was a group one. I agree with you ,one hundred percent.. I have kind of the same situation. Although we are not kids. We are senior citizens and purchased as group. I feel we are being discriminated against due to  our age. Please see my blog under travel policies.

                                                              Saltmanone