jeffandnicole

In cases like this, it's usually upon you (or your lawyer) to find the law that states taxes and fees must be refunded via the method of payment originally used.

So, before you call Dallas, you may want to have proof on your side. Actual proof - like the federal law. Not from a website or forum where anyone can say whatever they feel like. Quite often, they use generalizations, or are just flat-out wrong.

ursine1

I've recently done some research and spoke with TSA regarding this.

Unfortunately, contrary to common belief, the federal law doesn't specifically state that the fee must be refunded to the passenger, or in what form. Only that if not refunded, the carrier must still remit the fee to the TSA.

A 2002 letter from the Acting Director of Revenue for TSA in response to a request seeking clarification of a carrier's responsibilities regarding refunds seems to indicate that carriers must grant a full refund upon request, but that specific direction was never added to subsequent law.

Anyone wishing to use that letter as reference can find it here (pdf): http://www.benedelman.org/travel/randall_fiertz-21nov2002.pdf

The full docket is here: https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=TSA-2001-11120

audio-nut

How about the taxes from a companion pass reservation attached to a points booking? Anyone know if that is refundable?

nsx

Yes. Furthermore when I have changed reservations under the new system (last time was a couple weeks ago) I have NOT received any confirmation email for the change. So unless I had made a note of it (I had) I might have been very puzzled at the lack of refundability.

ursine1

I received a reply from WN to my inquiry about the refundability of the security fee, which basically said "Huh?" so I decided to get some more information.

As a test, I made a points booking (for after May 9, 2017), and just tried to cancel it (more than 24 hours later), and the security fee shows as refundable.

I then changed the reservation to one day later (same fare) and then tried to cancel that reservation, and the security fee is still showing as refundable. So the limitation on refundability can't be that there was just a change to a booking, it must be more than that.

So, thinking it might have something to do with the "transition" to the new booking engine, I then I tried to change the booking again, to a date prior to May 9, 2017. On the final step, I received the error message below ("not enough funds"). I clicked through and then received the "undefined error, unable to complete transaction" message.



I went back to the beginning to attempt the change again, only now My Account > My Trips shows the new flight, with a new confirmation number. At that point I received an email showing cancellation of the original flight. (Note that I never received any notification of the previous flight change.)

Trying to Change or Cancel that new flight generates the error below.



So, apparently, I'll have to call to cancel now.

What a complete cluster.

Edited to add: I just noticed that my account now shows a refund of the points from the original itinerary, but not a deduction for the points needed for the new flight. So who knows what will happen? Will the points eventually be deducted? Or will the new flight be cancelled? <rolls eyes>

nsx

I think I've seen that once before. I'm pretty sure that you would not be able to fly on that new reservation since it's not funded.

ursine1

I also never received a confirmation email for the new reservation (just the cancellation of the old one). Had I not checked my account, I'd have no way of knowing that the new flight was even booked.

If it is.

Which is unlikely.

pitflyer

I got burned by this change last night -- I used to freely make award reservations, change them around when points went down, and then cancel if I find a better deal altogether, and just get my TSA fee back.

Now I have $5.60 in Southwest credits that expire pretty soon (since I originally booked this award ticket in advance and it kept dropping in price, until JetBlue had an even better price so I canceled altogether). I feel like I will have to throw it away since if I apply it to another PAID ticket then my total funds get 'tainted' with the early expiration date.

Am I missing some other tip or trick now? I used to 'change' my award reservation because I didn't want to risk losing the availability altogether by canceling and rebooking.

nsx

Assuming you have extra points, rebook first, then cancel and refund the old one.

pitflyer

Good idea but I had no extra points that time.

Guess I made a five dollar donation somewhere.. should be a way to donate expiring funds to a charity who gets to use it...

dc2

I ran into this recently as well.
I just noticed there is a warning prior to selecting a reservation to be changed:
" Before you modify
Modifying a refundable fare will result in the fare becoming NON-refundable. To ensure your new ticket is refundable, cancel your existing reservation, request a refund of the refundable balance, and create a new reservation. Non-refundable fares may be applied toward future travel on Southwest Airlines for the originally ticketed Passenger only.

The new reservation inherits the earliest expiration date from any funds applied from the old ticket. Therefore, the expiration date of your new reservation and all associated funds may be less than 12 months. Your new expiration date will be displayed on the confirmation receipt sent to you.
Note: Upgrading to Business Select� will result in your fare becoming NON-refundable.
Customers who cancel their flight will forfeit the previously purchased EarlyBird Check-In� option for that particular flight."

I didn't notice this on the first couple of reservations I modified. So, I have the confirmation numbers listed on a spread sheet. Hopefully I will remember to use those first for points only reservations.

ENOTTY

Does it now make sense to book points tickets at the schedule limit, then refare them to what you actually want? This way a cancel would be +1 year from the schedule limit.

birdiedouble

Unless something has changed, the expiration is tied to the date the reservation is made, not the date of travel.

nsx

These days I always cancel and rebook points reservations. I never Change them unless I paid the $5.60 with ticketless funds.

COS_Flyer

While I like most things about WN, as dmbolp notes above, you have to keep track of your canceled itns (and the value being held with them) yourself. I've not had this instance of using a form of other than money to pay the security fee on an award ticket, so I've not had this problem. But while WN has a superior refund (no change fee) policy, it is not going to keep track of these for you.