Southwest (WN / SWA) Duplicitous or Innocent on Travel Funds?
 

I recently discovered I had paid for a Southwest flight (already taken) that could have been paid using some forgotten Travel Funds. In retrospect, I thought these credits or funds would have shown up when I entered my frequent flier/Rapid Rewards number to purchase a new flight, but they didn't. It wasn't until several weeks later that I discovered several hundred dollars sitting in my "other" Travel Funds account.

Later that week, I was griping to a friend of mine about what happened, and he said the same thing happened to him. He said he's pretty pissed at Southwest for their method of holding (or "hiding") the funds. He thought it should, at a minimum, be associated with the Rapid Rewards number, for those of us who have them, so the online system or customer service person could remind you that you have money to spend. We agreed that it seemed a bit disingenuous for a company that claims to be customer-focused to force you to track the dollars yourself. If they can track mileage or segments, they can certainly track credited dollars or Travel Funds.

I KNOW they're the only airline that allows for refunds, which is priced into their business model. It still feels like they're playing a shell game or three-card monte ... not a great analogy for Southwest's reputation.

Does anyone else agree?

I'd really love to hear from Southwest on this!

I think, among the regulars here, you'll find that we sort of agree with you - but we've come to terms with the fact that you just can't delete your WN emails, or you have to keep a simple database with your TTF / confirmation codes. Doing it this way allows WN to keep their truly awesome refund policies, which is what is most important to me.

I agree. I'm sure we've lost out on travel funds, but not several hundred $ like you described. Just small re-fare amounts here & there which I sometimes forget to track. I'm sure there's lots of breakage with Southwest's policy, but perhaps that's why they can still claim they offer refunds, as synergistic pointed out.

I like dramatic. :cool:

They could adjust relatively easily.

Perhaps, but if past history is any indication of the future, they're not going to "adjust".

If you'd truly like to "Hear from Southwest", write them a letter or @Email them. They'll eventually thank you for communicating with them and let you know that they'll be sharing your concern with management. They won't answer you on FT.

They could adjust, but that would cost money. So that's never gonna happen. In fact, Southwest has made moves over the past couple of years to make travel funds even harder to track.

No changes fees = track your own travel funds.

A shell game? Three card monte?

DYKWIA strikes again :td:

I disagree. They are allowing us to cancel flights almost up until take-off.

I don't blame them one bit for not making it super easy to use those funds. And yes, I keep excellent track of mine and none ever go to waste.

I believe WN allows us to re-use funds because of the breakage associated with the TTFs; with people who don't keep good track of said funds. So I'm not in favor of tracking made easy. Breakage keeps this profitable.

Keep your records, people!

Strange logic from those who agree with WN/SWA making it difficult to track funds. With that same logic, great service companies like Nordstrom (and Amazon?) would make it more difficult to find refunds in order to generate more income for their great service.

And yes, I sent a note to SWA almost identical to the original post.

It is not that difficult.

Keep track of cancels
or
keep track of bookings
or
keep all emails
or
check your credit card statement - I was able to find any lost bookings there

All you need is the booking number.

Way back, when you had some sort of refund, you had a piece of paper you had to keep track off and people lost those.

It is just not that hard.

Just compare it to gift/e-gift cards. Lots of breakage with those and it's on you to keep track of them. If WN's policy bothers you so much, feel free to switch to a carrier which both tracks your credits with your account and has no change fees. Good look finding one of those.

The recent updates to SWA Biz purport to allow tracking of travel funds. It's one reason I may signup.