Southwest Travel Funds

[Pop Centurion]

Ughh!!!
Just tried to book my flight for September since the prices went down & use my travel funds from last years trip.
I didn't realize you had to actually "fly" by the expiration date. I thought you had to "book" a flight before the expiration. :mad:
On top of that the other voucher is in my wife's maiden name & won't be honored. I'm sure if I called they could fix that but my travel date is still the issue. Wish I was aware of this before. So that's $42 in the trash :mad: :mad:

[ThanxForNoticin]

Yes, SW is very flexible with the way they handle credit dollars, but you need to fly within a year of when you made the original purchase. I've never done it, but I believe they do offer an option to pay a fee (I think I remember $50) to extend the life of your credit for another year. Obviously, it you're talking about $42, you're not going to pay $50 to keep it.... I'd be surprised if you can't fix the situation with your wife having the credit in her maiden name - the credit is still hers. The other thing to keep in mind. Recently, travel funds can only be used to make a reservation for the person who's name is on the travel funds. Prior to sometime earlier this year, you could use those funds to buy a ticket for anyone. That was an extremely flexible feature, but I guess I can see why they did away with it - probably as part of their overall changes to the Rapid Rewards program.

[DizneyRox]

Yep... It does clearly state when you go for the credit that it must be used by such and such a date. I've been able to secure some $300 in travel funds from our summer cruise. We'll use it for another trip later this year I'm sure.

The way I look at it, i was happy with the fare when I bought it. So, the credit is just anohter travel opportunity. The money is gone when you initially bought the tickets, and if the fare didn't change, you would be in the same boat.

[Tick-Tock]

The other thing to keep in mind. Recently, travel funds can only be used to make a reservation for the person who's name is on the travel funds. Prior to sometime earlier this year, you could use those funds to buy a ticket for anyone. That was an extremely flexible feature, but I guess I can see why they did away with it - probably as part of their overall changes to the Rapid Rewards program.

Actually, I was on the phone with a Southwest rep fixing an issue with a credit and she told me that they announced but never implemented this change--that you could still use a credit under your name for another person. It might even be true, since it seemed that my credit was lumped together with my husband's (same confirmation number for both our tickets, but all apparently allocated under his name), but I was able to use the funds to book a ticket for myself.

[ThanxForNoticin]

Actually, I was on the phone with a Southwest rep fixing an issue with a credit and she told me that they announced but never implemented this change--that you could still use a credit under your name for another person. It might even be true, since it seemed that my credit was lumped together with my husband's (same confirmation number for both our tickets, but all apparently allocated under his name), but I was able to use the funds to book a ticket for myself.

I know they had some trouble with the process when they first tried to change it. However, I bought a ticket for my wife last week and tried to use a small credit I have in my name, and it refused the credit because the names were different. Maybe I made a bad assumption and should have called a SW rep to see if I could have used the money.