Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

[ultimatefans]

Last night I had a Memorial Day weekend flight automatically canceled by Southwest. I didn’t receive an email about the cancellation (maybe that’s still coming), I just got the generic “your points have been adjusted” email. My friend booked on the same flight using cash didn’t receive any emails at all, it just disappeared from her booked flights. I would have preferred to rebook or have the taxes refunded than what actually happened, so I reached out via Messenger and they took care of it. Just a heads up in case the same thing happens to anyone else.

 

[cmarsh31]

I rebooked my Memorial Day trip to August... but can't book my flights yet, because the May ones were booked with points from my April canceled trip - and those points are expiring May 29th. I called to see if they could manually extend them, since the website isn't updated yet. Nope, no luck. Phone rep suggested emailing - so I did last night. Sitting on $$$ of travel funds, just waiting for SW to extend them - I promise - I'll book lots of flights! Just let me!

 

[teawar]

I have 8 flights booked on swa between May 9 - June 24. All of the flights have been changed in some way and one flight was canceled and moved to 2 days later. Part of these flights were supposed to take our family from Birmingham to Hawaii over spring break, but we all know what happened! We rebooked that trip for June and we are doubtful that will happen. We are also A-list, companion pass holders, and hopeful some soon to expire flight credits will be updated on the swa computer sooner than later. We are hopeful they will extend the companion pass qualifying points through next year, since we’ve been unable to travel/

 

[elgerber]

I just checked on my DH/DS flights at the end of May/early June. Their outbound flight, even though it says they are flying roundtrip, is just gone, if you click on the reservation details. They only have the return flight, which has changed. Both flights were direct, now there are no direct flights. But they only have a return, no outbound flight at all, with no refund of points, or anything.

replying to my own post. Now it only says he has a one way flight. And they, with no notice or communications, refunded the cost of his entire roundtrip flight, and then charged him again for the full roundtrip flight, at the same miles! Even though they only rebooked his return, that cost of only 2864 miles. And the charged him 13269 when they rebooked his one way, and left him with no outbound flight.

 

[serenitynow]

Anyone else get an error message when trying to change your flights to get a credit for the fare reduction? I keep getting errror:400620354.

 

[Erica Ladd]

They canceled my May flight without notifying me. This am the credit for the flights finally shows under travel funds. But still has the 5/28/20 expy date for all TF....

 

[Erica Ladd]

Anyone else get an error message when trying to change your flights to get a credit for the fare reduction? I keep getting errror:400620354.

I think that’s the same message I was getting when checking on my flights in my plans. When are your dates? Maybe they canceled them?

 

[serenitynow]

I think that’s the same message I was getting when checking on my flights in my plans. When are your dates? Maybe they canceled them?

Well, I do t know what the error message means, but I went into live chat on Southwest website and the chat person fixed it!

 

[rlduvall]

Yes, SW cancelled my late May flight without any notice a couple of weeks ago. I only found out because I was going to see about moving it to August. Thought the TF would automatically go out the extra year, but apparently they have to do it manually and they aren't getting in any hurry to do it. I used points to rebook, but would rather have used the TF. Now, the flights are significantly higher; but honestly, this whole thing is so unprecedented and I am trying to learn patience.

 

[Erica Ladd]

I know - the tix I wanted for September are now higher but my TF funds still have the old date so I can't make a new purchase until they fix the date...

 

[cmarsh31]

I know - the tix I wanted for September are now higher but my TF funds still have the old date so I can't make a new purchase until they fix the date...

Same. I called, I emailed. Very lovely woman on the phone couldn't fix anything. No response to email sent 4 days ago... still waiting.

 

[teawar]

Living the same struggle!!!

 

[rlduvall]

I noticed that today my $103. in TF was reduced to $78. with the reduction being the taxes for that flight [thought it a little unfair they were making the taxes part of my TF]. I will monitor my credit card to ensure they credit it back to me. At least this means they're starting to go through the cancelled funds. Unfortunately, it still shows expires in June of 2020.

 

[shoreward]

Southwest is cutting June flights by 50%.

https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2020/04/07/southwest-airlines-june-schedule.html

 

[Erica Ladd]

Just got an email that they canceled my may flights (already could tell on their app) but if I rescheduled travel within 60 days they would pay the difference on the flight. Not a big deal to me because I need September or December flights

 

[Craig Larson]

I have two questions regarding southwest, both related to cancelling/changing flights

1. The new cancellation policy, of extending the travel funds due to cancelling during the covid-19 pandemic. It states "Any travel funds created because you cancel a flight between March 1 – June 30, 2020, will expire June 30, 2021." If my flight is in August, and I cancel will it get the extension or will it have an expiration 1 year out from the original purchase date? I feel it can be read either way, and is not super clear in that regard.

2. I'm not trying to find a loop hole, or break any rules, but if we don't go in August, we are still trying to determine the next best time to go. If instead of cancelling, say we change our flight to November. Are we able to keep changing to a future flight? Is there any point where we can't keep pushing out our plans (such as 1 year past original purchase date, which would be mid march in our case)? Since we know we want to go again, just unsure of when, this would give us a little more flexibility to wait until end of August next year to go by pushing out our flight.

 

[nkereina]

1. The new cancellation policy, of extending the travel funds due to cancelling during the covid-19 pandemic. It states "Any travel funds created because you cancel a flight between March 1 – June 30, 2020, will expire June 30, 2021." If my flight is in August, and I cancel will it get the extension or will it have an expiration 1 year out from the original purchase date? I feel it can be read either way, and is not super clear in that regard.

Its my understanding that if you are issued travel funds between March 1 - June 30, 2020, then it will be extended. So if you cancel a flight or re-book a cheaper flight leaving you with a credit, you will receive the expiration extension on those travel funds As long as you cancel the August flights before June 30th, you should be eligible for the extension.

2. I'm not trying to find a loop hole, or break any rules, but if we don't go in August, we are still trying to determine the next best time to go. If instead of cancelling, say we change our flight to November. Are we able to keep changing to a future flight? Is there any point where we can't keep pushing out our plans (such as 1 year past original purchase date, which would be mid march in our case)? Since we know we want to go again, just unsure of when, this would give us a little more flexibility to wait until end of August next year to go by pushing out our flight.

Flight changes are subject to the same expiration date as travel funds would be, which is the original purchase date under normal circumstances. As of now, you could re-book for any flight prior to your mid-March original purchase date. Once you cancel and the June 2021 expiration date is rolled out, you could re-book for any flight prior to June 30, 2021. But you would not be able to re-book for anything beyond June 30, 2021. Re-booking rather than cancelling is advisable for a couple of reasons - for one, you won't lose your early bird check-in if applicable. And two, when purchasing new flights, you're capped at using two travel funds per purchase. Each person on the reservation will have their own travel fund(s) to use, so its possible you'd have to book people separately if booking new flights using travel funds.

 

[Erica Ladd]

Can anyone help? My kids have TF that expire 7/2/20. I know I won't be able to take them anywhere between now and then. Is there a chance they will extend the expiration date to include July 2nd? They are both minors so I don't think I can book them a flight then cancel it, can I?

 

[nkereina]

Can anyone help? My kids have TF that expire 7/2/20. I know I won't be able to take them anywhere between now and then. Is there a chance they will extend the expiration date to include July 2nd? They are both minors so I don't think I can book them a flight then cancel it, can I?

Its possible they may extend it depending on how things are going. Another poster said they've cut flights by 50% for June. I don't know how booking minors alone works, but regardless, its a good question whether booking a random flight now (before 6/30) and then subsequently canceling it would make them eligible for the expiration date extension, since the flight would technically be cancelled within the timeframe required for the extension. It seems like a big loophole, but I haven't read anything where they're taking the booking date into consideration. Hopefully someone else can provide more insight, but I'm curious on what you find out.

 

[Erica Ladd]

This was from the SWA blog posted April 4th -

• 
  Customers with travel funds that would have expired or will expire between
  March 1- June 30, 2020, will expire on June 30, 2021.
  
  
• Any travel funds created because a Customer cancels a flight between March 1– June 30, 2020, will expire on June 30, 2021.

So it doesn't mention when the flight has to be booked by, but it does say the customer can cancel the flight. I'm wondering....

ETA - not trying to be cheap, just have the chance to use what I would have if all this didn't happen