Terrible Policy: All funds for a purchased ticket EXPIRE with the earliest date of flight credit expiration
I want to warn people about a costly and poorly disclosed policy I encountered with SWA
I recently purchased a flight for June 15th for $529.80 and applied $40 flight credits (expiring end of June) during checkout. Within four days of booking, I needed to modify my flight to July. As a SWA loyal customer for 14 years (and because it is a reasonable expectation as a consumer) I expected to receive a credit for the amount paid (489.80).
Instead, I was told that because I used $40 in expiring flight credits, the entire ticket INCLUDING the $489.80 paid with new money was now subject to the earliest expiration date and effectively unusable. At no point during the booking process was it clearly disclosed that applying a small amount of expiring credit would put the full value of the ticket at risk.
So, I strongly advise others:
- Do NOT apply expiring flight credits to a new booking unless you are 100% certain you will take the flight
- Be aware that doing so may cause your entire ticket value to inherit restrictive expiration terms
This policy is extremely misleading and disproportionately punitive. A $40 credit should not invalidate any amount of newly paid funds. Consumers should be clearly warned before completing a purchase that such a consequence exists.
I hope the company revises this policy so other customers are not put in this position.