REFUND

[Moniemac]

I cancelled my flight as the weather was not permitting us to leave. The agent sent in a request for refund.  The ticket was purchased on my debit card. Any idea how long it takes to get my refund? It's been 20 days!

[chgoflyer]

Refund requests can take 6-8 weeks, sometimes even longer.

Was your flight cancelled by Southwest, or did you cancel it? If the latter, it's likely your request may be denied, as tickets are non-refundable.

You would, however, have travel funds good for the original passenger(s), valid for one year from the original date of purchase.

[franktravel]

Delays or Involuntary Cancellations.

"If a Passenger’s scheduled transportation is canceled, terminated, or delayed before the Passenger has reached his final destination as a result of a flight cancellation, Carrier-caused missed connection, flight delay, or omission of a scheduled stop, Carrier will either transport the Passenger at no additional charge on another of Carrier’s flights, refund the fare for the unused transportation in accordance with the form of payment utilized for the Ticket, or provide a credit for such amount toward the purchase of future travel."

"Carrier shall make eligible refunds in the same form as the original payment.  Refunds for tickets purchased with a credit card shall be processed for crediting to the same credit card account no later than seven business days from the date the refund request is received by Carrier. Refunds for Tickets purchased with cash will be issued by check no later than 20 business days after the refund request is received by Carrier. Refunds for tickets purchased with an exchanged ticket will be processed to the form of a travel credit for use by the Passenger on Southwest Airlines."

If you have any question call

Southwest Airlines
Customer Relations
1-855-234-4654

[chgoflyer]

Note three things:

1) The above only applies when Southwest cancels the flight, which means it's likely not applicable in this case (if the OP cancelled the flight themselves).

2) In practice, refunds (even for carrier-cancelled flights) often take much longer than the terms stated in the Contract of Carriage. This is a common complaint.

Unfortunately, the customer doesn't have much recourse. Complaints to Southwest may garner a small voucher for the inconvenience, but that's becoming increasingly less common. Additionally, a complaint can be made to the DOT, which could lead to fines against the carrier and/or compensation.

https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/file-consumer-complaint

3) Currently, hold times for Customer Relations are quite long, often well over an hour.