6 month extension on unused paid flight
 

Hi,
My wife and I love to fly Southwest, however we do have an pressing issue, and I hope you can help us right away. We had flights we had to cancel earlier this year, and it left us with a substantial credit of over $700. We need to use this credit on flights we need to book for Jan 30, 2010. However as luck would have it the credits expire 1/8/10. I can't book now using this code for payment, however due to the way your system is set up, I cannot pay $50 for each of us to extend the credits until AFTER they expire.
You see my paradox here - We can't wait until Jan 8th to make reservations for Jan 30th! We have a family reunion cruise to get on, and can't take the chance you would have no flights left. Your customer service folks were sympathetic, but it was pretty much "the system won't let us do that".


Thank you for your attention

January is the slowest month of the year for all airlines. It's unlikely that all their flights will be sold out by Jan 8.

well i am guessing that SW wont accept you to use credit that far past the expiration date (around 3 weeks), if it was a day or 2 than i am sure there could be something done, however since its a few weeks past the expiration than i doubt that they will accept the credit

i am sure that you can find cheap seats with SW past the 8th though

if you want to make sure than call and speak to a supervisor and make sure that there is no way to use the vouchar for the dates you want, and if you cant than book the flights now, so you know you have seats


plan c (prob wont go well but its your choice) if your company has an office in the port city and if your family has a house in the city or near it than see if you can stay there and work out of it (that way you can use credit for the flight there) and hotels for that amount of time will be expensive (as i said slim chance of happening, but is a solution if things add up)

have fun on your cruise!

I have seen this same scenario posted elsewhere and Southwest absolutely will not extend the credit (for a fee) until after it actually expires. Sorry to inform you but they will not budge on this. In my opinion, and in agreement with previous posts, I really don't think you'll have a problem waiting until the 8th or 9th to book your trip for the 30th as you still have a three week advance and most of Southwest's cheapest fares only require a two week advance purchase.

If, however, this trip is for an important event (wedding, Bar Mitzvah, family reunion, etc.) and you really want to lock in the tickets then I'd say go ahead and book them now. You can then call Southwest on the 8th or 9th and pay the fee to have the unused funds extended and apply that to a future trip.

One thing I will recommend in either scenario and that would be if you currently have two credits totaling over $700 you should combine them into one credit by booking a "dummy" trip before the funds expire. If the credits remain separate you'll pay two $50 fees to extend them however if they are first combined into one ticket you'll only pay one $50 fee to extend and then can use them for another two tickets later.

Exception for Children
 

Well looking at the dates that these post were posted welll I only wish I would have seen this site before I booked my last flight with SWA.. And now when I say LAST flight I mean LAST flight! I have unused travel funds that I have been wanting to convert to a voucher so either my spouse or a family member may benefit from. I spent over $1300 for a trip that we were suppose to be taking my 8 yr old daughter to compete in gymnastic meet out of state. Unfortunately she got hurt and we cancelled the trip because it did not make financial sense to go and spend another $1000 for hotel, food and car rental when she would not be able to compete. SWA replies that they can issue a voucher for the children as it is Federal Regulation. I understand that because if 911 there are have been so many rules created for our safety. And yes I understand it is for our safety, well my husband just retired after 21 yrs in the Air Force, so we have made th ultimate sacrafice over the past 10 years! I just wanted my funds back so I could give them to a family member that could use them since my immediate family would not be able to.. Now I am told that I too have to wait for them to expire and then be assessed a $75 per ticket which totals $300 penalty. Geez where can I fly for $300, if only it were that simple.. So SWA there you go; you have lost my business for life! I will pay more just so you can hurt more like I have done in the pocket book as well as the mental stress your Customer Relations folks have caused in this now 1 year ordeal!:mad: