odom4president

I spoke to a SW rep and this policy sounds absurd.

I booked a one way flight costing $200 last week from point A to point B.
I paid a portion ($60) of the fare with ticket-less travel funds (TTF) expiring Aug 2. I paid the rest ($140) of the fare with my credit card.

I noticed today the same flight on the same day today costs $160. Southwest will match the price and give me a $40 credit in TTF which expires Aug 2.

Why can't I get a credit card refund for the $40? Or why can't the expiration date of the $40 in TTF be one year from the date of the booked flight?

What am I supposed to do with $40 in TTF that expires the next day after my flight? [I can't even give them to someone else to use!]

InkUnderNails

You can extend expired TTF's, for $75. Boy, that helps, doesn't it?

You can go here for all the info you will ever need.

aubreyfromwheaton

Next time fly Delta and you will pay only a $150 change fee and if there's any ticket value left over, it's all yours

tonei

Or fly Alaska, Jetblue, or Airtran(?), pay nothing, and get a credit good for a year. https://www.yapta.com/airline-refunds/

odom4president

my question isn't about extending the TTF's. why would i extend $40 of TTF and pay a $75 fee?

What doesn't make sense to me is why southwest is automatically applying the expiration date of my credit card payment to the date of my TTF's!

ursine1

Whenever you commingle funds in a new reservation, they take on the oldest expiration date of any of the individual funds.

mritty

The only real answer is "Because that's how it works." Any time you combine funds, the earliest expiration date from any funds you use 'taints' the entire ticket. All of the funds used for that ticket now have that earliest expiration date. The original confirmation email you got from the first flight says "All travel involving funds from this Confirmation Number must be completed by the expiration date". This is what that means.

mritty

As for this part,
That's a lot easier to answer, and your outrage about that is far more absurd. The fare you purchased isn't a refundable fare. There's no earthly reason to expect them to refund that money to your credit card.

InkUnderNails

In my failed attempt a humor, I may have obfuscated the matter. In the simplest terms possible:

TTF's are good for one year unless extended by a $75 fee subtracted from the available funds. Not a bad deal for a $400 ticket and beats the $150 most charge for any change.

When buying a ticket, WN does not bother to keep up with which finds were used nor the date they will expire and keep a separate list. They take the the funds that expire first and apply that all of the funds. Had you cancelled the flight, you would have had a TTF good through Aug 2 for $200 that you could have extended for $75.

Yes, it stinks. It beats a $150 change fee though. Bottom line for the OP, no real benefit from the sale fare. And, do not use expiring funds for flights you might want to change.

One more thing as if it matters. Within 24 hours of the original purchase, you could have put it back on the card by cancelling, taking the refund, and re-booking.

odom4president

thats good to know, thanks

nsx

As others have said, you made the mistake of commingling expiring funds with new funds, after you made the mistake of letting your funds get close to expiration without using them. Avoiding these situations is a pain, but that's the price of Southwest's otherwise generous reuse policy.