Southwest Airlines Community

@TheMiddleSeat , thank you again for this information!   If you or anyone else can answer the following questions, I’d greatly appreciate it.   Do I have to wait for the funds to expire to convert them to vouchers or could I do this sooner?   I think that vouchers can be used by anyone (not just the original passengers tied to each amount). Therefore, I could use the entire amount of vouchers for just 1 or 2 of the original 5 ticketed passengers. Is that correct?   Is it true that one could book a flight using 2 vouchers, then cancel it to convert that into 1 voucher? Is it true that the vouchers because they cannot be used for taxes and fees?   What is the best way to contact SW to confirm this information and request the vouchers? (I sent an email on June 12 and have not yet received a response.)   Thank you! ... View more

I truly am not looking for excuses not to travel.   It’s been confusing and frustrating trying to get my husband to take a trip involving flights with our kids, and I cannot make unilateral decisions concerning my family’s finances and lives. I tried to figure out a way for us to take a family trip with flights this summer, but such a trip with all related expenses doesn’t work. The vouchers offer much more flexibility, though! They don’t have to be used for us and our three kids; just one or two people could use them. The trip we originally planned is not a common occurrence for us; it’s one thing to drive somewhere, but quite another to fly a family of five somewhere tied to a hotel or Air Bnb/VRBO and rental car.  Therefore, what you’ve shared changes everything. I will confirm with SW. I’ve still not received an answer despite sending the email over 10 days ago. I will use the link on this page and call to confirm what you told me.   You also point out that I could even use them for other people, like my parents.   Thank you again. ... View more

Thank you for all of your answers.   Anyway, another good reason not to try to use these credits this summer is that many flights are currently being delayed and cancelled constantly. Everyone I know who is trying to get here for my aunt’s funeral via flying is concerned, and one family member’s Southwest flight is currently set to arrive at 3 am when it was originally scheduled to arrive at 11:40, and this certainly could change further with the flight being cancelled. My sister is a flight attendant (not for SW)  and passengers have called her names and taken out their frustration on her about this lately.   I appreciate your advice.   As for your telling me to “stop it,” please be aware that I’m not saying the pandemic is the same as it was two years ago, but it is still happening and people are still dying. For me and my family, this has been a factor. I am glad things are not the same as they were and hope they continue to improve.   I appreciate all that you’ve shared with me and hope you have a good rest of your day!     ... View more

Hi again. I’m sorry; I initially responded directly to the email I received, which did not include your boldfaced responses to each of my points/requests. I did not know you had typed these before.   Can you please clarify if each voucher is broken down into $100 increments or if I should get one voucher for the entire amount? If the vouchers are broken down into $100 increments, then is it true that I must only use $200 of funds on a given flight (form 1-$100 voucher, form 2-2nd $100 voucher, form 3-taxes and fees plus the remainder of the cost of the flight if it exceeds $200)?   Are the vouchers, like the original credits, tied to individual passengers—or not?   As for your responses to my points requesting a refund, whether Southwest grants this request or not (though it seems highly unlikely) is not up to you.   I made these points because others have advised me to request a refund, as they report that they have been given refunds for their Wanna Get Away tickets as a result of sharing their circumstances (with comparable or lesser reasons) with customer service.   I understand that you don’t think I deserve a refund, and there is no point in requesting consideration and courtesy from you about this matter.   As you cannot deny or accept my request for a refund anyway, nor do you need to attempt to refute my request reasons. I am not sure why you are not acknowledging that this pandemic is unprecedented and that I and many others were fully refunded for the cost of tickets bought through other airlines for flights that were to occur during the start of this pandemic—and that I did not have to wait for that airline to cancel before getting my refund. Nevertheless, I am including responses to your counterpoints in a P.S. below. Feel free to ignore the P.S. if you’d like.   If you could share the answers to the questions about the vouchers, I’d greatly appreciate it. Thank you!   P.S. I do not know exactly when I cancelled our flights (sometime between March 13 and April 10, 2020), and neither do you. I do know that, by the time I did so, everything else related to the trip had been shut down due to COVID (the hotel, the swim meet, and Disney in Orlando), as had much of the world.  All public schools in most areas shut down as of March 13, 2020.   Furthermore, in response to how generous it is to offer a credit I can’t currently use due to this situation, you seem to be ignoring the fact that an unprecedented pandemic has been ongoing since the start of this and is still happening.   Regardless of how long my family was given, it was out of the question (and impossible to do and then return to a job at a school or team) to fly without an absolute need to do so during at least the first and second year of the pandemic.  People are still dying of COVID right now, and it is relevant that a member of my family just died as a result of it.   Another airline gave me a full refund on their lowest price tickets.   It is also relevant that we are talking about close to $2000 of our money here, not $200 or $400.   *I would be thrilled to rebook our original trip or something like it if it could work, but it simply does not, and life has changed significantly. ... View more

Thank you for letting me know this. I was told a year on my second phone call on June 12, when I sent an email request. I do not have a response yet to my email (just an automated message that it was received on June 12 and a message that my concern was being forwarded to Customer Support  on June 17).   Are these LUV vouchers? Would I be limited to 3 forms of payment per purchase ($200 credit for 2 $100 vouchers and having to pay the rest on my credit card since it can’t include taxes and fees for all 5 family members round trip if I wanted to make sure we got the same flight), per flight and passenger ($200 each way per passenger for a round trip with the rest having to be paid for on a credit card for taxes and fees), or some other way?   Also, the last person I spoke to on June 12, 2022, told me it was possible to receive vouchers for 12 months after I shared how COVID has been a major concern and still is with my aunt being in the hospital with it at the time of the call. She said to call back in September (otherwise, they’d only be good through June of 2023).   Is it possible to request the vouchers 6 months after they expire for a 6 month voucher? I would worry that the waived $100 fee would no longer be waived, and that is $500 of the $1637 (or is it $1000 of it since each of us had round trips)?   Thank you!   P.S.   We really can’t schedule travel during the school year. First, I am not permitted to take personal days the school day before or the school day after a scheduled day off. Secondly, as a teacher,  I have been forced to use many of my allotted days off due to COVID (being tested and waiting for results, having COVID, being a possible exposure). Third, I need to be at school teaching every possible day, as my students have missed so much regular school due to the pandemic that I must teach skills and information that they typically come to me having mastered and now lack—and my own children cannot miss school or sports, either.  Fourth, my oldest daughter swims year-round and cannot miss school, meets, and training as she strives to earn a scholarship for college going into her junior year. Finally, COVID is still an issue and we do not know what is to come. My family has been unable to use our credits for safety, practical l, and financial reasons since our trip and flights and absolutely everything was shut down for our scheduled trip on April 10, 2020.  Therefore, I don’t see a practical time for my family to schedule a family trip with flights from now through March of next year. Also, it doesn’t make sense for us financially to schedule a trip that would require a shuttle, expensive hotel with transportation to attractions, or a rental car right now.   I also have spent so much money on my job as a teacher due to the pandemic.       ... View more

Hi! Yes, I am an infrequent airline traveler who paid $1637.80 for my family to travel to a swim meet and surprise driving trip to Disney in March of 2020 for a trip beginning April 10, 2020.   I felt like Southwest was playing a game of chicken in not cancelling the flights until it was forced to. The country was in a state of emergency due to an unprecedented pandemic, I would not be able to travel and return to work as a teacher, I would not in good faith travel to possibly get exposed or expose anyone, and everything related to the trip was shut down (the hotel, the swim meet, Disney). It made no sense to leave the flights scheduled, so I had to cancel. Southwest did cancel my flight-just after I did because it was forced to. It was ridiculous the flight was still scheduled at the time I cancelled it (after March 13, when schools were shut down, after the hotels were closed and the meet was cancelled). Anyone who still chose to travel at that time was putting everyone else at risk and possibly shedding the virus. How can Southwest punish people for being ethical and protecting public health/try to force people to put public health and possibly their own lives at risk or take a huge financial hit? I have not flown and skipped my sister’s wedding since this event, I would not have been permitted to fly to events and then return to work as a teacher, I would not ethically consider doing so and possibly spreading the virus, the event that we booked for is over and cannot be replaced as the following year’s meet was also cancelled due to COVID and my daughter aged out of this meet for this past year, and several people I know have died of this virus, including my aunt this past Saturday.   I cannot use Southwest’s funds by September 7, I am unsure if the vouchers they are offering as an extension includes the LUV Policy of only using $100 at a time and no taxes or fees with a limit of 3 forms of payment for purchase, and this is over $1600 for my family I’m talking about. Our travel is restricted still due to the virus, our jobs as educators, and my daughter’s year-long swim schedule as she goes into her junior year and is making times crucial to her college scholarship opportunities. She cannot take trips and miss meets and practices throughout the summer. We cannot take trips and miss work as educators during the school year, nor do our children take trips and miss school.   Again, COVID is still a problem in 2022. My aunt just died due to COVID on June 18. I have always been extremely cautious about this virus from the start.  Essentially, Southwest is taking my family’s money for services it will not render. Southwest DID cancel my flight, but just did so after the point at which anyone would have had to have cancelled. Other airlines cancelled their flights and have refunds well before Southwest. Southwest received government funds to supplement the pandemic losses. We had tickets to my sister’s wedding (which was postponed and we did not attend in September of 2020 due to COVID concerns) and we were fully refunded the price of those tickets.   I am talking about a large amount of money for my family, $1637, that Southwest will it return to me. My three children, husband, and I do not fly often. In fact, my youngest, who is 8, has never flown and the last time we did fly was when I was pregnant with him. Our finances and schedules do not allow for a family trip with flights anytime soon.   I  submitted a request via email 10 days ago after a few phone calls. Does anyone know how the currently offered extension works? The standard of $100 each ticket would mean I’d pay at least $500 (maybe $1000 of it were for each flight, as I had round trips for 5 of us), but I was told I could request vouchers in September (wait until closer to the time our credits expire, because they’ll be timed from the moment of issue) for 6 months and, on a second call, for 12 months. Do these vouchers follow the LUV rule of $100 at a time, no taxes or fees, and only 3 forms of payment per ticket-or per purchase-or per flight?   I hope Southwest will grant our request and refund my family our $1637. I know that you, yourself, can’t, but perhaps you can advise me. Thank you!       ... View more