clover777 and sebna: If both of you are new to travel and purchasing airfares, you should know that Southwest's policies about the re-usability of funds are relatively generous compared to other US airlines, most of which impose much heftier fees (e.g., typically $200) to make any changes. Even that might be considered generous compared to some international airlines, whose non-refundable tickets are often also non-changeable. In some cases, if you book a ticket to fly from City W to City X on Date Y on Flight Z, if your plans change, you can retrieve absolutely nothing of value from your existing ticket.

Caveat emptor.