New Refund Policy January 2010: refund goes to ticket holder not purchaser.
My 3 sons went to college out of our state. We have been using Southwest exclusively due to the flexibility of the refund. I never hesitated to buy them tickets home for Thanksgiving, Christmas or just because, knowing I could reassign a ticket if someone caught a ride home or back to college. I considered this a family friendly bonus for this airline. At times a cheaper ticket was available on another airline but I never bothered because I counted on Southwests refund policy. For the most part the ticket eventually was used by somebody but there were rare instances where Southwest ended up with my money and no flight was taken. We were OK with this because we appreciated the flexibility more than an rare lost ticket. My 2 remaining sons in college will be finished this spring but as of January 2010 I am free to roam the internet for the best deal I can get. Southwest should rethink this new policy.
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