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Unused Travel Funds

maddydaily
Explorer C

Hello, so I cancelled a flight back in August 2016, and I have travel funds available until next July. I booked a flight in Dec 2016 and tried to use my travel funds it kept reading "incorrect please try again" So I searched for my funds and it said I had it available. Im confused why it didnt work all information was correct. Is there also any way I could use it towards the flight I booked.

I appreciate the help

17 REPLIES 17

Re: Unused Travel Funds

LindseyD
Retired Community Manager
Solution

Hi @maddydaily,

 

Your funds have to be used (so in other words, the travel must actually be complete) by the expiration date. If you are trying to book a flight that will take place after the expiration date of the funds, they will not be applied. 

 

Re: Unused Travel Funds

snikdabo
Explorer C

@LindseyD Your answer is not helpful. @maddydaily wrote that she cancelled an August 2016 flight and had leftover travel funds that expire in July (2017). She tried to book a flight for December 2016- which is before July (2017) and got an error message.

 

Your advice: "If you are trying to book a flight that will take place after the expiration date of the funds, they will not be applied" does not make sense.

 

I'm having a similar situation. Please review your response and update.

Re: Unused Travel Funds

LindseyD
Retired Community Manager

@snikdabo,

 

It isn't quite clear whether @maddydaily is saying that December is when she booked the flight, or if December is when the flight is scheduled to take place. 

 

Many times, people believe that if they complete the booking process before the expiration date, they can use the funds. However, the travel must actually be completed before the expiration date. If you would like someone to take a look at your funds and help troubleshoot the issue, our Customer Relations Representatives are experts at researching and solving these questions. They can be contacted here.

 

Re: Unused Travel Funds

snikdabo
Explorer C

A phone representative named Megan solved my problem in two minutes yesterday. The "traveler name" in the apply funds box cannot have a middle initial, so I had to remove it from "traveler info" at the top of the page. This is one for your web team to fix. I hope they'll take a look.

 

 

Re: Unused Travel Funds

sorts
Explorer C

They must have fixed this because I had the opposite problem,

 

Using the advice above, I was deleting my middle initial from both the top of the page, and the apply travel funds area, and it did not work.

 

Then, I added my middle initial back to the top of the page (I also logged in with my southwest account and it auto populated with my middle initial, so my middle initial must have been in the system)

 

And then added my middle initial next to my first name (no period next to it) to the apply travel funds field, and it worked!

Re: Unused Travel Funds

kmorice
Explorer C

When I called Southwest they wouldn't help me with my expired travel funds. She said after a year they expire and Southwest does not offer extensions or vouchers or anything. I had been under the impression that for a fee I could get it extended and that seems to be the general consensus online. Why does this not apply to my situation? I bought the tickets in September 2015 for December travel and had to cancel them because my dad died and thought I had until the travel date to use the funds but it is the purchase date. I'd be happy to pay an extension fee, but I'm so frustrated that this option doesn't apply to me. Any ideas why?

Re: Unused Travel Funds

mree
Explorer C

I spoke to an unsympathetic rep on the phone today trying to figure out what I can do about my travel funds expiring in a week. This was very confusing because the flight I cancelled was in December but funds expire 2/11/17. Anyway, the representative told me to call back after the expiration date to ask for an extension. This seems counterintuitive. I think she was just trying to get off the phone. I'm curious about these mysterious extensions and why I only had 3 mo. to use travel funds. Phone rep said, "you booked a non refundable flight so there's nothing we can do". The ease of rebooking was always one of swa's best qualities, but maybe those days are over. Might call again tomorrow hoping for someone else.

Re: Unused Travel Funds

chgoflyer
Aviator A

Re: "Extensions"

 

There actually are no such thing. Southwest won't extend any expiration dates. They can, however, offer some possible relief, granted on a case-by-case basis. Once expired, Customer Relations (not the regular number) can reissue the funds, minus a $100 per passenger/ticket fee, as a new voucher. You have 6 months from funds expiration in which to make the request, and the voucher, usable by anyone (not just the originally named passenger, as the funds were) will be valid for 6 months from date of issue. In some special cases, a CR rep may issue the voucher prior to funds expiration. Note that everything about this unpublished policy, inclusing the $100 fee, is subject to change at any time. Hope this helps.

Re: Unused Travel Funds

Travel_Mom
Explorer C

I understand one of the user's frustrations over the perceived short amount of time to be able to use a cancelled ticket.  However, I want to chime in and say that although it might feel like the SWA representative wasn't being helpful, the amazing part about SWA is that they DO allow changes to itineraries without charging a fee.  I think that no other airline does that.  The ticket just has to be re-booked within a year from the date on which it was purchased.  In addition, SWA will issue travel funds if you find the fare for the ticket has gone down.  In other words, when I purchase a ticket, I have sometimes seen where the fare went down and I am able to get that difference (in the form of travel funds) which are good to use within the same parameters (one year from the date of purchase).  I find it incredible that an airline is so flexible that way.  I am hard pressed to travel on any other airline, as such, as I do like the flexibility of being able to change my itinerary without incurring an big fee.