Southwest Airlines Community

Same thing happened to me!  I purchased a ticket on March 10th last year for travel at the end of March.  I used $10 in travel funds from a previous canceled trip so they wouldn't go to waste.  I paid the remaining $370 for my fare with my credit card.  I had no idea that using those $10 in funds would cause the expiration of my ticket to be Jan 21 of this year instead of the end of March.  So now I'm currently out $380.   I have been a loyal customer to Southwest, making them my primary choice for air travel for over 25 years, and I can safely say this is the first time I have ever been unhappy with their service.  To say I am extremely disappointed with this new way they have chosen to do business in regards to travel funds, would be a vast understatement.      The first year they changed the cancelled travel funds policy I lost over $400 because I was so used to them never expiring I forgot about the change.  Since that happened I've made sure to remember that they expired in 12 months and now I find out that they also created a loop hole with the policy change to modify expiration dates if you use any previous funds!     Apparently Southwest decided to join the likes of other companies that only care about being part of the "Rich getting Richer" crowd.  I'd love to meet the exec that came up with this sneaky way to steal from loyal customers.  I'm sure he got a nice raise after implementing the program as they have to be making millions on fares that are purchased and don't get used before they expire.     Going to post this in as my threads as I can to make sure customers are aware as nowhere does it state that using partial funds to purchase a fare will "prorate". for lack of a better term, your expiration date.  Also, when you call customer service you are told it's a 12 month expiration from the date of travel with no mention of "unless you also used some travel funds with your purchase".   For those interested, there is currently a Class Action lawsuit filed in California against Southwest for this very issue.  Southwest of course filed a motion to dismiss but the court is still waiting to rule on that motion.  ... View more

Try adding or removing your middle initial from the "Enter Traveler Info" section at the top of the page.  If your did or didn't include it in your original reservation it will need to match on the new reservation when you try to used your funds.   ... View more