toomanybooks

I did it about 4 months ago and it was $100.

sokolov

Thank you! That is good to know.

Has anyone here done it more recently? Maybe in the new year? :-)

Iron Man 11

I have about $150 in credit for my daughter that expires in 2 weeks. I called 2 days ago and was told that I have:

up to 6 months from funds expiration to call customer relations and request the extension / issuance of a travel voucher.

The voucher is good for any traveler, not restricted to the original person ticketed.

You have 6 months from voucher issuance to use the funds. So if you time it right, you can get another year to use your travel funds.

Cost: $100 deducted from your expired travel funds. So, for me, I would get a $50 voucher. Not the best situation, but I consider a $100 loss to be better than a $150 loss.

You can only request the voucher after your funds have expired, and the agent made it sound very effortless, ie that you would have no problem at all getting a voucher issued. I think the key is to call rather than email.

sokolov

Thank you very much for providing that info! It helps me a lot and will win Southwest more business from me. :-)

joshua362

Thanks for the info, I have a similar situation expiring in a few weeks, really appreciate the confirmation.

ursine1

FYI: Regarding the "timing" and "effortlessness": Remember that each funds reissue is granted as an exception on a case-by-case basis, and that doing so, along with the $100 fee, could change at any time.

toomanybooks

True, but I have done it several times and never been refused.

ursine1

As far as I know, the only situation I've heard about where the request could be refused is when the funds contain primarily vouchers that were created from previously expired funds. The whim of the rep is at play here.

And, as we've seen generally with many Southwest things, and specifically with the multiple increases to this exact fee, just because something worked one way in the past does not mean it will work the same way in the future.

sokolov

First hand report:

The number to call for this is 1.855.234.4654, option 5. That is customer relations, not the general phone number.

Whereas the wait time at the general phone number was almost zero, the wait time at Customer Relations was estimated to be 21 minutes. It turned out to be 19 minutes, and the conversation itself took a mere 3 minutes.

As reported in this thread, they deduct $100 and issue a transferable voucher for the rest. It is sent by email, [edit]and took 4.5 hours to arrive[/edit]. Which is no complaint, I'm just stating the facts.

I think it is great that Southwest issues these vouchers.

FindAWay

Any recent reports on timing from call requesting TTF-to-LUV voucher (less $100) conversion to receiving the email with the newly issued LUV voucher?

I called on 1/20/2017 with the request. The agent said 1-2 days. I called again 1/25/2017 to follow-up/inquire and a different agent said 20-30 days.

joshua362

Sorry, the most recent one I did was around August 2016 as well and I recall it being minutes, not hours. I'd go for the hat trick and state that you need to buy travel tomorrow.

FindAWay

Just an update. My newly-issued LUV voucher came through about 12 hours after my second call. So, I suspect there was some issue when I first called and my follow-up call was able to push it through. Glad it came through so I can use it! ^

kerrigjl

Is the $100 per expired-PNR-new-voucher, or is it possible to combine multiple expired PNRs into a single voucher and pay the $100 once?

joshua362

Yes and yes, that is the best way to do it (with the usually warning of tainting funds with later expiration dates).

And I just discovered the voucher DOES NOT apparently cover taxes and other BS fees! Even though I had about $500 to burn up by month's end, I still had to pay out about $100 or 20% in cash to use it up completely. That was news to me!

nsx

There's a way around that. Buy a $600 ticket with the $500 plus $100 credit card. Cancel it immediately and refund the $100 to the card. You now have $500 travel funds, locked to that passenger name, for purchase of a $500 ticket.