Originally Posted by
fedolefan
So, I booked a $98 flight last year to receive the airline credit which I converted to travel funds. Trouble is those travel funds are due to expire in September and I have no clue how to go about using them. What do I do in this case?
Also, I should be eligible for airline credit this year as well but is there a better option besides travel funds for using the credit?
Your first step would be to find a Southwest flight that you want to take prior to the expiration date. Then, during the purchase process, you'll be able to apply travel funds. You can use your travel funds + a credit card if the new ticket is greater than $98. But you'd actually need to fly this one: you can't use this as a trick to perpetually extend credit.
Depending on your exact expiration date in September, you should be able to find some decent fares and destinations...
Originally Posted by
fedolefan
Hmm, thanks for the suggestion. How will the upgrade work? Like book a flight, then upgrade and get the credit? Will I be able to cancel the AS flight without fees and keep the credit? We've not being flying at all for the last 18 months and I don't know how when that's going to change. I was hoping there's like a gift card route as opposed to travel funds which expire or an option that doesn't require flying.
I'm not sure how exactly AS handles upgrades that later get canceled. Might be a question for the similar thread about AS. When I've upgraded AS in the past, I've fully upfared to first class to get the EQM bonuses. (This often costs little or nothing more than a kiosk F upgrade.) But that shows as a real ticket purchase and wouldn't trigger the AMEX credit. Premium (their version of E+) probably works differently but I haven't personally done it. If you could get the funds dumped into your AS wallet, that would probably be the best bet. But at some point you'd have to actually fly Alaska. (That's not a bad thing...just a limited route map.)
For your 2021 credit, why not just find a couple Southwest tickets for later in the year that fit your needs? It's July now - not like you need to do anything crazy to get your $200-250 for 2021.