Southwest flights in the fall

[Rileygirl]

Good Morning

I just read that southwest is releasing its fall flights on April 22, for those optimists who hope to travel by then! Right now they have until mid august for booking. I am going to read and research on southwest cancelation and change booking information now.

 

[wdwmom3]

Good Morning

I just read that southwest is releasing its fall flights on April 22, for those optimists who hope to travel by then! Right now they have until mid august for booking. I am going to read and research on southwest cancelation and change booking information now.

Southwest has always had a very generous change policy. Basically you could change for no fee (just pay the difference). If you cancel I believe you get flight credits, I’m not sure how long you have before they expire though. The flexibility and no charge for bags is one reason we like southwest.

 

[Eeyore's the Best]

Southwest does have excellent change policies and I have changed flights many times HOWEVER one thing you need to keep in mind is that your flight credits no matter when you flight is scheduled for are only good for one year from date of booking. In May of 2020, I booked flights for November, assuming the pandemic would be over by then....obviously not so much, when it became apparent we would not be going in November I pushed them to February 2021, no problem. However, when we realized we wouldn't be able to go in February when the next block of flights opened up I tried to push them as far out as I could to July but they told me I couldn't go past my date in May. They don't care that I physically can't get across the border to take my flight. The will not extend flight credit after one year. From what I have read, there is a voucher that you can convert a expired flight credit to at a cost of $100 per but it doesn't seem to be a written in stone policy. I will just be hoping for the best when I call after they expire. I would still stay with Southwest because of the flexibility, the reasonable flights and the two bags free! I need that for sure, I have one whole bag for ears alone

 

[Robert Stoddart]

I've received the expired flight credit voucher twice (and yes the fee was $100, but better than getting nothing). Pre-pandemic so no idea if that is still possible. Both times involved fairly long phone calls and not getting talked out of it by various agents. They said it was a courtesy vs a policy both times if I recall correctly. I prefer traveling with them but have so many Air Canada points now that it will be out of Toronto for the next little while (Buffalo is more convenient + crossing the land border much faster, especially with Nexus).

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Southwest does have excellent change policies and I have changed flights many times HOWEVER one thing you need to keep in mind is that your flight credits no matter when you flight is scheduled for are only good for one year from date of booking. In May of 2020, I booked flights for November, assuming the pandemic would be over by then....obviously not so much, when it became apparent we would not be going in November I pushed them to February 2021, no problem. However, when we realized we wouldn't be able to go in February when the next block of flights opened up I tried to push them as far out as I could to July but they told me I couldn't go past my date in May. They don't care that I physically can't get across the border to take my flight. The will not extend flight credit after one year. From what I have read, there is a voucher that you can convert a expired flight credit to at a cost of $100 per but it doesn't seem to be a written in stone policy. I will just be hoping for the best when I call after they expire. I would still stay with Southwest because of the flexibility, the reasonable flights and the two bags free! I need that for sure, I have one whole bag for ears alone

We had to cancel an April 2020 flight, then I rebooked for Oct. 2020, but I cancelled that before the deadline to be able to convert it to points. I didn't know when we'd be able to rebook and figured that was the safest bet. So, the points never expire and also if kids need to go back on different flights, we can use their points to book for us. I thought Southwest's offers were pretty good. I know originally anyone that had to be cancelled due to covid they extended until September 2022. I guess they changed that?

 

[ellbell]

I had to cancel at the beginning too. I cancelled flights in May and August and they gave me credits until August 2022.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

We had to cancel an April 2020 flight, then I rebooked for Oct. 2020, but I cancelled that before the deadline to be able to convert it to points. I didn't know when we'd be able to rebook and figured that was the safest bet. So, the points never expire and also if kids need to go back on different flights, we can use their points to book for us. I thought Southwest's offers were pretty good. I know originally anyone that had to be cancelled due to covid they extended until September 2022. I guess they changed that?

Southwest is great with cancellations and rebooking and yes, your travel funds normally expire 1 year from date of booking, not date of travel that was cancelled.

We cancelled our March 2020 flights to Orlando and when we received the offer to convert our travel credits to points, we accepted it since the points never expire. We felt this was the right choice for us as we didn't know when we would be able to travel again.

 

[peacefrogdog]

I used to fly Southwest out of Buffalo 10-12 years ago, when fares were 50-70 one way. The prices seem to be a lot higher now, is that a COVID things Or had prices gone up before ?

 

[von Monster]

I used to fly Southwest out of Buffalo 10-12 years ago, when fares were 50-70 one way. The prices seem to be a lot higher now, is that a COVID things Or had prices gone up before ?

Mostly COVID, but with Southwest's positive reputation they've had price creep for awhile.

Often Jetblue is less, and if you really want to save Frontier from BUF is almost always less than half even after paying for seat selection and a 'reasonable' baggage allowance - no one is going to be less if you intend to use the full Southwest 2 checked and one carry-on allowance for every ticket.