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Expired travel funds

victoriad
Explorer C

I just got off the phone with SW customer service who informed me that my travel funds for a flight I purchased in 2018 had expired and could not be reinstated.  She said I had passed the 6 month period to reinstate the funds.  I explanined that I had purchased the ticket in February 2018 and it is not 6 months pass that date.  She explained that since I had applied an old travel fund for $22 all my funds would now expire with that.  So the $312 that was charged on my credit card is expired because I used a $22 credit!  What a scam travel funds are!!  They make it impossible to keep track of them.  Why not just keep track of them in our accounts?  

8 REPLIES 8

Re: Expired travel funds

bec102896
Aviator A

@victoriad 

 

Sorry to hear you lost out on your travel funds because that little portion from a previous flight made your reservation expire sooner than you thought. I had a similar situation several years a go and I learned the best thing to do is if I’m not sure if I’ll take the new flight I’m booking I’ll consider when does that old fund expire and how much time will I have to use it. If it’s less than a few months I may say it’s best to lose the small amount like $22 so my new reservation can have a full year for an expiration date. 

 

For keeping track of travel funds I recommend you make a folder in your email just for travel funds where you put all vouchers or canceled reservation emails with the travel funds and expiration dates since there is not currently a feature to keep track of funds on your Southwest Rapid Rewards account page that should help and once you use the credit remove the email from the folder or delete it so you don’t play the did I use that credit game. 

 

-Blake

Re: Expired travel funds

chgoflyer
Aviator A
Solution

@victoriad wrote:

I just got off the phone with SW customer service who informed me that my travel funds for a flight I purchased in 2018 had expired and could not be reinstated.  She said I had passed the 6 month period to reinstate the funds.  I explanined that I had purchased the ticket in February 2018 and it is not 6 months pass that date.  She explained that since I had applied an old travel fund for $22 all my funds would now expire with that.  So the $312 that was charged on my credit card is expired because I used a $22 credit!  What a scam travel funds are!!  They make it impossible to keep track of them.  Why not just keep track of them in our accounts?  


 

Southwest is the only carrier I know of that allows you to cancel, refare or change a flight and retain 100% of your paid ticket amount without penalty or change fee or reuse fee. They do, however, put limitations on the reuse of those funds in the form of expiration dates, (and funds are also restricted in use to only the original passenger(s), fyi.)

 

In general, travel funds expire one year from the date of the original purchase. However, whenever you apply any travel funds towards a new ticket, all funds associated with that new itinerary take on the oldest expiration date of any funds applied. So it's best to keep that in mind when using older funds, as it may not be appropriate when there's a chance you'll need to change or cancel again.

 

Southwest puts the responsibility for tracking travel funds on the customer, and provides no travel bank or other easy method of doing so. It's essentially a trade-off for having the funds in the first place. Blake's suggestions regarding ways of tracking them (above) are good ones.

 

Southwest never reinstates expired funds. Once your funds are expired, however, you can request reissue as a voucher -- but there is a fee of $100 to do so, and the request must be made within six months of funds expiration. Sorry to hear that you've past that time period.

 

 

Re: Expired travel funds

Egsactly
Explorer C

Well, not only do travel funds expire but they decrease in value. I was unpleasantly surprised today when applying a travel fund that I originally noted as having a value of $110.98, but today only 19.99 was applied to my new purchase. This is a rip off.  

I’ve been a loyal Southwest Airlines frequent flyer for years and I have allowed travel funds to expire in the past, so now I keep a written record; but this decrease in value is ridiculous!

 

Re: Expired travel funds

dfwskier
Aviator A

@Egsactly wrote:

Well, not only do travel funds expire but they decrease in value. I was unpleasantly surprised today when applying a travel fund that I originally noted as having a value of $110.98, but today only 19.99 was applied to my new purchase. This is a rip off.  

I’ve been a loyal Southwest Airlines frequent flyer for years and I have allowed travel funds to expire in the past, so now I keep a written record; but this decrease in value is ridiculous!

 


I've never had one of mine decrease in value (and I've had  bunch of them), and have never heard of anyone else having the problem. I don't think it happens.

 

Now the value could have dropped if you used part of the fund to buy another ticket. Could that have hppened to you?

Re: Expired travel funds

jksobonya
Aviator A

This is a good reminder about travel fund expiration dates. I always use my travel funds within a few months so I haven't run into an issue with them expiring on me, but to be clear - you have to not only redeem but *complete the flight* before your travel funds expire?

 

Let's do a hypothetical example: you have $50 in travel funds that expire in December 2019. If you redeem those funds in October 2019 for a flight in January 2020 ... what happens? Will you not be able to apply the funds?

 

--Jessica

Re: Expired travel funds

NicoleAshley
Employee
Employee
Solution

That's correct. All travel associated with the funds must be completed by the expiration. Travel funds with a date after the trip will not be effective in booking. Thanks Jessica!

Nicole
Community Manager

Re: Expired travel funds

161069484
Explorer B

Just change airline!

they screwed me also!

Re: Expired travel funds

161069484
Explorer B

Fly other airlines, don’t be mad, remember this day, tell friends about this day!