Southwest Question

[Mary Chase]

Looking at flying Southwest for upcoming trip. I've been watching the fares and they aren't quite what I hoped for yet. But I'm worried that this may be as low as they will go (4 months out from trip and have no flexibility on days). My question is regarding the no fee for change policy - if I book the flight I want and the fare goes down, will they refund the difference if I call - or would I have to book a completely different flight to get the refund? And would a "refund" have to be in form of Southwest credit that would expire? I believe I have done this before, but I can't remember if I actually had to change the flight to get the reduced price (changed to a different time on the same day). Plus it's been a couple years, so I wanted to be sure of the policy.

[BrerGnat]

Yes, if the fare drops, you can change the flight with no fee, and you will get a Southwest credit for the difference. You can do it online, as long as you have a Rapid Rewards account. All you have to do is click on "change" next to the flight itinerary you want, and then just choose the same flight again and it will issue the credit automatically.

The credit DOES expire, and it does so one year from the date of the ORIGINAL booking. So, if you book today, for example, and end up rebooking for a credit, you will have to COMPLETE your travel by this date next year.

[BugeyedMuggy]

It depends on the type of fare you buy. If you get the lowest "wanna get away" fare, you can change your flight if it goes down free of charge. Your "refund" will be credit you can use for airfare for one year from the original purchase date.
Also, we have been flying southwest to WDW for years and the prices are now staying higher than the we're. About $35 higher than 2 years ago.

[Mary Chase]

Thanks for the quick replies! Sounds like I should maybe hold off a little bit if I am not liking the fares I am seeing (b/c I doubt I would use the credit in time!). I don't have much to compare by b/c Southwest only recently started flying out of my departure city. When I flew 2 years ago, I got a crazy low fare of $665 for 4 people out of Columbus (about 8 weeks before our trip). Right now it's looking like $1100 out of Akron/Canton. Even though that's really NOT bad for 4 people to fly, I feel like if I hold out a little longer it will drop more. Hope I don't regret it!

[BraddyB]

I see you are in Akron, is it any cheaper if you flew out of Pittsburgh? Usually I get a pretty good deal on flights to Orlando out of Pittsburgh Int'l, and most of them are direct flights.

[Mary Chase]

I checked PIT, CLE, and CMH (Columbus). PIT may be slightly cheaper, but only by a little bit. I like the schedule from CAK so it's worth it for me to stay there unless the deal becomes better to fly out of another airport. But I will keep checking all 4 of those cities for sure. Thanks for the suggestion!